A sporty car in a sporty environment

Sep 25, 2006 13:58 GMT  ·  By

Last weekend Automobile Bavaria, the official importer of BMW in Romania, was the host of the fourth edition of the International BMW Golf Cup. Located in the hills of Breaza at the "Lac De Verde Club", the golf competition was opened to everybody, and last year the Romanian women finalists managed to win the International Golf Cup. In this sporty environment, BMW presented us with three new important cars.

The first was BMW best seller in Romania, the small SUV BMW X3, a car that received a mid life facelift. So the most important change of this SUV was, of course, the interior quality of the dashboard, the new one being built with new materials and now there are more areas, like the doors panels, covered with leather. With this awaited change, BMW also made some modification of the engine range with the introduction of the most powerful three liter diesel engine in the world, the twin turbo six cylinder in line SD.

This engine is capable of delivering a massive 286 HP and a maximum torque level of 580 Nm available at 1,750 rpm. With this engine the new X3 is capable of reaching 100 km/h in just 6.6 seconds and the top speed of 240 km/h. Even with these top performances, the car has an official fuel consumption of just 7.2 liters. What is curious is the fact that this car with this new SD diesel engine is more powerful than the top of the range gas engine, the three liter SI that has maximum power of 272 HP. After this awaited X3, BMW presented on the Romanian market its latest Motorsport cars, the new Z4 M Roadster and the Z4 M Coupe.

Under the hood of these two sports cars there is the famous M3 power plant, the 3,2 liter 6 cylinder in line engine capable of delivering a maximum power of 343 hp at 7,900 rpm. The only problem of the beautiful Z4 M Coupe is the fact that it has to compete with the most successful Porsche ever, the Cayman. We said that because the price of the BMW is situated very close in the range to that of that Porsche and despite the fact that BMW has a sporty tradition, it lacks the name of the most prolific sport car manufactured in Germany, Porsche.

The last car of those that were presented at "Lac de Verde" in Breaza was the latest BMW that entered on the scene of the automotive industry. It is called the BMW three series Coupe and has the mission of becoming one of the best selling luxury coupes on the market. The last 3- series coupe was a decent car that performed nicely, but had a problem and that was its exterior design resemblance with that of the 3-series sedan. The new Coupe has a different design with more personalized features.

Even if this one also has the technical platform of the three series sedan, the new look is different and at the same time appealing. Inside, there are high quality materials, because the dashboard is the same like in the sedan. This thing could be a problem if we look at the completion like that of the Mercedes CLK that has an interior which is different if compared to its brother, the C class sedan. Even so, the driving position at the wheel is sporty and comfortable, and the touch of luxury elements like leather and wood makes the life of the driver quite pleasant. The only possible problem inside would be the aluminum insertion on the steering wheel and the classy wood found on the dashboard and the door panels. The combination of these two materials in the same car is unfortunate.

Under the long bonnet of the new BMW E92, the Germans are offering, for the first time in the last 25 years, a gas engine with twin turbo technology. The engine chosen to be turbocharged is of 6 cylinder in line with the capacity of three liter. The engineers mounted twin turbines with variable geometry and the maximum power increased from 272 hp at 306 hp. At a first glance, this increase of power is disappointing, but BMW wanted an engine very refined for every day driving with resources of power in almost any driving condition.

The result is that this engine has a maximum torque level of 400 Nm available from 1,300 rpm and remains at the same level of 400 Nm until the engine approaches 5,000 rpm. This was possible with the introduction of the direct injection through diesel like piezoelectric injectors.

With this innovation BMW says that this engine has the maximum power and the road performances of a V8 power plant and the fuel consumption is even smaller than the normal three liter aspirated engine. The price of this top of the line engine is without taxes 37,980 Euro. Another big surprise from this new BMW 3-series Coupe is the new twin turbo diesel engine found on the X3 facelift. With such muscles at the rear wheels, the new car goes to 100 km/h in just 6, 1 second and has a maximum speed of 250 km/h, electronically limited. The official fuel consumption for the 335 d Coupe is 5, 9 liters. The price without taxes for the 335d is 39, 980 Euro.

Considering all these innovations of the new 335i Coupe, the BMW has made a historical change that could be tricky, because the Bavarian were considered to have powerful engines without turbo charging them. That was the only reason for the success of cars like those that have the Motorsport sign on them. The turbocharged engines where found at manufacturers like Mercedes or Audi, but not at BMW. Only time could decide what is best for the Bavarians, but they will remain known as one of the most awarded manufacturer of normal aspirated engines.

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Photo: Lucian Dumitrescu

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