2007 BMW M6

If you're one of those people thinking about buying a BMW M6 and want a nice, fluffy article telling you how wonderful it is, then look away now. There are plenty of other places on the Web where critics will tell you what an astonishing car the M6 is and more power to them. But I really, really, REALLY, didn't care for the 2007 BMW M6 at all and while I might very much be in the minority here, I knows what I likes and this ain't it.

For a start, I think the 6-Series on which the M6 is based is a travesty. Forget the subjective matter of its looks for a moment and consider just how massively pointless it is as a means of transport. It has no rear seat worth speaking of and yet it's actually longer than the 5-Series with which it shares most of its hardware. The wheelbase is almost four inches shorter and it sits almost four inches lower - all of which comes directly out of the cabin, all of which we could have forgiven if it was even vaguely good-looking.

Then there's the interior, a more cramped version of the cockpit found in the 5-Series, although now with less visibility and still saddled with iDrive and all its dangerously unfathomable menus. The doors are so long it's impossible to get out of in tight parking spaces and you can more or less give up hope of ever getting anyone jammed into the rear seat out again. There's no denying the front seats are extraordinarily comfortable and the build quality is first-rate, but beyond than that there's not much to recommend the 6's cabin.

While the M5 is a stealthy and svelte super-sedan, the look-at-me M6 howls its M-ness from the rooftops. The wheels are glitzy 19-inch items that poke out from bulging fenders that combine with the aggressive new front fascia to draw more attention to a car that wasn't exactly a wilting wallflower to begin with. The view from the rear, with its M-spec bumper, rear diffuser, and enormous rear tires, is even more cartoonish than the standard 6-Series, while other M-spec add-ons like the exposed carbon fiber on the roof simply smacks of gimmick to me. The interior benefits from a nice M-spec steering and sportier seats, but otherwise it's fairly stock in there, which means you get the same fine entertainment system you can't operate and the same forest of stalks and paddles around the steering wheel. Sigh.

All that ceases to matter once you fire up its astonishing 5.0-liter, 40-valve, quad-cam, V-10 engine. Essentially the same unit as found in the M5, it generates its staggering 500 hp output by using race-derived technology like individual throttle bodies for each cylinder and dry-sump lubrication. Its redline is pegged at a stratospheric 8250 rpm and maximum power isn't achieved until 7750 rpm, so while it does demand a lot of revs to get the most from it, it's got so much power in reserve you actually don't need to rev the nuts off it to achieve big velocities.

f you do decide to thrash it, the performance is mind-boggling with 60 mph arriving in just 4.5 seconds from rest and a top speed well beyond the governed 155 mph. Thanks to the variable cam timing and individual throttles, it generates a more-than-adequate 383 lb-ft of torque at 6100 rpm and with seven paddle-selected gears to choose, it's unlikely you'll ever be caught out wanting for power. The transmission is also carried directly over from the M5, so you get the same superb high-speed changes but the same cumbersome low-speed operation and annoying tendency to roll back at idle.

Thankfully, there's a six-speed manual in the works for the M5 and M6, so I won't dwell on the transmission too long. Like the M5, for those dreary commutes in stop-go traffic you can take it out of "M-Drive" mode and amble around with a piddling 400 hp, which, in anything other than ideal conditions, is more than enough I think.

The M6 also borrows the M5's active-ride suspension system, which is pleasantly firm in normal mode though calling the softest setting Comfort is a bit of a stretch. In Sport mode it stiffens up considerably, more so than in the M5 it seems, and while I appreciate that the M6 is supposed to more hardcore than the M5, I do think they've made it a bit too stiff for anywhere other than the racetrack. The phenomenal brakes also come right out of the BMW M5, with 14.7-inch front and 14.6-inch rear cross-drilled rotors constructed from fade-free, compound materials and clamped by massive dual-piston calipers all around.

Hit the steering-mounted M-Drive button, and in addition to the extra horsepower and sport suspension, you get a sharper throttle, meatier steering and faster gear-shifts, the overall effect of which is to turn the M6 into a super-focused uber-coupe. It grips like a racecar and turns in with staggering ferocity; but because it's such a big, heavy car with a slightly mute steering, it doesn't have enough intimacy to have quite that level of performance.

Whereas the BMW M5 is engaging, the M6 scares the bejesus out of me and because it's lost almost four inches of wheelbase and yet only weighs about 100 pounds less, it's less forgiving of mistakes and feels more twitchy and nervous by comparison. The driving instructors at the Road America racetrack loved it, and I'm sure if I had their level of skill and a racetrack to play on every day I'd enjoy it too, but out there in the real world the M6 is a scary proposition.

I drove it for a while without the stability control in the rain and the car was all but undrivable, snapping this way and that without me really asking or expecting it to hang its back end out. And it's not like I'm inexperienced with cars of this power and performance, having piloted Vipers and Ford GTs in the past without complaint.

There's a dark side to the 2007 BMW M6 that makes me very uncomfortable behind the wheel, which makes it disturbingly different in character to the amazing competence of the M5 or even the relative delicacy of a 911 Turbo. Quite why it costs fifteen grand more than the M5 I cannot fathom, especially when you consider that it's no faster, not anything as good to look at, has almost no versatility and it isn't nearly as much fun to drive.

WheelHQ.com carries all the BMW Wheels you need.

Source: thecarconnection

The most female cars of 2007 are named

In what for the lady the main similarity of the car and the man? The answer is obvious: women choose both especially carefully and captiously. Besides it is necessary to recognise, that unlike men, the car - the companion obedient, and in its fidelity it is possible to be 100 % assured on all. And if on a question "What men are loved by women?" For all history of mankind so anybody precisely also has not answered to tell, what cars are preferred by the most magnificent women of the world, quite really.

To learn, at last, what iron horses instead of the presents white live in hearts and garages of the modern women, known consulting company J.D.Power has carried out research in which course has found out, what cars were bought by women more often in 2007. Simultaneously by employees of the company it has been found out, what cars became the most popular this year at men, but it at present not so is important. We will tell only, that arguing on a distinction theme between floors, keep in mind, that if the "most man's" car had appeared Audi RS4 "most female" is Volvo S40.

The most female cars of 2007 are named. Research, naturally, passed in territory of the USA, however by its results it is possible to judge the general tendency safely. For anybody not a secret, that men choose to themselves the car heart, and women a head. In top-10 female cars which was made by Americans from J.D.Power and Associates, any has not got sport penalties. Instead of them there there were the sensitive, manageable automobile and small jeeps placing emphasis on safety, quality, reliability and the price.

The most female cars of 2007 are named. Certainly, it is impossible to assert, that all women are afraid of fast driving, however what love, the exception of a rule is faster. But reliable Swedish machines Volvo as it was found out, excite imagination not one million modern women. Except S40, taken of an in the lead position with an indicator of 53 % on quantity of acquisitions by women, versatile person V50 and sedan S60 have got on 7 and 9 places accordingly. Thus, Volvo became the most popular luxury-brand at women.

The most female cars of 2007 are named. The second luxury-brand became Japanese Lexus. If Volvo associates with safety Lexus is a synonym of quality and reliability. Two models of this mark have got on 3 place (IS 250 has got 47,7 % of women) and 6 (RX has liked 46,9 %). Lexus 7th year admits the most sold luxury-brand America successively. At women of model RX it is possible to explain popularity convenience of the car to family using.

Silver in top-10 took Jaguar X-Type, the big half of sold which cars has got to women (51,2 %). To the list also have got Mersedes-Benz a class "C" (47,2 %) and BMW X3 (44,6 %). 4 and 8 positions in a rating have occupied cars of mark Acura (North American division of concern Honda), but in Russia officially they are not on sale.

Modern Design: Audi TT

But despite its evolutionary style, this is a ground-up redesign built upon the VW Golf (Rabbit)/Audi A3 chassis. Significant structural enhancements went into the topless two-seat Roadster to make it as fun to drive as the 2+2 hardtop Coupe. Extensive use of aluminum and steel throughout the Roadster chassis banished any dreaded convertible cowl-a mighty feat, given that Audi engineers managed to do this while reducing weight by 300 pounds versus the original Roadster and retaining the same cargo volume as the Coupe.

That's not all the trick stuff, either. The power convertible top (in V-6 models) folds down in a brisk 12 seconds, or roughly twice as long as it takes the sportiest TT to get to 60 mph.

Along with a 200-horsepower direct-injection turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder and a 250-horsepower, 3.2-liter V-6, the TT gets Audi's revolutionary S-tronic dual-clutch transmission and quattro AWD system-though not in all configurations (yet). At the corners, Audi spices up a traditional MacPherson-strut front/multilink rear suspension setup with will plenty of lightweight aluminum and their optional Magnetic Ride Adaptive Damping system.

The new Audi TT is bigger, faster, and more technologically advanced than the groundbreaking icon it replaces. Is this enough to make it Motor Trend's 2007 Car of the Year? Check back here later or pick up our January 2008 issue when it hits newsstands December 4.

Source: motortrend