Automotive Reviews
Posts tagged BMW
2002 BMW Z3 3.0i
Jul 20th
The BMW Z3 is on its way out, so we decided to take one last fling with one of our favorite sporty roadsters.
Introduced in 1996 to compete with Mercedes’ SLK and Porsche’s Boxster in the newly reborn two-seat convertible market, the Z3 boldly took the throwback approach to open-air motoring. Compared to the austere Miata, refined SLK and track-bred Boxster, the Z3 was an unshaven street brawler, with a dramatic, controversial design and a suspension that bordered on crudeness. And we loved it. In 2003 the Z3 is slated to be replaced by an all-new roadster, the Z4. Chances are, most of the Z3′s quirks will be corrected with the new car, for better or for worse. For 2002 the changes were minimal; a standard CD player and some minor interior trim changes are all the outgoing Z3 gets in the upgrade department.
Six years after its introduction, the Z3 remains a handsome, delightfully ill-mannered mode of transport. It looks good at the curb, with a long nose reminiscent of an old front-engined Grand Prix racer and low-cut doors that just invite you to jump over the side like Speed Racer. Glassed-in headlights flank a traditional twin-kidney grille for a snouty look that some can’t resist and others hate. The Z3′s flanks are raised to clear 17″ wheels in the back, and the tail manages to be at once muscular and delicate. The center brake light is recessed neatly into the trunk lid, and the rear end is stretched on account of those wheels. Unlike your average, conservative BMW, the Z3 looks like it’s ready to pounce on whatever comes near.
Once you’ve accepted the invitation to jump over the side, you find yourself in a snug cabin, handsomely decorated with chrome and a long, long way from the front wheels. The Z3 seems to be a small car wrapped around an engine. The hood bulges proudly into the forward view, and it feels like you’re sitting right on top of the rear axle. Not surprisingly, there’s little space for nonessentials in a Z3. Pack carefully. This may be the only of today’s crop of roadsters you could do a cross-country trip in without consulting a chiropractor–the seats are grippy enough for sporty driving and chairlike enough for long-term comfort. There’s a little nub between your legs, to locate you in the seat. It looks weird, but it works. A perfectly-sized steering wheel and those wonderfully low sills offer a much better open-air feeling than the SLK, Boxster or MR2. Color-keyed leather can be ordered for the interior trim and the top of the dash, as well.
Fire up the straight-six engine under that long hood, and the Z3 rewards with a basso growl that sometimes sets off the alarms of the cars parked next to it. This car knows nothing of subtlety, and it hasn’t got much in the way of manners, either. 2.5 and 3.0 liter engines are available, with 185 and 225 horsepower, respectively. The 3.0 liter engine is borrowed from the much larger 3-Series sedan, so with 214 ft-lb of torque on tap this 2910-lb car will tear away from stoplights with a frenzy that will have the traction control flashing wildly for grip. Power is available whenever you want it, whether the Z3 is taking off from a standing start or cruising at 70. BMW’s straight-six engines are beautifully smooth and powerful. Variable valve timing keeps the power smooth throughout the engine’s range, and the 3.0 liter actually meets Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) environmental requirements. The standard five-speed manual transmission isn’t as precise as that of a Honda S2000 or Miata, but the longish throws add to the old sports-car atmosphere. An automatic is also available, but a Z3 with an autobox is a sad car indeed. The burbly engine note leaves no doubt that this is a car that wants to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown around.
Throwing the Z3 around is no problem, either. The strut front, trailing-arm rear suspension is enhanced by standard 17″ wheels on the 3.0 model and grip is tenacious. Even so, everything the Z3 does is dramatic. Melodramatic, even. Wavy roads cause wild histrionics and body heaves, even though it’s nowhere near actually losing control. Those wide tires (7.5″ in the front, 8.5″ in the rear) keep a firm grip on the ground, even while the Z3 is pretending that it’s scrambling desperately for grip. For a race car, this sucks. For fueling a Walter Mitty back-road fantasy, it’s pure gold. The Z3 might not be as fast as a Boxster or an S2000 in the end, but it’s got scads more personality.
Did we mention that the Z3 has no manners? In addition to encouraging us to harass SUVs on the freeway, BMW’s little roadster exhibited behavior that would be endearing in an old British roadster, but that was certainly not befitting a $40,000 car. Yes, the Z3 is pricey, with a base price of $38,545 for the 3.0i model and a still-daunting $31,945 for the “base” 2.5i car. And for all that cost, the CD player skipped every time our well-optioned $41,370 test car car hit a dip in the road. When we got annoyed by this and turned the radio off, we discovered that the clutch pedal creaked. BMW’s keyfob is sometimes finicky, refusing to unlock the doors from certain angles. And a sudden thunderstorm revealed that our test car had a leaky convertible top. Buyers seeking a little luxury car are going to be very upset with the Z3.
And in the end, we liked the rude little thing anyway. All complaints aside, it’s got more personality than its competition from Honda and Mercedes, and it’s got just enough space for a comfortable daily commute or a weekend trip. It’ll even go and play on the track, if you want–just don’t challenge any Porsches to a race. It’s hard not to feel like you’re in a ’60′s racing comic while driving the Z3, because this car is all about drama. You feel like the gritty underdog, trying to keep up with the faster cars…even though you’re one of the fastest cars on the road (the Z3 sprints to 60 mph in less than six seconds). Want to play? Grab one quick, before the Z4 comes along. We’re going to miss the Z3 when it’s gone.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2002 BMW Z3 3.0i, which we tested.
Length: 159.4 in.
Width: 68.5 in.
Height: 50.9 in.
Wheelbase: 96.3 in.
Curb weight: 2910 lb.
Cargo space: 5.0 cu.ft.
Base price: $38,545
Price as tested: $41,370
Engine: 3.0 liter DOHC 24-valve inline six-cylinder
Drivetrain: five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Horsepower: 225 @ 5900
Torque: 214 @ 3500
Fuel capacity: 13.5 gal.
Est. mileage: 21/29
2002 BMW M3
Jul 20th
BMW’s sports sedans are perennials on the top ten lists and performance shootouts of all of the major car magazines. In addition to being the darlings of young professionals and car enthusiasts, the German sedans command a high level of respect from well-heeled luxury buyers and the status-conscious. All of this attention naturally elevates the sticker price to a level at which the average car buyer has to ask what makes it so special.
Park a BMW M3 next to a Honda Civic coupe and you’ll notice that they’re about the same size. Both cars have two doors, four wheels, and so on–all of the components in the proper places. So what makes the BMW so special? Why does BMW call their cars “Ultimate Driving Machines,” with a straight face?
I’ll try to explain.
To the casual observer, the M3 is benign. It’s just another European luxury coupe, right? Wrong. It’s a monster. The familiar BMW 3-series sedan’s conservative shape–twin-kidney grille, moderately athletic, aerodynamic design, rounded-off trunk–is rippled with additional wheel flares and hood bulges, as if a 330 had spent several weeks at the gym bulking up. The M3 seems to hunker at the curb. Unlike some other sports cars, it’s not all posing, either. The flared wheel wells are there to cover race car sized 18″ wheels and tires. The hood bulge quietly reminds onlookers of the powerplant beneath. There are gill-like vents in the sides, for ventilating underhood components. The front bumper has been modified from that of a standard 3-Series with an integrated spoiler and a wide, mesh-screened grille for the oil cooler. You may have to be careful over some speed bumps, but at least it’s for a good cause.
The multi-textured interior is a nice place to be, with choices of several leather and cloth, and a special three-spoke steering wheel. Bright metal rings accentuate the instrument panel, and all of the instruments have ominous red needles. The various panels and colors make the M3′s interior seem like it was formed rather than manufactured. The seats are aggressive, poking and prodding your body until you’re exactly where the M3 wants you to be. Don’t let the fancy leather fool you; the M3 would be just as happy with the carpet stripped out and a roll cage installed. The steering wheel is thick, like a strong dog’s leash. The M3 makes it clear that it’s not a car to be taken lightly. You don’t just sit in this car, you wear it.
BMW’s “M” cars have all been developed as directly as possible from factory racers. The M3′s unique sport suspension is all-independent, with special forged aluminum lower arms in the front and a “thrust plate,” which helps to absorb the lateral forces generated by hard cornering. With a stiffer front end, the tires keep better contact with the road at the limits of handling, resulting in more confident performance. At the rear you have a multi-link setup which is wider than that of the standard 3-Series. There’s a stiffening brace whose task is similar to that of the thrust plate. The M3 is designed to go around corners as hard and fast as possible. Rack-and-pinion steering is also part of the package. As a result, the M3 has a highly balanced, sticky chassis that’s reminiscent of Honda’s race-bred S2000, but it’s not evil enough to make the CD player skip when you hit a bump in the road. The M3 doesn’t follow the crown of the road either, a common complaint among big-tired sports cars. It tracks without wandering and turns as if it was reading your mind.
Plenty of other cars do that, however. Where the M3 leaves them behind is with its wonderful 333-hp straight-six cylinder powerplant. The 3.2 liter straight-six has a cast-iron engine block, rather than aluminum, to better enable it to spin at Formula One-engine speeds and remain compact. BMW’s VANOS variable valve timing (if you must know, VANOS is an acronym for the German “Variable Nockenwellen Steuerung”) has separate programs for low and high engine speeds. Other race-track bred tricks include an incredibly high compression ratio (to more fully burn fuel), machined combustion chambers and intake ports (for smoother airflow into the engine), individual throttles for each cylinder (to reduce throttle lag) and a special valve mechanism that reduces reciprocating mass inside the cylinder head. What all of that engineer-speak adds up to is this: the M3 is a stunningly powerful road car. It’s never a car to be taken lightly. Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) aside, it takes a measure of vigilance just to keep it from ramming the car in front of you whenever you touch the accelerator. Power is seamlessly available at any time, in any gear. Driving the M3 in traffic is like walking a hungry wolf through a flock of sheep. It’s almost an addictive feeling.
BMW’s six-speed manual gearbox can be challenging. The M3 seems to be annoyed if you don’t get each up- and down-shift just right, as if the car is trying to train the driver even while it’s taming the road.
The complex Sequential M Gearbox (SMG II) is a $2400 option. It’s basically a Formula One-style clutchless manual. Unlike “manumatic” transmissions like Porsche’s Tiptronic and Chrysler’s AutoStick, the SMG II is more than just a way to shift an automatic transmission up or down manually. The SMG II is directly based on the straight-line transmission used in BMW’s very successful European race cars. It’s similar to a motorcycle’s transmission, and moves directly from gear to gear via a central shift lever rather than requiring the driver to follow a shift pattern as in conventional transmissions. The fully automatic clutch keeps the driver’s input basic; push forward to shift down, and pull back to shift up. Shifts are lightning fast, and only the most hard-core gearheads will feel like they could do it faster. Once you’ve mastered it (and remembered not to punch the lever forward for 3rd or 5th gear), the SMG II is a quick, if less satisfying, way to go fast. Missed shifts are impossible, unless your hand slips from the steering wheel paddle. The SMG II likes to be driven hard, offering crisper shifting when the M3 is driven in anger. Unlike Toyota’s similar system, SMG II has a fully automatic mode as well. It doesn’t make a particularly good autobox–the gearchanges are slow–but it’s nice to have an alternative for days when you don’t feel like playing with the sequential shifter, or get sick of trying to master it. Our test car spent much of the week in automatic mode; it’s a neat toy, but we prefer the traditional three-pedal M3, and the price savings that goes with it.
Of course, BMW will turn your M3 into a luxury tourer if you’d like. In addition to the SMG II, there are rain-sensing windshield wipers, reverse-sensing parking assist, a Harman Kardon audio system, and satellite navigation to drive the bottom line up.
For the driver who wants to master its capabilities, the M3 is almost unbeatable. Nothing else with a sub-$60,000 price tag matches its all-around athletic ability. It’s available in coupe and convertible form only, and pricing starts at $45,900 for the coupe. Buyers who prefer a less “committed” drive will probably be happier with the M3′s 330i siblings, which share its good ergonomics and well-above-average handling, but offer a slightly less caffeinated driving experience.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2002 BMW M3, which we tested.
Length: 176.9 in.
Width: 70.1 in.
Height: 54.0 in.
Wheelbase: 107.5 in.
Curb weight: 3415 lb.
Cargo space: 9.5 cu.ft.
Base price: $45,900
Price as tested: $55, 695
Engine: 3.2 liter DOHC 24-valve inline six-cylinder
Drivetrain: six-speed manual transmission , rear-wheel drive
Horsepower: 333 @ 7900
Torque: 262 @ 4900
Fuel capacity: 16.6 gal.
Est. mileage: 16/23
2001 BMW X5 3.0i
Jul 9th
Imagine that you’ve come up with an absolutely foolproof way to teach a polar bear to tap-dance, complete with top hat and tails. It’s a heck of an accomplishment, sure, and everyone’s really impressed. The question is, if you stopped along the way to ask yourself if the effort was worth it, what would the answer be?
Meet the BMW X5, the auto industry’s latest tap-dancing polar bear. Don’t get us wrong, it dances well, and we appreciate the show–it’s just that we can’t help but wonder what, exactly, the point of it is.
The sport-utility market is already so thickly contested and profitable that few heads turned when sports sedan manufacturer BMW announced that it was going to build an SUV as well. Mercedes’ M-Class was fresh on the ground, and where Mercedes goes, BMW tends to also. The X5 arrived in 1999 wearing unmistakable BMW styling and poise. For 2001 a new model is added. At BMW, a new model means a new engine, and the X5 3.0i is no exception. A three-liter V6 gives the X5 a less expensive model, to compete in price with lesser luxo-utes from Land Rover and Mercedes.
At a glance, it’s obvious that the X5 takes design influence from no sources except its stablemates at BMW. The twin-kidney grille and quad round headlamps are unmistakable, as are the character lines running up the hood and down the sides of the truck. The X5 looks like a 5-series wagon scaled up several levels, which is certainly what BMW intended. The tail is sloped rather than squared off, but the taillights are also standard BMW fare, though they aren’t shared with any other cars in the lineup. The X5 sports huge, 17″ wheels which speak to its off-road ability, but it bears too much resemblance to roadgoing BMW sedans to pull off “rugged.” The X5 looks powerful, but not necessarily like it wants to go play in the mud.
After climbing up and into this surprisingly large truck, passengers are treated to the widest console this side of a Hummer, and a broad, flat dash. All of the gauges, radio, and air conditioning controls seem to have been flattened to form as horizontal a line as possible. The gauges could have been yanked directly out of an BMW 7-Series. At night, small red lights hidden in the dash cast handy, unobtrusive ambient light that matches the red-lit dash. The X5 feels incredibly substantial from the firm but comfortable driver’s seat, as if it’s been carved from a single block of metal. Utility? Judging by the split tailgate, which is great for tailgate parties but makes loading even difficult than the very high tail does, carrying things in the X5 is a secondary concern.
There’s no doubt that it’s a BMW from the first twist of the key. The X5 is built like a tank; it feels like an unlikely combination of Lexus RX300 and Wells Fargo armored truck. Power is supplied by a 24-valve V6, with a five-speed transmission (manual is standard, automatic is optional) turning all four wheels. Vehicles weighing over two tons can never be described as “eager” when it comes to acceleration, but the X5 comes close, even with the smaller motor. BMW’s VANOS variable valve timing system spreads the powerband out, making the most of the 3.0 liter’s 225 horses.
And even with all of that weight, it really does dance. The X5 is more confident when attacking a long curve than many cars are. An independent suspension at all four corners is set up similar to that of BMW sedans to keep the X5 poised on those big wheels, and the full-time all-wheel drive. Four-wheel ABS is along for the ride, of course. It takes a dangerously fast maneuver to make the X5 feel top-heavy and unstable. But is it any good off-road? Well, it’s not bad, to be honest. The X5 is equipped with Hill Descent Control and traction control, to keep the tires in line. The tires aren’t made for mud, but they’re not averse to a bit of humping and bumping through the dirt. But the X5 won’t like you for it.
Opting for BMW’s SUV will get you ait conditioning, a five-speed manual transmission and power windows on the list of standard equipment. The 3.0i is the less expensive X5, and sticker prices start at $38,900. That’s competitive with the Mercedes ML320 and Land Rover Discovery, naturally. Our test vehicle was equipped with an automatic transmission, moonroof, and leather interior, which bumped the base price to $43,770.
Okay, so it’s a sports sedan that looks like an SUV. Of course, if you’re after serious off-roading, and have $40,000 to spend, you’d have bought a Land Rover anyway. If you don’t plan to get dirty, enjoy outhandling the other luxo-utes with BMW’s dancing bear.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2001 BMW X5 3.0i, which we tested.
Length: 183.7 in.
Width: 73.7 in.
Height: 67.5 in.
Wheelbase: 111.0 in.
Curb weight: 4572 lb
Cargo space: 16.1 cu.ft. (seats up); 54.4 cu.ft. (seats folded)
Towing capacity: 5000 lb.
Base price: $38,900
Price as tested: $43,770
Engine: 3.0 liter, DOHC 24-valve inline 6 cylinder
Drivetrain: five-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Horsepower: 225 @ 5900
Torque: 214 @ 3500
Fuel capacity: 24.6 gal.
Est. mileage: 15/20
6/2009 update: The X5 has been a success for BMW, of course. The second-generation vehicle looks much like the first, for better or for worse, so the layperson won’t be able to tell a new one from a 2001 model at a glance.