Bucket Seat: BMW - The Next 100 Years

This week saw the BMW Group celebrate 100 years of existence, the German automobile manufacturer celebrated this feat by hosting a grand conference in Munich, inviting the worlds press to take a lot at what they've achieved in those 100 years and oh my, have they achieved a lot. Almost every car made by BMW is distinguishable and unique in it's own way, with sporty elegance fused with luxury, the only way they know how to do it. 

There were some stand out models that they produced from the M1 to the i8, they have been challenging themselves to push the boundaries in motoring and turn visions into reality. Last year they change the face of motoring when they launched to their BMWi fully electric range world wide, which was the first by a major motor manufacturer, showing that they not only believe in their products but have faith in the market to go along with them.

We've seen all of this, now this week the world got a glimpse into what the next 100 years have in store for BMW. A big talking point of recent was autonomous vehicles and their part they play in the future, BMW's unveiled their Vision Concept which showcases what the minds in Germany are thinking. Obviously things will change in the next 100 years but it is a good indication into what the public can expect. 

The car looks something straight from the future, clean lines, futuristic styling, suicide style scisscor doors which leads into a fresh new interior with hardly much in it at all. The steering wheel looks like something that belongs in a gaming console, the entire windscreen is interactive, displaying information for the drive like the speed, the temperature, objects on the road, etc. The car looks magnificent and if that's an indication into where the Group is going, I can only foresee more exciting developments for the future. 

It's not often that brands get recognised by their competitors but such is the competition, fellow German manufacturers Mercedes Benz took time to wish BMW well on their centenary with full page adverts in most of the media. It was tongue and cheek with them commenting on BMW being their only real competition, take that Audi and also Porsche acknowledged this milestone. It's this type of healthy competitiveness is what the consumer needs, because of this the manufacturers are forced give us the best at a price that is affordable. Exciting time lie ahead n the motoring world and I'm glad I get to sample it. 

Bucket Seat: A weekend with the i3

When BMW launched their i Range in the country earlier this year, it issued a new era in motoring. Whilst many were accustomed to the hybrids, the mere thought of having a car that ran purely on electricity was a bit daunting especially with the energy crisis and the limited range that these vehicles could do. The concept behind these cars was never for long distance commutes though, with the strict regulations in most European countries with regards to C02 emissions and congestion charges for major cities, cars like the i3 were developed for these particular reasons. In essence, it is a city car, with zero emissions, practical and compact in design whilst remaining stylish, spacious and affording the driver and their passengers all the comforts we've come accustomed to in cars today.

This past weekend the guys down at Supertech Durban offered me an i3 Bev to zoom around town in, it was an offer I couldn't turn down as I did drive one during the local launch but the real test was spending a few days with the car. For those who don't know much about the Supertech Dealership, it is KZN's only BMWi dealer, located at 8 Cliff Crescent, on the corner of Solomon Mahlangu Drive (Edwin Swales) and Vusi Mzimele Road (Bellair Rd). It is one of the countries biggest BMW dealerships and boasts one of the best sales figures. The Showroom was the first in the country to have  a dedicated M car showroom with tar flooring and racing design, as well incorporating interactive executive lounges where customers can customize their ideal BMW whilst watching it take shape on a giant LCD TV. This is part of Future Retail, a concept designed by BMW as a means to enhance the customer dealership experience. The Isetta Bar located in the dealership has a full restaurant menu and some of the best coffee I've had! Supertech Durban, falls under the Supertech Group, which consist of the Durban as well as Newcastle dealership. The Group prides themselves on service excellence which is testament to the awards they win. Supertech Durban was also recently awarded a 4 Star Green star rating, and being an i-dealer, its testament to their commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly living.

Once the keys to the i3 were handed over to me and was given a quick brief about the car, it was time to hit the road. When I say this car is nothing like you have ever driven before, I mean it, everything about it is magical as it's relatively new to you. Firstly, the silence, with no combustion engine present there is zero noise, the only noise you will hear is that of the wind resistance. Next up, the design, BMW have kept the design as close to the concept as possible, with futuristic lines and massive wheels (20"), it looks like a driving concept on the road. The interior follows that trend with clean lines, spacious cabin and a dash that's straight out of the future with 2 LCD screens giving the driver all the info needed.

With the i3 being battery powered, you may get range anxiety like I did the first time driving it. Many would start panicking when they see the range in their car say "100km" as that means their tank is running dry but with the i3 in comfort mode, that is all the range you get! Also with the depleting battery, you tend to want to head home soon as you can to start charging it again but the more time you spend in the car, the more you figure out the workings behind it. With the kinetic energy build up whilst slowing down, the car is able to regenerate power, so the more you drive and slow down, the more battery life you build up. It almost becomes like a game and that is where the city car aspect comes to it. If you're going to drive on a motor way at a constant speed, that is when you're going to use up the most power and not get a good range to your charge but if you take a drive to the suburbs with stop streets and traffic lights, you might end up reaching your destination with a higher range than what you started off with!

I say it's like a game but in essence the car forces you to become a better driver, even though for it's size and odd shape, it's no slouch. It has a top speed of 160kph and one can obtain it very quickly thanks to the electric motor output of 125kW and 250Nm of torque, couple that with the overall weight of just over a ton, thanks to the light weight shell that is manufactured in a special carbon fiber weave and the interior made from special light weight and recycled materials, the only real weight to the car is from the batteries of which that and the electric drive train along with the wheels, form one part of the car and the cabin and shell make up the second part.

Driving the i3 is not just an experience for the driver but for on lookers too. It's nothing like you've seen before so it will attract a lot of attention anywhere you go. I took it to some of Durban's hot spots just to see the general reaction from the public and I had a lot of positive feedback from people, many didn't know that it was available in the country and most were astonished that someone would actually drive one. That is what I feel needs to change, the overall mindset of the consumer, 

Many might be thinking, why would I pay that much money for a car like this? I'm not going to lie, it is pretty expensive but if one has to look at the average Golf driver in Durban, now if you live in Durban you would know that they are more GTI's and R's on the roads than TSI's, both of those are over 500K, both give you at most 400km on a tank of fuel if you're lucky. The BMW i3 isn't much more than that in costs but costs you a fraction in terms of refueling. A single charge for the i3 from 0% to 100% will cost you on average R25 and depending on your driving style and mode, the range will vary from 100km to 140km. There are 3 driving modes to the car, Comfort mode offers you a top speed of 150kph, which we aren't allowed to do on any of our roads so no need to worry about that. The two Eco modes are Eco Pro and Eco Pro+, with the latter being there if you really want to push the cars range to the limits whilst letting go of things like climate control and succumbing to a top speed of 90kph.

With Europe already taken to electric vehicles, there are many public charge facilities in place, we in South Africa have some way to go to get up to that level but we are not far off. During my time with the i3, one of the places I visited was the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, to my surprise one of the guards came running up to me as I entered, now with it already drawing attention wherever I went I thought it was just another person that wanted to see the car but in actual fact, he came to tell me that they have a dedicated bay for electric cars, complete with a plug point so I could charge the car while I enjoy my dinner. Best part about it, it was free! Then again with the minimal cost of charging the car, it would be pointless to charge someone for this service. Other places in Durban that have charging facilities are Gateway Shopping Center and I've heard that the Pavilion Shopping center will be adding a few to their latest wing of renovations. So the market is adapting to it and you won't be caught off guard should you require a top up. 

There are 3 charging methods for the car, the first is the conventional 3 -pin wall socket that you have at home, it works well but the charge time is pretty long, as I said takes up to 7 hours to fully charge it. There is an option to get a BMW Wallbox installed at your place of residence which reduces charging time by almost half, so 3 hours max and you're ready to roll and the last option is the DC charger which can be found at any BMW i-dealer. With the direct current option, charging takes 20 minutes, it is on this basis that they're working on rolling out DC charging points around the cities, I know Sandton BMW have installed one in Melrose Arch along with their new BMWi showroom. 

The car comes equipped with everything one would find in any normal car, climate control air-conditioning, BMW's connected drive with on call support. Bluetooth functionality, satellite navigation and leather seats. The cabin is extremely spacious and can seat 4 adults comfortably, I even squeezed in 5 during my time with it. The suicide style rear doors make getting in and out very easy for the passengers, apart from making the car look cool. Another great feature to it was the BMWi Remote app which I was able to download onto my cellphone. It gave me info such as the amount of battery life I had left on the car as well as charging times. I could even preset the aircon should I want the car cooled before I got in. Other things you can do with the remote app is unlock the car, hoot and switch on the lights should you for some reason can't find it in a parking lot. 

Overall it was an eye opening experience, I always thought of a battery operated car as a kid and here it is in production and on the roads. With the ever rising of the oil price and the damage caused by fossil fuels, this is the future of motoring. In time, the price of vehicles such as the i3 will come down as the demand for them increases, it's simple economics. The biggest challenge manufacturers like BMW will have is getting people to break their fear and actually experience what the car has to offer to which they will be pleasantly surprised like I was. 

You can follow Supertech Durban on their various social media channels,

Facebook: BMW Supertech
Twitter: SupertechDurban

Bucket Seat: BMW i3 & i8

Recently BMW South Africa launched their new i range of vehicles in South Africa, its been a long time coming, lots of hard work behind the scenes and finally after all of this we were ready to receive them, thus opening up a new era in motoring. When BMWi began their mission to build electric powered cars, there were loads of research and development with various prototypes and concepts but with every one the method was the same, to build a new vehicle that is purposely meant to be powered by an electric plant not simply putting an electric motor in a car that exists already, hence the term "Born Electric".

The fruits of their labour saw the i3 and i8 come into form and were displayed 3 years ago to the world as concepts. Futuristic and bold designs, made the cars look like they were 20 years ahead of time but little did we know that BMW were very close to production with them. When news broke of production ready cars, we waited to see how much of the outrageousness was discarded seeing that concepts always go heavily under the knife to cut costs for the models that make to the showroom but to everyones surprise, with these two much remained the same. 

This weekend I was invited by BMW to partake in the regional launch of the iSeries vehicles at their pop up store in Gateway. We were given a brief insight by BMWi Manager Deena Ralph Govender, into the reasoning for BMW to introduce electric cars and the complexities that they went into to ensuring that the cars were geared to be environmentally friendly in every aspect. From the carbon fibre plastic shell being 100% recyclable to using eco friendly materials to decorate the cabins of the cars. It was then time to get behind the wheel of the i3, a short route to KZN's only "i ready" dealership, BMW Supertech was planned. The route offered a bit of urban driving, city driving as well as freeway driving so we could put the i3 through its paces. 

The first thing that you realise when you're next to one, besides the futuristic design, is its size. While pictures do make the car look rather small, in actual fact it is quite a respectable size and when you get inside you recognise how spacious and comfortable it is with it being able to accommodate 4 adults with ease and comfort, with the car also having suicide style doors, not having a B pillar makes entering an exiting the car that much easier. The dash follows the BMW philosophy of clean cut and simple design with a modern touch, the conventional speedometer is replaced with a LCD screen and a secondary screen in the centre of the console to display entertainment and navigation along with BMW's Connected Drive. If you haven't heard of Connected Drive, it is basically your very own concierge service at the touch of a button. Its a 24 hour service for your every need, need directions? No need to punch it in manually into the GPS, simply tell the operator the place you need to go to, and in a matter of seconds your GPS will have the route for you to follow. 

Starting the car is an experience on its own, because the electric motor is so silent you don't know if the car is on or not! The car comes with an automatic gear box with the selector finding a new space up next to the steering column, now it's just a single gear system to regulate the speed so it's a smooth ride from the go. Acceleration is instant as you tap the pedal, the propulsion of the car is intense with the torques kicking in at drastic speeds, 0-60kph in 4 seconds, that's faster than some sports cars! and as a top speed of a 150kph. When you release your foot from the accelerator, the car begins to brake on its own to regenerate power to the batteries, this in effect recharges your car as you drive. The i3 comes in two versions, the BEV and the REx, the BEV being full electric which offers the driver a range of 160km from a full charge with the REx having a range extending petrol engine not to power the car but to generate power to the batteries allowing the cars range to be just over 300km on a full charge. 

With SA not being fully equiped for electric cars just as yet, BMW are offering owners of the i3 an option to exchange their car for a combustion variant should they require to go on a long distance trip. This is all factored into the price of the car. The BEV comes in at approximately R525,000 and the REx at R585,000 at base prices. Yes it does seem a bit steep for a city car but if you do the math, you will be saving tons of money in the long run. To fully charge your car using a normal wall socket takes 6 to 7 hours and costs a mere R21, if you get the BMW iWallbox installed at home charging time is reduced to just 2 hours. There is another quicker option but will only be available at BMWi dealerships where a DC charger is on hand to do the job in just 20 minutes. Getting back to the savings, with your average 1.6 hatch, many average 400km on a 45 litre tank which costs you close to R500 now, you can do 400km in the i3 BEV for just R63, that's a good R400+ saving for you. 

Now I've already touched on how futuristic the car looks and the amazing performance and economy but there's still more cool things to the car. BMW have an app available on both Android and iOS platforms for owners to download and use, this makes use of Connected Drive and gives you live data of your car, so for example the amount of charge left in the battery, where you car is parked within a 1,5km radius (for when you can't remember where you parked in the mall?!) and the best feature for me, is pre-conditioning your car from your phone. With our blistering summer temperatures, we often park our cars out in the sun and when we get back in, it feels like we stepped into the sauna, with this app you can tell the car to run the aircon at a specific temp before you get to your car, so by then the car is at the perfect temperature for you to be in, how cool? The app can also lock and unlock your car so if you leave your keys inside by mistake, there's no need to call a locksmith and you can also use the hooter, may sound like a weird feature but when you have a car like the i3 or i8 you will be attracting attention from others so you may want to clear the crowd as you get to your car. 

Later that evening I got the chance to drive the i8, its been little under 24 hours since I've driven the car and I still have this smile on my face. I expected it to be a lot like the i3 but it was nothing like it at all. Being a hybrid, the car makes use of a 1.5 ltr, 3 cylinder petrol engine but unlike most hybrids on the market, the emphasis is on the electric motor with the petrol engine just their to assist. The low stance and tub cabin makes it feel like the ultimate sports car with the dash reminiscent to that of a space ship which is quite fitting as when you flick the car into sports mode, the dash colours change from blue into red and when the pedal is floored it feels like you've hit hyperspeed and about to jump into a new vortex. I still can't put into words what feelings that go through you when driving that car, it really is a piece of art, in fact both cars are in the own right and are real game changers. It will be interesting to see what other manufacturers will do now since they have to play catch up. 

For more info on the i3, you can visit their campaign site at: http://goo.gl/CwkthW

Or if you want to book a test drive, simply fill your details at: http://goo.gl/KqKsRD

JIMS Preview: BMW

So the Johannesburg International Motor Show is just around the corner, it is the biggest motoring exhibition on the continent and what's great about it, is that motor manufacturers treat it with the same respect as any other big motor show across the world. So if you are a petrol head you are going to be spoiled with concept models, future models, current models, eye candy models *wink wink*, anything and everything to do with motoring. 

BMW i3

This week we look at what BMW SA will be featuring at the show this year, the German auto makers stand is always one of the most popular one. Crowds gather around the models showcased and the visitor gets to experience the cars first hand and find out more info on them from the helpful people at hand. It's been a big year for BMW with the launch of their BMWi brand, so those of you whom are planning on visiting JIMS keep an eye out for the i3 which is BMW's first full electric production car that will be retailing next year in SA during the second quarter. No official word yet if the i8 will be making an appearance but here's hoping!

BMW Hybrid Active 7

Keeping with the electric theme, the Active Hybrid 7 will also be at the show. It runs of the same drive train as the 3 and 5 with the 6 cylinder petrol engine coupled with the electric engine. 

BMW 3 Series

The 3 series which is proudly assembled in South Africa at their Rosslyn plant will also be on display with its variants which include the much talked about 3 series GT.

BMW 4 Series

The one that most of us have been waiting to see is no doubt the new 4 series, it should be one to gather a crowd, the coupe which is based on the 3 series will be on sale soon in SA and seeing it in the metal might convince more people to opt for it.

BMW M6 Gran Coupe

My favourite car to look for on the stand is without a doubt the M6 Gran Coupe, it is one of the most sexiest cars on the road today. The design is flawless and with the M Power treatment under the hood its bound to make you weak in the knees.

BMW M5

Other cars you can also spot at the stand will be the facelift 5 series which just launched this week in SA along with the 5 series GT and the beast sedan that is the M5. The ever popular Z4 roadster and the new 1 series will be there as well. Overall it is a killer line for the enthusiast so make your way down to the show which is held at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec from the 18th till the 27th of October 2013.

BMW 1 Series

BMW Z4

BMW 5 Series Facelift

BMW 5 Series GT Facelift

BMW 3 Series GT Facelift

Bucket Seat: BMW i8

Today was the opening of the Internationale Automboil Ausstellung, or for us regular folk, the Frankfurt Motorshow. Over the years IAA has been the key show for many, if not all the German motor manufacturers, it is after all their home territory and they are expected to impress!

One of the cars to début at the show was the production model of BMW's i8. The car which is the second model of the BMWi brand was one that was eagerly anticipated by many. It is the first plug in hybrid from BMW and continues from the i3 with its futuristic design. The cars ground braking aerodynamic design body is constructed from carbon fibre reinforced plastic, ensuring that while the car is strong but it is light weight as well. Add to that the aluminium chassis along with the drive train and batteries brings the total weight of the vehicle to 1490kg's.

The interior looks like something out of Star Trek and you might consider yourself a Captain Kirk in your Starship Enterprise with the LCD screens and emotion LED changing lights in the cabin, just don't call out for Spock. The  rest of the cabin is pretty standard BMW with the centre console and trimmings. The sports leather seats look rather cool and with its 2+2 configuration BMW say you can get two passengers in the back, hope they don't mean midgets though.

How it works? Simple... sort off, the car uses a combination of BMW TwinTurbo and BMW eDrive technology to power itself. BMW Efficient dynamics for the first time has introduced a 1.5 litre, 3 cylinder petrol engine with an output of 170kW and 231bhp with a maximum torque of 320Nm sent to the rear wheels via a 6 speed gearbox. Combine that with with the electrical engine, the total output will be 266kW, 362bhp and a max torque of 570Nm. Not bad for a hybrid eh?

The technology used here is the latest stage by BMW Efficient Dynamics and works similarly to the their Active Hybrid models where the two power trains are able to work in tandem thus giving the i8 the performance levels of a pure bred sports car. With the i8, its all about carbon emissions and fuel saving, so while a 0-100 sprint would just take you 4.4 seconds, the inner hippy in you would be glad to know that it used the same about of petrol as a small car, approximately 2.5ltr/100km. That is insane statistics and would make any petrol gasp and smile at the possibilities. That being said, if you can afford a car like this, should the price of petrol be a concern to you? 

Well the short answer is yes, whilst you are able to afford this vehicle you would be using less of the commodity, hence lowering its demand...as margin-able as it maybe, it might be able to put a dent in the sales figures and the main thing is you're being a good human and looking after the environment. 

I personally think that this is currently the way forward for cars, whilst we still haven't perfected the full electric car as yet, this type of plug in hybrid technology is welcomed. Offering the driver the option to drive a sports car but with the efficiency of a hybrid. I spoke about pricing earlier and while its still not known, expect this one to be at the million or over mark. There really isn't any competition to it but the closest I can say is the Audi R8 but we still await to see if they release their R8 e-tron.