Want to get the inside track on the mainstream technologies you might see in the next five years? Take a ride in the BMW 650i, a high-cost, highly desirable sport coupe that delights the driver (and coddles the passenger) with useful technologies such as a head-up display (HUD), active cruise control (ACC), night vision, active roll stabilization (ARS), and half a dozen forms of entertainment—plus the iDrive, for better or worse.
Head-Up Display
Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, in Europe; Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus, in Japan; and Cadillac, in the U.S., are pioneering the technology advances that work their way into mainstream cars. According to the Technology Research Group , a Minneapolis consultancy, the BMW 6 Series came in a 6 way tie for the fifth most tech-savvy car on the planet, along with the BMW 5 and 3 series.
The 6 Series' most useful technology is the head-up display. It's a $1,000 option in the 650i as well as in the related 5 Series sedan. HUDs have appeared in a handful of earlier cars (Corvettes, Cadillacs)but BMW does it best and in color. Osram, a lighting company also working on LED headlights, created a 128-LED array, which is projected through a mirror onto a semi-reflective patch at the base of the windshield. Rather than seeing an image at the windshield, the driver perceives the display floating above the front of the car at visual infinity, which makes the HUD all the more useful for drivers who need reading glasses. The minimalist information is just what the driver needs for most of the journey.
ACC, Night Vision
Virtually every car has cruise control. Active cruise control (ACC) is expected now on very high-end cars such as the 650i, and has the ability to slow down automatically when there's a car ahead. ACC is a godsend in heavy traffic as well as late in the day when your reflexes aren't 100 percent. BMW's ACC is good, but others are more versatile with the ability to take the car to a stop and then resume; BMW ACC hands the car back to the driver with a loud chime at 20 mph.
BMW's implementation of night vision uses passive infrared that captures the heat from objects. (Mercedes-Benz uses an active illuminator that provides a lifelike picture good to about 500 feet out, versus BMW's 1,000 feet.) The information is displayed in the center-dash LCD. For some drivers, night vision is a gimmick that goes unused after the novelty wears off. ACC and night vision are each $2,200 options; if you're trying to keep the price of the car under $80,000, go for ACC, especially since this Bimmer comes standard with excellent steerable Xenon headlamps.
Active Roll Stabilization, Driving Thrills
With active roll stabilization (ARS), the 650i banks into a sharp turn like an airplane—almost. Actually, ARS reduces but doesn't eliminate sideways forces, because drivers sensing no lateral force would take corners too fast and eventually slide off the road. ARS isn't likely to be offered on mainstream cars soon; it's a costly feature whose mechanical components can't easily be made less expensive.
BMW also offers active steering ($1,250), a speed-related variable ratio where a quarter turn of the wheel turns the car a lot at 10 mph, and not much at all at 65 mph. It may be useful but the first couple days you may clip a few corners at low speed.
Although it's fine on twisty roads, the 650i feels even more at home on the Interstate. Most drivers can comfortably cover 500 miles in a day and arrive feeling tired, but not exhausted or stiff. Thank the superb leather bucket seats, too.
Performance Technology
BMW's 4.8-liter V8 engine produces 360 horsepower but returns a relatively reasonable mileage (for a 3,814-pound hot rod) of 15 mpg city, 23 mph highway with the six-speed manual. It's not good enough to duck a $1,300 gas-guzzler tax, though. If you want better mileage in an expensive sports coupe, check out the Lexus G 450h but pack light on trips, because half the trunk is taken over by the hybrid batteries.
The BMW engine uses variable valve timing and valve lift to improve economy, a feature that has already come to some of the mainstream, and adjustable variable length intake manifolds (think how a trombone changes length) to provide the right airflow at different rpm.
Power goes through your choice of three six-speed transmissions: manual, automatic, or a sequential manual gearbox (SMG), BMW's term for a no-clutch-pedal manual that shifts for you like an automatic, or manually with steering wheel paddle shifters. SMG is the sportiest and fastest option, but in other BMWs I've driven, it's been a bit jerky. BMW is likely to shift over to the smoother BorgWarner/Getrag dual shift gearbox (DSG) that Audi uses on cars such as the TT and A3. It goes without saying a car at this level comes standard with traction control, stability control, anti-lock brakes, eight airbags (front, side, head, and knee), and the BMW Assist telematics system that calls for help in an accident. Continued...
Exotic Materials
BMW fought to keep the weight under 4,000 pounds, and succeeded. To do that, the company employed a composite trunk, aluminum suspension, aluminum doors, and thermoplastic front fenders. Using run-flat tires eliminates about 75 pounds of spare tire, wheel, and wheel-well. The 650i's even-sportier twin, the M6 ($96,795) uses a carbon-fiber roof panel to shave off 75 pounds.
Making Peace with iDrive
BMW pioneered the cockpit controller in 2001 with the iDrive. The 6 Series uses a revamped controller and returns a few more functions to discrete dashboard controls, especially for entertainment. It's still an acquired taste and takes a couple thousand miles of driving to gain familiarity. There's also voice input, but it's not perfect either. The quality of the iDrive and voice input were two factors that hurt BMW in the most recent J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey rankings. Reportedly, BMW will completely overhaul the iDrive technology around 2008.
Before you set off, you must click the iDrive controller to consent to BMW's conditions ("Don't sue us if you drive off the road tinkering with our iDrive"). Many automakers do this. On BMWs with LCDs, it means you don't get the benefit of the excellent park distance (PDC) parking sonar display that shows, with green, yellow, or red bands, how close you are to a hazard at all four corners of the car. Many drivers say they prefer a video backup camera, but PDC may be more effective in making sure you don't crease another car's fender in a parking lot.
Entertainment Options
The 6 Series may be the ultimate listening machine. Choices include AM/FM/weather band radio, a CD player that plays MP3 and WMA CDs, and line input, plus a Logic7 surround sound system with a six-disc changer ($1,800), HD radio ($500), Sirius (but not XM) satellite radio ($595), and shortly, an iPod adapter ($400, estimated). To my ears, HD radio didn't improve music quality even with a strong signal, but it eliminated the hiss and static in fringe areas or urban canyons.
Navigation comes standard, and because it's controlled by the iDrive, it's a bit confusing the first few dozen times you drive. If and when you figure things out, you'll appreciate the size of the screen (8.8 inches), its high placement and deep recess under a hood for easier reading, the ability to split the screen two-thirds/one-third with two navigation views (map, arrows) or a navigation map and, say, the trip computer. And once you're underway, the maps and instructions are first rate.
The high mounting makes a touchscreen overlay impossible (although German automakers' apparent abhorrence of fingerprints on any shiny surface renders the matter moot). Most important, though, this is one of the few LCDs you can read in almost all lighting conditions. If nothing else, the iDrive makes for easy map zooming, even if it zooms backwards: You twist the iDrive knob clockwise to zoom out and counterclockwise to zoom in. Too bad BMW Assist can't download route instructions that are requested by a driver's phone call, the way OnStar Turn-by-Turn does.
Of course, BMW has wheel-mounted, hands-free Bluetooth phone controls, as well as Mayday calling and other assist services called TeleAssist. In addition to the warranty, BMW picks up the tab on maintenance for four years. Among other things, it ensures that people driving leased cars have fewer disincentives to having service done. Continued...
BMW Online
BMW's site provides useful but not world-class tools for building your own car and shipping the request to a dealer. Some information is missing, misplaced, or outdated. Try finding out quickly whether there's a gas-guzzler tax on the 650i, comparing the 650i to the even sportier M6, or learning whether the car has a line-in jack.
The Owners Circle sections provide a handful of services: tracking the status of your ordered car, understanding lease-end, summarizing and making lease payments online. It had two handfuls of services benefiting BMW (credit card offers, accessories for sale), and some missing features. The FAQ section for the 6 Series has zero FAQs, there's no 2006 owners' manual online this late in the model year, and for previous years you'll find only the main manual (high end cars usually have several). To BMW's credit, the manuals that are online have hot-linked page references. But mostly, this mid-tech Web site hobbles a high-tech car.
Should You Buy?
Half a dozen $70,000-plus sport coupes and convertibles provide luxury, technology, and handling. At this level, choosing among BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche models is a matter of personal preference. By their nature, high-end sport coupes are luxuries rewarding the well-off for their skill or luck in achieving $250,000-plus incomes. All say, "I've got money," or at the very least, "I've got a malleable lending officer." (You're looking at a $1,500 monthly lease payment.)
It helps if you like your 650i in gray or black: Six of the 10 available colors are titanium silver, mineral silver, silver gray, stratus gray, black sapphire, and jet black.
The 6 Series coupe and its sibling convertible provide a practical note: a cockpit and trunk big enough for long distance touring in style and comfort. You'll quickly grow to appreciate the head-up display and active cruise control technologies. You'll love the variety of entertainment offerings, and those long trips are just the thing for getting to know iDrive. To sum it up: the BMW 650i is a most practical impractical car.
For a review of the Audi A3, click here.
For a review of the Lexus G 450h, click here.
For a review of the Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT, click here.
A luxury sport coupe that's full of technology to make driving (and riding) more enjoyable, safer, and less tiring. The head-up display belongs on every car. This is the car to buy for two people who don't pack light.
Color head-up display, active cruise control, night vision. HD radio, satellite radio, and iPod connector all available. Big LCD with a bigger sunshade. Super-comfy seats. Suspension counters body roll in turns.
iDrive cockpit controller learning curve. Optional active steering is quirky. Snug back seat. Gas guzzler tax.
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