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BMW i Collection puts upscale treehugging in the palm of your hand

If BMW's new i sub-brand sounds more like it belongs to consumer electronics than it does to automobiles, that's probably no mistake. After all, electric vehicles bridge the gap between conventional automobile and electronic gadget - just ask our compatriots over at Engadget that report on them all the time. But to drive the point home even greener, BMW has, together with the new i3, launched a new collection of electronics accessories that make the Bavarian automaker as much a competitor with companies like Belkin or Griffin as it is with Audi or Mercedes-Benz.
The new BMW i Collection includes items like a solar charger for phones and MP3 players, a laptop bag made from felt-like recycled PET plastic and vegetable-tanned leather, and of course the requisite USB dongle. Other items include keyfobs, a shopping bag, notebook and ballpoint pen.
All the items, of course, are designed to extend the i3's upscale tree-hugging image to items you can hold and use while your EV is charging in the driveway. They go on sale starting next month with prices ranging from 15 euros ($20) for the pen or lanyard to 99 euros ($135) for the shopping bag. Details in the press release below and images of the whole collection in the gallery above.

Daily Driver: 2016 BMW X1

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, reviewed by the staffers that drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2016 BMW X1, reviewed by Alex Kierstein. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. And don't forget to watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00 ]Hey, everybody. I'm Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and today we're driving the 2016 BMW X1. It's replacing the old X1 and the old X1 was based on BMW's traditional rear-wheel drive platform. That meant the engine was positioned longitudinally, that's north/south in the engine bay. In this application, we've got a transversely mounted turbo charged inline four, making 228 horsepower. [00:00:30] It displaces 2.0 liters and it's part of BMW's new modular engine family. It's a nice engine. It's smooth. It sounds good and it's got a lot of power. This is a little lighter than the previous car. This one weighs 3,660 pounds versus the old X1's 3800 and some change. It's a little bit lighter. The dimensions aren't that much different. If you're wondering why it got smaller, that's because it's using a platform [00:01:00] shared with a lot of BMW's Mini products. This is really the fruition of BMW's investment in the Mini brand because now they're able to use those platforms in the engines they developed for those models in BMWs. This X1 has an 8-speed automatic transmission and it's really a pretty good trans. It kicks down quickly if you call for it to give you some power and for the most part it's smooth and kind of out of your way. [00:01:30] Where Minis are sort of raucous when you really whomp in it, this is a little more restrained. It still delivers power like many of the current turbocharged Minis out there, but there's more refinement here. I really like the external styling on this car. It's wearing this really lovely shade of dark blue and BMW's current styling language lends itself really well to this shape [00:02:00]. It looks really tidy and it's not really that complex or interesting of a shape. It's very much the traditional two-box CUV kind of exterior look and profile, but the detailing is nice. It looks sharp. It looks like a premium product and it looks like a more expensive product than a similar Mini would. BMW used to pride themselves on having simple uncluttered interfaces and even the sort of trimmed down iDrive that's in this unit [00:02:30]. Works pretty well.

2014 BMW 4 Series drops its top, priced from $48,750*

BMW will debut its new 2014 4 Series Convertible at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, and after seeing plenty of spy shots and, most recently, some leaked images, we now have all the official details. To no one's surprise, the 4 Series convertible is, essentially, a topless version of BMW's new-for-2014 4 Series coupe, and will be offered in the United States in the same 428i and 435i guises.
On the base end, that means the 428i Convertible arrives with the company's 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine, good for 240 horsepower and 255 pound-feet of torque, and available with either rear- or all-wheel drive. BMW says the 428i will sprint to 60 miles per hour in a respectable 6.2 seconds. For folks in need of more thrust, BMW will happily sell you a 435i Convertible, available only with rear-wheel drive, powered by a 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged inline-six that produces 300 hp and 300 lb-ft of twist. Hitting 60 mph in the 435i will take roughly five and a half seconds with the standard eight-speed auto. Curiously, BMW did not mention anything about a six-speed manual transmission for either model, so looks like this droptop might be an auto-only affair. We've contacted BMW for confirmation, so we'll keep you posted.
Like the 3 Series Convertible it replaces, the 4 Series uses a three-piece folding hardtop configuration, and BMW says that added sound deadening reduces audible wind noise by about two decibels. Folding the automatic roof takes just 20 seconds, and can be done at speeds up to roughly 11 mph. For chilly, top-down driving (something we're big fans of), there are now three-temperature neck warmers for the front seats - just like what Mercedes-Benz offers with its AirScarf system.