2007 Bmw 328i Base Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

BMW names new head of M division

BMW's performance division has been run by Dr. Friedrich Nitschke since 2011, developing, among other products, the new M3 and M4. But soon the good doctor will be retiring, and BMW has just named his successor.
Taking Nitschke's place as chairman of BMW M GmbH will be Franciscus van Meel (pictured at right), who until recently served as managing director of Audi Quattro GmbH - the rival outfit that makes Ingolstadt's performance models, including the R8 supercar and RS line of performance models.
Van Meel will join BMW on October 1, presumably to learn the ropes from Nitschke before the 59-year-old executive steps down at the end of the year. Back in January, Audi named Heinz Peter Hollwerweger as head of Quattro GmbH and reassigned van Meel to its Beijing R&D center, a role which evidently didn't suit him as well as creating Autobahn-storming German muscle cars.

2013 BMW M3 Coupe Lime Rock Park Edition

Sic Transit Gloria
I like difficult cars. I like turbo "moments," dramatic weight distribution, low-grip, peaky power delivery, and overly quick steering, along with ultra-short wheelbases and any number of other non-racecar-perfect dynamic foibles. I love the newest generation of BMW cars and engines - all turbo'd up with tons of torque and power everywhere in the rev range, too. But what I think the enthusiast community will miss when this 2013 M3 Coupe becomes the 2014 M4 Coupe - replacing its idiosyncratic, small-displacement, revvy V8 for something like a triple-turbo, directly injected, inline six-cylinder powerhouse in the process - is the work it takes to drive the car fast and perfectly. Sometimes small flaws just make things better; my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun, and all that.
The idea of this E92 M3 going away then, magnified by the loss of the M3 badge for the coupe, is at best bittersweet for me. This generation of M car is already surpassed in terms of raw thrills by the better-than-ever Mercedes-Benz C63, a car that doesn't ask its driver to sacrifice low-end grunt or the very latest in amenities in return for stellar backroad performance. Yet any time I've been lucky enough to lap a track in the M3, it has quickly become clear that the Bimmer is the better on-edge tool. With the freedom to wring the neck of the 4.0-liter V8 and room to exercise the lovely balance of the car, the E92 is hard to match (even six years after its debut).

BMW offers M Performance Power Kit for 2012 335i sedan

BMW has let loose a new M Performance Power Kit for its F30-generation 335i and 335i xDrive sedans. Starting at $1,100 for the kit - installation is extra - your car will be fitted with a new ECU and air intake on the functional side and an M Performance engine cover and rocker panel stickers on the decorative side. The Power Kit raises the 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder's horsepower rating from 300 to 320, and on automatic models, torque gets a boost from 300 pound-feet to 332 lb-ft - manual transmission models get a smaller bump to 317 lb-ft.
According to the Bavarian automaker, you'll be able to hear the change in the overrun exhaust note, and 0-60 mile-per-hour times drop by 0.2 seconds. The package is available now at all BMW Centers in the US, and if you get it installed when you purchase the car new, it will get the same four-year, 50,000-mile warranty as the vehicle. Have it done after the fact and the kit will be warranted for two years and unlimited miles. There's a press release below with some more details.