HYPNOTIZED by the sea blue BMW that slipped into my parking space a few weeks ago, I stopped wondering about how fast this test car would go or whether it could stop at all.
You should do the same.
But if you insist on details and are given to using words like downforce and stoichiometry, be assured that the 2010 edition of the Z4 is plenty fast and halts like a drill instructor.
Will it describe an asphalt arc as mathematically as the Porsche Boxster? No. But here’s the dirty little secret of luxury convertibles: most buyers don’t do math.
For those who would consider dropping $50,000 or even $60,000 on a two-seat driveway ornament, this is what matters: the BMW is beautiful, inside and out. It’s the most luxurious convertible this side of a $100,000 Jaguar XKR or Mercedes-Benz SL550. The exterior makes the Porsche Boxster seem a bit played-out; the interior makes a Corvette’s look like recycled duct tape.
If you don’t believe me, ask my wife. She drove the Z4 to the corner bodega and pronounced it her new favorite car even before she shifted out of second gear. Add her to the week’s worth of women and men who flirted with the BMW, smitten by its mile-long hood and sophisticated creases and cavities.
The new Z4 is undoubtedly one of the best do-overs in recent years, a confident, muscular reinvention by Juliane Blasi and Nadya Arnaout of BMW’s Munich design studio. The previous generation of the Z4 was cloyingly overstyled, arguably the least successful design by Chris Bangle, who has stepped down as BMW’s design chief. And with an exception for the brilliant M Coupe version, that earlier Z4 also fell short in arousing passion for many drivers.
The new car, now with a retractable metal roof rather than a soft top, soothes rather than strains the eye. And it is more engaging to drive, especially with the twin-turbo in-line 6 as was the case in the sDrive35i version I tested.
BMW has moved Z4 production across the Atlantic, transferring assembly from the American South — Spartanburg, S.C. — to the southern German city of Regensburg. It also slid the Z4 toward the decadent end of the two-seat spectrum. Read more…
WHAT IS IT? Mercedes and AMG have taken the V-8 version of the SL luxury sports car in a more aggressive direction.
HOW MUCH? $138,475 including the $2,600 gas guzzler tax, which is a third more than the basic SL550 ($99,375) or about half the price of an SL65 AMG Black Series ($299,000).
WHAT MAKES IT RUN? 6.2-liter V-8; 7-speed automatic transmission with manual shift mode.
IS IT THIRSTY? The E.P.A. thinks so, rating its consumption at 12 m.p.g. in town and 19 on the highway.
THERE is good news for anyone who has $135,000 to spend on a sporty luxury car. First of all, you’re rich, so congratulations on that. Second, it’s hard to find a bad car for $135,000.
Perhaps your tastes run toward an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, an Audi R8 or a Maserati GranTurismo. Or maybe you’re more of a Porsche 911 Turbo person. For $135,000, you could surely find the keys to a gently used Bentley Continental. In any case, you’d have a fast, flashy testament to your personal success (or at least, that of your ancestors).
But there’s another car in this price class that is aimed at the quietly wealthy, the kind of people who can spend a lot on a toy but don’t much care if every valet at Chez Pretentious can rattle off the sticker price. The Mercedes SL63 AMG, oddly enough, is a 518-horsepower retractable-roof two-seater for people who don’t need to show off.
The SL got a facelift for 2009 — most noticeable are the sinister new headlights — but still uses the basic platform that made its debut for the 2003 model year. Which means that the $138,000 2009 SL63 AMG looks much like a 2003 SL55 AMG that now sells in the $30,000 range. As your neighbors wouldn’t discern a $100,000 difference between the two, it’s logical to conclude that the SL63 is for people who actually don’t want to flaunt the price of their car.
In the transition from SL55 to SL63, Mercedes steered the car onto a sportier path. The SL63 feels lithe and more energetic, mostly a result of installing a high-revving naturally aspirated motor to replace the SL55’s supercharged sledgehammer.
The SL63’s new 518-horsepower V-8 is hand-built and flings the car to 60 miles an hour in 4.4 seconds, all the while making noises like a Chevy LS7 with its exhaust pipes plunged in a vat of Krug. Even so, it’s not the quickest SL: that honor goes to the 650-horsepower SL65 AMG Black Series by half a second.
The SL63’s transmission incorporates new wrinkles that further muddle the already murky distinctions among manual transmissions, sequential manuals and automatics. Basically, this 7-speed gearbox — the AMG Speedshift MCT in Benzspeak — is an automatic that dispenses with the usual torque converter, instead using a wet clutch to link the engine to the drivetrain. Because a clutch can disconnect the engine entirely from the transmission, the SL63 is capable of a trick once unique to manual transmissions: the high-r.p.m. clutch drop.
To execute this move, the driver must select the manual sport mode of the transmission and initiate what Mercedes calls the Race Start feature, a procedure that’s so complicated it should require two keys and an executive order from the president. If you’ve done it right, the engine revs to around 4,000 r.p.m. with the clutch disengaged. Pop your left foot off the brake, hold the gas to the floor and the clutch engages for a maximum-velocity takeoff.
When it’s time to upshift, the gear change is completed in only 100 milliseconds in the fastest shift mode, which equals the speed of the F1 Superfast sequential manual in the Ferrari 599 GTB. So, the motor is a titan of horsepower, the transmission does a fair impression of a Ferrari and the 19-inch split-spoke wheels look so familiar that the Porsche 911 Turbo is probably on the phone with its lawyer. The SL63 AMG is a hard-edged sports car, then?
No, not really. At 4,274 pounds, the SL63 is about 200 pounds heavier than the GLK350 4Matic crossover wagon. And its Active Body Control suspension provides a supple ride, but there’s something disconnected about the feel it imparts during hard driving — those heated, 12-way adjustable leather seats are loath to afflict the driver’s posterior with rude news from the road below.
To be sure, this is a machine that will acquit itself well at a track day, but it’s clearly biased toward the reality of its everyday mission, which is to cosset the lucky lady or gent behind the wheel. I’ve seen one SL63 AMG in the wild, and it wasn’t at a track, but parked at one of those Napa Valley resorts that looks rustic and unpretentious, but has 1,000-thread count toilet paper and butlers for the butlers. The SL63 looked right at home in that tableau, a six-figure flag-bearer for inconspicuous consumption.
The BMW company is named ad the King of all other car manufacturing corporations, as this company is engrosses to offer the most expensive and stylish cars all in a wide range for the world markets. The company BMW belongs to German Automobile business from its back origin and a strong contraction works for Bavarian Motor. Although BMW is considered as the one of the oldest automobiles manufactures of the world and this company has been engaging to provide the costly international vehicle services since year 1916.
Upon the quality automobiles production”BMW has been rewarded with the title of “KING”, which seems to be a full justice as a feedback.
The 1st automobiles series of BMW was designed by the German automaker and this series were launched in the autumn of 2004,it came in the vision with new introduction about the lavishing hardware, body styles,chassis,50:50 weight balance, longitudinally mounted engine, unique facility of aluminum multilink suspension systems and integrated spare parts functionality. The 1st series BMW incredibly increased the worth of BMW automobiles in the market; this unbelievable cutting edge technology won the trust of car lover with all its perfect interior as well as exterior designs themes.
The BMW 1ST series (three doors) has many exceptional features such as 360°Visualiser, fututristic paint finishes and highly incorporated wheels. The 1st BMW series was first provided with a five doors tailgates in the markets, which were replaced later on into compact BMW 3 series with three door hatchback, and the 1 series is available in the stock in the different ranged depending on the model of the engine.
Unlike other cars from BMW, this series is also designed on is own podium, it is built in Regensburg and Leipzig, origin(Germany),holding 4 cylinders engines of petrol or gas, sequent come form the plant of Hams Hall, which is located in the Coleshill of Birmingham England from north east direction. The first BMW series full fledged income in its first 2005 year, after that year it kept the tag of success in terms of sales, The figures display that total of 149,493 units were sold by the company of three door sports hatchback for this model.
BMW 1 series is a strong combination of cutting edge technologies such as automatic start- stop system, regeneration of energy in the brake, sophistic electrical power steering mode, as a consequence this new version is known as a coefficient of dynamic technologies. It has driven the expectation of car lovers for upcoming series of BMW, knocking off the head of all others brands. It has become a fun drive for the car drivers all around the world. Now you can see your dream being cherished driving the leading 1 series of BMW.
