1996 Bmw M3 Base Coupe 2-door 3.2l // Low Miles // 5 Speed // Lux Package on 2040-cars

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Spirit Lake Cycles brings a new look to vintage BMW bikes

It doesn't take a lot of room to work on motorcycles. In fact, Spirit Lake Cycles, which gets the spotlight in the latest video from Petrolicious, started out of a kitchen. Now, this two-man operation has created a small business to bring a custom look to vintage BMWs. The company is best known for a bike that it calls the CBMW. Based on an R90/6, the name comes from the cycle's Honda-sourced fuel tank. The streamlined design and white pinstripes lend the look of one of the Bavarian brand's own early creations, but the chopped fenders and under-seat exhaust show a much more modern style. Spirit Lake Cycles doesn't always go for such a highly modified design, though. The other cycles that Petrolicous highlights, including a gorgeous BMW R90S, appear far closer to stock than the show bike. The company says its motorcycles are meant to be ridden, and you can see the proof of that in this video.

Best sport sedans for 2022 and 2023

SUVs dominate the car industry at every size and price level, but some people still prefer the looks, and more importantly, the performance and comfort, of the traditional sedan. With a lower ride height, lighter weight and generally smaller size, they often are much more fun to drive, and can even be more comfortable. Sport sedans of course lean harder on the performance side of things, and are among the best options for sheer speed and fun, thanks to those inherent characteristics. We've rounded up the ones in the segment that do the sporty dance better than any others in 2024 to give you a handy guide when you're shopping for one of your own. You'll find a wide array of cars here including gas, electric and hybrid powertrains. They'll have manual and automatic transmissions and drive the front, rear or all four wheels. Technically a few hatchbacks have slipped in, but they're close enough in look and feel that we wanted to include them. And excluding them means you might miss out on some of the best-driving options available. You wouldn't want that, would you? Alfa Romeo Giulia Why it stands out: Punchy four-cylinder; astounding power from Quadrifoglio; light and nimble character; awesome shift paddlesCould be better: Clunky infotainment; sub-par switchgear Read our Alfa Romeo Giulia review We start this list with one of the most predictable inclusions: the Alfa Romeo Giulia. Yes, it's a stereotype that the Italian sport sedan is fun to drive, but the fact is, well, it is. The Giulia comes standard with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 280 horsepower, making it one of the most powerful four-cylinders in the segment. It's paired with a snappy and smooth eight-speed transmission and either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive.  The engine is lively and torquey, if a little short of revs, and the chassis feels super-light. The steering is eager and the car jumps into corners. We also highly recommend getting a version with the enormous and superb aluminum paddle shifters that make clicking through gears much more entertaining. And on the topic of the interior, it's attractive, but the various switches and knobs feels a little cheap, and the infotainment system is clunky. Of course there's also the incredible Giulia Quadrifoglio at the high end. It gets a Ferrari-derived twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 making 505 hp, and it's rear-wheel drive only.

BMW considering M7 and luxurious 9 Series

BMW just recently rolled out its new flagship 7 Series sedan. It didn't take long for it to introduce not one, but two performance versions as well. But what we've seen until now could only be the start as the Bavarian automaker looks to close the gap between the 7 and the Rolls-Royce Ghost. What you're looking at above appears to be a prototype testing components for a potentially forthcoming M7 – which is something that BMW has never offered before. It's packing what look like enormous, cross-drilled brakes – just the kind of thing an M-fettled 7 would need to keep its mass and momentum in check. It was seen running around with an M5 and X6 M, suggesting that it's the performance division that's playing around with this big sedan for the first time. An M7 would have to pack some serious punch, considering what's already on offer. Both the Alpina B7 (4.4-liter V8) and M760Li (6.6-liter V12) each offer 600 twin-turbocharged horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque driving to all four wheels, capable of hitting 60 mph in the threes. The full M version, then, might need a good 650 hp or more, which would put it out in front of everything else – including the Audi S8 Plus (605 hp) and Mercedes-AMG S65 (621 hp). Even with all that performance and clout, however, the M7 might still not be enough for BMW to close that $200k gap to the bottom of the Rolls-Royce range. That's why it could roll out an even more luxurious and completely separate model, potentially called the 9 Series. The new uber-luxe sedan would take on the Mercedes-Maybach S600 that's proven particularly popular in China, where Automotive News notes that Benz sells half of all the S-Class models it makes. Since they're mostly chauffeur-driven through crowded streets, upscale customers there care less about BMW's traditional focus on handling dynamics and more about comfort. And with the government cracking down on corruption, they've also reportedly been eschewing overt symbols of wealth – like the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, for example. We could expect the 9 Series, then, to offer even more rear-seat legroom than the 7, and be more oriented towards comfort than performance. Related Video: