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What's New for 2013

The 2013 BMW 3 Series wagon is fully redesigned, aligning it with the next-generation sedan that debuted last year. Both benefit from now-standard power front seats and a new M Sport equipment line, while "xDrive" all-wheel drive makes its return to the sedan lineup. Meanwhile, the ActiveHybrid3 makes its debut for 2013, offering 28 mpg combined and an eye-popping price.

Introduction

Last year's introduction of the new BMW 3 Series was a very big deal. In Germany, we imagine parades being held in its honor with blue-and-white checkered flags flapping from windows as men…

Looking for a fun-to-drive small luxury crossover that offers respectable utility along with dimensions that are actually small?   Then you need to put the 2013 BMW X1 on your test-drive list. Smaller than its X3 brother but still related to both the 1 Series and 3 Series, the X1 offers the impressive performance you'd rightly expect from such a pedigree. And the X1's notably leaner dimensions -- it's 6.5 inches shorter in length and nearly 5 inches shorter in height than an X3 -- give it a more agile demeanor than its larger and heavier crossover rivals.

Standard beginning in 2012, the 3 Series Sedan features BMW's latest generation iDrive system which shares a common interface, display logic and console mounted controller with other BMW models.

Like the 6 Series before it, the 3 Series features a free-standing display positioned prominently atop the dash where it is visually accessible with just a quick glance. This new free-standing design recalls the latest flatscreen televisions normally found in living rooms rather than cars. The system features a standard 6.5 in. high-resolution display, which grows to 8.8 in. when equipped with optional Navigation.

The display uses transreflective…

A Marrakesh Brown product model of the 2013 BMW X1 was spotted by spy photographer Palbay near the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina. The U.S. spec X1 belongs to the xLine, meaning it's an all-wheel-drive model and judging by the tailpipes, we are looking at the xDrive28i variant.

The new 2013 BMW X1 made its U.S. premiere at the New York Auto Show and will arrive in authorized BMW Centers in the fall of 2012.

The entry-level premium SAV is built at the Leipzig plant and since its introduction to the European market in 2008…

BMW is aiming to make the next Z4, due around 2015, more agile and sportier to drive, although the character shift will be relatively modest in order to avoid alienating fans of the current sports car.

But the styling of next Z4 will reflect this change, with the long hood of the current model, which can inhibit fast driving, to be shortened. Again, the change will be relatively modest because U.S. buyers like the current model's…

Spengler follows…

    
The new 2013 BMW X1 will arrive in authorized BMW Centers in the fall of 2012 starting at an MSRP of $31,545 (including $895 Destination and Handling).
   
The X1 has proven to be highly successful, with sales having already exceeded 275,000. As has been the case with other models before it, the BMW X1 finds itself in a competitive market segment that it virtually spawned. Unlike other BMW SAVs, X1s destined for the US will be built in BMW's Leipzig, Germany plant. The popularity of the X1 around the globe has proven so great that X1s for…