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German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News
Published on 05-16-2013 11:50 AM
So the "successor" to the E82 1-Series in the USA will be the F22 2-Series. Yes, the new 1-Series hatback will not be coming over to the USA so the 2-Series coupe will fill that void as the spiritual successor. This car will compete with the Mercedes-Benz CLA as well as the Audi A3 sedan. The M235i version you see here will likely share the exact same drivetrain as the F10 M135i which means a 320 horsepower N55 3.0 liter turbocharged and direct injected inline-6. ...Published on 05-16-2013 11:13 AM
Here is the 'M-Sport' edition of the new F12/F13 6-Series which serves to further dilute the M brand name. What this 6-Series vehicle edition consists of is a car equipped with the already optional M-Sport package which offers M designed body pieces, 19 inch wheels, black painted calipers, black 'Shadow Line' gloss trim, and LED foglamps. Inside the car gets a bunch of M badges including on the steering wheel and door sills. ...Published on 05-16-2013 09:32 AM
After what seemed like years upon years of teasers and spyphotos Mercedes-Benz finally officially revealed the new W222 generation S-Class sedan. Was the car worth the wait? Definitely, an absolutely beautiful modern design that remains elegant and is not overdone. Inside, outside, the styling is just about perfect and is modern while at the same time reminding us it is a Mercedes-Benz. Great work Mercedes and you certainly are justified in showing pride calling this, "the best automobile in the world." ...Published on 05-16-2013 08:15 AM
Say hello to the future, officially introducing the Porsche 918 Spyder. There has been speculation on the final output and exactly what Porsche would get out of the 4.6 liter V8 engine but that has now all been put to rest. Porsche managed to squeeze an incredible 133 horsepower per liter out of the 4.6 liter V8 (the highest per liter output of any Porsche production naturally aspirated motor) for a total of 608 horsepower spinning to an incredible 9,150 rpm. ...Published on 05-16-2013 12:02 AM
This is a bit of a perplexing run video. What we have here is two cars claimed to be stock, A C6 Z06 and the new F10 M5. The two cars do several runs from a roll on the highway from speeds of 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour). The Z06 is just over 1000 pounds lighter than the F10 M5. It does not give up a ton horsepower wise showing around ~450 wheel horsepower stock versus the F10 M5 which sits at about ~60 wheel horsepower more. ...Published on 05-15-2013 10:13 PM
APR announced back in February they would be upgrading their 4.2 FSI supercharger kits to a Stage III offering which would feature the Eaton TVS 1740 blower. This is a seemingly larger supercharger than what they were previously using although still a roots setup. APR previously did not have a supercharger application for the R8 4.2 V8 but with their development on the RS4 and RS5 4.2 V8's they seem to want to tackle the R8 as well. ...Published on 05-15-2013 09:58 PM
The Porsche failed takeover bid of Volkswagen continues to have more negative ramifications. Porsche already was facing lawsuits of over $3 billion but now that number is rising to over $5 billion as an additional 25 hedge funds in Germany have brought suits against Porsche. As word of this got out, Porsche stock fell 3.7% and is likely to tumble more. Suits were originally brought against Porsche in the USA but the hedge funds agreed to pursue this in Germany instead. ...Published on 05-15-2013 11:20 AM
Tuners are pushing a lot of power out of the twin turbo M157 AMG V8. When launching AMG cars equipped with this motor on the strip all that torque has to go somewhere and it can overwhelm the stock driveline namely the OEM axles when some sticky rubber is used. Weistec fortunately has W212 E63 AMG and C218 CLS63 AMG owners covered with their upgraded axles which are capable of handling over 1000+ horsepower and repeated drag strip launches. ...Published on 05-14-2013 10:21 PM
The damn Japanese wonder robot does it again in a comparison against the new facelifted R8 but at least this time it's a fair comparison done by MotorTrend with a stock R8 versus a stock GTR unlike what Chris Harris recently did. Ok, so no tuner special GTR upsetting the balance but that does not matter as the GTR still comes out on top. It manages to do so not only in the 1/4 mile sprint but also around the roadcourse with quite the margin of victory. ...Published on 05-14-2013 06:21 PM
The last time we saw these two cars do battle it almost caused a world forum war. Nissan GT-R fanboys could not believe their precious robot (excuse me, "Godzilla") got beat down hard and BMW fanboys rejoiced that the M6 was seemingly much stronger than the F10 M5. BS flags were thrown around, Nissan guys said it wasn't possible, and BimmerBoost took the stance that the race should be much closer. Something was fishy with that previous video and this new video answers some questions. ...Published on 05-14-2013 04:51 PM
This is some incredible impressive work by APR and the numbers are almost hard to believe. Introducing APR's 2.0T FSI Performance Cylinder Head. What kind of gains does this head provide? Well, on the Stage 3 kits on just 93 octane the head provides over 70 horsepower. On 100+ octane this rises to over 120 horsepower. The CFM (cubic feet per minute) intake and exhaust air flow gains are simply huge especially on the intake portion. ...Piecha Design modifies the C117 CLA-Class with new body kit, wheels, and lowers it for a sexy result
Published on 05-14-2013 12:20 PM
The CLA-Class is going to be a very hot modification platform considering its positioning in the lineup will endear it to a younger clientele. If the Piecha Design take is anything to go by we are going to see some very hot CLA's. It really did not take much to give the car a much more aggressive look and this is based on the standard CLA 250. They gave the car a new front bumper, lip spoiler, rear spoilers, rear diffuser, and quad-pipe exhaust to fill it out for a meaner look. ...Published on 05-14-2013 12:02 PM
Nice dyno results here showing how potent a tuned N63 V8 can be with just bolt on modifications. The car has Dinan Stage 3 software which although more aggressive than the standard Dinan software is not the most aggressive software available for the platform. Still, the software alone versus the baseline provides 45 horsepower at the wheels which for conservative Dinan is definitely a solid gain. This is then combined with the Active Autowerke exhaust and downpipes. ...Published on 05-14-2013 01:41 AM
Well the BMW supercar rumor is swirling around again this time being perpetuated by Car and Driver who apparently is bored. People love this topic though so it will be addressed but it is kind of lame to see Car and Driver report an M8 supercar is coming for 2016 without any official confirmation. They even state in their own report it might not show up at all, "BMW boss Norbert Reithofer is not a fan of this car, but the head of BMW M GmbH, Friedrich Nitschke, is. The top boss could cancel the project at the last minute." ...Published on 05-13-2013 08:20 PM
Another Mercedes Pole Position and another Mercedes letdown. That's the story of the season so far in 2013 for the Mercedes Formula 1 Effort. For the third straight race Mercedes held the pole position. At the Spanish Grand Prix this was even sweeter as Mercedes qualified 1-2 meaning this is as good as it gets folks. So why are things going so poorly on race day after such strong showings in qualifying? The team said they had it figured it out buy they clearly do not. ...Published on 05-12-2013 08:11 AM
There are those times where car makers do things that are just so damn cool. Yes, this is one of those times and here is the Volkswagen Vision GTI. Essentially, this is a Golf on steroids from the exterior to what is under the hood. It's almost was over the top of the 650 horsepower mid-engined Golf W12 concept that VWBoost remembers so fondly (and still wishes was built). Volkswagen once again proves it has attitude and a deep bag of tricks when it comes to the Golf. ...Published on 05-12-2013 06:11 AM
One thing BMW does well (and seemingly better than anything else these days) is market themselves. Tons of advertising, teaser videos, and basically propaganda designed to make us all think they still build the Ultimate Driving Machine. Enthusiasts of course know better as BMW has fallen from grace quite a bit but this does not change the fact that the general public buys into what BMW is selling them and Forbes agrees placing the brand as number 1 in the automotive world and 9th overall in the world. ...Published on 05-12-2013 02:51 AM
Here we are, forged pistons now available to satisfy those with the W211 E55 AMG looking for big power or for anyone with a supercharged 55 AMG who has concerns about reliability when pushing big power with their 55 AMG M113K kompressor motor. The improvements these pistons offer are larger ring lands, improved dish, improved piston skirts, and revised wristpin mounting offering more strength yet less weight than the OEM Mercedes-Benz AMG pistons. ...Published on 05-12-2013 01:51 AM
A solid showing for BMW Motorsport in what was a hotly contested GT class at the 2013 Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway. The first five cars in the GT class finished within three seconds of each other. Despite the tight racing the Corvette C6 ZR1 was dominant holding the lead for the final three hours (of a four hour race) and taking the victory. Second place went to the number 17 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR which was then followed by the number 56 BMW Z4 GTE driven by Mueller and Edwards for a second straight podium finish. ...Published on 05-12-2013 12:05 AM
Interesting dynojet dyno comparison at the rear wheels comparing four sets of turbos on the Porsche 996 Turbo. These twin turbo setups are the A3076 at 28 psi on E85 tuned by Tony@EPL, A28 at 24 psi on MS109 tuned Markski, K16G at 22 psi on MS109 tuned by Markski, and a set of OEM K24 turbos at 15 psi on 93 octane tuned by FVD. It's interesting to not the spool characteristics between the turbos and how the bigger setups are not giving up much of anything as far as spool is concerned. ...
Today, 04:27 PM