This was published on Jalopnik, and was such a cool statistic that I just had to reblog it. Apparently in response to the recent Toyota recall situation, BMW engineers decided to calculate the braking power of the 3 series. According to Jalopnik: The engineers arrived at the 2,500 HP number after measuring the car’s 60-0 MPH deceleration time (2.5 seconds), then calculating how much horsepower would be required to achieved equivalent acceleration (0-60 MPH in 2.

For this week’s “Case-of-the-Mondays” question, we get a bit more technical. Last week was a simple question of what your favorite BMW vehicle is. This week I’d like to drill a bit deeper into the build of BMWs, and focus on engines. What do you think is the best production BMW engine of all time? This includes ///M engines and engines sourced from BMW by other manufacturers for use in production/road cars.

BMW announced today that they’ll be cancelling their iconic high-performance vehicle, the M3. The company plans to end production of the car at the end of this year, and has no plans to restart production or roll out a new version. Citing declining sales and a poor economy with an unsure future, along with an increased focus by the general public on fuel efficiency and government regulation to enforce it, the company says it’s not financially feasible to continue developing & producing the sports saloon.

Alex Albrecht, cohost of the show Diggnation and a few other shows on Revision3, also happens to be a BMW guy. For a while he’s been leasing a 335i and has mentioned it a few times on Diggnation. Recently though, his lease came up and he opted to make the jump into ///M - and leased an M3 convertible! He talked about it on the most recent episode of Diggnation & even though he’s limited to 350bhp since he’s still in the break-in, he still says it’s absolutely “ah-mazing.

So it took me until 11:30 this evening to notice that today’s date is the same as the model number of my car - 3/30 (“330”ci). So I’m declaring today “Celebrate My Car” day, and anyone else who has a 330 of any style for that matter. For anybody whose car model has a date that matches (for example, anyone with a 528i would be associated with May 28), I’ll make a celebratory post on that day.

From the first announcement and unveiling of the 5 Series Gran Turismo, I haven’t liked it at all. It looks like a cross between a Porsche Panamera and an X6 - in a bad way. It takes the worst elements of a bunch of different cars, and blends them into one big rolling box of parts that look like they were put together as an afterthought. The front end takes cues from the F10 5 series with the large grills, and the sharknose-type front with aggressive look that would be ok - if it didn’t look pinched and strangely sloped in relation to the car as a whole.

In the spirit of Monday-related BMW memes, I’m going to try out something new on my blog. Each Monday I’m going to post a question related to BMW, and everyone can leave their response in the comments. Questions will draw from literally any and every corner of the Bimmer map, so it should get interesting! This week’s question: What’s Your All-Time Favorite BMW? I understand that this question can (and probably should) be all but impossible to narrow down to one answer, but give it a shot.

It’s another “Celebrate Your Car” day here on the blog! This time we’re celebrating all varieties of the BMW 328i. With the first 328i made available in 1994 as an E36 body it’s been a fine member of the 3 series family ever since. You know the drill: if you’re the proud owner of a 328 of any style or year, post a link to a picture of it in the comments below, and maybe add a description, or even an expression of adoration (we are BMW folks after all, that’s how we roll!

In the early days of social networking (read: 2005) when it was starting to come mainstream, I was a skeptic. A couple of my friends had MySpace accounts & took great pride in customizing them and distributing their MySpace URLs. I thought it was a waste of time, and was still sitting behind the privacy curtain judging MySpace as a place for emo kids & pedophiles to hang out. To be honest, I still maintain that particular opinion about MySpace, but that’s irrelevant.

Now that we know a front-wheel drive BMW is all but official and we’ve seen a photo of what appears to be a concept, it’s time to put the cards on the table. The glaring issue for every BMW enthusiast is the fact that BMW doesn’t build front-wheel drive cars. They’re known for building well-balanced, powerful, well-handling rear-wheel drive cars. This is tantamount to heresy for many enthusiasts, and likely will keep many who are BMW fans from considering buying one.