The Crank: Can an all-wheel-drive 911 be a real Porsche?

By John LeBlanc Welcome to winter. Like the rest of Ontario, you probably woke up to the inevitable First Big Dump this week. But what if you had a Porsche in your laneway. Specifically, a new-for-2011 911 Turbo S, which, to the layman’s eyes, seems like the most ridiculous winter vehicle you could drive. But […]

First Drive: 2010 BMW 5 Gran Turismo

[svgallery name=”535i_GT_pics”] Story and photos by John LeBlanc LISBON–BMW’s been kicking around the idea of a “tall sedan” for some time. Industry types first labelled spy photos of the shorter-than-an-SUV, taller-than-a-wagon new Bimmer as a future V-series – “V” as in versatile. Perhaps “versatile” was too plebian for BMW’s marketing team, a bit too populist […]

Bye-Bye 2009: Best Car of the Decade

By John LeBlanc Although it might not have been the most environmentally friendly vehicle (i.e. Toyota Prius) or illustrate the global economic shift to emerging markets from the once dominant Western automakers (i.e. Tata Nano), but for me, the previous-generation BMW M5 is my favourite car from the past 10 years.

First Drive: 2011 BMW X1 xDrive28i

[svgallery name=”2011_BMW_X1_2″] Story and photos by John LeBlanc MUNICH – The reasons were piling up almost as high as the nearby Alps to loathe the X1, BMW’s newest compact utility vehicle. First, BMW already has a pair of small five-doors on sale. There’s the fine-driving 3-series Touring sports wagon. Its taut handling, silky straight-six engine, […]

the straight-GOODS/Sports Coupes

2010 BMW 135i Coupé Base Price: $42,900 Driver Must Haves: “NOT A CHICK CAR” bumper sticker. Let’s pretend the secretary special 128i doesn’t exist, OK? And if BMW makes a convertible 1 Series, I’m drawing a blank. That leaves the 135i Coupe for car zealots, stuffed to its firewall with the same twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight-six […]

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