As car makers refine their hardware further and further it is becoming harder than ever to make cars that stand out. This is why market leaders like BMW need to think laterally.

Toys and accessories that can soon be fitted to the interior recently got massive boosts of work. A new step in this direction is going to be undertaken by the Bavarians.

Our favorite German company announces that they will make DAB radio a standard piece of equipment across their entire car lineup.

DAB is about as big a leap forward for listening to radio as the CD would be to a gramophone. Some cars already offer this service, particularly in the higher segment of the market.

Since people have gotten a taste of the digital signal’s strength and sound quality, the appeal has been on the rise.

The standard is so good that most radio stations will phase out their analog service system very quickly. In some countries the switch-over could happen as early as 2015.

You wouldn’t want to miss the news one day in just a couple of years, would you?

In order to bring the system to all their cars from the cheapest 1 Series to the most jumped up 7 Series, the Bavarians have teamed up with Connects2.

The plan is not only to come up with a new system to make available for new cars regardless of price but also come up with a retrofit system.

It only seems natural that owners of older models will be able to get digital radio. This will be possible if it will have an RDS text-equipped FM radio.

About Post Author

Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW to make DAB radio standard across range appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

I will admit it; I’m bored with the BMW M3. Mostly with the E92 coupe version and the way instead of bringing out the F30, we keep getting stuff like this.

Slated as one of the last versions of this generation’s M3 to ever be made (could it finally be the case?) it’s getting a limited run of 100 units, all of which are aimed at the UK market.

It is named the Frozen Silver, it delivers a rather bland look and it is actually here to symbolize something quite important to the Bavarian brand.

The E92 BMW M3 Frozen Silver is supposed to be part of the celebration of BMW M GmbH’s 40th anniversary.

Allegedly it offers potential buyers some extra optional equipment for free with the purchase of the car at a little over its standard pricing.

Those addons include the bespoke Frozen Silver metallic paint, dark chromed exhaust, side gills and kidney surrounds and something they call High-gloss Shadowline exterior trim.

The interior is a little more generous. We get Black Novillo and Palladium leather with contrasting stitching on the seats and armrests.

There’s also an Alcantara wrapped steering wheel, some carbon fiber trim and a plaque to showcase the limited edition factor.

Otherwise the car is completely standard in terms of performance and underpinnings. The final issue to discus is the pricing.

The E92 BMW M3 Frozen Silver costs £9.000 on top of the standard coupe and all that extra stuff we’ve talked about costs £4.000.

It’s not a bad deal but I’d feel a little disappointed to known my new performance car would be outdated almost immediately after delivery.

About Post Author

Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post E92 BMW M3 Frozen Silver limited edition appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Some may feel like the brand new F30 BMW 3 Series is already nothing more than old news but that’s simply not the case. A leaked ordering guide for the U.S. tells us plenty of stuff about it that we didn’t previously know.

While the F30 versions of the BMW 328i and the BMW 335i are going to be making the trip over the Atlantic pretty much untouched there’s nothing in the info about the upcoming diesel versions.

Up until recently, most Americans couldn’t care less about a diesel engine but over the last few years this started to seriously matter as an alternative in terms of fuel saving solutions.

Getting back to the petrol powered versions of the F30 BMW 3 Series, they will come as standard with ZF’s eight speed automatic transmission, with the enthusiast friendly BMW six speed manual being still available as a no cost option.

In terms of U.S. market specific options, the entire lineup of F30 BMW 3 Series will come with automatic start/stop systems and 17 inch alloys regardless of the model.

Speaking of standard equipment, the new infotainment system features a 6.5″ screen color screen, iPod and Bluetooth connectivity, together with the infamous iDrive system.

So far apart from the diesel, everything the Americans are getting to know about the F30 BMW 3 Series sounds good but there’s some proper bad news coming up for fans of the M badge.

They won’t be able to get their fix for an M Sport package until the summer of 2012, July to be precise.

About Post Author

Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post U.S. order guide for the F30 BMW 3 Series leaked appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Doing its bit to prevent the seconds lost by drivers everywhere taking a quick peek at the dashboards of their cars, BMW is one of the biggest promoters of HUD systems out there.

The HUD (Head Up Display) system may be annoying to some, not perfectly visible in certain conditions and may be a bit on the costly side, but it does have its plus points.

This is particularly noticeable in places where it’s been done right. According to the Bavarians, the new HUD they put inside the new F30 3 Series is as good as it gets.

In adding some solidity to that statement, the Bavarians have given us a bit of an in-depth look at what sort of standards their HUD system was developed to. Attempting to refrain from saying nothing but the best will do but since everything about the new BMW HUD system is built to aircraft grade specifications it’s really tricky to do so.

Naturally, a big appeal of the new BMW HUD is the fact that it’s in color and impressive definition, which is something that takes quite a lot to achieve. The projector has to be a “better than average” product and the windshield gets some serious attention to best reflect the information to the driver.

BMW fitted the new HUD system in just about any of their products as an option and for those of you interested and yet not sure if its worth the price or if the marketing is real, there’s an interesting phrase coming up next.

Mr. Robert Hierl, a chap who spends his days at work testing out the Eurofighter jet says that the BMW system is so good it can offer the driver better info than the monochromatic one in the plane can.

Naturally, no BMW 3 Series is going to help you evade or shoot down a MIG but it’s nice to know that there’s some serious quality behind a product BMW charges around 1500 USD for.

About Post Author

Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW HUD developed to be aircraft grade appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.