This holiday season, BMW of Minnetonka has partnered with the local non-profit organization, People Serving People for our Holiday Giving Campaign.

12-0157_Holiday_Giving_Email_v1.pdf Download this file

Alternative drivetrains. BMW history and present.

BMW i3 Coupe Unveiled Ahead Of L.A. Auto Show

Continuing its quest  to come up with a range of plug-in hybrid and electric cars in the near future, at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show BMW will unveil a new member of its ‘i’ family, the new i3 Coupe . It is a normal i3 with three doors, and some new styling details.

The i3 Coupe comes with a revised front fascia, new side profile, and modified rear-end design. The interesting bit is the side window. They have sort of lowered the edge of the rear window, so the rear compartment gets more light and wouldn’t feel claustrophobic. You have seen this before, of course, on the Hyundai Genesis Coupe. Is BMW copying Hyundai now?

Size-wise, the i3 Coupe measures 3,964mm in length, 1,768mm in width and 1,555mm in height, and offers a 2,570mm wheelbase. Inside the cabin the car features the latest edition of the iDrive, and also a tablet thingy as the instrument cluster. It is very luxurious though, with wool seats and luxury leather upholstery, plus wood and aluminum trimming.

Typical of the ‘i’ brand and the i3 range, the power comes from an electric motor  that develops 170 hp and 250 Nm. BMW says it has a range of 160 km on a single charge.

There are no solid production plans behind the i3 Coupe, but if the i3 turns out to be a success, BMW may want to extend its range with different variants like this.

Courtesy of: http://bit.ly/U9VhHu

Take the next step with BMW ConnectedDrive

Planning a trip? Find a destination on your computer and send it to your car. BMW ConnectedDrive.

Ed, thank you for providing outstanding customer service

"I had a great experience working with Ed Howard, who was knowledgable, courteous and straight forward to deal with. Ed gave me a fair deal on a 2012 528xi and he went the extra mile by giving me a ride to the nearest government service center, when I realized that my license had expired (and I had been previously dropped off at the dealership).

There was no sales pressure and the dealership is truly a place I look forward to coming back to. I'd highly recommend Ed and Minnetonka BMW to my friends and colleagues." - jgranacher

Click here to read this review and many more on the DealerRater reviews!

BMW M Presents: The Making of an M Print

Congratulations to Sharon A. on winning a brand new iPad!

See the full gallery on Posterous

She is the 2nd winner from our Fall Service Clinic. Here she is with members of our staff: Jeff LaMott, Tim Simmon and Jim Machemehl! Thanks to all who attended!

BMW i. BORN ELECTRIC TOUR. NYC.

BMW M Performance steering wheel puts driving data at your fingertips

Taking a BMW M series car out on the track is an occasion for daydreaming that you're Michael Schumacher at the wheel of a Formula 1 racer. Unfortunately, the average BMW doesn’t come with a US$50,000 F1 steering wheel, making the illusion that bit harder to maintain. To help rectify this, BMW is offering a steering wheel with a touch of the racetrack as part of its M Performance accessories catalog.

The BMW M Performance steering wheel isn’t as insanely complicated as the F1 wheel and you don’t have to remove it in order to get in the car, but it does provide some features to make a track day a bit more interesting. At first glance, it looks fairly conventional except that on the rim is an OLED display with two LED readouts on either side and a pair of thumb buttons hidden under the leather. The purpose of these readouts is to provide the driver with information at a glance without having to look at the dashboard instruments – much like an F1 wheel.

The M Performance wheel operates in three modes. The first is ECO, during which the displays guide the driver into how to drive in the most economical style and provide readouts on how well the car performed against averages. The second is the Sport mode, where the wheel acts as a stopwatch, monitors fuel consumption and acts as a g-meter to show and record acceleration in turns. The last is Race mode, which includes a lap timer with various split-time and memory functions displayed to the nearest hundredth of a second. This mode also has an optional lap trigger that uses an infrared transmitter and receiver to measure lap times automatically as well as the ability to time a variety of sprints, such as the 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) or the American quarter-mile sprint. The LEDs even provide countdown and sprint-finish indicators.

Radiator temperature is shown in all three modes and oil temperature is displayed for petrol engines. The system also has a memory function so information like acceleration in a curve is available to read later.

Of course, none of the modes are particularly practical, but since the M Performance wheel is the steering equivalent of a go-faster stripe, that’s not a major drawback. Pricing for the M Performance Wheel starts at US$800.

The video below is a review of the M Performance steering wheel provided by BMW.

Source: BMW

Winter/Snow vs. All-Season vs. Summer Tires on Ice

Congratulations to Ann S. on winning a brand new iPad!

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Here she is with members of our staff: Jeff LaMott, Bob Doherty and Jim Machemehl!

BMW CPO - Best Day Ever

BMW 116d EfficientDynamics Records 103 MPG UK

BMW’s award-winning and cleanest car currently on sale in the UK now has another accolade. A BMW 116d EfficientDynamics five-door Hatchback entered into the RAC Future Car Challenge 2012 achieved an outstanding103mpg over the 64-mile Brighton to London route, winning the Best Internal Combustion Engine class in the process.

The route from Brighton to London included many miles of uphill section and busy London traffic, but event organisers measured the fuel used over the challenging route recording a 39 per cent improvement over the official 74.3mpg combined economy figure. The Brighton to London RAC Future Car Challenge event was first introduced in 2010 to showcase low energy use vehicles. It features competitors driving electric, hybrid, hydrogen and low-emission conventional petrol and diesel cars on a route from Brighton to London, using the least amount of energy possible. The event is a real-world test of current and future vehicle technology.

The 116d benefits from a suite of BMW’s EfficientDynamics technologies, which are designed to maximise fuel economy and lower emissions. These technologies were put to good use on the completely standard car by an experienced driving duo from Green-Car-Guide.com editor, Paul Clarke, and engineering specialist Paul Andrews from Oaktec, who between them have won nine eco-driving events and 24 class wins in special stage rallies.

The BMW 116d EfficientDynamics is a rear-wheel-drive family hatchback that can accelerate from zero to 62mph in 10.5 seconds, has a top speed of 121mph yet still achieves impressive performance figures. With its 99g/km emissions figure the BMW 116d qualifies for zero Vehicle Excise Duty, is exempt from the London Congestion Charge and it has a benefit in kind rating of just 13 per cent for company car drivers.

Steve Chater, Corporate Operations Manager, BMW UK said: “We know our cars are class-leaders when it comes to efficiency and driving pleasure but this result raises the bar further. Being able to achieve more than 100mpg is an outstanding result and this is on top of it being the cleanest BMW ever offered for sale in the UK courtesy of 99g/km CO2 emissions. 2012 has seen BMW launch ActiveHybrid models in 3, 5 and 7 Series guises, but while we push ahead bringing new technologies to market we will continue to enhance the conventional combustion engine as has been clearly demonstrated here.”

Paul Clarke, Editor of Green-Car-Guide.com, said: “It is an incredible achievement for a BMW to achieve over 100mpg on a busy Saturday morning drive from Brighton into central London. Hybrids and electric cars certainly have an important future, but it shows that people shouldn’t write off the internal combustion engine yet, as its efficiency is improving all the time.”

 

The BMW 116d EfficientDynamics was the only premium brand vehicle in its class. As well as competing in the event, the Green-Car-Guide.com team also drove the car from the North West to Brighton, and back again, a round trip of over 500 miles, and achieved more than 90mpg over the motorway route. Eco-driving principles were applied during the event to achieve the extremely high fuel economy. See more extensive coverage of the drive at www.Green-Car-Guide.com

Source:BMWBlog

Thanks to this wonderful author for writing up a great review!

Had a wonderful experience purchasing our X3 with BMW of Minnetonka. Had visited Joe Schad a couple months prior to our purchasing our X3. We were just starting to look around, and after experiencing poor customer service at a couple of other competeters, it was a nice change to deal with Joe and BMW of Mtka. The service was a night and day difference from the others. I would definitely recommend them over others. We've been so pleased with our purchase and Joe has worked with us on taking care of any issues we may have.. Thanks to him and everyone else there!!-The Ultimate BMW Driver

BMW marks 25 years of 12-cylinder engines

BMW's second-generation 7 Series, unveiled in 1986, featured two new top-of-the-range sedans whose formidable six-cylinder in-line engines generated universal enthusiasm in the motoring media. Nevertheless, it was an open secret that an even bigger star was waiting in the wings: the first German 12-cylinder luxury model in half a century.

Expectations were running high, fuelled by BMW's release of various advance details of the new model's technical specifications. In September 1986, one news magazine informed its readers: "BMW will be opting for an aero engine-style design. That means most engine systems on the 12-cylinder 7 Series model, which is due for market release in June 1987, will be duplicated. There will even be two lambda sensors. And even if half the engine capacity failed, for some reason, speeds of over 200 km/h would be possible even on just six cylinders." Last but not least, BMW's development chief at the time was quoted as saying: "if the engineers wanted to go for nothing but the best of everything, we didn't try to stop them."

The rumour mill was rife with speculation about the future top-of-the-line engine's capabilities. One story doing the rounds claimed that: "BMW is doing everything it can to promote a sense of exclusiveness and cachet. They even want the licensing authorities to allow them to state the performance not in figures but in words – to the effect that the engine is appropriate in power and performance for the requirements of the vehicle."

In February 1987, BMW finally put an end to the speculation and released the technical specifications of the 12-cylinder engine in the new BMW 750i, ahead of its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show the following month. The new engine, which had been designed completely from scratch, would develop 300 horsepower from a displacement of five litres. Its refinement, low noise levels and excellent balance between performance and fuel consumption set new benchmarks in engine design. These objectives were achieved by using state-of-the-art technologies and a raft of innovative ideas right across the board. In short, the BMW 750i's 12-cylinder engine had been built with the aim of setting a new and groundbreaking benchmark that would occupy the highest echelons of automotive engineering.

Source: BMW