BMW 135i

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I had a great test drive today of the new BMW 135i.  This car rides like a dream, a very fast dream.  I actually took it easy, though got a little rambunctious for a few moments.

I love the opening statement Automobile Magazine used to describe this fantastic vehicle:

"Get up from your computer, drive to your nearest BMW dealer, and put down a deposit on a 135i. Now. You won't regret it. In the years to come, you'll probably even look on this as the best purchase of your long and distinguished life, a moment that defined your personal idiom, a moment that caused the tide of your existence to turn away from mehand toward Eat Your Heart Out, John Q. Dull, I'm Awesome. In other words, when you drive out of the dealership in your sparkling new 1-series, it will be the Rip Taylor moment of your life, confetti shower and all. This car is that good."  Yep.

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Incredible Head-to-Head: M3 vs GT3 vs Skyline-GTR

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By Dan Mosqueda

Britain's Autocar provides an exhilarating track test of three supremely exciting vehicles.  These are vehicles that people lust after, but are so far out of reach for most of us, that we can only dream of owning.  Having said that, only one is instantly recognizable to the average person as a high-performance sports car, one is known as an expensive coupe, but not as well known to the average person as a high performance sports car, rather it's known as very well built, solid car.  Finally, the last car is a virtual unknown in the US market, except to those who play various video games on the XBOX 360 or Playstation3.

The players:

- The 2008 Porsche GT-3

It just looks fast.  You've seen Porsche 911s running around, but it's doubtful you've seen this car. According to Porsche the GT3 is "visually and technically a highly integrated feat of engineering.  Every line, every surface, every curve of the bodywork has been carefully fashioned to enhance the performance of

 the automobile."  Cost: $107,000.00

- The 2008 BMW M3

The BMW M3 is all new for 2008 and features a massive V-8 engine putting out over 400 horsepower.  BMW simply puts it "racecars shouldn’t be confined to racetracks."  Cost: $60,000.00

- The 2009 Nissan GT-R "Skyline" 

The 2009 Nissan GT-R, it hails from legendary Japanese "boy-racer" cars, this one is frighteningly fast.  According to Nissan "the Nissan GT-R, a new multi-dimensional performance machine that lives up to the

 concept of “an ultimate supercar for anyone, anywhere, at anytime”. Cost: est. $80,000.00

My overall assessment of the test boils down to the question: "What is the BMW doing with this crowd? While the M3 is an oustanding car, it does not even approach the price nor performance of these two cars.  However, Autocar's video reports will get your blood pumping - you've got to watch these:

Part 1

Part 2