RECENT ARTICLES
Interview | BMW NA’s VP of Product Management on the Future of Manuals, Wagons, and More
Product planning is one of the most fascinating roles within a car company. These groups are responsible for the lineups automakers offer, the options they come with, the pricing, and more. For places like North America, BMW’s product planners are also tasked with making a business case for cars...
Three BMWs in Top Five in IMSA Michelin Challenge at Mid-Ohio
The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series is usually a support series for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but the series gets top billing for the round at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The Michelin Challenge race at Mid-Ohio is also one of only two four-hour races on the series...
Tom Tang vs. The Mountain: The Logistics
Tom Tang and his crew are in their final weeks of preparation for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), with race week starting on June 15th and the main event on Sunday June 21st. Everything comes down to an all-out assault on the mountain road on the 21st,...
Ehrman and Nieman dominate at Thunderbolt BMW CCA Club Race
Geoff Ehrman in a Porsche 996 and Job Nieman in an E36 M3 dominated the four sprints run in the New Jersey Chapter’s annual June Monday-Tuesday event on the Thunderbolt Circuit at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Twenty cars competing in ten different classes took to the track in the...
BMW Will Go for Overall Victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
There are a lot of important sportscar endurance races in the world, from the Rolex 24 at Daytona to the Spa and Nürburgring 24-hour races and the 12 Hours of Sebring, but the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the biggest of them all. It’s the race that all...
Tech Talk | 335d Problems and Oil Loss Update
Welcome to Tech Talk, where our resident BMW tech Nick Owen answers all your pressing BMW technical questions, frustrations, and issues. Have a question for Nick? Email him at techtalk@roundel.org. Let’s get into it. 2011 335d Issues I have a 2011 335d, now with approximately 232,000 miles. I’ve owned...
A DIY Guide to Flushing the Brake Fluid in Your BMW
Many folks don’t realize that all cars should have the brake fluid flushed fairly often. BMW recommends every two years, and includes the first one as part of your free scheduled maintenance, if you were fortunate enough to buy your car new. Now, if you just lease and swap...
BMW and Lego Partner Up for a Special E30 M3 40th Anniversary Set
If there were ever a car that seemed tailor made to become a Lego set, it’d be the E30 M3. It’s so boxy, with its rectangular shapes and hard edges, that it’s perfect for Lego duty. Hell, even its fender flares are boxy and I can think of how...
Watch the BMW M3 CS Touring Take On the New Audi RS5 Avant
This is a matchup fans have been waiting to see for ages and it’s finally possible. Ever since the Audi RS4 Avant first launched in the ’90s, with the B5 generation, it’s been impossible to make a true apple-to-apples comparison with BMW, as BMW never made an M3 wagon....
Hood Struts For My E9?
I’ve been having back issues for decades. Most of the time it’s just normal 68-year-old-man low back pain, kept at bay by not lifting more than 25 pounds, not spending too much time bent over engine compartments, and managed with ice, stretching, and over-the-counter pain meds. But occasionally, for...
2027 BMW M2 xDrive: Goodbye Oversteer, Hello All-Weather Grip
BMW’s M cars were never the best all-weather sports cars. With rear-wheel drive and gobs of power, they tended to be three-season sports cars in most of the United States. If you wanted something fun in New England, you bought an Audi. But in recent years, BMW has been...
Watch the BMW M3 CS Touring Take On the New Audi RS5 Avant
This is a matchup fans have been waiting to see for ages and it’s finally possible. Ever since the Audi RS4 Avant first launched in the ’90s, with the B5 generation, it’s been impossible to make a true apple-to-apples comparison with BMW, as BMW never made an M3 wagon....
Hood Struts For My E9?
I’ve been having back issues for decades. Most of the time it’s just normal 68-year-old-man low back pain, kept at bay by not lifting more than 25 pounds, not spending too much time bent over engine compartments, and managed with ice, stretching, and over-the-counter pain meds. But occasionally, for...
2027 BMW M2 xDrive: Goodbye Oversteer, Hello All-Weather Grip
BMW’s M cars were never the best all-weather sports cars. With rear-wheel drive and gobs of power, they tended to be three-season sports cars in most of the United States. If you wanted something fun in New England, you bought an Audi. But in recent years, BMW has been...
Tech Talk | ZHP Cruise Control, E30 and F15 Issues, and M2 Oil
Welcome to Tech Talk, where our resident BMW tech Nick Owen answers all your pressing BMW technical questions, frustrations, and issues. Have a question for Nick? Email him at techtalk@roundel.org. Let’s get into it. E46 Cruise Control Issue Follow Up I wanted to follow up on the cruise control malfunction...
Anyone? Anyone? | The Wagon Time Is Now
Apparently, there are far more wagon hos1 in the club and across the world than either I or our friends at BMW realized. How do we know? As an April Fool’s joke, BMW posted an M3 Touring GT3 racecar to its site. The response was so overwhelming that BMW...
Listen to Chris Harris Flog the Legendary BMW S70/2 V-12 in the McLaren F1 GTR Longtail
BMW has made countless incredible engines over its century of existence. Its name aint’ a joke. However, of all the brilliant engines in BMW’s history, one stands above them all. Poll 100 BMW enthusiasts and ask them what the best Bavarian engine ever was and I’d bet an alarming...
BMW Could Make Some Standalone Alpina Stores Separate From Dealerships
I think BMW alleviated some of the fears fans had about its new ownership of Alpina, with the stunning concept that debuted in Lake Como. The Vision BMW Alpina is a gorgeous grand touring coupe that proves the brass in Munich is willing to take bold leaps with the...
Bertha’s Back in Austin Where It All Began
Last month, I wrote about the sale of Bertha, the 2002 I bought in Austin in 1984 shortly before Maire Anne and I returned to Boston. The buyer (Craig Bennion) flew in to drive the car to MidAmerica 02Fest, so my immediate concern was that he and the car...
A DIY Guide to Changing the Oil in Your BMW
One of the many wonderful things about buying a new BMW is the free maintenance for the first three years. But alas, that will come to an end, and unless you prefer to just trade in your car every three or four years, you will need to either start...
Tech Talk | Vibrations, Timing Chains, and Wheel Fitments
Welcome to Tech Talk, where our resident BMW tech Nick Owen answers all your pressing BMW technical questions, frustrations, and issues. Have a question for Nick? Email him at techtalk@roundel.org. Let’s get into it. Low Speed Vibration I have a 2015 228i with the six-speed manual transmission and 38,000 miles....
Interview | How a BMW CCA Member Secretly Created the Manual M3 CS
Scott Stirling is a long-time BMW CCA member and BMW CCA Club Racing participant. He also happens to be BMW’s product planning specialist for the 3 Series, 4 Series, and X3. That means he also oversees the EV and M variants of those models, like the M3. This past...
This Off-Road-Ready 1988 BMW 325iX Touring Is Awesome
Listing off the stats of this car has me looking like that one Vince McMahon meme, where he casually gets more and more excited. Being an E30 3 Series, this car already has me excited, but it gets progressively better from there. That’s because this isn’t any old 3...
The Rear-Wheel Drive BMW 1 Series Hatchback Is Coming Back in 2028
One of the coolest Euro-market Bimmers that we never got in North America was the 1 Series hatchback. Not the front-wheel drive current one, that could be mistaken for any other brand’s hatchback if it didn’t have Roundels on it. That one is a fine car but lacks any...
The Long-Delayed E9 Faceplate Replacement
The red 3.0CSi with the tan leather interior and the Recaros I’ve owned for 40 years began life as a Polaris car with a navy velour interior (for a deeper history, read here). When I had the outer body restoration done in 1988, I color-changed it to Signal Red....
From Strangers to Teammates: Taking on the Inaugural Trinitē Road Rally in a BMW X3
There are certain moments in automotive culture that remind you why this community is so special. The inaugural Trinitē Road Rally, from May 4-7, 2026, was one. By: Valerie Caprigno When my teammate Stephanie and I arrived at the rally, we were complete strangers who decided to embark on...
Hood Struts For My E9?
I’ve been having back issues for decades. Most of the time it’s just normal 68-year-old-man low back pain, kept at bay by not lifting more than 25 pounds, not spending too much time bent over engine compartments, and managed with ice, stretching, and over-the-counter pain meds. But occasionally, for...
Bertha’s Back in Austin Where It All Began
Last month, I wrote about the sale of Bertha, the 2002 I bought in Austin in 1984 shortly before Maire Anne and I returned to Boston. The buyer (Craig Bennion) flew in to drive the car to MidAmerica 02Fest, so my immediate concern was that he and the car...
The Long-Delayed E9 Faceplate Replacement
The red 3.0CSi with the tan leather interior and the Recaros I’ve owned for 40 years began life as a Polaris car with a navy velour interior (for a deeper history, read here). When I had the outer body restoration done in 1988, I color-changed it to Signal Red....
Don’t Toss That Dead VDO Windshield Washer Pump!
Having the washer pump quit working on a vintage BMW, or buying a car where the pump is non-functional, is a very common problem. For decades I appeared to have an inexhaustible supply of old VDO washer pumps that I could just swap in, but when I was readying...
Nor’East 02ers Spring Meet and Drive
Last week, I wrote about the whirlwind sale of Bertha to Craig B., who flew in from Austin on Friday and set sail that evening for MidAmerica 02Fest in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We swapped a few messages on the way regarding his discovery of wetness on the back of...
Letting Bertha Go
I’ve told the story of Bertha multiple times—how I bought it in Austin in 1984 because I wanted to bring a big-bumpered 2002 to Boston to survive its demolition derby of traffic and parking, how Maire Anne and I drove off from our wedding in it, how I transmogrified...
