Posted by Stephanie Brinley on April 24, 2006 at 9:23 am
BMW has released the first official pictures and data on the latest 3-Series coupe, and quickly brought to you by VehicleVoice and AutoPacific. The initial pictures show a terrific look for the new coupe, and the initial specification data suggest a great driving machine. We’ve sorted through some photos and information to give you a quick overview, but at BMW North America’s website, more information is available.
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on April 7, 2006 at 4:17 pm
North American Introduction for the Latest in BMW M Series
At the 2006 New York auto show, BMW introduced the Z4 coupe and M coupe to the U.S. market, though this follows a worldwide introduction of the production car at the Geneva auto show in February 2006 and the concept at the Frankfurt show win September 2005.
The BMW Z4 coupe is a much more conventional execution than the first generation Z3 Coupe, which had a love-it-or-hate-it look along the lines of an MGB GT. While there were those who appreciated its odd look, there were not enough of them and the Z4 launched without a coupe companion for the 2003 model year. Of course, the Z4 styling itself was a lightning rod for further criticism of Chris Bangle’s “flame” side detailing, but most criticism was targeted at the weirdly proportioned rear end of the Z4. Where the old Z3 Coupe was weird from the rear, the Z4 coupe conceals the awkward detailing of the Z4 roadster and comes across as a more complete piece of design. Much, much better than the Z4 roadster and its predecessor Z3 coupe.
Given the terrific look of the newest BMW Coupe, this bodystyle of the sports car should experience far more success this time around.
Though Porsche managed to get its Boxster-based Cayman S coupe out ahead of the Z4 Coupe, BMW managed to give the M Coupe a launch price significantly below the Cayman S. More on the price difference later.
With BMW’s giving the Z4 coupe a staggered introduction, AutoPacific and VehicleVoice correspondents were able to see the coupe in concept form at Frankfurt as well as the facelifted roadster and M roadster at the 2006 Detroit auto show. Here’s our first take of the new model.
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Posted by George Peterson on February 11, 2006 at 11:05 am
Motorweek, the PBS-oriented car show, announced the winners of its 2006 Driver’s Choice Awards at the 2006 Chicago Auto Show. It will be interesting to see how these winners correspond to the owner awards from VehicleVoice and AutoPacific. The surveys for the annual AutoPacific Vehicle Satisfaction Award are in the field during the 1st Quarter 2006 and winners will be announced in early May.
Their winners include:
Best of the Year: Honda Civic
Best Small Car: Honda Civic
Best Family Sedan: Hyundai Sonata
Best Minivan: Honda Odyssey
Best Convertible: Pontiac Solstice
Best Luxury Sedan: Infiniti M-Series
Best Sports Sedan: BMW 3-Series
Best Performance Car: Ford Mustang
Best Small Sport Utility Vehicle: Toyota RAV4 (guess they didn’t measure it… Mid-Size SUV now)
Best Family Sport Utility Vehicle: Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer
Best Pickup Truck: Ford F-150
Best Eco-Friendly: Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Best Dream Machine: Chevrolet Corvette ZO6, Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe, Ferrari F430
Special Category: Most Jane Car: BMW 3-Series
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on January 5, 2006 at 6:59 am
500HP, 11 Shift Programs, and a Carbon Fiber Roof.
BMW’s M6 high performance coupe started with borrowing the 500HP 5.5L V10 and seven-speed sequential manual gearbox found in the latest M5. Though launched in 2005 in Europe, North American sales do not begin until spring 2006. The M6 was introduced in the States at the 2006 Los Angeles auto show in January, where its nearly $97,000 price tag was also revealed.
Subtle Styling Cues Signal Special Model
Consistent with European understated high performers, M6 specific exterior cues are subtle and include a larger front air intake, the unique nineteen-inch wheels, a new rear diffuser surrounding the four exhaust pipes, sculpted side sills, M-style mirrors, and the M logo in the ornamental side slats. There are seven colors available for the M6 in its first year, with four of them exclusive to BMW M cars.
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Posted by George Peterson on December 15, 2005 at 8:38 am
Every year, Car & Driver, one of the high circulation car enthusiast magazines in the United States, publishes the results of its 10Best awards. The 2006 10Best Cars awards were released in the January 2006 issue of Car & Driver and you can find them on the C&D website at (http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=33&article_id=10354)
Not having looked at the winners prior to writing this blog, VehicleVoice (http://www.vehiclevoice.com) staff conjectured about what types of cars Car & Driver would select.
We knew that, being a buff book, they’d select cars that appealed to the enthusiast, maybe throw one or two mundane winners into the mix, be heavy on import marques and generally favor smaller cars. Lets see how accurate we were?
BEST SPORTS SEDAN – Acura TSX
BEST SPORT COMPACT- Audi A3
BEST LUXURY SPORTS SEDAN – BMW 3-Series
BEST PERFORMANCE CAR – Chevrolet Corvette
BEST FULL SIZE SEDAN – Chrysler 300
BEST MUSCLE CAR – Ford Mustang GT
BEST FAMILY SEDAN – Honda Accord
BEST ROADSTER – Mazda MX-5 (Miata)
BEST SPORTS COUPE – Mazda RX-8
BEST LUXURY SPORTS CAR – Porsche Boxster
So, lets see, seven are import brands, 3 of the imports are from Germany and four are from Japan. Mazda picks up two wins with its sports cars.
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Posted by George Peterson on December 12, 2005 at 4:33 pm
Crossover SUVs will outsell Traditional truck-based SUVs beginning in 2006. This forecast comes from George Pipas, Ford’s Manager of Sales Analysis and Reporting in a presentation in Long Beach, CA on December 12, 2005. Refer to the VehicleVoice Blog on December 8 citing a USA Today article on similar observations.
A Few Comments on What a Crossover SUV Is
Pipas’ analysis charts the meteoric rise of Traditional SUVs during the 1990s and the similarly meteoric rise of Crossover SUVs since 1996 when the first crossovers – the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 – were introduced. Of course, defining SUV categories is getting murkier and murkier. VehicleVoice (http://www.vehiclevoice.com) and AutoPacific (http://www.autopacific.com) have used the “at-a-glance” rule to define SUVs. If you can, at-a-glance, tell that a vehicle is an SUV, then by golly it is an SUV. In this way you are not confused about whether it is car-based or truck-based. (Pipas contends that only about 70% of Crossover SUVs meet this at-a-glance requirement with 30% easily confused as cars, hatchbacks, or wagons.)
Traditional SUV 2007 Cadillac Escalade – Category Expected to Decline as a Percentage of Overall SUV Universe
The auto industry thinks differently and often gets caught up in definition problems. They have variously called car-based SUVs “hybrids” (a term since adopted by gasoline-electric ‘hybrid’ powerplants) or “crossovers”. In our research, we have found that folks really have not yet adopted the crossover term and still like to refer to SUVs as SUVs. But enough about splitting hairs about what is a crossover and what is not.
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Posted by George Peterson on December 5, 2005 at 10:22 am
I just picked up a Hyundai Santa Fe from Hertz at DTW. My plane from Atlanta to Detroit was delayed by weather enough to have me picking up the Santa Fe in the dark. Well, Santa Fe did an outstanding job passing the rental car test. You know the one. This is where you pick up your car at the rental place, get in and you can find the ignition easily, adjust the steering wheel, mirrors, seats, climate control and radio without thinking hard about it. Oh yeah, and you can do it in the dark.
Keep it Simple, Stupid… Still Rings True
This is a challenge that many car stylists and designers fail to consider when they are designing their new products. But ease of use is a hugely important thing not only to rental car drivers but to everybody driving a car day-to-day. No-one wants a car that is difficult or confusing to drive and the rental car test helps guarantee ease of use.
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