Hello and welcome to our very first test drive report here on Bimmer.co. This is a brand new feature we are starting that will allow us and many other BMW fans around the world to share their test drive experiences. To kick things off I thought what better cars to test side-by-side than the 2012 BMW 1-Series Convertible and the 2012 BMW 3-Series convertible.

First let’s talk price. If you’re looking at a lease deal these cars are almost identical. You can get the BMW 128i Convertible for around $425/month with about $3,000 down on a 36-month lease. Compare this to about $450/month with the same down and you can see why there really isn’t that much of a difference, at least financially, between getting one of these two cars. So price is pretty much out of the equation here, if you can afford the 1-Series Convertible, you can afford the 3-Series convertible, it’s that simple.

Now let’s compare these two cars, first as the cars themselves, and then based on how they drive.

The 1-Series Convertible is small, people sitting in the backseat probably aren’t going to enjoy much legroom but with the top down they’ll probably get over it. With the top on your passengers are squished into a cubby more than sitting in the back of a car. Still, it’s a small car so what do you expect! The trunk size is fine, significantly bigger than a Z4 so anyone thinking of a roadster, think much bigger trunk. The 1-Series convertible is only available as a soft-top, which I’ve never been a huge fan of, but to each their own!

Now for the 3-Series Convertible. The car itself is longer and generally looks bigger and more like a sedan. So you’d think the backseat would be much bigger, but it’s really not. While passengers will have more legroom, I’m not sure they would consider it roomy by any means unless they tried the 1-Series first. The trunk is bigger and the car definitely more in the 5-Series category when it comes to overall size.

Okay, time for the most important part – how did they drive?

The 1-Series convertible had nice power and being fairly light the car is quite nimble. It’s easy to accelerate and you can tell the car can do just as well on city streets as it can on the freeway. The interior was a bit underwhelming but I think sadly that has more to do with BMW putting less energy into the ascetics of their interiors over he years. The car felt like it could turn on a dime, stopping was instant, and the engine felt more than adequate for powering the car. Still, having a soft-top was pretty lame, when the car is not being used as a convertible it honestly feels cheap.

The 3-Series convertible feels bigger from the moment you sit in the car. Nimble goes out the window as you can really feel the weight of the car when you push on the gas. It doesn’t have the same zip that the 1-Series has on city streets, but it feels much safer driving along the highway and at higher speeds it is rock solid. The hard-top makes a huge difference since the car looks incredibly slick with the top up or down. A bigger trunk is a nice extra and the overall size of the car, while big compared to the one is still small, especially once you get on a freeway full of SUV’s.

So what’s the verdict?

After spending some a good amount of time with both cars I have to say that the BMW 328i Convertible is the winner. While it’s not as peppy on city streets the car is still plenty of fun to drive, feels much safer on the freeway, and actually looks good whether the top is up or down. A bigger trunk makes this completely road trip worthy whether it’s two, three, or even four people – just make sure whoever sits in the back has short legs!

(Photo Credit) (Photo Credit)

Hello fellow Bimmer fans! I started this site back in 2010 when I acquired the domain name Bimmer.co. I was so excited, I’ve been a serious Bimmer fans since before I had my license, and this was my chance to build a real resource for the entire community. Well, I have now learned that I can’t do it alone and as you can probably see the site has been sitting here collecting dust for too long now.

So it’s time to take this site to the next level, and I’d like to do it by really starting from the very beginning, telling my story, hearing yours, and bringing some more writers onboard who can really help me make this site reach a bigger audience and be a go-to resource in the community. I want this to be an unbiased news source, a site that isn’t afraid to say if they think that our friends at BMW made a mistake. Of course I also want it to be the place where we also praise some of the really cool things that we are all doing with our Bimmers.

For me BMW has always been a lot more than a car, it’s been a way of life, a sense of freedom, and the never-ending love of driving. I also know that I’m not alone, there are millions of people around the world who don’t just drive a Bimmer, they live it. If this sounds like you, I want to hear from you – tell me your story, how did you get to become a Bimmer fan? What cars have you owned and what do you drive now? Oh, and would you like to write for this magazine? Yes, we’re paying, but we really are looking for people who are truly passionate about Bimmers, follow the latest news, and want to help us share this with the whole world.

Get ready folks, even though I started this site in 2010 I honestly feel like we are starting today. So come one come all, tell us why you love Bimmers, tell us your story, and let’s share in something that I think we all know is much more than a car, it’s the ultimate driving machine!

(Photo Credit)

BMW overtakes Mercedes Benz as fastest-selling luxury car

BMW has emerged as the fastest selling new luxury saloon car in Kenya after replacing rival Mercedes Benz in the first quarter as total sales of the high-end models fell 11.6 per cent.

Data from the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) show that sales of the luxury cars fell to 53 units in the three months to March compared to 60 units the previous year.

Hello fellow Bimmer fans! I know that many of you are probably either in your Bimmers right now or recently made the long haul to be with family and friends. The Holidays can be a stressful time but I feel that as BMW owners we are lucky, when we’re stuck in traffic, we’re stuck in a BMW.

In 2012 we’ll be kicking Bimmer.co into high-gear with a few exciting new features:

• Bimmer Social Network – talk about all things Bimmer and meet other Bimmer fans in your area.
• Bimmer Repair Directory – we have a BIG goal for next year, we’ll be putting-together one of the most extensive directories of BMW repair shops on the net. Best of all we’ll be making it easy for people to comment and share their experiences.
• More Writers – we are hiring 3-5 new writers in 2012, if you love Bimmers and want to talk about them then you might be just what we’re looking for!

Okay, now onto the latest Bimmer news hot off the press:

BMW Says Merry Christmas In A Unique Way

(Automoblog.net)

Its hard to believe Christmas is just a few days away. This time of year means getting the endless Christmas cards and well wishes from family and friends. Ever wanted to just do something different, stand out from the crowd? BMW understands. The company decided to offer a Christmas treat to enthusiasts with the “Fastest Christmas Card In the World.” (Read More)

BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe – Sneak Preview in London

(Inside Line)

According to BMW’s head of exterior design, Karim Habib, the new 6 Series Gran Coupe is the “most extreme statement of BMW’s sporty, elegant design.” Habib revealed BMW’s first ever four-door coupe at a press dinner in London, attended by Inside Line. (Read More)

BMW Takes 15.7% Stake in SGL, May Buy Stock at Favorable Price

(Bloomberg)

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, bought a 15.7 percent stake in lightweight-materials partner SGL Carbon SE and said it may add to the holding depending on the shares’ performance. (Read More)

BMW-Audi Battle Turns on China Replacing Germany as No. 2: Cars

(Businessweek)

China may overtake Germany as the world’s second-largest market for luxury cars behind the U.S. this year, fueled by demand for the two brands that are fighting for leadership in the category: BMW and Audi. (Read More)

(Photo Credit: marcp_dmoz on Flickr)

If you have garage space available, then it is a good idea to store your car there – especially during the cold weather. This can offer a great deal of protection from the elements, as well as keening your BMW more generally save and secure. Even if you have parking space outside of your home, it is well worth making good use of any garage space which you might also have access to.

On the other hand, if you aren’t able to park your vehicle in a garage, then you may want to think about investing in a car cover. Although some people claim that car covers can damage the paintwork of a car, this shouldn’t be the case if the car is always fully dry when placed under the cover. There are several official covers available from BMW, which can perhaps offer the best assurance that your cover is of a top quality, and will not cause any damage to your car.

In case you do encounter any weather-related problems during the colder months, then it is a good idea to make sure you have comprehensive insurance which will help you get back on the road as quickly as possible. Insurers such as the AAA or RAC offer breakdown recovery services which include roadside assistance – something that can be particularly useful when the weather is too cold to be stuck outdoors. It is usually a good idea to ensure that you have invested in such policies before the cold weather kicks in.

Lastly, you can prevent against more superficial problems with regular car maintenance. Making sure that you regularly wax you BMW can be one of the best ways in which you can protect against the signs of cold weather damage.

The star-seller this October is BMW’s BMW X3 SAV which is up a whopping 2,244% at 2,321 units sold. The new six series is up 762.5% at 414 units sold and the ever-popular X5 SAV is up 25.6%. If you thought the SUV trend was going away, think again, BMW is seeing a clear increasing demand for this category of car.

While BMW is doing great selling new cars their Certified Pre-Owned business is not doing as well posting a 4.4% decline vs. October 2010. Mini is doing great things for the brand though with a 37.1% increase bringing them to 5,415 cars sold in October of this year. For more information on BMW’s latest sales report please see BMW USA’s press release below.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., Nov. 1, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ – The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported October sales of 27,288 vehicles, an increase of 17.5% from the 23,222 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago.

Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are up 14.6% to 246,602 in the first ten months of 2011 compared to 215,274 in the same period in 2010.

“Auto sales are probably the best indicator of economic direction and the critical fourth quarter has made a good start fueled by demand and boosted by new models,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America.  ”The model year changeover is complete, the new 528i and the full 6 Series lineup are available along with the 2012 X3 and X5 so I expect a strong run to the end of the year.”

BMW Brand Sales

Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 13.5% in October for a total of 21,873 compared to 19,272 vehicles sold in October, 2010.

Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 12.9% on sales of 199,552 January through October compared to 176,736 sold in the first ten months of 2010.

In October, best performing vehicles included the BMW X3 SAV up 2,244% to 2,321 units; the all-new BMW 6 Series, up 762.5% to 414 units and the BMW X5 SAV, up 25.6% to 3,997 units.

BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles

In October, sales of BMW used vehicles (including certified pre-owned and pre-owned) totaled 13,262, a decrease of 4.4% from the 13,867 sold in October 2010.

Year-to-date, BMW used vehicle sales are down 5.5% on volume of 132,686 compared to 140,468 in the first ten months of 2010.

MINI Brand Sales

MINI USA reported sales of 5,415 automobiles in October.  The October 2011 sales are up 37.1% from the 3,950 sold in October 2010.  The MINI Countryman, on sale since December 2010, had its best month ever in October with 2,012 units.

Year-to-date, MINI sales in the U.S. are up 22.1% on volume of 47,050 compared to 38,538 in the first ten months of 2010.

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 339 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 138 BMW motorcycle retailers, 110 MINI passenger car dealers, and 36 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:  www.bmwgroupna.com

Journalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwgroupusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.

SOURCE BMW of North America, LLC

The idea behind the BMW 1M is to make a fun, energetic small car with a more youthful audience in mind. Of course a price tag in the mid five-figure range will probably leave most youths out of this car…unless they’re borrowing it from their parents!

The 1M features one of the fastest inline six engines BMW has ever made and a body that closely mirrors the M3. The coupe is available in limited quantities and there is no doubt this car will become a major collectors item. BMW took a lot of queues from the wildly popular three-series like the wide stance and huge breaks.

The “Convenience Package” can be added for $2,700 and adds BMW assist, parking distance control, bluetooth, and a few other interesting features. The “Premium Package 2″ can be added for $2,400 and adds an auto-dimming rearview mirror (shouldn’t this be standard?), lumbar support, power front seats with driver memory, ambiance lighting (what the heck is that?), and handsfree bluetooth.

In general I’m always disappointed to see features that should be standard as options in a package. An auto-dimming rearview mirror should be standard in a $50,000 car, should it? Also, it’s 2011 – stop charging so much extra for bluetooth, we all have smartphones, we need this!

Heated front seats can be added for $500 and as someone with heated seats I can say, it’s worth it. This is one of those extras that I think everyone should add in. An upgraded Harmon Kardon sound system adds $875 and as I griped about above, BMW charges $400 for its bluetooth kit.

The noise sounded a bit like the cross between a “thump” and a “click” coming from the front of the car. I could only hear it when I was slowing down. At first I thought maybe I had something attached to my tire that was going around and around as the car moved down the street. Pulling over I couldn’t see anything so I started to experiement. Over and over I was able to get the sound to repeat always at low speeds.

My BMW Manufacturer’s warranty ended just about a year ago so I would most-likely have to give a local German autoshop a try. I picked a shop by my house that I used to replace my front breaks a few months ago. They were able to do the brakes for $400 which seemed like a good deal to me so I thought they could probably fix whatever was wrong here, hopefully for even less.

I left the car with them for a day and when I got the inspection report my heart sunk, $2,200 and something called a CV boot needed to be replaced. If you don’t know what a CV boot is don’t feel bad, I didn’t either. The CV Boot is the rubber casing covering your CV Joint at the CV axel of your car. It turns-out that these can become corroded over time and crack with age. It just seemed crazy to me that this would cost over $2,000 – some plastic part that just corroded over time!

So I took the car to BMW, and their service department came-up with a $2,500 which included my back breaks which it turns-out had to be replaced as well.

In a final act of despiration I tried one more German car mechanic. This was where I had my breakthrough. They said that BMW and this other shop were overcharging me like crazy for labor, which it turns-out they were. The parts weren’t that expensive but it did take a few hours to complete. In the end I got the CV boots, joints, rear breaks, and a new front grille all for $1,200.

The moral of the story is that you need to shop around when getting your car fixed. BMW will probably always be the most expensive because they charge you a fortune for labor. That being said, don’t think that just because a shop is an independent mechanic means they won’t also try to take your money just likie BMW themselves. Shop-around, find a shop you can trust, and in cases like this you could find yourself saving around $1,300 which feels damn good at the end of the day!

(Source BMWBlog)

So how do these two cars match-up?

The BMW 1M has 3.0L straight-six with a turbocharger that increases the output to 340 hp. This allows the 1M to go from 0 to 100 KPH in 4.9 seconds. The Cayman R offers a 3.4L mid-mounted flat six which outputs 320 hp, just 20 hp shy of the Bimmer. The Porsche can go from 0 to 100KPH in 5.0 seconds so the acceleration between these two cars is strikingly similar.

For real sports car fanatics the Porsche’s gearbox might offer a bit more of a thrill than BMW’s but this is something that Porsche is historically famous for. Sports car drivers like to feel every single gear change and Porsche more than delivers an exhilarating experience here that BMW just can’t replicate. The BMW is quick and sporty at lower gears whereas the Porsche is much happier above 4,500 RPM.

Overall the BMW 1M outmatches the Porsche in a few key places. Of course access to a real trunk is a nice as are having rear seats. This is what allows the 1M to work both as a high-performance sports car, and a daily driver. From a driving standpoint, the Porsche is definitely a sportier car with tighter handling and shifting, but the BMW rounds-out the feature-set with some more practical options.

The National did an article comparing these two and they chose the Porsche in the end as a pure sports car.

They’re both quick and both ridiculously good fun. In an ideal world you’d have one of each, but if I had to walk away with the keys to just one of them, the Porsche would get the nod. That’s simply down to its crisper steering and that wonderful gear shift. I’d forever lament the loss of the greater practicality and more rounded nature of the BMW, though. (Punchy BMW vs. practical Porsche in a tussle of sprightly newcomers, The National)

Of course here at Bimmer.co I think you know what car we’d pick! Have any of you driven either or both of these cars? As always we’d love to hear what you think! Comment and let your voice be heard!

Stealth Auto has a great video on their site showing these bulbs in action if you want to get a better idea of how these bulbs work: