Easy Virtue

Last I was watching the movie Easy Virtue (Starring Colin Firth, Jessica Biel). It was originally shot by Alfred Hitchcock in 1928 but I didn’t have chance to watch it. When I started watching this movie I was not expecting to see a grand prix racing at Monte Carlo in 1930s. The first minutes of the movie starts with nostalgic grand prix race in Monte Carlo. And at that moment, this movie caught my attention! However the involvement of cars was not limited with the race sequence. After the race, Jessica Biel drives BMW 328. I am not sure about the model but I think that is a 328! And this means the time is after 1936! Actually I am not sure about this, if I found reliable information I will share it here.

After watching the movie, I searched YouTube for vintage racing footages. And I found some :) And I also shocked! The safety measures were nothing at those times, I am not talking about safety car. There is not seat belt, no safety barrier, no safety flags, cars don’t have any safety. And drivers were dying during the race and it was mentioned like something very normal. When you consider contemporary races, drivers at those times would not consider as a real race. Like many people I always respect the drivers in early years of motor racing. Winning and losing was so tightly attached with living and dying, I think we cannot understand how it feels to race those times. By the way in one of the footage, Alfa Romeo was taking over the Bugatti !

I hope you will enjoy the nostalgic Grand Prix race :)

Italian Passion, German Perfektion

I always try to highlight the passion and soul in Italian cars. They always have a distinctive character and sometime they can drive you crazy, actually most of the times! To understand the difference between German and Italian cars, I found an excellent example.

There are three videos. One from Mercedes-Benz, one from BMW and one from Lamborghini. The content of the videos are the same, engine production and testing. In German videos, there is no music or anything, camera was recording the production with no effects or anything. Just recording what really happening! Technically very nice video but boring but the German engines are the state of the art technology. They are the best engines on earth. Okay some of their engines are not that good but the ones in these videos are excellent :)

On the other hand Lamborghini’s video is expressing the passion and the sensation of the Lamborghini brand. The content of the video is the same, engine production. Hopefully Lamborghini did not lose its soul despite it Germany owner.

New BMW 6 Series Coupe, hoppss that's a Cabrio!

In my blog I don’t like to talk about new cars and their features, because you can find all these information nearly in everywhere. However sometimes there are some exceptions like new BMW 6 Series. Last week BMW revealed the pictures of new 6 Series cabrio, not coupe! Usual car companies reveal the coupe models first and later they reveal the cabrio. This time BMW did the opposite and revealed the cabrio!

It will have all the BMW technology which you can find in 7 Series. Active steering, active something, active that thing. You can read the details from their press release. The distinctive thing with the new 6 Series is the interior. Usually BMW does not offer this good interior, okay BMW is a luxury brand it is not Aston Martin! Let’s be reasonable, BMW is also producing something called 1 Series! This time they changed everything in this segment. The interior is exquisite, even the Bentley Continental GT does not offer this beautiful interior design. Also the material combination is excellent, nowadays car manufacturers place an aluminium which was left unused in warehouse and offer as something interesting. Always you can understand that the metal part attached to interior is to create a more luxury impression, which never does! New BMW 6 Series interior is a very good example for how to combine different materials in a harmony and don’t create any irritating look.

Actually I don’t mind the engine size or acceleration performance with this interior is good to hinder the technical facts!

Press Release 

Pictures', Video Copyrights
BMW

BMW M1 with depressed horses !!!

I always find something in Mercedes-Benz cars funny, either their design or their specifications or their media footages. But this time I found the most ridiculous thing of 2010 from BMW! BMW made introduce the king of ridiculousness in automotive industry and a great opportunity for grey market dealers. As you know that 1 Series coupe will have an M model which was a rumour for very long time. BMW was reluctant to introduce this car as a result of overlapping with M3. But they changed their mind and they will introduce it.

The funny thing with this car is the horsepower. US and Europe models always have a difference horse powers due to US’s emission regulation and this was something very normal. I think BMW felt very sorry for this gap and they added 111 horses more to US version. Yes, US spec BMW M1 is 451 horse powers. On the other hand Europe spec is only 340 horse powers. They have same single turbo three litre engine known as N54B3OTO. But US version has different software for the engine and pumps more power.

Let me tell you what will happen. Jeremy Clarkson will say this thing on TV and make fun of people who have ordered Europe spec M1. Then people will go to BMW dealers and dealers will say NO, you cannot have this car here. Then people will go to grey market to order US spec version. The second scenario is, people will go to BMW dealer again and ask them to upgrade the software, BMW will say NO. Then people will go to privately owned workshop and upgrade the software and void the warranty :)

Basically, BMW release those kept 111 horses to European model also :)

Pictures', Video Copyrights

BMW

A detailed explanation for the problem of German Cars

For very long time I was trying understand what is wrong with German cars. I didn’t make mistake while writing, German cars. There is always something missing with them, I could not understand but German cars never have the same taste with Italian cars. Of course, I am not licking cars to identify their differences. I am pretty sure that all German cars would taste the same :)

And recently I found the problem with German cars. The huge problem which irritates me for very long and irritates many other people, I am using sales figures of Italian cars as a proof! German cars are offering everything; perfection, design (not all of them), efficient, luxury, perfect, gray, very gray, light gray, very dark gray and this goes forever. Germans cars are doing what you told them to do! Actually if a German car goes wrong, it terribly goes wrong. This happened in 2003-2004 with Mercedes E Class, electronic brake system and electronic control modules of C Class. Anyway, they don’t cause trouble anymore. The main thing is German cars are doing what they are supposed to do and they do not questionize. They just are doing it!

A German car always handles well, the automatic screen wipers always works with the same amount of rain, engine always makes the same sound, all the parts inside the car have the same millimetric distance within each other. This combination of perfection obsession is not matching with human being because we are not perfect and we want things different. I think the best explanation for German cars is they are like trains. They are doing what they are supposed to do, trains cannot change travel anywhere else than railway and they always follow a route.

The Italian cars are like pizza, each pizza is a unique dish. It is nearly impossible to have the same pizza, even if you manage to have the same one you cannot eat in the same way. All the mozzarella cheese will try to go somewhere else, you will try to make some weird moves to eat the slice and some vegetables will fell on your trousers while you are trying to clean your trousers, your elbow will hit to pizza. Basically each time you try to eat an Italian food, you will have a new adventure like in Italian cars. Each Italian car is totally unique, I don’t know how they manage to do it but they are excellent at producing each car unique. There is no identical twin of a Ferrari 458 or Alfa Romeo MiTo or Fiat 500. Even if the factory is robotized, their supplier may not be robotized and their production technique might be influence the employees emotional conditions.

Therefore each Italian car is like a sculpture, you cannot find the same one. And Italian cars do not react as you wished, try to control a Ferrari 599 GTO. Jeremy Clarkson tried to do it in “Italian Job” and he failed, try to control an Alfa MiTo diesel. The electronic systems will help you but the car will control you. You will do what the car is ordering you!

And lastly British cars; very basic definition, there is always something is missing. In order to proof this, just look at British taps! They have separate taps for hot and cold water. You cannot find this in other part of the world. British engineers never connect hot and cold water together, you either burn your hands or freeze your hand. There is no balance and you can face with this ugly truth even in the most prestigious hotels or in houses. Everything looks excellent, suddenly you want wash your hand, and you burn your hands!

You can find this in British cars also, everything is excellent. Design, materials, engines but you cannot have a door closing aid in a Bentley Azure. This is a very basic technology from Germans, when your door is not fully closed the hydraulic system closes for you. But you cannot have this in a Bentley Azure! This car costs more than a country and you have to close your door properly by yourself. But still I like British cars they are combination of Mr. Bean and Paul Smith shirt!

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Mercedes, Pizza Express, Aston Martin, Deutsche Bahn, Maserati, Paul Smith

Best car for shopping malls: BMW X6 M :O

I don’t like to talk about same topic each day! Okay, this is a car blog and I am supposed to talking about cars, however I don’t like to repeat the same brand every day. But sometimes brands or very interesting incidents motivates me to write about the brand again.

I remember the first time I read Car And Driver Magazine, this is a US car magazine. Probably it was 1989 and it seemed to me very nice magazine because I was only eight years old. Time passed, I became older and I discovered German car magazines. Later on, I discovered the best car magazine the British ones :) They were making fun of each brand and pulling their legs. Also they emphasize the good and bad points in a very nice way. You can see the influence of British car magazines on my blog.

After many years, I just watched a video made by Car And Driver about BMW X6 M. This is the lunatic version of normal X6. It has 555 horse powers, I think this is enough to describe the car. Car & Driver has very interesting criteria to evaluate vehicles. Mainly cars magazines, evaluate cars based on their performance, consumption, design, boringness, sexiness, brand image and many other thing but not based on how is looks in a shopping mall!

Unfortunately Car And Driver did it! They have evaluation criteria of how the car looks like in a shopping mall! I really wonder what kind of motivation caused this criterion to occur. Who cares how a BMW X6 M looks like in a shopping mall! This is luxury, expensive car; it is not for people who are shopping from Wall Mark or some other markets. Hopefully they ticked this for X6 M! I really wonder what they ticked for Hummer H1 :)

Now I can clearly understand why Americans are reading CAR and TopGear Magazines ;)

 Pictures' CopyrightsBMW

Ancient Greek to Contemporary SUVs

I think many of you may have heard of Ancient Greek philosopher Thales. Actually we know Thales from the geometry but he did many other things besides geometry. One of his discoveries was the electricity, of course it wasn’t the same electricity we know now but he realized there is something electrical! And all these things happened around BC 600. So there was not four wheel drive vehicles, actually they have four wheel drive horse. Basically they have four legs and this means they are similar to nowadays SUVs.

I am sure that he never thought that his discovery will help human race to move around the environment by vehicles. I am talking about the SUVs with electronic traction controls. After thousands of years, electricity started to help us to increase our traction! Mostly this is a creative of idea of marketing department which does not work in real life conditions. Now every SUV has electronic traction control system, ABS sensors identifies the loss of traction and traction control reduces the engine power and apply brake. As a result of this chain reaction, you are able to go around tough terrains but this is totally crap! I tried many vehicles with these systems and they were not that effective. Especially I love the videos shout for the press releases, everything is so well designed and SUV moves around in every condition. This is similar to looking at girls on FHM Magazine and expecting to see girls who look like that in real life! Exactly the same effect.

However we can see the FHM Girls in real life :) Recently I watched some videos on YouTube titled as Range Rover and BMW X6 snow off roading and similar thing and the results were amazing. The BMW’s perfectly made video is exactly the real, the electricity helps the huge X6 to go around the snow. And they call this xDrive. Land Rover has similar technology for long time and it is one of the best one and I am not shocked when I saw Range Rover is going around the snow with no problem, this is normal. Of course there is a small difference between Range Rover and BMW X6, Range Rovers in many YouTube videos are the new ones with Terrain Response technology which offers variety of configurations for rough terrain and vehicles reacts totally differently. As a result of this technology Range Rover has less wheel spin and offers efforts off road, on the other hand BMW’s system works quite well and you can enjoy some kind off roading!

Despite these great performances of traction controls, I still don’t trust them that much. If you want to climb somewhere, try to order a Range Rover with differential locks! This is what electricity cannot do in real life :)

Pictures' and Videos' Copyrights
Land Rover, BMW and Video Creators

BMW's Unscripted Movies

For me BMW is the 3 Series. Probably the first BMW which encountered at me is the 3 Series (E30) around end of 1980s. After that, I started to like BMW more than Mercedes, at those years nobody was interested on Audi! In 1998, BMW introduced its new 3 Series (E46). For me it is the best looking 3 Series ever made, because after that Bangle destroyed everything with current 3 Series (E90). And years have passed Bangle destroyed everything 3, 5 and 7 Series and lost my interest on BMW. I like the way it is driving character but it was looking horrible. Hopefully, Bangle is not working for BMW’s car design team and we don’t have to bear ugly cars anymore.

Why I did remember all these things? Recently BMW released new series short movies. Unfortunately I did not see any 3 Series yet in these movies but the released two ones are great! Especially the last one with Sabine reminded me the old good looking M5 which was replaced by the ugly one. Okay, the ugly one is also great but it looks ugly! Hopefully there is a new BMW M5 is coming and probably producing 610 horse powers :) I shouldn’t have written this much, just enjoy the movies ;) 

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BMW

The best BMW 1 Series Review

This news is a bit old but I recently noticed in August issue of TopGear Magazine. They tried to double the price of cars through online configurator and they made a great statement about BMW and 1 Series :)

Google Android Car

Since 2000 Google became a part of our daily life and we cannot live without it. Google also know this very well and releases new application all the time to strength our relationship. Their last attempt Google Android is an important signal for our future.

This Linux based mobile operation system is an open source system, which means you have the codes and if you know enough programming, your washing machine can be controlled by Google Android. From this point of view, it is very clear that Google will be in everywhere in following years. And we all know that Google is becoming part of automotive life but taking steps very slowly and carefully.

Google Earth and Google Search are now available in BMW and Audi but this is just the beginning. In following years, Google or a car manufacturer will release Google Android Car! This will be running in our navigation screen and like today we will be controlling everything from there. I don’t think Google will interfere with engine management. But they will take a place in human-machine interface. As Android is free and Google has a better reputation than Microsoft, cars with Google Android is not something very utopic! In addition to this, I am pretty sure that we would be able to install application to our car’s navigation screen!

Just remember the mobile phones ten years ago ;)

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Google, BMW, Audi

MODIFIKASI BMW Seri 7 Lebih Sporty | Disentuh Lumma

MODIFIKASI BMW Seri 7 Lebih Sporty | Disentuh Lumma

Home modifications Germany, Lumma Design, successfully providing an aggressive sport touch viscous on the BMW 7 Series luxury saloon. All that thanks to the aerodynamics package which offered a limited edition Lumma.

Like on the front, new bumpers equipped spoiler, and fog lamps, Daytime running lights LED. Plus, wrapping body kit that connects to the side equipped with over-fender brake cooling vents.

Design side skirts also seem to flow down to a rear bumper diffuser combined with new designs and ends of double-trapezoidal tailpipe. This aerodynamic package makes the figure of-seven series look more broadly.

Lumma also provide carbon elements in several parts, including the house next to the rearview mirror, front grille, all door handles, door center pillar, trunk lid lip, and the mudguard. Increasingly muscular appearance with the use of 22 inch aluminum alloy wheels wrapped in lightweight high performance tires Vredestein lansiran sized 265/30 front and 295/25 at the rear.

In the interior, modifier of specialist BMW, Mercedes and Porsche was just giving the package aluminum pedals and carpet in accordance with the desires of the color choices. Carpets are getting Lumma Design embroidered logo.

Pack these modifications can be applied to all variants of the Series 7, both short and long wheelbase versions. Amazingly, every installation has been equipped with TUV certificate, which ensure product quality meets the highest standards of European Lumma.

Unfortunately, Lumma not provide for cardiac pacemaker performance packet-seven Series.