Top Speed Cars Car News

A few days ago, we showed you a video of a BMW X5 attempting a barrel roll and failing miserably in doing so. There’s something to be said for an amateur trying to pull something like this off, the most important of which is ‘what the hell is he thinking?’

On the flip side, the rally driver of the BMW X5 in this video shows us how to save your ride from rolling over. All it took was the SUV coming perilously close to rolling over before the driver does some amazing steering wheel magic. It looks easy from watching it, but trust us, it’s easier to watch it than it is to do it in the heat of the moment.

The most awesome part is, the driver does it not once, but twice in a matter of seconds. That type of driving requires some serious skills and awareness of your surroundings to pull it off.

We don’t recommend anybody from attempting this stunt with their own cars, but in the event you find yourself in the same predicament, at least you’ll know how save your car from rolling over.

Video: The most awesome BMW X5 roll over save ever originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 7 September 2010 18:00 EST.

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Top Speed Cars Car News

We’re curious to know if at any point before the driver of this BMW X5 decided to turn his SUV into a Dukes of Hazzard stunt car did he honestly think that he could successfully complete an airborne barrel roll without doing his car – and himself – any harm.

We’re wondering that because we can’t, for the life of us, comprehend how he could honestly think of pulling it off given the girth of the SUV he was driving. Then again, crazy nut jobs do crazy things and this guy certainly qualifies for somebody who’s got a few loose bolts in his head that certainly need a lot of tightening.

That being said, we still enjoyed watching the video – we do hope the driver didn’t suffer any injuries – only because idiotic stunts like this remind us that performing stunts with your own car usually doesn’t end well for all parties involved.

Video: BMW X5 falls on its head after unsuccessful barrel-roll stunt originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 5 September 2010 12:00 EST.

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Top Speed Cars Car News

British tuner, Superchips, has decided that diesel engines can be just as much fun as their petrol counterparts, so they decided to do a little reconfiguring for BMW’s 3.0-liter, six-cylinder engine that powers models like the BMW 3-Series, 5-Series, 7-Series, X5, and X6.

Superchips was able to increase the power of the diesel engine by 44hp at 4183 rpm and 90 Nm of torque at just 2222 rpm. This brings the total output to 313hp and 627Nm of torque. In order to accomplish this task, Superchips had to perform a remap of the engine while taking into consideration the “careful optimization of fueling and turbo boost settings”. According to Superchips, this reconfiguration allows for a sharper throttle response, a keener, more urgent engine, a harder pull throughout the rev range.

The BMW 3.0 D ECU remap is priced at £445.00 and comes with a 12 month/30,000 mile supplementary vehicle warranty.

Press release after the jump.

Superchips upgrades BMW’s 3.0D engine for various models originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 31 August 2010 23:00 EST.

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Top Speed Cars Car News

With the announcement of Infiniti’s new performance line and the debut of their 2 M-based models coming up at the Pebble Beach Concours, it probably wasn’t a bad idea for BMW to release a video about their Performance line. There’s always room for a little refresher when competition is brewing.

BMW’s Performance line is available for models like the 1-Series, the 3-Series, the X5, and the X6. It includes hand-crafted carbon components, a lightweight sports silencer, front bumper, side-sills, and an insert for the rear bumper; all in a special design and body color. The Performance line also includes a rear spoiler, rear fins in matte black, and a front grid finished in high-gloss black paint. Finishing off the line are a set of 21″ light-alloy wheels.

For models like the BMW M3, the Performance Package includes a lowered suspension that brings the chassis 10 mm closer to the asphalt and stiffens things up with a newly developed set of electronically adjustable dampers as well as an all new set of lightweight mesh alloys measuring 19 inches in diameter. These alloys help dress up the new M3’s appearance along with the functional aero package.

Want to see more on BMW’s Performance line? Check out the video for yourself!

Video: BMW Performance 2010 Promo originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 12 August 2010 20:00 EST.

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We’re not the type to be easily surprised by anything that happens in the auto industry, but this one really caught us off-guard - in a good way, of course.

This here is a new lightweight BMW X5 prototype that, according to BMW, is about 50% lighter than the weight of the first ever X5 to be released to the public some years ago. The material in use for this prototype is something that’s called carbon fiber reinforced plastic, a material that supposedly cuts the overall bulk of cars without compromising any of the safety standards set on these vehicles.

That potential alone should make the hairs on the back of our heads rise without provocation.

In addition to its lightweight nature – and the fact that nothing is taken away as far as safety is concerned, the CFRP can also provide stability to a vehicle in inclement conditions while providing the necessary sturdiness to absorb any potential hits without debilitating damage.

All in all, this X5 prototype, by using the CFRP material, saves as much as 400 pounds from other X5s that use steel on the body. It may not look a lot to the casual observer, but 400 pounds less means less weight to pull around. And you don’t need to tell us how that affects the power and speed of a car.

New BMW X5 prototype comes with a carbon fiber body originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 6 July 2010 16:00 EST.

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BMW marked a landmark milestone recently when it celebrated its 1-millionth X5 SUV to ever be built. Car number 1,000,000 is a Black Sapphire 2011 BMW X5 xDrive 35i that comes with a Cinnamon Brown Nevada leather interior.

The milestone achievement happened at BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This is the very same plant that first opened way back in 1994 and is also one of the first production plants opened by BMW in America. For the past 16 years, the Spartanburg production facility has been responsible for building over 1.6 million vehicles - and counting - with about 60% of all X5 SUVs exported all over the world being built there, including the one-millionth X5, which we found out will be brought to a customer in China.

If only that dude knew just how special his brand-new BMW X5 is. He should take utmost care of it so as to preserve the SUV’s value, which we assume that in a couple of years time, will become one of those cars that collectors would try to aggressively pursue.

BMW celebrates 1-millionth X5 built originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 15:00 EST.

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