1936 Ford Fordor sedan

It’s the sixth day of AutoGuide’s Dream Car Garage list. Now it’s Associate Editor Craig Cole’s turn to share his 10 favorite vehicles, an eclectic, unexpected rundown of cars and trucks.

Even though the 1936 Ford was a couple years too late to service gangsters like John Dillinger and the crime duet Bonnie and Clyde, it’s got the look of earlier models, with an upright grille, gracefully arching fenders and those all-important running boards. It’s a classic design from the most graceful period of automotive history.

Under the car’s double-hinged hood sits a 221-cubic-inch wonder, the world’s first mass-market V8 engine. Ford’s famous flathead delivered a full 85 horsepower and belted out the Depression-era’s greatest hit, a syncopated rhythm controlled directly by the driver’s right foot.

That’s a laughably modest power rating by today’s standards, but Fords were the inexpensive performance cars of their era. Thanks to ample torque, low gearing and a curb weight that was considerably lighter than the competition, these cars were built to run. Advertised top speed was nearly 90 miles an hour. A terrifying figure for a car equipped with mechanically operated drum brakes.

When it comes to classic autos most people seem to prefer muscle cars. If they do have a soft spot for older iron they typically go for coupes or roadsters. Sedans – especially “Fordor” models – are almost sneered at, but I LOVE them, especially when equipped with suicide doors as this ’36. In fact I appreciate them so much I’m restoring one right now, so it’s mandatory to have an example in my dream garage.

Being an 80-year-old in a 28-year-old’s body goes a long way to explaining my affinity for ancient cars like this one, and you know something, it’s not always about performance…

BMW officially unveiled its new 4 Series Concept this week, which raised an important question: will there also be an M4?

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The newest iteration of the 3 Series Coupe, officially dubbed the 4 Series by BMW, unofficially broke cover this morning, and now the brand has released a large set of official images and some additional info on the new 4 Series. 

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After a nearly 20-year absence from participating in DTM, BMW triumphantly returned for the 2012 season proving that the German automaker didn’t miss a beat while taking time off from racing.

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BMW has announced the M3 Coupe Frozen Limited Edition, offering the car in three matte paint colors that coincide well with the American election season: Red, White and Blue.

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As the curtain slowly closes on the current generation BMW M3, the German automaker announced back in July a special edition model that pays tribute to the famous Lime Rock Park track in Connecticut.

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Rumors can finally be put to bed today, as the next-generation BMW M3 will run using a turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine. 

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Top 10 Track Specials Under $60,000

Driving is a mundane task for some people, but for others it’s a sport, and there’s no better proving ground than a track.

Automakers see that opportunity as well, and love to offer up cars that are designed specifically with track use in mind. Take a look at the latest offering from Subaru and Scion, the BRZ/FR-S twins. Both cars were designed with a priority on light-weight, and achieves an impressive weight balance. In true sporting fashion, it’s rear-wheel drive and can be had with a slick-shifting six-speed manual, or quick automatic with race-inspired paddle-shifters.

The FR-S isn’t the only car out there with racing in its veins. Here’s a list of factory-customized machines designed for time at the track.

Details are surfacing on the next-generation BMW M3, as we continue to wonder whether or not it’ll be offered with a manual transmission. It’s starting to appear that the sedan M3 model will be available with a dual-clutch transmission only, while the coupe M4 will probably see a manual option.

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Making yet another spy photo appearance, the 2014 BMW M3 which will drop from a V8 to a V6 was caught running round the Nurburgring.

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BMW has announced a new special edition for the outgoing M3, called the Lime Rock Park edition.

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Ten Turbocharged Cars We Can't Wait to Get Our Hands On

Turbocharged vehicles are quickly becoming the answer to having a fuel-efficient vehicle, with exciting performance. They seem to all be geared towards the sensible enthusiast, offering sporty dynamics, while still getting solid fuel efficiency. 

Here’s some of the upcoming turbo-charged vehicles you can expect in the next few years. We’ve got some spy-pictures, and concept designs,  even though some details of these cars are still unknown.

Volvo is out to prove that even at the performance level it can compete with Germany’s luxury brands and is going about doing so with the Polestar S60.

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The next generation BMW M3 and especially its engine have been surrounded by rumors, but now it has been confirmed by the president of BMW North America that an inline six-cylinder engine will be the power source of the new M3. 

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Don’t think the new BMW M5, or M3 are performance oriented enough? BMW apparently knows the feeling, and is teasing new versions of the M3 Coupe and M5 Sedan.

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While BMW is out testing its new, next-generation M3, automotive enthusiasts are speculating what will come underneath the hood when it’s finally released as a 2014 model year vehicle.

Initially it was believed that the 2014 M3 would see a tri-turbo, straight-six engine, but now a BMW insider is claiming that a 3.0L, twin-turbo V6 is in the works. In a way it makes sense, considering BMW is outfitting its M5 and M6 models with 4.4L, twin-turbo V8 engine.

Either way, one thing is for sure: the next-generation M3 won’t be seeing a naturally aspirated powerplant which it has had for the past 26 years. Natural improvements on the next-generation M3 include lighter weight components, helping it shave a few more pounds, and a possibility of electric power steering. Transmission options should remain six-speed manual with an updated seven-speed dual-clutch option.

Rumor has it that for the first time, the new BMW M3 sedan will surface first with the coupe following afterwards.

[Source: Inside Line]

BMW‘s M cars are always anxiously awaited by fans thanks to the legacy of performance that is attached to the brand. It seems the newest M badge to adorn a BWM will be attached to the 3-series, and our spy photographers snapped some spy photos of the M3 testing somewhere in Sweden. 

Not much is known about the newest M3, but rumors have been suggesting that it will be powered by a tri-turbo 3.3L straight six, rather than the last generations larger V8. The tri-turbo setup looks to eliminate turbo lag, improve fuel efficiency and provide smooth acceleration and even power at low RPMs as well as high revs.

The newest iteration of the M3 does not appear to have changed that much style wise, staying quite close to the normal 3-Series design. The power and performance however will be upgraded and provide a much different driving experience from the normal 3-Series, as is the standard for all BMW M cars.

GALLERY:BMW M3 Spy Photos

BMW enthusiasts in the United Kingdom will get to enjoy a Limited Edition 500 model of the current-generation M3 Coupe and Convertible. 

Limited to 500 units, the special edition mostly features aesthetic accessories including dark-chrome details on the double kidney grille, side fender plates and a quad-tipped exhaust setup. Additionally, it comes with the popular BMW high-gloss Shadowline exterior trim and 19-inch glossy black wheels. Buyers may choose from Imola Red, Mineral White and Santorini Blue paint — coincidentally the three colors found in the U.K. flag.

BMW outfitted the M3 500 interior with Novillo leather and color-matched stitching to the exterior of the car. The interior trim will be piano black but will be further accented with a laser-cut dash plaque that designates “one of 500.”

The same 420-hp V8 powerplant mated to either a six-speed manual transmission or a seven-speed M DCT remains under the hood.

Surprisingly, the M3 500 is reasonably priced with the Coupe package starting at close to $88,900 (£55,690) while the convertible will cost about $95,400 (£59,785). While that’s difficult to compare to U.S. figures on a standard M3, the Limited Edition 500 is only about $1,600 (£1,000) more than the standard M3 coupe and convertible price.

The corkscrew at Laguna Seca is one of the most noticeable landmarks in the world to any automotive enthusiast. So BMW got clever with the famous turn with a new marketing video for its X5M, proving that it can even best its M3 counterpart on the track.

The video starts out as your standard on-track video, with your good ‘ol bold text showing off that a vehicle packs a twin-turbo V8 with 555-hp and has a Torque Vectoring Rear Differential. That vehicle of course is the German automaker’s X5M. BMW then goes and showcases why the X5M is such a formidable vehicle on and off the track.

Check out the video after the break.

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Those guys over at Autobild sure know how to have some fun. They decided to do grab every current BMW M model  and pit them off against one another at Germany’s Sachsenring track in Bernsdorf.

The fastest time of the day from their shootout was BMW’s M3 GTS, equipped with semi-slicks with a time of 1:37.30 – but since we’re comparing apples to apples, the M3 CRT ran a time of 1:38.87 while the new M5 did it in 1:38.90. That’s a mere 0.03-seconds off the M3 CRT but it’s also worth mentioning that the new M5 was driven by Claudia Hürtgen, a German race car driver and one of Germany’s best known female racers, while the rest of the cars were driven by Autobild drivers.

The 1M Coupe ran a respectable 1:40.18, which was faster than the standard M3 Coupe DCT at 1:40.52. From there it was the M3 Sedan, M3 Convertible, X6 M, X5 M, and E60 M5 rounding off the list. To compare the two generations of M5, the E60 ran a 1:43.77, almost five seconds slower than its newer-generation counterpart.

Autobild also took the liberty to take Porsche‘s Panamera Turbo S and Mercedes-Benz‘s E63 AMG out to compare it to the new M5. The Panamera Turbo S ran a 1:38.13, trumping the new M5 by less than a second, while the E63 was quite behind with a 1:40.59.

Check out two Autobild videos of the new M5 after the break.

GALLERY: 2012 BMW M5

[Source: F10 5 Post via Autoblog]

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Men in the U.S. went big, brawny and sporty in 2011 – that is, when it came to the kind of vehicles they bought this past year.

According to J.D. Power’s Power Information Network (PIN) real-time transaction data, men leaned towards sports cars and pickup trucks in the first 11 months of 2011. In fact, out of the top 10 new-model vehicles that men bought or leased, six of them were large pickup trucks or vans. Topping the list of model pickups and vans were the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado. The data shows that these vehicles were purchased for commercial uses, not necessarily for dropping kids off at soccer practice.

Also in the top 10 models were three cool sports cars – BMW M3 , the Porsche 911 and Chevrolet Corvette. The M3 had highest number of male car buyers in the sports category, with most of these buyers falling into the 16- to 35-year-old demographic. The Porsche 911 was the second top pick, followed closely by the Corvette.

Also making the 2011 list is the GMC Sierra, the Audi A8/S8, the Ford Econoline and the Chevrolet Express. One of the new entries on the list this year is the Chevrolet Volt, although it didn’t crack the top 10.

[Source: J.D. Power and Associates]

BMW’s newest M3 sedan was caught testing, and the wide fenders were a dead giveaway for our photographers. Check out the pictures below.

We wish we had more info about powertrains and the like but your guess is as good as ours. In all likelihood, the big, high-revving V8 will take a bow in favor of a turbocharged inline six. We’ve heard crazy rumors of a tri-turbo I6 in the past, but we’ll probably see something like the 1M’s I6 make an appearance – that is, a massaged version of the N54 twin-turbo I6 used in the 335i, albeit with a lot of power. Lighter weight will also play a part, helping to reduce the need for big power numbers.

Gallery: BMW M3 Sedan

First it was the bi-turbo V6 patent that leaked, and now BMW has filed for a patent on their electric turbocharger, leading to new rumors for what will potentially power the next generation M3. Ever since BMW started regularly employing turbochargers on their factory powerplants, they’ve been seeking ways to efficiently address the issues of turbocharger lag vs power at higher RPM.

The potential answer to the very old dilemma of turbochargers may be hidden in BMW’s plans for an electric turbo that was recently sent into the German patent office. The goal is to have an electric turbocharger that utilizes a small electric motor to work in tandem with a larger, more conventional turbo. The electric motor will power the electric turbo’s turbine during the transition from idle to load, drastically reducing turbo lag. In addition, BMW claims that the electric turbo will increase fuel efficiency by helping keep the engine in its optimum operating range.

What we’ll really see in the next generation M3 is still up in the air, but it’s great to see that BMW is looking to push the envelope in improving turbocharger technology that has been around for decades.

[Source: F30 Post]

British racing driver Jackie Stewart called the Nurburgring Nordschleife (Northern loop) the “Green Hell,” and this past week, the track lived up to its nick name due to an eight car pile up that included a rented Chevrolet Corvette, a BMW M3 “Ring Taxi”, two rare Vauxhall VX220′s an E36, E30 and E92 BMW 3-series, an old Porsche 911.

The accident took place on a public lapping day at the “Bergwerk” section, where a construction company was doing some repair work, which is not a great idea especially when novices are out on the track. According to reports, four cars were racing as they approached the construction zone, which according to some was not clearly marked.

These four cars slammed on their brakes upon seeing the construction zone and the carnage ensued. This chain of accidents took out eight cars in total and sent one man to the hospital with serious injuries.

This accident caused around $200,000 worth of damage to cars and property. Usually all damages to the track are paid by those involved in the accidents, but there could be a strong case made against the track for its untimely construction on a open lapping day and then not marking the construction zone clearly. We reckon this story is far from over. We’ll keep you posted on this developing story.

[Source: GT Spirit]