Custom 2011 Bmw X5 Xdrive50i Tuned on 2040-cars

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Electrify Expo is an all-electrified auto show like the old days

In late July, Autoblog swung by Washington, D.C. to check out the Electrify Expo. Now in its third year of nationwide shows, the Electrify Expo calls itself “North America's largest electric vehicle festival filled with over 1 million square feet of the world's top electric brands.” At every stop, visitors can find out about, crawl around in, drive and ride just about any personal conveyance that uses a battery for propulsion. Truth be told, when the show's PR team reached out to us with an invite, we only considered going after finding out about an area showcasing battery-electric tuner cars. EV tuning is undoubtedly going to be huge—eventually—which got us curious about these early days. We figured weÂ’d brave whatever the rest of the expo was to find out whatÂ’s the equivalent of nitrous for a Tesla. See, the EV event scene is still such that one never knows if theyÂ’ll show up to a mix of science and county fairs with a few cars on display just for truth in advertising, or if theyÂ’ll show up to a parking lot with 26 cars, 10 of them locked, 10 of them homemade, and 6 guarded by promotional hires desperate to tap all your identifying info a tablet before dispensing dubious and superficial information. Which is to say, we didnÂ’t expect much. And that makes us chuffed to report: Electrify Expo is great. We hadnÂ’t been strolling the lot outside the old RFK Stadium for five minutes before thinking, “This feels like an old-school auto show!” The exclamation to that point came from a group of four who cut me off to reach the C40 Recharge in the Volvo booth, one of them exclaiming as if he were the group expert and as if his friends were deaf, “THATÂ’S THE LEAST EXPENSIVE ONE! AND ITÂ’S BEEEE-YOUUUUU-TI-FULLLLLL!” I wasnÂ’t there to judge, I was there for the enthusiasm. Automakers had built small, simple, open booths, parked cars in them, then provided visitors the kind of interactions that will do the most good for anyone wondering about or interested in an EV. We only saw two cars that were off limits, the new Volkswagen ID.Buzz and the Ford F-100 Eluminator. Volvo wouldnÂ’t let me get an espresso from their chic little trailer, either, unless I visited the EX90 Experience trailer first. Otherwise, it was a free-for-all. Tesla had a large booth full of cars. BMW had two i7s open for everyone to sit in, next to the Ford booth with that Eluminator and an unlocked Mustang Mach-E GT and F-150 Lightning showing their cooler-chest-frunk trick.

Next BMW X5 caught testing in the snow

That's not taken long at all. Less than three years after BMW introduced the current X5, the German automaker has already kicked off winter testing for its replacement. The new Sport Activity Vehicle (that's BMW for crossover) has been spotted in snowy terrain, complete with heavy camouflage and extra driving lamps. Now, this is a mule, which means we're absolutely not looking at production sheetmetal. Instead, we'd wager the next X5 is hiding well beneath this swirly camouflage. Compared with images of the current car, it looks like we're seeing a longer front overhang, a shorter rear overhang, and a tighter dash-to-axle ratio. That makes us think the next X5's exterior dimensions might be just a smidge smaller than the current model. And that gels with at least some of what our spies are telling us. For one, they're reporting that the new X5 will be significantly lighter, as is the trend nowadays. It will also be more comfortable and techy, both of which would put it in line with the new 7 Series. Beyond that, though, we're in the very earliest days of BMW's next SAV. The debut of the fourth-generation X5 will likely come in 2018 as a 2019 model. Related Video:

The Aficionauto gets his hands on Back To The Future BMW

When thinking about the cars of Back to the Future, Doc Brown's iconic DeLorean is surely the first one that jumps to mind. However, the latest video from The Aficionauto tracks down a more obscure but still rather cool vehicle from the series. Host Christopher Rutkowski heads to Connecticut for a difficult drive in Griff's screen-used 1976 BMW 633 CSI from the second film in the trilogy. Owner Jeff Chabotte bought the car in thoroughly neglected condition and spent weeks with his father and son bringing the futuristic Bimmer back to life. The slew of scoops and nacelles behind the seats might not be aesthetically beautiful, but they're authentic to the appearance in the film. For authenticity, Chabotte even keeps the busted taillight from Griff hitting it in the movie. As Rutkowski finds during his drive, Griff's BMW poses absolutely no threat of chasing down the DeLorean to 88 miles per hour. There's actually a pretty good reason for that, though. The interesting story involves how the producers procured this gray-market 633 CSI to be in Back to the Future II. Related Video: