RECENT ARTICLES
2027 BMW 7 Series LCI: It’s the Neue-ish Klasse
BMW’s Neue Klasse is all the rage in Munich right now, with the recent reveals of the new i3 and iX3. With those two cars in the “middle of the brand” being the biggest stars, BMW couldn’t leave its flagship luxury car feeling old hat. So it gave the...
I Wasn’t At The Vintage, But My Cars Were
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I missed The Vintage this year, something I’ve only done twice before since 2010 (in 2012 I had a kidney stone, and in 2023 Maire Anne had a cardiac appointment as part of the on-ramp to major surgery). This time, it...
2026 540i Update: The Good and the Less Good
About a month ago, BMW dropped off a 2026 540i to sample for an extended loan into the spring. Typically, auto journalists get to spend a week or less with a car for a review. That’s a fine amount of time to get an overview of a car, but...
Register Today for the 2026 Boston Concours
Join us for the BMW CCA Boston Chapter’s 2026 Concours d’Elegance at Prowse Farm in Canton, MA, on Sunday, June 28. For over 21 years, BMW CCA Boston Chapter has hosted this competition of some truly amazing BMWs. Whether you have a car to show or just love BMWs,...
Tom Tang vs. The Mountain | The Car
Tom Tang began his racing adventures with a Honda S2000, but switched to BMW after the Honda met its demise in an accident at Sonoma Raceway. “The class at that point had become highly competitive, and a lot of the front runners were S54-powered BMWs, either E36 cars with...
Turner Motorsport on Podium at Long Beach, Team WRT in Top Five
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship raced on the streets of Long Beach this past weekend, as they went from the two longest races of the season at Daytona and Sebring, to one of the shortest (both the Long Beach and Detroit street races are 100 minutes). Given the nature...
Team WRT Wins LMGT3 Class in FIA WEC Opener at Imola, Fifth in Hypercar
The FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) opened the 2026 season with a six-hour race at the Imola circuit in Italy. The season was originally supposed to open at Qatar in the Middle East but had to change plans with the ongoing war with Iran threatening the entire region....
Tech Talk | Codes, Sensors, and Brake Squeal
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. Fault Codes I have a 2010 BMW X5 3.0 with the N52. Codes p0012 and p0015...
The BMW i4 Could Be Discontinued By the End of 2026
Like that old Toy Story 2 meme, BMW is dropping its current crop of electrified cars, so it can play with its Neue Klasse toys. Along with news that the BMW iX has officially been discontinued in the United States market, there’s also a report that says the i4...
Jump Back In Time to 1990 With This Basically Brand-New BMW Z1
The 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show was unique in history because it had something no other auto show had before—the debut of the first-ever BMW Z car. The BMW Z1 made its worldwide debut at the show, marking the first time the Bavarians used the “Z” nameplate. It went on...
The BMW iX Is Officially Dead in the US
BMW is ending United States allocations of the iX. After five years on sale, the funky looking electric SUV has officially reached the end of the line here in America. Here’s what a BMW North America representative told BMWBlog: We are proud of what we have accomplished with the...
Tech Talk | Codes, Sensors, and Brake Squeal
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. Fault Codes I have a 2010 BMW X5 3.0 with the N52. Codes p0012 and p0015...
The BMW i4 Could Be Discontinued By the End of 2026
Like that old Toy Story 2 meme, BMW is dropping its current crop of electrified cars, so it can play with its Neue Klasse toys. Along with news that the BMW iX has officially been discontinued in the United States market, there’s also a report that says the i4...
Jump Back In Time to 1990 With This Basically Brand-New BMW Z1
The 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show was unique in history because it had something no other auto show had before—the debut of the first-ever BMW Z car. The BMW Z1 made its worldwide debut at the show, marking the first time the Bavarians used the “Z” nameplate. It went on...
The BMW iX Is Officially Dead in the US
BMW is ending United States allocations of the iX. After five years on sale, the funky looking electric SUV has officially reached the end of the line here in America. Here’s what a BMW North America representative told BMWBlog: We are proud of what we have accomplished with the...
BMW CCA Dream Car Raffle – Meet the 2026 BMW M2 CS
The 2026 BMW CCA Dream Car Raffle has begun, and the grand prize is one of the most exciting M cars in recent memory: the highly exclusive 2026 BMW M2 CS. Built with a singular focus on performance, the M2 CS takes everything enthusiasts love about BMW’s compact M...
BMW Will Make New Sports Cars, But Only After Focusing On Core Models
You don’t build a football team from the outside in, you build from the inside out. Once you’ve solidified the trenches, then you can spring for the pricey star-power wide receivers. That’s how BMW is going to build its portfolio moving forward, too—focus on the middle of the brand,...
BMW Files Trademark for “XB6”, Signaling a First for the Alpina Brand
Despite having made its own version of just about every BMW variant you can think of, Alpina never made its own version of the X6. Now that BMW owns Alpina, rather than it existing as its own manufacturer that just partnered wtih BMW, that’s about to change. A recent...
Tech Talk | Handling Issues, Run Flat Conundrum, and Timing Chain Questions
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 535i Handling Issue I have a 2011 BMW 535i with a manual transmission and...
Let Chris Harris Prove That the M3 CS Touring Is the Best Bimmer Ever
It’s no surprise that a wagon from the M Division is fast, comfortable enough for long journeys, and spacious enough for road trip luggage. It’s also no surprise that a wagon with “CS” on the back is capable of quickly lapping a track. But what’s remarkable about the BMW...
The Next BMW i7 Will Run On a High-Voltage Battery From Rimac
The BMW i7 is getting a refresh soon. And when it does, it’s going to get its juice from a very unexpected source—Rimac. BMW and Rimac have partnered to develop a new high-voltage battery system that uses 4695 cylindrical lithium-ion cells to give the i7 more energy density, faster charging,...
The Fuel Delivery Checklist
A friend messaged me this week with a fuel delivery issue on his ’76 2002. The car had the original-style mechanical fuel pump installed, and a fuel filter before the pump. As I wrote about here, I don’t believe that any carbureted 2002 ever had a fuel filter installed...
Mike Renner Is Living His BMW Dream
In the Seventies, racing wasn’t accessible to a kid growing up in South Carolina. Sim racing didn’t exist. Karting was dangerous and poorly regulated. And that was before considering the cost. Though less than today, it wasn’t what you’d call cheap. Mike Renner had to watch from the sidelines....
Tech Talk | Trans Noises, Reliability, and Service Record Lookup
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. 540i Reliability Now looking at the 540i; it seems some are hybrid and some are...
How To Get the Most Out of Your Warranty
The BMW warranty system has managed to keep a lot of BMWs on the road with little to no expense out of pocket. But with the evolution of the automotive industry and consumer trends, the warranty coverage for BMWs has shifted over the years. Back when I first started...
This Dinan-Tuned BMW M4 CS Might Have Been the Deal of the Century
Someone may have just gotten a steal, with this 2025 BMW M4 CS that just sold on Cars and Bids. Its original sticker price was $125,325, but it just sold to its new owner for $97,500. OK, so it isn’t unusual for a luxury car to depreciate so much...
I Wasn’t At The Vintage, But My Cars Were
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I missed The Vintage this year, something I’ve only done twice before since 2010 (in 2012 I had a kidney stone, and in 2023 Maire Anne had a cardiac appointment as part of the on-ramp to major surgery). This time, it...
The Fuel Delivery Checklist
A friend messaged me this week with a fuel delivery issue on his ’76 2002. The car had the original-style mechanical fuel pump installed, and a fuel filter before the pump. As I wrote about here, I don’t believe that any carbureted 2002 ever had a fuel filter installed...
The Alfa Valve Shim Trick
Well, Bertha and I aren’t going to The Vintage after all. I have a dear 84-year-old cousin with whom Maire Anne and I have done some travel. She has slow-moving lung cancer, but right now she feels fine and wants to enjoy life. She called us last week and...
An Unusual Use of a Flashing Power Supply
I haven’t had a lot of flashing in my past. Not that kind—I mean updating the software in a control module. (Well, didn’t really have the other kind in my past either). I believe that there was just one time I needed to contact BMW coding guy Sam Aleksanyan...
Spring (finally!), with The Vintage Around the Corner
Back in November, I brought Bertha (my transmogrified ’75 2002 that I turned into a track car in the Eighties, sold to my friend Alex in 1988, bought back 30 years later after it was stored and allowed to self-demolish, and resurrected) back from storage in Monson. The car...
The Risk of Buying a Modern Car That Needs Exhaust Work
About 10 years ago, I wrote a piece about a ratty 850i six-speed that I could’ve bought for four grand. I walked away from it because, even at that price, the numbers didn’t make sense. The problems included James-Bond-fog-level oil burning coming from one of the V-12’s cylinder banks,...
