#BMW

Automotive technology is developing at a dizzying pace, but that rapid progress has created quite a few side effects along the way. Take screens, for example. It’s illegal to even hold a cell phone while driving in many states, yet there’s a large screen on the dash of almost every new car today – sometimes more than one. BMW’s board chair has thoughts on the issue and believes we’ll see a big shift in how screens are used in the next few years.

On Wednesday, BMW revealed the color-changing i Vision Dee concept during its keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 held in Las Vegas – showcasing a bevy of novel technologies the automaker would like to see installed into its future products. While some of these seemed grounded in reality, with the Bavarian brand’s chairman already confirming their implementation on its forthcoming “Neue Klasse” vehicle platform, others items were so fantastical that it would be difficult to imagine them making it to production vehicles.

It's that time of year. Time to look back, take stock of the year that's just passed, do some self-reflection, and think about the best and worst cars we drove in 2022.

Hi Cary,

I have a question for you about some maintenance on an older BMW I recently bought. The car is an E30 325i and I was told that it needs to have a valve adjustment. I am new to having an older car as everything I have owned prior has been much newer. Any advice on it and what to keep an eye out for?

Thank you for any information.

Ronnie

Today's used car of the day comes from the Illinois side of the St. Louis suburbs. It's a 2008 BMW M5 in the rare Interlagos Blue paint. It also has the Sepang Bronze Merino perforated leather interior trim and full interior leather package.

The very first BMW 7 Series cars were sold in North America for the 1978 model year, and production of the E23 continued through the middle of 1986. With a build date of March of that year, today's Junkyard Find (in a Colorado yard between Denver and Cheyenne) is one of the last E23s ever made.

Happy holidays! Happy new year! Welcome to 2023! Now fork over more for that BMW you want.

Climate-change protesters doused a car painted by Andy Warhol in flour in Milan, Italy, last week.

BMW Chief Executive Oliver Zipse has said that despite the automaker’s status as a luxury carmaker it would not be abandoning lower-priced segments while it swaps over to electric vehicles. Though the general trajectory for the Bavarian marquee – and the automotive industry in general – over the last several years has been to chase higher margins by focusing on pricier, often larger, vehicles and clever packaging.

Today's UCOTD is a hopped-up Bimmer.

We've been on the privacy kick lately, reporting a bit this week on automaker plans to use technology to provide over-the-air updates and feature upgrades, at the possible expense of your privacy.

Amazon Web Services and BMW are reportedly joining forces to establish a new cloud-based software designed to deliver and manage the data amassed by connected vehicles – which is great news if you happen not to value your privacy.

As the industry rockets towards a future eventually denuded of internal combustion, it’s encouraging to know at least some things retain a few traditional enthusiast roots. Witness the new 2023 BMW M2, packing an inline six-cylinder engine and three pedals.

Dieselgate slashed a gaping hole in the assumption that automakers were genuinely invested in building more efficient cars, but it’s hardly the only flimflammery going on behind the scenes. A recent report from Transport and Environment, a European NGO pushing for cleaner transport, found that many automakers are underreporting global emissions by as much as 115 percent. 

Recently, Dodge made news by saying its beloved V8 performance cars are going full EV in the not-too-distant future. BMW is talking about a similar transition.