German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News

Many of us were attracted to German performance by BMW. There was a time when they made cars unlike anyone else. Cars that took no short cuts, with motors that represented the best their engineers had to offer. Now what do we have? Anti-tuning ecu's, the same motor in every car, M SUV's, FWD city cars coming, smaller and smaller motors paired with extreme brand dilution. ...

The Audi A1 can now be ordered with a 1.4 TFSI motor putting out about 185 horsepower and 184 lb-ft. What is interesting about this motor is that it is both turbocharged and supercharged. The supercharger is active from low revs up until 2,400 rpm at which point a turbo takes over past 3500 rpm until redline. This allows a larger turbo used for efficiency reasons up top that does not have to be concerned with low rpm spool, witchcraft is clearly at work. We wait for some tuner to figure out how to prevent the supercharger from disengaging as well as getting the turbo to kick in earlier for a real kick in the pants. ...

Carmagazine is reporting that a Z2 Roadster with a soft top is confirmed for 2012. The downscaling of the BMW brand continues to sell as many cars to as many people as possible. The motor will be a new 1.6 liter turbo with around 200 horsepower. This likely will be a fun car to drive with a targeted 2200 pound curb weight and the rendering is interesting. They are also considering an electric version. Will get an M version of this as well? If we do, just expect it to be the same thing with more boost. More details as they come. ...

We have received from an anonymous source the complete details about the class action suit against BMW North America containing product defect allegations on the N54 motor. Stuart Talley of Kershaw, Cutter, and Ratinoff is the lead attorney representing the lead plaintiffs/class representatives and the proposed class. This Complaint filed in the Northern District of California lists the complete and latest details of the suit against BMW having been completed on January 14, 2011. The main points of contention are defective waste gates, defective fuel pumps, turbo-lag, manipulative ECU updates, and the HPFP recall. The Plaintiffs are alleging violations of the Magnuson-Moss Act, false advertising, misrepresentation, breach of warranty, and other Statutory California Consumer Law allegations. Counsel for the Plaintiffs and proposed class is working diligently to obtain an acceptable remedy to all owners and lessees. We will keep you updated on the developments as the suit progresses and you can view the entire document here: ...

Kelleners has recently gotten into producing body kits and wheels with their F10 entry. The rims are actually reasonably priced (for a European BMW tuner) at €397 and nice designs. No pictures of these mounted on any BMW yet. ...

The compact SUV segment is heating up. The Audi Q3 is officially coming late this year with a 2.0T FSI motor. The car will be available in automatic and manual. No telling if it will make it to the United States although with the American public's obsession with SUV's it is a very good bet. No official photos exist yet as the car has not been revealed yet but if it looks like this rendering bring it on. Expect the official unveiling at the Frankfurt Autoshow in September. ...

Try to tell us you do not want one after watching this video, what a beast! ...

We still do not know what the internal designation for this motor is but we now know it is official and it is coming. The specs are 245 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. This motor will first appear in the Xdrive28i when it comes on sale in the United States. The motor will be rated around 30 mph on the highway which improves considerable on the N52 it will be replacing. Compression is 10.0:1. More details to come shortly such as the designation, boost, redline, etc. ...

Hey Mercedes, what happened to all your manly performance decisions as of late? Autocar is reporting that Herbert Kohler, head of Daimler advanced engineering and future mobility, states that future AMG models will incorporate hybrid technology. "In the future AMG will still offer high performance models but there will be hybrids there,” he said. “AMG needs to reduce fuel consumption." We understand the Porsche 918 and the E-cell has them thinking this can work with performance models but all this means to us is the cars will be A LOT heavier necessitating even more powerful motors to equal performance on lighter platforms. ...

This rendering of the F30 was done for Bimmer Magazine by Schulte Design. The E9X platform still has a couple good years left in it but it is on the downward swing. The F30 is coming and if it looks like this rendering that certainly is a good thing. 5 series headlight cues can be seen but we doubt the front bumper of the standard model will be anywhere near as aggressive. The N55 and the new 4 cylinder turbo motor should be the powerplants that launch with it mated to an 8 speed automatic. This is a good interpretation of the future model but we remind, it is just a rendering. ...

UK design house Project Kahn has created a widebody package for the Audi Q7. It obviously consists of wide fenders (duh) as well as modified front and rear bumpers along with the side skirts. The wheels are Kahn designed as well. The interior gets attention with a bunch of badges and lcd screens which are not pictured. Overall, it's different, but it is more for people into "bling" and getting attention over substance. ...

This is a great video that shows a bit about the inner workings of HRE and their wheel philosophy. It also shows just how much weight can be dropped from a car where it counts by going with an HRE performance series wheel. Definitely worth watching! ...

How come Canada is getting the cool stuff? Mercedes has announced that Canada will get the limited C63 AMG Affalterbach edition. What is the difference from the regular C63? Well, for starters, it gets the P31 package as standard. So that means a horsepower bump up to 481, forged pistons and rods, different crank, etc, that is included with the package. The interior gets treated as well with Nappa leather wrapped steering wheel, contrasting stitching, carbon fiber accents, and special edition logos. All this for $81,500 Canadian which used to be about 3 American dollars. Only 30 being made, so hurry! ...

AWE has released its exhaust for the 2.0t Audi A5. The exhaust is similar to the setup for the coupe and provides gains of about 8-9 horsepower. Pricing is in the $1100-$1300 range depending on options. This pricing is offered at a discount only until February 7th. Specs and dyno below: ...

People all around the world have fallen in love with the automobile since it’s creation over 100 years ago. Entire lives have been dedicated and lost to our love for the automobile, and for the feeling that it can give. Anyone who wants to navigate the aftermarket performance industry must have a good understanding of the allure of the sports car and what it’s meant to humans since its invention. It’s always easy to spot those in the business who do not have a genuine love for cars, as their misguided intentions will always reveal themselves in the way they create their own project cars. ...

Last month we reported that the SLS GT3 would get its final shakedown before the race season at the Dubai 24 hours. Well, the race has taken place and the SLS GT3 did very well finishing in third place overall with the third fastest overall lap time. The three SLS GT3 cars finished in 3rd, 7th, and 24th places. The two cars to finish ahead of the SLS GT3 were the winning BMW Z4 and the Ferrari F430 GT2. A very strong showing and the SLS GT3 will be a force in professional racing. ...

Score another victory for BMW Motorsport, the Z4 GT3 won by over 4 laps in the 24 hour race. The car was driven by ALMS driver Tommy Milner as well as Augusto Farfas, Claudia Hurtgen, and Edward Sandstrom. The Z4 controlled the race nearly from the beginning when the pole setting Reiter Gallardo was forced to retire due to engine trouble. The other Z4 GT3 which was the sister car run by Turner Motorsport finished in 5th despite several issues including an accident and a cracked header. Congratulations to the Schubert racing team and BMW!


Results for top 20 spots:

Race Results:

1 76 Need for Speed Schubert 1 BMW Z4 GT3 A6 1 -- 594 laps --

2 4 AF Corse SRL 1 Ferrari F430 GT2 A6 2 -- 591 laps --

3 7 Black Falcon #7 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3 A6 3 -- 590 laps --
4 18 tolimit arabia Porsche 911 GT3 R (997) A6 4 -- 583 laps --
5 77 Need for Speed Schubert 2 BMW Z4 GT3 A6 5 -- 579 laps --

6 26 Saudi Falcons by Lechner Racing Porsche 997 Cup A6 6 -- 576 laps --
7 9 Heico Motorsport Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3 A6 7 -- 576 laps -- ...

The Germany Magazine AutoBild has compared the TT-RS to the Audi RS5. We are a bit surprised with the results as they show the TT-RS as blazing fast running through 402 meters which is a 1/4 mile in 12.2 seconds. That, is very, very fast and faster than the RS5 which has more power although is much heavier. Both cars use DSG transmissions which may account for the great times. Still, the TT-RS does 0-100 mph in under 10 seconds which makes it quite quick as well as out accelerating the RS5 in every test. We must say we are very, very impressed and hope these numbers can be replicated. ...

Autoweek recently tested the new CLS 63 AMG. We have been waiting to see numbers out of this motor and now we have something to go on: 12.1@121.5. Now, it is important to note this was achieved with their test equipment. This most likely means something like a VBOX which inflates trap speeds. However, the test was done at 4000 feet elevation which will have an effect even on turbo motors. This was also the standard version without the performance package which ups power to around 550 horsepower. What this means is these cars will run 11's out of the box and the performance package will likely be trapping over 125 mph. With a tune... well, things are going to get very interesting indeed. ...