Nother CarGuy

Although BMW officially announced its  new 1-Series Sedan back in July  when they released a single picture of the car, they’ve mostly kept us in the dark about their new compact saloon that will be made for, and sold exclusively, in China. But China, being China, new photos and information about the 2017 BMW 1-Series Sedan have already trickled out on the internet ahead of a reported world premiere at the 2016 Guangzhou auto show in November and before it goes on sale in the first quarter of 2017.  These images, courtesy of China’s  Autohome , provide a first look at the 1-Series saloon’s rear end, which may give some of you  a US-market VW Jetta /Passat vibe, along with the exterior differences between the various trims.  They also tell us that BMW’s Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz CLA rival will be available in China in at least three model flavors, including the 118i said to be powered by a 1.5-liter turbo’d gasoline 3-cylinder producing 136 horses, the 12...

BMW is refreshing its North American 2-Series range for 2017 with the new and  more powerful M240i  and 230i Coupes and Convertibles, while Europe and other international markets are also getting the M140i hatch.  The M140i and M240i models make use of a new 3.0-liter straight-six featuring the latest TwinPower Turbo technology to gain 15hp (14PS) and 39 lb-ft (53Nm) over  the previous M235i  and M135i cars, delivering 335hp (340PS) and 369 lb-ft (500Nm) of peak torque. The new engine helps the 2017 models trim their 0-100km/h (62mph) time by up to 0.3 seconds while also lowering their fuel consumption by as much as 7 percent.  Among other improvements made to the new straight-six are a new coolant pump that operates only as necessary and a map-controlled oil pump, while the cars get a stop/start system and brake energy regeneration technology too. The rear-wheel drive M140i 3-door and 5-door complete the dash from 0 to  100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.8 sec...