BMW Z2 - a mini, electric Z4?

Word on the street is, BMW will launch a few iterations of the Z2 come Q2 2012. Apparently there will be a coupe version and a roadster, which will be available as petrol-burning (4cyl I6, 204hp), hybrid or all-electric. The concept will be (allegedly) unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show, though there are some concept drawings at Autobild.

I like the idea of a Z2, and I suppose I theoretically like the idea of hybrid and/or electric versions of any car ... but I'll have to see how the pricing looks before I get too excited. I have my heart set on the rumored 1er hatchbacks (E81/E87 versions) that may or may not be coming to North America for the 2011 model year. There are also rumours about a 115i and a 116i coming ... which may or may not be right up my alley!

The difference between a porcupine and BMW of Lincoln

I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty details of this, since it's blowing up all over the innertubes, but I'll give a Cole's Notes version, and a link to the forum thread for you to read through at your own Easter Monday leisure.

A gentleman was looking to purchase an E90 BMW M3 sedan. Can't blame him ... it's going to be a great car. Said gentleman, Mr. "dooma350", found a listing on eBay for the car he wanted, with a starting bid of USD$60,000. He arranged financing (of up to USD$61,000) and bid on the car. Nobody outbid him, so he got his dream car for the opening bid, right? Nope ... not so much.

BMW of Lincoln, Nebraska is refusing to honor the sale, saying they made an "honest mistake", even though they reviewed (and changed) the auction listing page 3 times in 3 days.

This story is "blow<ing> up like the World Trade" (© Notorious B.I.G.), and has been posted to any and every car forum you can think of (including Autoblog) and the Consumerist. As of 0909 PST (GMT+8) the dealership has sent Mr. dooma350 an email saying they will not be honoring the auction price of USD$60,000. I'll keep following this story, and update as I feel necessary.

The original post is at the BimmerPost forums, here.

UPDATE: BMW of Lincoln is agreeing to sell Mr. dooma350 the car for the agreed-upon price of USD$60,000 (with certain conditions). No word on what those conditions may be, but Mr. dooma350 will find out tomorrow in a meeting with the dealership.

UPDATE 2: BMW of Lincoln is now saying that Dooma (aka Ken) can't/hasn't produced funding, and with a rapidly approaching deadline (04/01) the deal is expected to fall through.

UPDATE 3: I just realized it's been a while since I updated this post (or any part of the blog), and Ken has now received his car, and is loving it. He's posted plenty of pictures on the forum (see link above; p.122 of the forum post), and she's a beaut!

Internet in your bimmer, that's gangsta

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted. We'll try to rectify that with some killer posts in the next while. To start with a bang, BMW is bringing some intertubes to the roundel with "ConnectedDrive", which allows you full access to the 'tubes via EDGE wireless. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it'll only work on the main nav screen if you're going <3mph ... so no Google Chats while you're driving. Sad goat.

Hey Chevy ... get your own engine

I read an interesting post in autoblog today, speaking to the fact that the Corvette LS9 engine (6.2L supercharged V8, 620hp, 595 torques) was built to, essentially, a benchmark set by BMW's S85, the engine found in the M5 & M6 (5.0L naturally aspirated V12, 507hp, 384 torques). If you ask me, however (and I'm sure you would if you could), having a great engine in a Corvette doesn't make it a great car. While the powerplants may be comparable, the M5 is still leaps and bounds better than anything the Americans can come up with.

Source: The Car Connection, via Autoblog

Does Belinda Curse Magna?

First it was revealed that Magna Corp was not the winning bidder in the Chrysler deal (contrary to many reports). The latest slight against the Stronachs (and that Russian billionaire who bought into the company) is the loss of the X3.

Specifically, Magna Steyr (who, you may remember, is building the KTM X-Bow) has lost the production contract for the BMW X3 SAV (which is Bayerische-speak for SUV).

Now here's my take on all this. Now that Magna has allll this extra production space (though, does anybody buy X3's? You see 5 X5's for every 1 X3 ... but I digress), and since KTM has given them the XBow contract, I predict increased XBow production!

I read somewhere that there was a limited number of XBows that could be assembled yearly, due to the production capabilities of Magna Steyr's Austrian facility. Now that we have more space, we can have more XBows! The only downer (for KTM fans, not for Magna) is that the BMW contract extends until 2010 ... so if my predictions prove correct (which they rarely do), you can buy an XBow instead of Olympic tickets ($60,000 = 1 men's hockey ticket).