Test Drives

If you’re anything like me, you probably don’t spend much time at home. Between a loving girlfriend, my less-loving buddies, the rigors of self-employment and numerous recreational activities, my own humble abode is a rare sight typically only enjoyed during those rare moments when work actually requires time be spent …

Once in a while, a car comes along that causes you to question how you define a given class of vehicle. Family sedans, for example have gone from massive, V8-powered behemoths to diminutive Hybrid runabouts. Economy cars have gone from Messerschmitt bubble cars, to Reliant Robins, to Ford Falcons, to …

During a prolonged test drive covering more than 12,000 km, our BMW X5d consumed an average of 10.6 L/100 km – a veritable feat when you consider that this sport-utility vehicle weighs more than two and a half tons! In fact, that’s 30% less fuel than an X5 that runs …

It sounds like the world’s largest sportbike; an exercise in mimicry from the reverse-flow turbocharged V8. With the familiar lights of the George Massey tunnel flashing across the sculpted hood at an impossible pace as the blood red BMW surges forward, surfing a wave of auditory ferocity. And all of …

Anyone who is even the slightest bit practical wouldn’t buy a sports car, a $1.5-millon home or a $5,000 Armani suit. However, with the economic crisis supposedly drawing to an end, luxury goods are selling very well (though perhaps not at the same pace as before). Among these great-for-the-ego-but-hopelessly-useless luxury …

Little known fact: According to a study by J.D. Power, no off road vehicle satisfies its buyers quite as well as BMW’s diminutive X3. Dubbed a “Sports Activity Vehicle,” the X3, in its current iteration, is something of a sales floor veteran, having debuted a full seven years ago. Although …

Historically, I’ve never been a fan of German vehicles. Call it a bias, call it favoritism, call it whatever you will, but the fact remains: I grew up in a household that held names like Jaguar, MG, and Land Rover sacred. And that meant I couldn’t like German cars. Because …

People often ask me what my favourite car is or what car I’d like to own. Since I like so many different vehicles, this question is pretty hard to answer. I often say that while I love the way roadsters look and drive, sport sedans are a lot more suited …

Uncle Robert put in 40 long years at a Montreal newspaper, but was never able to own one of the luxury sports cars that he’d been dreaming of since his youth. A limited budget and family obligations were no doubt what held him back. Sure, over the years he did …

Perhaps it’s fitting that the next evolution of BMW’s first SUV comes on the cusp of the nameplates 10th anniversary. Melding BMW’s handsome design language with the relatively massive proportions of a seven-seater SUV, the 1999 BMW X5 was the bizarre result of an extensive development program than included the …