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BMW M3 driving off cliff is a chilling PSA

We're a little shocked that the unnamed owner of this cliff-diving E46 BMW M3 would upload the in-car footage of his accident to YouTube. Not only that, he uploaded two videos: raw footage of his roll down the cliff (it looks like somewhere in the Southwest, maybe Arizona) and a tribute video for his BMW that suffered the most severe consequences of understeer. Not only does uploading the videos leave him wide open for judgment by fellow enthusiasts (just read the YouTube comments), but we imagine if the police and his insurance company somehow don't know about the incident already, they will shortly. Scroll below to view for yourself.
The raw footage shows the sort of driving that led to the M3's violent tumble, and it serves as a good public service announcement reminder for everyone out there: Just like the Spengler's streams, double yellow lines aren't meant to be crossed. Also, hard driving is one thing, but hammering on public roads at speeds clearly above your skill levels as a driver is not only a recipe for legal trouble, it's a script for ruining your car at the very least, if not your life.

BMW 1 Series Sedan is a CLA fighter only for China

Mercedes-Benz and Audi have made solid in-roads with small, entry-level sedans. But while the CLA-Class and A3 lure in a new group of consumers, BMW's most affordable vehicles in the US are the small X1 crossover and the 2 Series Coupe. And it's going to stay that way, even though BMW just introduced a new 1 Series Sedan in China. Previewed at the 2015 Guangzhou Motor Show by the Concept Compact Sedan, the four-door 1 Series is a handsome little thing, like a scaled-down 5 Series but with better proportions. But unlike the 5er, the new 1 Series is, unfortunately, front-wheel-drive. It shares its UKL platform with everything from the Mini Hardtop and Clubman to the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer and X1. While that'd normally allow us to make a few safe guesses about the powertrain, the China-only nature obfuscates things – expect three- and four-cylinder gas engines, and possibly a plug-in powertrain. But since it's not coming here, we're less concerned with what will power the car. While BMW doesn't seem so keen on building an entry-level range here in the United States, the new 1 Series Sedan is the latest sign of how serious the company is taking the low end of the market in the PRC. Like a lot of cars sold in China, the new 1 is a product of the joint venture between BMW and Brilliance Automotive and is built in the PRC, alongside the 2 Series Active Tourer, X1, and 3 Series. Related Video:

2013 BMW X1

A Tasty Bit Of Old School For The New School
Against the backdrop of fervent hand-wringing from brand purists, BMW is on the cusp of finally offering front-wheel-drive vehicles. While that's a shock to the constitution, many are pointing to the company's fine-handling Mini offerings as an article of faith that it can get this drivetrain paradigm shift right. That may be true, but there's an even more important lesson that Mini has taught the decision-makers in Munich: how to make real money on small cars.
Before Mini came along, BMW - along with seemingly every other premium European automaker - never really figured out how to coax big dollars out of American wallets without developing cars that had large footprints, at least those other than sports cars. While the automaker really got rolling in America on the strength of little bantamweights like the 2002, it veered away from small cars sometime in the '80s. BMW subsequently crashed and burned with the cut-and-shut 318ti built off its E36 3 Series and, good as it is, the 1 Series hasn't given the company meaty volume or profits, either. Among other brands, the Audi A3 has never rung up big numbers, and the less said about the painful sales figures of the Volvo C30, the better. But Mini has beat the odds, blazing a more affordable and evidently compelling trail. As of late, the company's Countryman softroader has been a massive hit worldwide. No surprise then that BMW has reconsidered bringing over its smallest softroader, the X1, to the US.