Innehållsförteckning för June 2024 från TOTAL BMW

Our S54-powered E36 M3 cover car this month got me thinking about engine swaps because, to me, they are stillacomplete mystery. I've had a lot of cars over the years and have done some NA tuning, plenty of forced induction upgrades, and even supercharged my E92 M3, which was far and away the biggest performance upgrade I've ever had done to a car. But engine swaps are something else. Obviously, if you're swapping in an engine that was designed for that specific model in the first place, it's less of a stretch and while there's still work involved, it's not any kind of superhuman undertaking. But once you start talking about engine swaps from other models, things start getting more complicated. You've got to make it fit in the first…

NEWS BMW News BMW's current model offensive in the area of electric mobility also brings additional variety to the premium compact segment. A new entry-level variant of the fully electric iX2 is on sale now. The new iX2 eDrive20 takes a particularly economical route to delivering locally emission-free driving pleasure in a compact Sports Activity Coupé. Powered by a 204hp electric motor at the front axle, it sprints from 0 to 62 mph in 8.6 seconds and posts a range of 273-297 miles in the WLTP cycle. Its top speed is limited to 106 mph. The high-voltage battery in the new iX2 eDrive20 serves up 64.78 kWh of usable energy and can be charged from AC sources at 11 kW as standard and up to 22 kW as an option. DC…

New from BMW tuning expert MStyle comes this handy module that transforms your F8x M4's LED DRLs into colour-changing angel eyes. The yellow and white colour options can be used legally on the road; all other colours are for off-road and show use only. All of the colour options are simply controlled via your smartphone, allowing you to quickly and easily transform your M car's appearance, meaning you can colour-code your headlight halos to anything you like, or just go for something wild to add some contrast. Professional fitting is recommended by Mstyle and available at the company's Romford-based tuning centre. Price: £395, fitting £100, prices include VAT Web: www.mstyle.co.uk Email: info@mstyle.co.uk Tel: 020 8598 9115 MMR Power Control Module for G8x M2/3/4 After more than 12 months of development,…

S54 E36 M3 We Brits love a moan, but, truth be told, we honestly don't know how good we've got it when it comes to cars. Other countries have outrageous purchase prices; some countries have astronomical road tax charges; and while we pay a chunk for fuel, prices are far higher in many places around the world. And when it comes to BMWs, we've been fortunate enough to have never really missed out on anything desirable. There have been a few exceptions here and there for sure, like the E34 M5 Touring, for example, but, generally speaking, our selection of M-cars has almost always included the cream of the crop. And we've always been treated to the full-fat models, unlike other markets, which have had to make do with detuned…

E30 333i Few BMW enthusiasts are aware of the E30 333i and the fact that South Africa was home to the first BMW factory outside of Germany. However, that didn't mean that every model made by BMW Germany was made available to the South Africans. The E30 M3 was never officially available in South Africa, but the country was full of BMW enthusiasts who wanted a high-performance E30. The result is that BMW South Africa made its own high-performance versions. These included, at a later stage, the E30 325iS Evo 1 and Evo 2, but predating these cars was the 333i – a car that is today an icon among South African enthusiasts. I bought my first 333i back in 1992; she was five years old and identical to this…

Elizabeth's E92 M3 (@buffycarjourno) To my eyes, the E92 has aged incredibly gracefully. The coupé body has a soft, smooth, sleek sense of elegance that is lost in the later, far more angular iterations of the twodoor 3 Series, and it's hard to believe it's coming up for 18 years old. And the M3, with its gently flared arches and power dome bonnet, has a subtle sense of presence that is missing from the more recent, far more aggressive M machines. Beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, but, for me, this is one of BMW's best modern designs. A few things age it a little, perhaps, namely the headlights and the early rear lights, and while the LCI rear clusters are an easy swap and instantly…

The 6 Series family has a long legacy, starting in the 1970s, and has given us some stunning cars. It's such a shame, then, that this once great model went out with such a whimper in the shape of the G32 6 Series Gran Turismo, which looked nothing like the sleek coupés that had come before, and more like a bloated 5 Series. It's a sad end to what was once a great GT, effortlessly combining luxury and performance in a stylish package, but the 6 Series gained a lot of fans over the years and generations, and thanks to them, we can enjoy cars like the one that started it all, the E24. We love to see people caring for and preserving these classics, just like the example we've…

E28 M5 40 years ago, British car magazines were perhaps less given over to hyperbole than they are today, but the arrival of the E28 M5 had them reaching for the thesaurus of superlatives. The only criticism levelled at it was directed towards its hefty price tag – an eye-watering £31,295 – a staggering £11k more expensive than the M535i. Despite this, Autosport enthused; “It's got it all – performance, discretion, practicality, luxury – in the right proportions,” while Performance Car reckoned the “New M5 is surely the ultimate Q-Car, a Plain Jane saloon with raving supercar performance.” The E28 M5 arrived at the Twist the key, and the M88 six spins over with a wonderfully evocative starter motor whine before bursting into a busy idle overlaid with the sound…

E46 M3 TOURING There is something very cool about fast estates. They definitely have a big following among motoring fans worldwide, and it's the combination of practicality and performance that is irresistible, the simple fact you've got a car that can comfortably transport a whole family, groceries, furniture, dogs (although possibly not all at the same time) far more rapidly than should be possible. There's something inherently amusing and entertaining about that. The thing is that while there are plenty of rapid estates about these days, it's the ones that carry an RS, AMG or M badge on them that are really special because the difference between a fast estate and a proper performance wagon is what that badge means, that ultimate next level of focus and engineering. And while…

MOTORSPORT Rob Roy Hillclimb is claimed to be the second oldest in existence, with Prescott just pipping it to the post. The hill is leased from the Australian Water Authority and located some 25 miles north of Melbourne among gum trees and challenging inclines – plus the occasional kangaroo joining the multitude of spectators! Guardian of the track is the MG Car Club Victoria, which regularly stages historic and classic events, as well as hosting a round of the Victorian Hillclimb Championships – usually the first of the year, as was the case when we followed the action in January. The Championship attracts all marques of cars representing almost every quarter, from family saloons shorn only of their hubcaps and contents of the glove box, up to open-wheel racers and…

Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park is paving the way for increasingly sustainable travel in Wales’ countryside, with the installation of 16 new electric vehicle charge-points – funded by BMW UK through its Recharge in Nature partnership with UK National Parks. In addition to enhancing the UK's EV charging infrastructure, the partnership also sees the two organisations collaborate on nature restoration and community impact projects. The new charge points, which are now live, are split evenly between Bannau Brycheiniog National Park's Visitor Centre in Libanus and Craig-y-Nos Country Park. The installation means EV drivers can now top up their batteries while enjoying the mountains, rivers, dark skies and wildlife of this beautiful National Park. This latest installation of charge points is the most recent milestone for the Recharge in Nature…

BMW's ‘i’ programme is an odd one. All at once something that was way ahead of the curve, and yet also a project which took a fair old chunk of time to properly get into its stride, we're only now really seeing the fruits of labour, which began back in 2011. Now, there are seven fully electric models of various product ranges in the BMW portfolio. But it wasn't always this way, in terms of having so much zero-emission choice emanating from Munich. BMW i didn't take long to give us its first two products, and what a couple of belters they were. Halo duties were carried out by the i8, a mid-engined, butterfly-doored supercar with a 1.5-litre turbo three-cylinder and the helpful advantages of a part-electric plug-in-hybrid drivetrain. Available…

V10 E30 For a long time, if you were a car manufacturer and you wanted to add a super saloon to your lineup, it was going to have a V8 up front; that was the engine of choice, with very few left-field exceptions (Brabus, we're looking at you and your V12 E-Class). But then, one day, BMW's M engineers looked at the company's F1 programme and thought: ‘Why not V10?’. Why not, indeed, because putting a five-litre, 10-cylinder engine into a family saloon was clearly the most logical decision that could have been made… And so the E60 M5 was born, and everyone proceeded to lose their minds over it. And rightly so, because no one had created such an absolutely mental mainstream hyper saloon before, and it really caught…

When you think about the legacy of BMWs many M cars, it's easy to dismiss the turbocharged generations just because the cars that preceded them were the last of the NA models, and there's something undeniably special about that. But the thing is that the first generation of turbo cars was also a really big deal. When you're doing something new, you've got to start somewhere, so those first turbo models were trailblazers for everything that would follow. That transition from so many years of pure NA M performance to turbocharged power was not easy to accept for long-term BMW fans, so it helped that the F8x M3 and M4 were so impressive in terms of everything they delivered. The fact that they offered so much performance definitely helped, and…

If you're in the market for a bargain cruiser, then look no further than BMW's F01 730d Saloon. Boasting an opulent spec, surprisingly potent performance, plus impressive fuel economy, it's a steal. Bigger diesel saloons have fallen out of favour, these days, with most used buyers opting for petrol or hybrid-powered vehicles–or an SUV. And that lack of demand means you can now pick upadecent 730d for as little as six grand. Just make sure it's anMSport rather than the softer SE model, and steer clear of the less practical and more expensive long-wheelbase versions. Launched in 2008 and available in both F01 730d and F02 730Ld limousine forms, the 730d Saloon is powered by BMW's 3.0-litre N57D30 six-cylinder turbodiesel motor producing 245hp – or 258hp from 2012 onwards. And…

(@buffycarjourno) After an awful lot of repairs, preventative maintenance and supporting mods, I was almost ready to crank up the boost on the M235i and see what sort of gains I was going to get. Before that, though, there was one more mod needed, and that was the downpipe. The downpipe connects the turbo to the rest of the exhaust system, and this is where you'll find the cat, which is the most restrictive part of the system. Inside, there's a tightly packed metal core, and you'll hear these measured in cells. The more cells, the more restrictive the cat, and, in the case of the N55, that means 600 cells per square inch. That massively slows exhaust gas flow, restricting power and reducing throttle response, so the key to…

Kevin Wotton's G81 M3 Touring The arrival of the Touring body style to the M3 lineup has been cause for much celebration among BMW fans the world over, like Kevin Wotton. He couldn't wait to get his hands on one, and he's specced himself a stunning machine. “My car history has been pretty much BMW since the age of 22 when I bought my first E36 328i Saloon,” Kevin tells us, “and I then went on to own a black E36 M3 Convertible with tan leather and a hard-top, and that was were the love of M cars started for me,” he says with a smile. “I had an E92 330i convertible back in 2007, in grey with full red leather, which was a great car; from that, I went…