RECENT ARTICLES
Turner Motorsport Wins at Road America
It’s been well over two months since the last SRO GT World Challenge America series (GTWCA) race, but the series was finally back in action at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for a three-hour race on August 30th. It ended up being a bad day for a lot...
Team WRT Clinches Silver Cup Class Championship in GT World Challenge Europe at Nürburgring
This past weekend, the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWC) Endurance Cup championship held its penultimate round of the year, with a three-hour race at the Nürburgring in Germany. Overall, it was a productive weekend for BMW entries, with two class podium finishes, a clinched championship in the Silver Cup...
Tech Talk | Interpreting Stored Fault Codes
Back when I was enrolled in automotive school, I remember being in one of the classes in the shop, learning to use the various scan tools at our disposal. I have a distinct memory of a group of classmates next to me, scanning a dummy vehicle for faults. Upon...
Is This S52-Swapped E30 325i Coupe the Ultimate Sleeper M3?
Few engine swaps go as hard as this one. The E30 is probably the purest expression of the BMW 3 Series. It’s more capable, more comfortable, and more usable than the E21 that came before it, and it’s lighter, more nimble, and simpler than every 3 Series that came...
Someone Bought Full-Scale BMW i8 and i3 Replicas to Presumably Play Grown-Up Hot Wheels
A BMW i8 and i3 just recently sold on Bring a Trailer. That sentence by itself isn’t really news, that happens pretty regularly. However, the pair that just sold are different than most because they weren’t actually cars. Instead, they’re full-scale fiberglass replicas. So while they look just like...
BMW Says Is Ditching Buttons Because Young People Want Things ‘Done Quickly’
Mercedes is bringing some buttons back to its mostly touchscreen cabins. Volkswagen and Audi are, too. But BMW? Nope. BMW is steadfast in its mission to make you control your car’s interior with everything except buttons, and it’s blaming that on young people. BMW Group Australia CEO Vikram Pawah...
Putting the Clown Shoe on the Block
Incredibly, come January, I will have owned my 1999 M Coupe for 20 years. That’s an astonishingly long time for it to be swimming in my automotive waters where the churn tends to be high. Only the 40-year-owned 3.0CSi, the car they’ll bury me in, has been around longer....
Seeing All of BMW’s Art Cars Together Is an Incredible Experience
Fifty years ago, a preppy art dealer and scene connoisseur with a thirst for auto racing was trying to find some kind of sponsorship deal for his own racing career. One day, in 1975, when all of Europe was suffering from the first oil shock and driving your car...
Check Out this Excellent M635 CSi
Chris is a BMW mechanic who has a love for BMW Euro M Cars. He has maintained and driven BMW’s on tracks since 1986 and believes the Euro models are more of a pure sports car. His first car is a 1995 BMW 3.8 Liter Euro M5 Touring (E34)...
Strong Entry and Great Competition in Club Racing at Mid-Ohio
The Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series competed at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio on the weekend of August 14th-16th, hosted by the Buckeye Chapter. There was a strong field of cars for the four races held over the weekend, with an enduro on Friday...
Turner Motorsport On Podium Twice at VIR
The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship (IWSC) visited Virginia International Raceway (VIR) this past weekend for a race featuring GTD Pro and GTD classes. It was the 10th anniversary of the GT-only event and is a favorite event on the calendar for the drivers of those cars. The M4 GT3...
Seeing All of BMW’s Art Cars Together Is an Incredible Experience
Fifty years ago, a preppy art dealer and scene connoisseur with a thirst for auto racing was trying to find some kind of sponsorship deal for his own racing career. One day, in 1975, when all of Europe was suffering from the first oil shock and driving your car...
Check Out this Excellent M635 CSi
Chris is a BMW mechanic who has a love for BMW Euro M Cars. He has maintained and driven BMW’s on tracks since 1986 and believes the Euro models are more of a pure sports car. His first car is a 1995 BMW 3.8 Liter Euro M5 Touring (E34)...
Tech Talk | Catalyst Codes, Air Filters, and Transfer Case Issues
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. M235i Codes I’ve had an interesting experience with my wife’s M235i. She experienced an engine light...
The Next-Gen Mini Cooper Might Be Rear-Wheel Drive
It feels like the current Mini just got here, with its cute interior and quirky screens. But the suits in Munich are already planning the next one. Here’s the thing, though, BMW’s new electric platform isn’t really set up for front-wheel drive. So, according to Autocar, the next-gen electric...
Please Enjoy This E30 M3 DTM Onboard Video
I’ve always dreamed of driving in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. It’s exactly the kind of racing I want to do: no stakes, classic cars, and an iconic racetrack. Sadly, I’m no racing driver, nor am I someone special enough to get seat time in a race car for...
Kith Owner Ronnie Fieg’s Manual, V-10 E53 Is the X5 of Our Dreams
Remember when BMW built a one-off X5 Le Mans with a monster V-12 from the McLaren F1 and a six-speed manual? While it was just a one-off prototype, it was actually a fully functioning car that was pretty kick-ass on track. Sadly, BMW never did anything as extreme with...
Hood Struts For My E9 (Part III: Success!)
You wouldn’t think that replacing the hood support mechanism in my 1973 E9 3.0CSi would necessitate a three-part series. I certainly didn’t expect it. But hey, sometimes these little projects that we expect to be trivial turn out to be anything but. When last we left this a few...
Take a Walk Through Another Amazing Edition of Legends of the Autobahn
Monterey Car Week has so much to offer that it is difficult to legitimately label any one event with a convincing superlative. That said, the 2026 Legends of the Autobahn was most likely Thursday’s coolest event. And that was before we even started looking at the amazing registered Audis,...
Anyone? Anyone? | Car Stuff in Movies Is Making Me Crazy
I’m convinced that virtually no one who writes for movies, for television, for publication as fiction, or for any non-motoring outlet knows anything of significance about cars—even their own car. Put gas in it, press the button to start it, keep it on the black stuff between the trees....
Tech Talk | NLA Hoses, Long-Term X1 Reliability, and M240i Problems
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. Upper Radiator Hose Have you given some thought to addressing solutions or alternatives for No Longer...
Self Propelled | Of Zebras and Occam’s Razor
No matter how many years you’ve worked on cars (or most anything else mechanical, for that matter) and how much experience you’ve had with a particular make or model, what looks like an obvious diagnosis isn’t always the right one. Occam’s Razor—the simplest solution is usually the correct one—was...
Can a BMW 850CSi’s Most Unreliable Part Actually Be Fixed?
BMW’s original 8 Series is one of the most desirable classics for true enthusiasts, especially the V-12-powered cars. But the 850 CSi is the holy grail. It was essentially the first M8, as it had an M Division engine and performance features that no other BMW had at the...
The E93 M3 Convertible Is One of the Best Sports Cars Deals
It’s tough to be a sports car enthusiast these days. If you want something fun and sporty, it can get expensive, even for moderate performance. Admittedly, the internet hasn’t helped. As good value sports cars are highlighted by the community, their popularity rises and so too does their value....
My Monumental E91 Mistake
I’ve written multiple times about wanting an E91 unicorn wagon (six-speed, rear-wheel drive, sport package). These are exceedingly rare cars that I believe only exist if they were special-ordered that way (virtually all the ones sitting for sale on dealership lots were AWD automatics). Last year I wrote about...
Live Your Australian Dream With This BMW M4 Competition Ute Conversion
Who doesn’t love a ute? While Australia isn’t the only country to have made utes, it’s the one that defined them. Cars like the Holden HSV Maloo and Ford Falcon XR8 were unique to Australia and packed stonking V8s to go with their pickup beds, creating one of the...
Putting the Clown Shoe on the Block
Incredibly, come January, I will have owned my 1999 M Coupe for 20 years. That’s an astonishingly long time for it to be swimming in my automotive waters where the churn tends to be high. Only the 40-year-owned 3.0CSi, the car they’ll bury me in, has been around longer....
Hood Struts For My E9 (Part III: Success!)
You wouldn’t think that replacing the hood support mechanism in my 1973 E9 3.0CSi would necessitate a three-part series. I certainly didn’t expect it. But hey, sometimes these little projects that we expect to be trivial turn out to be anything but. When last we left this a few...
My Monumental E91 Mistake
I’ve written multiple times about wanting an E91 unicorn wagon (six-speed, rear-wheel drive, sport package). These are exceedingly rare cars that I believe only exist if they were special-ordered that way (virtually all the ones sitting for sale on dealership lots were AWD automatics). Last year I wrote about...
E39 Sway Bar Link Bracket Failure (Part II)
A few weeks ago I wrote about the banging in the front-end of my 2003 E39 being caused by the bracket holding the driver’s-side sway bar link breaking off, trying to remove the nut holding on the dangling link with my newly-purchased induction heater, and accidentally melting the link’s...
Hood Struts For My E9 (Part II)
Back in early June, I posted a piece about looking at fitting pneumatic hood struts to my E9. In it, I talked about the original somewhat Byzantine hood raising mechanism on vintage BMWs like the 2002, E9, and E3, how mine wasn’t reinstalled when the car was repainted 38...
E39 Sway Bar Link Bracket Failure
A few days after scoring a nice set of Style 82 wheels with fresh rubber on them and having my son Ethan mount them, I was driving the E39 over a patch of uneven road surface, and heard a metallic “thunk” from the left front corner. As I’d just...
