New diesels a delight

There's a profusion of new engines for the latest versions of BMW's 3 Series coupe and cabriolet models and its revamped X5, explains Dave Moore.

ACTUALLY that should read "a confusion of new engines", because there are some with twin turbos, others with twin vanes but a single turbo, and a breed with a turbo for each of their V8s' cylinder banks.

Unlike many German carmakers, BMW decided to simplify the terminology for the new units, by figuratively collecting them under the term: TwinPower. Thank heaven for that: one competitor labelled its new gearbox with a word that was 29 letters long.

The 3 Series Coupe, its cabriolet variant and the X5 sports activity vehicle have also each had a styling going over.

The 3 Series cars have a wider Detroit Red Wings twin-nostrilled grille than before with a subtly chromed inner rim, a 29 millimetre longer front overhang and a single full-width air intake, divided horizontally by a slim silver trim bar. They also feature "brows" over their front light clusters, with "light ring" LED daytime driving lights.

At the rear, the L-shaped lamp clusters have a double-level lens feature, and a subtle horizontal contour line gives a visual link to the car's new front treatment.

The visual changes to the X5 include wider side intakes in its front apron, more painted surfaces below the bumper line, replacing previous dark-grey finish, a silver trim bar similar to the 3 Series' and a matt-silver-finished underride panel underneath the middle air intake. L-shaped rear tail lights complete the picture.

Under the bonnet, the 3 Series coupe and cabriolet now offer a choice of two power units each, but only one is common to both models. That's the 335i M variant, specified with motorsport trim featuring a 22kW/400Nm 2979cc six-cylinder TwinPower petrol unit. The 3 Series coupe's other choice is the 330d SE, a 180kW/ 520Nm 2993cc six-cylinder TwinPower diesel, while the cabriolet offers a 160kW/250Nm 325i SE six- cylinder engine alternative.

The 335i M is available with a choice of six-speed manual or seven-speed double-clutch two- pedal transmission. The 330d coupe only offers a six-speed Steptronic automatic, while the 325i cabriolet gives you a choice of six- speed manual or Steptronic automatic. The 335i M sport coupe asks $125,900, with another $4000 required for the jewelry-h double-clutch transmission, while the cabriolet adds another $11,000 in each case.

The automatic Steptronic-only 330d SE Coupe is stickered at $115,900 with the 325i SE manual Cabriolet costing $111,900, adding another $4000 for Steptronic.

Noticing a drop-off in six- cylinder petrol X5 sales, BMW NZ has taken that version off the model's manifest. It now offers a single V8 petrol TwinPower unit in the form of the 300kW/500Nm 4395cc xDrive50iSport and three versions using its 2993cc six- cylinder diesel TwinPower engine: the 180kW/540Nm xDrive30d SE and ES and the 220kW/600Nm xDrive40d Sport.

The choice of transmission for the X5 is more cut and dried, with eight-speed Steptronic automatic the standard across the board.

The X5 xDrive30d ES - complicated badge, eh? - is the effective entry-point model at $112,000, which is less than the previous version's non-TwinPower six- cylinder diesel. It doesn't quite have the level of specification of the other models, but does have front and rear parking distance control and power front seats, though the lack of cruise con
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Maureen Dowd Wall Street's Soc

As President Obama spreads his New Testament balm over the capital, I'm longing for a bit of Old Testament wrath.

Couldn't he throw down his BlackBerry tablet and smash it in anger over the feckless financiers, the gods of gold and their idols - in this case not a gilt calf but an $87,000 area rug, a cache of diamond Tiffany and Cartier watches and a French-made luxury corporate jet?

Now that we're nationalizing, couldn't we fire any obtuse bankers and auto executives who cling to perks and bonuses even as the economy is following John Thain down his antique commode?

How could Citigroup be so dumb as to go ahead with plans to get a new $50 million corporate jet, the exclusive Dassault Falcon 7X seating 12, after losing $28.5 billion in the past 15 months and receiving $345 billion in government investments and guarantees?

(Now I get why a $400 payment I recently sent to pay off my Citibank Visa was mistakenly applied to my sister-in-law's Citibank Mastercard account.)

The "Citiboobs" - as The New York Post, which broke the news, calls them - watched as the car chieftains got in trouble for flying their private jets to Washington to ask for bailouts, and the AIG moguls got dragged Vancouver Canucks before Congress for spending their bailout on California spa treatments. But the boobs still didn't get the message.

The former masters of the universe don't seem to fully comprehend that their universe has crumbled and, thanks to them, so has ours. Real people are losing real jobs at Caterpillar, Home Depot and Sprint Nextel; these and other companies announced on Monday that they would cut more than 75,000 jobs in the U.S. and around the world, as consumer confidence and home prices swan-dived.

Prodded by an appalled Sen. Carl Levin, Tim Geithner - even as he was being confirmed as Treasury secretary - directed Treasury officials to call the Citiboobs and tell them the new jet would not fly.

"They woke up pretty quickly," says a Treasury official, adding that they protested for a bit. "Six months ago, they would have kept the plane and flown it to Washington."

Levin said that the financiers will not be able to change their warped mentality, but will have to be reined in by Geithner's new leashes. "I have no confidence that they intend or desire to change," Levin told me. "These bankers got away with murder, and it's obscene that close to nothing is being asked of financial institutions. I get incensed at the thought that a bank that's getting billions of dollars in taxpayer money is out there buying fancy jewelry-h new airplanes."

New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, always gratifying on the issue of clawing back money from the greedy creeps on Wall Street, on Tuesday subpoenaed Thain, the former Merrill Lynch chief executive, over $4 billion in bonuses he handed out as the failing firm was bought by Bank of America.

In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC, Thain used the specious, contemptible reasoning that other executives use to rationalize why they're keeping their bonuses as profits are plunging.

"If you don't pay your best people, you will destroy your franchise," and they'll go elsewhere, he said.

Hello? They destroyed the franchise. Let's call their bluff. Let's see what a great job market it is for the geniuses of capitalism who lost $15 billion in three months and helped usher in socialism.

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Matthew Brown

MOUNTAINVIEW, Calif. - Matthew Brown, of Mountain View, Calif., formerly of Bolton, Bayern Munchen Mass., died unexpectedly on March 25.

Mr. Brown was the beloved son of Angela MacKenzie and her husband, Rory, of Templeton, Mass., Kurt Brown and his wife, Theresa, of Texas and brother of Philip Brown of Templeton, Mass. Mr. Brown grew up in Bolton and attended Bolton schools. He participated in town sports, played chess competitively and was a Boy Scout. He was a 2003 honors graduate of Middlesex School in Concord, Mass., where he was active in theater, participated in the Model U.N., and played squash. He graduated in 2007 from Stanford University, majoring in computer science and political science.

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He was active in the theater and loved playing Dungeon and Dragons, LARPS and RPGs. Upon graduation Mr. Brown worked at Microsoft Corp. as a software development engineer.

In addition to his immediate family, Mr. Brown leaves his grandparents, Joan and Charles Baker of Auburn; his great-grandmother, Florence Malloy and his many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

Visiting hours are scheduled for Friday, April 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Britton-Wallace Funeral Home, 91 Central St., Auburn, Mass. A Mass of remembrance will be held on Saturday, April 10, at noon in the Mary Chapel at St. Joseph Memorial Chapel at the College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA.

http://www.wubags.com/handbags-c/ In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mr. Brown's name to Middlesex School, 1400 Lowell Road, Concord, MA 01742.

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