The Service Station

This car needs not to brag about it’s performance credentials because it’s not about speed. No, this one-off BMW Zagato Coupe is about style. And it can definitely brag about that. Just look at it.

It’s a perfect blend of BMW and Zagato designs coming together as one. In other words it looks like a Z4 with a Zagato arse. And that’s no bad thing.

Some amazing paintings at the museum…

Went into a classic car museum in Nasu today and I saw this rare thing. It’s the Mach 5 from the ‘Speed Racer’ film. There are only 10 of them in the world and this one is one of two in the whole of Japan. Pretty chuffed to have been able to see it.

Finally I’ve found you in Japan!!! (Taken with instagram)

This is a bit odd. The 1-Series Hatchback has been one of my most hated BMWs (the X6 being number one). I think of it as half a BMW, much like the old 3-Series Compact actually. Every time I see someone in a 1-Series Hatch I just think what a desperate fool. He wants to be in a BMW so badly he’d settle for something that is so putridly hideous.

Then there’s the new one. It looks like the so-called ‘designers’ got inspiration from those pigs in Angry Birds.

But now they’ve launched the M135i and the odd thing is, I find it rather attractive. Now I’ll make no bones about it, I was rather fond of the 1M. I’ll never admit it verbally but I do like it. Even if it was orange. So there must be something about M powered 1s that attract me. Except the M135i isn’t a full M car. It’s actually an M Performance product. Confusing I know.

I’ll try to explain. The M3 and M5 are the full 100% vodka shot. They are the proper M Division cars. The M135i and the M550d are M Performance cars. They’re like Chardonnay. They’ll both get you drunk, except one will do it quicker than the other.

So the M135i, what have we got here? Well it has a very clever twin-turbocharged 3.0 litre straight six that develops a healthy 320 bhp and 450NM of torque. Performance figures suggest a 0-100 km/h time of 4.9 seconds with its top speed limited to 250. To put that into perspective the old 1M developed 335 bhp and the same amount of torques though it accelerated 0.4 seconds quicker to 100 km/h.

Most importantly though the added aggressiveness of the M body kit has given the 1-Series its much needed boost in appearance. It doesn’t look so pig faced anymore and the headlights don’t look out of proportion with the rest of the car.

If this is a sign of things to come I can’t wait for what the next 1M Coupe will be like.

The new but not-so-interesting BMW 3-Series Touring.

The only interesting things about it are the fact that it’ll drive brilliantly and that it’s more spacious than a C-Class Estate.

As far as I know of there hasn’t been an M3 Touring. Let’s hope there’s a first for everything because I think that’s the only way I’ll ever be excited about this car.

Playing with effects…

They really should change the name from ‘Sportback’ to ‘Sexyback’. (Taken with instagram)

It has to be said I’m not much of a fan of the Polo. If I were to get a small car I’d probably go for a Swift or a Fiesta.

However it’s hard for me to ignore this new Polo. Called the R WRC it packs a whopping 222 bhp (11 bhp more than the Golf GTI). While its only a concept at this stage there’s a fair good chance that VW will put it in production soon.

Let’s hope they do.