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Dashcam catches oblivious car thief in the act

A car thief from North London became an overnight internet sensation when he was recorded making a phone call by a car's dashcam. According to The Guardian, an unidentified car thief stole the BMW i3 in the early hours of February 7. As he drove through the nearly deserted streets of the London borough of Enfield, he made a phone call to someone who may have been a potential buyer for the car. Unbeknownst to the thief, the car's dashcam was recording the entire time. The thief describes the car to the person on the other end of the call and tells them where he planned to park it – at his flat near North Middlesex Hospital. "Listen, I ain't never been in a car like this," the thief told his customer. "This car, will leave, anything for dust! It is off! It can move!" he shouts off-camera. He's not wrong. The little BMW i3 packs a electric motor that generates 125 kilowatts, or 170 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque in internal-combustion terms. The thief never got the chance to unload the car, however. The next day the car's owner located it via GPS tracking data and recovered his vehicle without incident. Dinah Rose, a friend of the BMW's owner, uploaded the dashcam footage to YouTube and tweeted about it on May 15. The video immediately went viral, garnering nearly 50,000 views in twenty-four hours. Since the vehicle was recovered without incident, London Metropolitan Police have no plans for further action or to track down the thief's identity. According to the Metropolitan Police's London crime figures, more than 71,000 motor vehicle crimes were reported in the city between March 2015 and March 2016. Of those reported crimes, 2,753 were reported in the borough of Enfield, where this incident occurred. Motor vehicle crimes are defined by the Metropolitan Police as theft of and from vehicles. Related Video:

BMW 1 Series GT spied in 7-seat trim

As BMW prepares to introduce its first-ever front-wheel drive car, the upcoming 1 Series GT, it looks like there will be at least two versions of the car. A conventional-looking hatchback was spotted testing late last year, but now we see an extended-length version in order to accommodate a third row of seats.
Judging by these spy shots, this 1 Series GT prototype has received an extended wheelbase, larger rear doors and more upright D-pillars compared to our previous spy shots (show in the gallery below) all with the aim of creating additional passenger and cargo space. Like the smaller 1 Series GT, this longer model would likely carry over the same powertrain options, which are expected to consist of three- and four-cylinder engines, a hybrid system and the choice of front- or all-wheel drive. The 1 Series GT could make its debut this fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but we might have to wait until next year to see the people mover.

BMW M3 and M4 CSL not in the cards

We aren't sure whether to file this one under "good news" or "bad news." BMW confirmed to Top Gear that there "are no plans" for lightweight versions of the new M3 and M4, in the same vein as the E46 M3 CSL (despite rumors to the contrary). The reason?
"There wasn't a CSL on the previous generation, and the way we look at it is like this: the CSL was great because it had this real focus on lightweight engineering. But we've already done that with these new cars. We've made them as light as possible - they come in under 1500 kilograms (3,306 pounds), which for a car like this is incredible," said Matt Collins, BMW's product manager for small to medium cars.
Now, as much as we love the idea of a hardcore version of any car, we appreciate BMW's point of view that the newest Ms are already as light and tough as they need to be. Collins elaborated, saying, "Rather than doing a halfway house to begin with and then rolling out a CSL, we thought we'd make the 'real' car as light as we possibly could. So we've no plans whatsoever to make a lighter, harder version just yet."