94 Bmw 525i, Automatic, Pristine Cond, 70 Pics, If You See It You Will Buy It + on 2040-cars

Auto blog

BMW gets exemption to allow self-parking 7 Series in US [w/video]

The US-spec 2016 BMW 7 Series is gorged with enough technology for it to qualify as a finalist in our Technology of the Year award. But not all of the tricky bits found on the European-spec car are offered Stateside, like the automated Park Assistant Plus that lets a driver remotely move the car into and out of a parking space using the touchscreen keyfob. The reason is Section S5.3 of Standard No. 114 of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which dictates that "the service brake... be depressed before the transmission can be shifted out of park.'" Since Park Assistant Plus is remote controlled, the brake pedal isn't pressed when the car shifts from Park into a gear. Automobile reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has conceded the law is too vague, and granted BMW's request for an exemption to bring the convenience feature to the US. NHTSA said that the point of the law was to have brake actuation during the transition from Park to a forward or reverse gear, not to insist that someone actually presses the brake pedal. BMW said it plans to bring Park Assistant Plus to the US soon, but the carmaker doesn't yet have a firm timeline for the move. To us that seems like a small yet significant victory as the marketplace fills up with cars that have abilities beyond the current laws to manage. Now if we could just get that whole FMVSS headlight issues worked out and enjoy some of that tasty Matrix and MultiBeam lighting. You can watch a video of the BMW system in action in the video below.

In Japan, you can buy your a BMW i3 on Amazon [UPDATE2]

UPDATE: The story's been updated to include a response from a BMW spokesman. UPDATE2: The story's been updated to include a response from a BMW's Germany headquarters. We love the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section for this one. Sleeping bags, cotton T-Shirts and a BMW i3 plug-in vehicle. That's your average Amazon shopping cart, right? It could be in Japan, where the plug-in car is being sold to potential customers online. The online retailer, long the largest in the US, is posting listings of the i3 on its Japanese site, notes Yahoo News, and both the standard electric i3 and the one with the gas-powered range extender are available. There are almost 50 dealers in Japan that can sell the i3, the German automaker's first production plug-in vehicle, but BMW appears to be trying to extend its distribution reach a little further. Of course, it's not a simple point-and-click situation, as prospective customers who order the vehicle online will apparently get a follow-up phone call from a BMW representative asking for proof of both access to a charging station as well as a parking spot. "It's become a tradition that the BMW Group breaks new ground with BMW i and that also goes for the way the vehicles are sold, with several different sales channels being tested and used," a representative with BMW's Germany headquarters wrote in an e-mail sent to AutoblogGreen. "In Japan, a one-off test project, designed only for that market – has seen BMW i3 models offered via Amazon. The delivery and customer service of these vehicles is, of course, handled by authorized BMW i dealers in Japan." BMW started selling the i3 in the US last year, moving about 6,100 units in 2014 and almost 2,700 through the first quarter of this year. Related Videos: Related Gallery 2014 BMW i3: First Drive View 33 Photos News Source: Amazon, Yahoo! News via Green Car Reports Green BMW Electric Amazon online

2015 BMW i8 sets everyone's tongues wagging in Northern Michigan

Like few other cars we can remember, people want to talk about the 2015 BMW i8. Drive one, and you'll soon find out what we mean. They stop you at gas stations. They accost you in Walgreen's parking lots. They stream out of neighborhood bars, beers in hand.
At least, that was our experience this week during Autoblog's Technology of the Year testing. We had the pleasure of driving the plug-in hybrid BMW sports car up to and around Petoskey, MI, a resort town where seeing such exotics is rare enough, let alone in the off season. It made for some interesting conversations - so we began writing down some of the comments the butterfly-doored coupe inspired. Here's a sampling:
"Wanna race for pinks? I'll go easy on you." - Acne-covered teenage pizza delivery driver in a sad-looking Ford Taurus parked at a Valero gas station near Grayling (which incidentally didn't actually have gas).