All Entries Tagged With: "BMW"
eBay Watch: 2008 BMW 128i Convertible
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img CarOne via eBay Motors ::: 2008 BMW 128i
BMW’s one-series has had its detractors.
Materials are too cheap, they say. They bemoan that the coupe and convertible both have the face of a pug and the belly of a pig, referring to the squished fascia and the doorsills that seem to sag in a low arc toward the road. It is, also, cynically overpriced.
Or was. The entry 128i convertible starts featuring BMW’s lovely 3L, 230 hp straight-six motor started in the low $40Ks. Time, 18K miles, and a little depreciation have cropped that figure down to size. The buy-it-now price on this still-warrantied black on black, off-lease, babied Texan 128i stands as a more equitable $25,950.
Did I mention that at that price you get a modern Bavarian droptop/boulevardier whose magnificent driving characteristics are more insync with BMW’s sporting heritage than any other (non-M) Bimmer since the E30 3-Series?
Pugs and pigs be damned, that’s one sweet car.
[eBay]
The Ultimate In Tasteful Marketing: BMW + Mad Men
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img AMC ::: BMW Sponsors Mad Men
READ NY Mag’s recap of season four’s premiere of AMC’s Mad Men.
Logan Hill’s take was as concertedly analytical as what we’ve come to expect from New York’s coverage of the series that depicts the madness behind the Brylcreem of Madison Avenue in the 60s. In his article, Mr. Hill referenced a line from Andy Warhol which applies nicely to cars and BMW’s ad campaign, in particular. Let’s reintroduce it here:
Warhol once said, “Lock up a department store today, open the door after a hundred years, and you will have a museum of art.” (Lock up an office in 1964, then pop it open on AMC in 2010, and, with a lot of creative license, you’ve got quality TV.)
How true.
BMW, who’s sponsored Mad Men’s previous season, was presenting sponsor for this season’s premiere. And true to the show’s vintage nature, BMW’s commercials would’ve sated Janus himself – looking past first, then present.
In one of the spots, we see the BMW 5-Series in earlier forms – notably the E28. A BMW rep talks candidly on camera about the elegance of BMW’s past 5ers while we see company footage. Later on, another spot showcases the now familiar current bodystyle F10.
Past und present.
The last ad markets the bread ‘n butter 3er. We see E30 vintage 3-series sedans and then beauty shots of the current lineup while listening to chatter about “performance sedans”. The past and the future play equal parts again in a symphony for your attention (and hopefully dollars).
These spots culminate into great messaging by BMW.
Part of Mad Men’s wide appeal is that the series reintroduces some of the glamorous aspects of commercialism in post war American society. Any company that associates itself with that classic aspect is making a case for the enduring appeal of its own brand’s identity. When is a bottle of Clorox art? When we see a bottle from the 60s deliberately re-presented.
When is a BMW art? When we see an vintage 5-Series in its former element. Being the Ultimate Driving Machine. This campaign ranks as an important departure from most car advertising which focuses on right now.
After all, to fully and faithfully subscribe to a brand identity like BMW, you have to maintain an appreciation for the past in order to ask buyers to re-invest in the present and the future.
BMW’s underwriting for Mad Men is mad marvelous.
DIY: Removing Door Panels E38 7er & W210 E-Class Illustrates Design Similarities
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: Door Panel Removal Videos E38 7-Series & W210 E-Class
HOW a car is put together says a great deal about the caliber of the engineering and design teams at work behind all the marketing hype and brand imagery. Layout is, to be plain, where the rubber meets the road.
It’s intriguing then to remember that despite being distinct marques, Mercedes-Benz and BMW’s cars are rather similar. Besides sharing part suppliers, there’s Teutonic commonalities in how each company manufactures their autos.
Consider these two videos as cases in point. Both are illustrative DIY films on how to remove the interior door panels without resorting to crowbar and hacksaw. We see a helpful technician work off an E38 gen. BMW 7er’s door panel (and burn his finger in the process) and another tech do the same (albeit more orchestrated and professionally edited) for a Mercedes-Benz W210 gen. E-Class.
The two cars share surprisingly similar construction traits, though it’s clear that the E-Class represents the older school formula of leaving the bulk of the electronics on the console and not the door. Seems wise, in hindsight.
Have a look.
Baroque Angel: Former Star of the Munich Police Force
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: BMW 501
SOME time back, I was on an assignment covering a small town’s board of selectmen meeting when the item regarding budget allocation for police transport arose. Step forward the town’s sheriff who, as humble as pie, asked politely for the council’s consideration in letting his department lease two Harley Davidson motorcycles.
To support his case and show due diligence for finding the best rate for the tax payer, he submitted a paper showing competitive quotes from several local Harley dealers. The board chatted amiably amongst themselves for a moment, asked the top cop a question or two, and then voted.
The police department got their Harleys for summertime cruisin’.
In this video from Deutsche Welle TV, we’re introduced to retired Munich cop Herbert Joksch who pridefully shows us his former patrol car – a green 1950’s BMW 501 known as the “Baroque Angel.” Early predecessor to the 7-Series, BMW’s 501 was Munich’s luxurious answer to the Mercedes 300.
Herr Joksch remembers:
“When you were standing outside [directing traffic] for seven hours at a time and then some fellow policeman drove through the square in a Baroque Angel, all you could do was wave to him briefly. It wasn’t a feeling of envy. But your dearest wish at that moment was to one day be allowed to sit in that car.”
Officer Joksch, members of a certain police force Stateside know just how you feel.
On The Street In NYC: BMW E38 7er
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img ADLX ::: e38 BMW 740i
PRIME examples of the mid-90s/early 00s BMW 7-Series are getting to be as common as llama sightings on Fifth Avenue.
Sadly, BMW’s e38 generation (1995-2001) 7-Series sedans, generally speaking, are used, abused, and tossed to the next owner who wants a flash car but can’t or won’t pay for upkeep. And given that these 7ers have plenty of electronics that go wrong – from the soft-close trunk to the early gen. in-dash GPS – we can just imagine how many basket case 740i/740iL/750iL sedans there are on the roads.
Above is a ‘99-’01 post-facelift gold 740i. Cosmetically, it’s a find. Gold was more commonly featured on the e32 generation (1987-1994) and didn’t accentuate the later 7’s contours as nicely, but, it’s still sharp.
The ‘99 facelift’s subtle effects shine here, too – particularly how the trim beneath the headlamp housings perfectly outlines the two sets of spherical headlights.
All told, a prime 7 in a prime city in prime condition.
One Millionth BMW X5: King of Its Own Hill
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img BMW ::: BMW makes 1,000,000 X5s
THE press release is kind of funny as BMW is still using its own “Sports Activity” jargon when describing its X5 – judged a straight up sports utility vehicle by pretty much everyone on the planet.
The BMW X5, which was originally launched in Spartanburg in 1999 as the first vehicle in the Sports Activity segment, has laid the cornerstone for BMW as the most successful premium vehicle manufacturer in the SAV/SUV segment during its 11-year history.
Nothing quite like declaring yourself king of your own hill. In any event, in 11 years BMW’s made 1,000,000 X5s – a figure that represents a significant chuck of their overall car sales.
Meanwhile, Mercedes has announced a kind of reminder that it, too, makes SUVs that go like stink and take a corner. The ML63 AMG features a 6.3 Liter, 510 horsepower V8 which puts it in company with the BMW X5 M’s 4.4 Liter, twin-turbo, 550 horsepower V8.
Beijing Motor Show: “Exclusively For China”
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img withdrawn Citroën advert via Jack Yan’s Blog ::: 2010 Beijing Motor Show
CAR companies are falling over themselves to cater exclusively to the Chinese consumer this year; 2010 being the first full year that the PRC counts as the world’s largest automotive market.
As an American consumer, I feel a little slighted. What have we been all these years, chopped liver?
Let’s leave the political, economic, and perhaps social ramifications of this attention shift aside, and also that little factor that we might all be at war over Taiwan, Near-East oil, or somebody’s loss of face inside 20 years, and consider that the US car market, perhaps still the world’s most lucrative in terms of real dollars and cents, has seldom in recent times been the platform for such grand débuts or special acknowledgments by foreign car makers.
Here’s an informal rundown of pre-Beijing Motor Show announcements:
- BMW announced a solely-for-China Long-Wheelbase 5-Series
- Mercedes said they’d début the CLS Shooting Brake Concept (at the New York Auto Show, their big announcement was the updated R-Class – joy!)
- Ferrari’s billing it’s new 599GTO as its “fastest road car ever”
- VW will show off its new flagship Phaeton
- Citroën announced the Metropolis concept, designed and built in China
- Maybach’s unveiling its fresh new face to its über-saloon at Beijing (again, why not NY?)
- Bentley’s press release read “EXCLUSIVELY FOR CHINA” as they announced the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed China (say that ten times fast in Mandarin) and the Continental GT Design Series China
And so on and so forth. Yes, China is presently the great new over-heated economic frontier.
That said, let’s not forget that India and Brazil are also emerging as meaty new markets, too. And neither of these countries’ governments force foreign car companies to embed with domestic car makers.
You know, once you share trade secrets with your corporate partner, when you’re no longer a collaborative force the other party tends to remember all your best plays.
Given that Chinese corporate culture is as transparent as dragon scales and that the government’s penchant for subversive market intervention is quite real (Google), there’s a distinctly awful possibility that the auto industry’s zealous forays into the Land of Mao could backfire horribly in years to come.
Ah, well. We live to learn don’t we?
Achtung! BMW et al.: The Road Ahead To The Perfect Car Is Riddled With Undesired Compromise
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img BMW
THE world is full of compromise – even for those who claim to be uncompromising.
In this market where every consumer wants his cake and the capacity to – yes – eat it, too, car makers are feeling compelled to produce more models that claim to be all things to all people.
Inevitably, if the world’s great marques were ever to actually fulfill this goal they’d only succeed in ensuring that their cars would be all things no one in particular.
Sensibly, what car makers seek outside their marketed maxims is a balance that encapsulates their “brand”. At the lofty end of the car market, that typically means finding a happy ratio between sport and luxury – though – “green” factors such as gas mileage and alternative fuel technology are playing an ever increasing role.
We’ll leave the latter aside for this discussion.
The trend over two decades seems anything but balanced as the scales have tilted towards luxury. And not luxury in a classic sense, but technological advancements that further separate the driver from the road and micromanage our experience behind the wheel and in the passenger seat.
Consider the BMW 7-Series.
The E32 7er (1988-1994) was a sublime executive performance sedan. Those large sharks were still fairly lean, athletic, nimble machines with cockpits that lavished attention on the driver and cradled their passengers, locking them in for what was sure to be a thrilling ride.
The old 7 was a driver’s car first. Sublime luxury car second.
The E65 7er (2002-2009) pulled the equivalent of an e-brake turn into the opposite lane of comfy cruisin’.
BMW had decided that since their flagship was competing against the Lexus LS and Mercedes S-Class, their best needed to be larger, cushier, and purpose built for comfortable highway travel while being just taut enough to handle the occasional switchback.
The ratio in the span of less than ten model years went from 60/40 – sport/luxury to 40/60. In the new F01 7er, that balance tipped only slightly back towards sport in a ratio somewhere near 42/58 thanks to enough outcry from traditionalists.
For a car company that markets itself as the “Ultimate Driving Machine” this softening along with headlong advances into the crossover segment is discouraging.
Jaguar, Lexus, and Mercedes have tried executing the opposite maneuver; marketing themselves as performance oriented, athletic answers to the mundane commuter car. They’ve only succeeded in making the same quasi-bland car for each segment that’s distinguishable only by degree.
Here’s the nugget: the only road to maintaining brand identity and a loyal customer base is by being true to the original premise. In Lexus’ case, the perfect luxury people carrier. In Jag’s case – space, grace, and pace.
For BMW, that means living up to the ultimate driving machine maxim by ensuring every car that they build transmits, not insulates, the thrill of the drive.
Audi versus… A4 Advert Showcases Rivals
By Gunnar Heinrich :: YouTube
GOT to hand it to ‘em, Audi has some cheek.
Aside from Hyundai and GM which only use vague verbal or written references to their competition, Audi actually let us a visualize its marketplace rivals by showcasing their models stacked against the other guys.
In this particular advert, the Audi A4 squares off against the Lexus IS, Mercedes C-Class, and BMW 3-Series. Apparently, the A4 claims to be bigger and more fuel efficient than any of its contemporaries.
It doesn’t hurt that we can differentiate the two by noticing the Audi in diamond black and the rest trimmed in a grey-ish beige.
This spot reminds us of another rivalry that was recently exploited for one side’s publicity efforts…
eBay Watch: 1985 BMW 735i
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG eBay Motors
FINDING an 80s BMW 7-Series whose very tyres haven’t seen their last millimeter of tread scrubbed is, sadly, a challenge.
This is especially true of the great e32 gen. (1987-1994) which have largely led very hard lives judging by the sickly, three digit dogs that proliferate the Internet.
Truly sad.
That’s what makes this mint Californian example such a find. A 1985 BMW 735i, it’s part of the original e23 generation 7’s that the Bavarians sold from 1977 through 1986.
As some of you recall from our filmed road test of the 733i from 2007, the classic e23’s road manners seem downright wooden by today’s highly assisted standards. And yet, a well maintained example exudes a classic Black Forest charm that is, to many, the very heart and soul of the roundel.
Considering that this particular sedan hails from (typically) dry California, has only 154K miles on the odometer, a loved interior and exterior, plus the original radio (!), and is selling for a reasonable buy-it-now price of $3,995, this seems an offer too good to be true.
Apparently others agree, as the vintage 7er has 15 bids as this post goes to post. As always, caveat emptor. Any car with low miles can suffer from a slew of problems that are every bit as detrimental to the vehicle’s welfare and – your wallet – as those that are driven hard.
