Car Moon

In an article on a BMW-faced Honda Accord we found for sale on Craigslist back in 2008, we wrote that in a perfect world, our ultimate car would be “designed by Italians, engineered by Germans, built by Japanese and marketed by Americans”.

So, what’s the worst car one could imagine? Well, if we played around with the above statements, we’d say one designed by Japanese, engineered by Americans, built by Italians and marketed by Germans.

But UK insurance firm Warranty Direct had something a little bit different in mind. Instead of playing the origin card, the company decided to check out its database of 50,000 live policies on cars aged five years on average to part the UK’s most unreliable vehicle that would break down every other month and cost an average of £2,050 (equal to US$3,270 - €2,330) to fix each year.

Porsche triumphed in the 2011 24 hours of Nürburgring, with the 911 GT3 RSR of Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Lucas Luhr crossing the line after 156 laps and 3,958.968 km (2,462.044 miles), a new record for the legendary endurance race in the demanding Nordschleife.

The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR first led the race at Saturday evening, at 23:25, and then its drivers held on to it for the following 16 hours and 35 minutes, or 108 laps.

The first qualifying session for the 24 hours of Nürburgring did not go exactly as planned for Team BMW Motorsport, as the number 7 M3 GT driven by Dirk Muller crashed in the Karussell two hours into the session. Prior to that, the car was 8th overall, with Dirk Werner lapping the Nordschleife at 8:32.302. Read more »

This is BMW’s new hardcore M3 sedan, the CRT, which stands for Carbon Racing Technology. To be produced in a limited run, the M3 CRT was unveiled during a pre-race BMW M event ahead of this weekend’s Nürburgring 24-hour race.

The special edition model combines the body style of the M3 sedan with technology from the M3 GTS coupe, topped off with the use of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) to further reduce the car’s weight.

BMW said the M3 CRT represents the worldwide debut of a new production process for carbon-fibre reinforced plastic components in the automotive industry, adding that we will see the same materials on the upcoming i3 EV hatchback and i8 hybrid sports coupe, due to enter volume production in 2013.

From the moment BMW introduced the new 1 M Coupe, it was more than evident that the smallest member of the Bavarian firm’s M family would be compared with the brand’s most illustrious product, the M3 Coupe.

Automobile Magazine’s West Coast Editor Jason Cammisa voiced his thoughts on the 1 M Coupe versus M3 debate in a rather amusing way during his first drive of the sports car in California.

The skinny? “If you want an M badge, go ahead and buy an M3. If you want what an M3 could be, buy one of these things [the 1 M Coupe]”. Follow the break to watch the full video.

The all-new 2012 BMW M5 sports sedan will be making its first public appearance at The Goodwood Festival of Speed, which takes place in the UK between July 1 and 3, the German automaker announced today.

The most powerful production version of the M5 series to date comes with a high-revving 4.4-liter turbocharged V8 pumping out 560hp from 5,750-7,000rpm and 680Nm [501.5 lb-ft] of torque from 1,500rpm. It goes on sale this fall.

BMW has dropped information on a new limited edition version of its M3 Coupe for the North American market. The 2011 BMW Frozen Black M3 Coupe will be available in a limited production run of 20 units for the USA, each priced at a hefty $79,650 (~€55,500), not including a $875 destination charge.

So what does a $21,000 premium over the standard M3 Coupe get you other than a very happy salesperson and an even merrier dealer? Well, in typical BMW fashion, not much as the special edition M3 Coupe is a cosmetic package with some minor mechanical upgrades.

Chinese customers love a good limited edition model and BMW tries its best to keep them happy. Not long ago, BMW had released the China market-only M3 Matte Edition and M3 Tiger Edition. During the BMW M Legendary Experience event held in China last week, the Bavarian automaker lifted the covers off yet another special M3, the Carbon Fiber Limited Edition of which only 111 examples will be built at a price of 1.23 million yuan (approximately US$189,800 at today’s exchange rates) a piece. Read more »

And the big winner of the 2011 edition of the coveted International Engine of the Year is…Fiat’s 0.9-liter twin-cylinder gasoline engine also known simply as the TwinAir. A jury comprised of 76 journalists and industry experts from 36 different countries were convinced by the 875 cc unit's low emissions, high fuel economy and impressive output for its size, awarding it four awards: “Best New Engine 2011”, “Best Green Engine 2011”, “Best Sub 1-Liter Engine” and the “International Engine of the Year 2011” overall award. Read more »

Do you happen to own a fourth generation BMW M3 Coupe, Sedan or Convertible model, and if so, do you crave for a throatier sound from its exhaust? If you answered yes to both questions and can justify spending $4,374 plus labor for installation for a performance exhaust system, then you may want to take a look the Bavarian firm's new M Performance offering.

Sales of BMW's M car series continue to sprout as the Bavarian company's performance division concluded the 2010 business year with a 14.2 percent increase to 16,967 units, despite the phase out of the V10-powered M5 and M6 models.

The M brand's most popular model remained the M3 with 5,729 units of the coupe, 2,544 units of the Convertible and 1,843 Saloons. Worldwide sales of the newly introduced all-wheel drive X5 M and X6 M totaled 2,778 and 3,082 respectively.

With 450HP on tap, the limited edition BMW M3 GTS is not only more powerful than the stock M3, but it’s also lighter and comes with a full-blown racing suspension, making it arguably the best 3-Series model of its generation.

Nevertheless, famed BMW tuner G-Power thinks something’s missing, namely “the ultimate output”. That’s why the Autenzell-based specialist will modify three GTS models, two of which have already arrived at its headquarters in Germany.

The BMW 1-Series M Coupe is pretty fast on paper. Reaching the 60 mph (96 km/h) mark in just 4.7 seconds is no small feat, but nowadays, it seems that performance cars need to have a respectable “Ring” time under there belt to command respect. Now, a forum member of the 1Addicts fan site who calls himself "SteveD" claims that the Ring time for the 335-horsepower strong M model is 8 minutes and 12 seconds.

If true (and according to the Nürburgring lap times list posted on Wikipedia), this means the entry-level M model is 10 seconds faster than the E46 M3, on par with the E86 Z4 M Coupe, but 7 seconds slower than the E92 M3 .

German tuning firm Prior Design has unveiled a widebody kit for the E92 3-Series Coupe, which turns the bimmer into an M3 clone with a "hormonal disposition" [whatever that means...], for a base price of €2,999. While we're not sure about those "hormones", the exterior modifications look nice enough, so Prior's kit is definitely worth a look.

E30s seem to be popping up everywhere lately. After the impressive electric 3-Series from VST Conversions, we now have word that one Bill Caswell and his late 1980's E30 will be at SEMA thanks to Miller Electric Mfg. Co.

The "rally racer and ultimate DIY enthusiast" made news in March when he took on $100,000+ competition in an old 318i during Rally Mexico. While at SEMA, Bill will be converting a 1989 BMW 3-Series coupe [E30] into an off-road Baja blaster in order to compete in the SCORE Baja 1000's Sportsman class (starting November 17th). Now that's hardcore.

Here's a breakdown of Bill's SEMA welding schedule prior to tackling the rally: roll cage on day 1, front cage/suspension on day 2, rear cage/suspension on day 3, and "accessories" on day 4. Day 4's work will include finishing the main cage and crafting other Baja racing necessities such as a front brush guard, fuel cell, light bar, and more.

BMW has officially confirmed its return to the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) starting from 2012, almost two decades since its departure from the series in 1994. The Munich-based marque said it took the decision after the positive nature of discussions in recent months with the DTM umbrella organization ITR e.V. and the other manufacturers represented in the touring car series on issues regarding the future technical regulations, and the long-term internationalization of the championship.

The 450-horsepower limited production BMW M3 GTS was the inspiration for this customized 135i Coupe that was created by Ontario-based dealer, Parkview BMW. The hotted up small coupe is finished in the same Fire Orange paintwork as its bigger brother and features a full set BMW Performance Parts including the aerodynamic kit, carbon fiber diffuser, mirror caps, spoilers and rooftop (we're assuming it's a foil wrap), and black alloy wheels shod in wider tires.

BMW has released details of what it will be presenting at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Alongside the world premiere of the Concept 6 Series Coupé, 2011 X3 SUV and 5-series Touring are new engines, AWD and phone tech for the 5-series and an Efficient Dynamics version of the X3.

Audi may have confirmed the new RS5 for the States, but Americans won't be able to sample the scorching hot high-performance coupe until sometime in 2012. But when there's a will, there's a way, so the crew from Motor Trend headed to Germany to compare the two newest entries in the sports coupe segment, the Audi RS5 and Cadillac CST-V Coupe, with BMW's 'old-timer', the M3 Coupe.

We won't spoil the video for you by telling you won, so follow the jump to check it out along with the performance details on all cars and then don't forget to take our poll on which sport coupe would you be more likely to buy.

While surfing on Youtube, we stumbled upon these two videos that were amusing for us to watch, but obviously, quite painful for the respective owners of the cars. In the first clip, a BMW 6-Series driver drift-trashes the GT in a ditch, while in the second video, the guy behind the steering wheel of an M3 E36 Coupe learns a few valuable safety lessons -including the importance of wearing a seat-belt- the hard way. Watch both videos after the break.