Mighty Car Mods return

Back for another season!

Nip & Tucked - Driving the facelifted BMW 535i

Towards the second half of last year, BMW gave the current generation 5-Series what is known in automotive circles as a "facelift". Whilst most manufacturers would take this opportunity to give their cars minor plastic surgery, BMW had chosen a more restrained approach on the F10. A slight nip and tuck if you will. Like the 5-Series Gran Turismo we drove early, the external changes are so mild even some keen-eyed observers would stumble to point out more than a handful of revisions. A new front bumper incorporating redesigned front air intakes, new adaptive LED headlights and fog-lights, a new rear bumper with an extra "crease" in the rear apron and revised taillights pretty much sums up the external updates on BMW's executive mover. There are of course slight variations depending on your trim specifications and how generous you are with the M-Performance (or BMW Individual) options list. The result of all these little changes though, is a reduction in its drag coefficient (Cd value) of 0.25 (0.29 previously). Oh yes, you can now open the boot with a wave of your foot below the rear apron. (But that's not exactly a visual revision.) It does look like the people who spec-ed up our "Luxury Line" test car had some exquisite taste as our car also comes with BMW Individual options, 19-inch Individual wheels and a selection of Individual bits to make up the interior. These all make our 535i slightly more special but i'm guessing it all comes with a "slight" premium. The pearlescent paint does look stunning, throwing off golds, greys and browns depending on the angle you're looking at. Inside, the revisions are more apparent as you'll now have a TFT-screen dashboard and touch sensitive controls on your iDrive. Both of which, we saw earlier on our drive with the 5 Gran Turismo. On the road, we all know the story. Top of it's class. BMW mentions they've fine-tuned the chassis dynamics but unless you are driving an earlier and later car back to back, for normal drivers like us, it will be quite hard to tell the difference. There is no lack of grunt from the Twin-Powered 3-litre turbo which in this car, does prefer to cruise instead of bruise. Mid-range overtaking maneuvers are easily dispatched with a squeeze of the throttle and the car's exceptional road holding will keep it planted through long sweeping bends and the occasional switchback. Pushing too hard will scrub the front wide but easing off the throttle brings it back without much drama. The electric steering might feel slightly numb at times but for most drivers, the added convenience when driving around town and parking will probably be appreciated much more. All in, BMW might have taken a much more restrained hand than what most of us are accustomed to when we think of "facelifts", but what this does show, is how good the initial offering already was. The new facelifted BMW 5-Series range is now available for viewing at Performance Motors’ showroom.

Cars & Kopi - Spring 2014

A small group of us old and modern classic car enthusiast just had a meet over the weekend and interestingly enough, the turnout was probably the biggest we've ever had! With many cars on our local shores not having the chance to even celebrate their 10th birthday, it's usually a treat when such meets happen. Especially with a nice eclectic mix of cars lined up and good people to swap stories with. Here's some of the cars that showed up. BMW Z4M, an instant classic the moment it was born. You just can't beat a clean MX5. Roadstar's clean rear. Saab 900s are cool. Why? They just are. A more modern day interpretation of the Saab philosophy. Good to hear they are coming back. S204s are quite rare on our local roads but two of these STI specials made it to the breakfast meet. From one boxer to another. The biggest surprise and the highlight of the morning for me was this 914-6. Prior to this sighting i had only seen one other 914 many many years ago. One of the rarest cars on our local roads for sure. Check out the spartan (but very clean) interior. From one old German to another, sitting ahead of the 914 was a Mercedes W123. I remember seeing many of these when i was growing up. Not many left anymore as i hardly see them now. Mercedes' from a slightly younger vintage. A W201 and W126, both clean and unmolested by time. A Porsche 914, Subaru WRX and a Mercedes W126. What did i say about an interesting mix of cars. :) Adding to the variety was the youngest but certainly the most powerful car of the meet, a Fezza 599. Audi RS4 Avant joining the AWD brigade. The 'Bahn-storming wagon As always, i showed up in the Garage36 jalopy! Here's hoping there will be another meet in the near future! Buy my sticker here »

BMW ///M6 Gran Coupe - The Granduer M

I have had the pleasure of being behind the wheel of a number of lovely machines from Bavaria, but throughout all this time, had never really made an active attempt at getting my mitts on the cars from BMW's Topgun M-division. You see, i've always felt that M-cars are BMW's halo cars, and in our local stratospherically priced car market, these prized Munich specials are even the stuff of dreams. BMW's M cars are good, they are great. End of story. We shouldn't go about messing with peoples' dreams. Or should we? Ever so happens, a call (or in this case, email) came in. An invitation to take not just BMW's, but M-division's flagship out for a day or two. How does one respond to that? I'm guessing you'd have probably figured out my answer because i'm writing this. So let's begin. The BMW M6 Gran Coupe. Pretty much everything about this car is grand indeed. From the styling to the size of the car as well as the big numbers the 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine punches out. They even stuck stickers along the sides to hammer these points in, just in case you forget. 560 horses, and 0-100 in 4.2 seconds. The numbers don't tell the whole story though. Because when you drive it, it really does feels quicker than the figures suggest. Any car that can break traction on straights at motorway speeds will tend to feel that way. Essentially a 4-door version of the 6-Series coupe, it even looks quick standing still. Best described as taking the elegant, sleek and elongated base of the standard 6-Series Gran Coupe, fill it up with testosterone, this is what you get. All pumped up and beefy and giving off a "you sure you're up to it" sneer when you gaze at it. Step over the illuminated M6 sills, into the cabin and everything is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The basic controls all fall into place, but the carbon fiber trimmings, the fantastic M-steering wheel and all those buttons on the gearknob tell you this is no normal BMW. Thumbing the start button awakens the powerplant with a wonderfully bassy growl and a few blips of the throttle produces an encore of distant crackling thunder on the overruns. Terrific, until you close the door and the only people who can enjoy those noises are standing outside the car. Such is the marvel of modern day BMW NVH levels. A small drop of the windows solves this but, you really wish they'd piped in more engine notes without the use of speakers. Or created an exhaust system with a butterfly valve. Slot the stubby stick into drive and glance at all the buttons surrounding the shifter. These allow for a myriad of drive settings. How stiff would you like your ride, how heavy would you like your steering, how reactive would you like your throttle inputs to be and last but not least, how fast would you want your gearshifts. When you've spent all afternoon playing with the buttons and sorting out your favourite setting, you'd be forgiven to think you have it all figured out. Because, most likely, you haven't. Nothing can really prepare you for the ferocity of the acceleration when you eventually put your foot down for the very first time. To say this car is fast is a gross understatement. The flagship M blitzes through local and non local speed limits with such relentless force that when you eventually react and ease off the throttle the M6 responds with a "That's all you've got?" sigh as it expels out wasted excess boost. When my brain finally caught up with me, all i could mutter was an inappropriate word that rhymes with duck. It's very electrifying for driver but probably not so enjoyable for uninitiated passengers. Going down a notch on our "enthusiastic" drive, the M6 Gran Coupe excels in what it's namesake calls it out to be. A superlative Gran Tourer. Devouring kilometers after kilometers of tarmac without breaking a sweat and cosseting it's occupants with a bone shaking B&O sound system. Strangely, in Comfort mode is where i find the ferocity of the M6 Gran Coupe's acceleration most apparent as the change in the car's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde character is most obvious with the slight delay programmed into the gearbox as it drops a couple of cogs. You stab the throttle, grip the steering wheel tightly and a few milliseconds later, jump from impulse power into warp speed. It would be very easy to just leave it in comfort and cruise the night away but those M buttons on the steering wheel are just so easily within reach. So after gathering up what's left of my swagger, i thumb those M buttons. Taking on local roads, you really might need to re-adjust the way you drive, not just to accommodate for it's gorgeous but lengthy torpedo shaped body, but to accept that, yes, from today onwards, 560 horses is where it's at. You start to look further ahead and look further back, your senses heighten to white cars with bright orange decals and you start to look for long gaps in traffic just to let the car sing. Fear turns into excitement and trepidation turns into anticipation. Fun starts to creep in and before you know it, you start to learn more and more about the car. The initially heavy and almost vague steering on highways start to liven up as you push into corners with the throttle acting as an additional rudder, digging the rear into the tarmac when exiting turns. The more liberties you take with it, the more it reveals how much depth it actually has and the more it eggs you on until you eventually hold back or run out of talent. This one's pretty special, a dangerously talented temptress, but a special one. Are you up for it?