Rapper M.I.A Explores Arabian Drifting In New Music Video

It’s no secret that Arabians are big fans of drifting their cars. Whether or not they do it because they love it or just because they are intensely bored is another story. But regardless, there’s no doubt that the sport of drifting has inflicted most of the middle east as of late.

One person to hop on board the drifting infatuation, unsurprisingly, is British rapper M.I.A. In her new music video for ‘Bad Girls’, M.I.A explores the side of her that the title suggests as a couple of older BMW 3-series’, an Alfa Romeo 156 and a Mercedes-Benz E-Class show off their drifting skills (known as hagwalah). The rapper even gets into the thick of things herself as she can be seen rapping on the windshield of a 3-series while it’s only on two wheels.

Whatever your thoughts about drifting hagwalah, this video is worth checking out for the cars alone. Let’s just hope that there were no accidents when filming like there usually is.

[Youtube]

Got Wagon Withdrawl? A Bit of Good News…

Good news, wagon fans!

Just when it seemed like your favourite body style was going extinct, BMW has made sure at least one of their wagons will solider on in our streets. The next generation 3-series wagon is going to be coming to North America.

The 3-series is going to come in four body styles for sure (sedan, coupe, convertible and wagon) but there were rumours of a 3-series hatchback being in the cards a la 5-series GT for North America only. This put serious doubt that the 3-series wagon would be available as the 3-series GT would likely replace the need for a wagon. BMW used this method with the 5-series GT and opted not to sell the wagon version here.  But as cool as hatchbacks are, the 5-series GT isn’t exactly flying off dealer lots and nothing can truly replace a proper wagon. So far BMW hasn’t confirmed or denied the possibility of a 3-series GT for North America, but the wagon will bow for sure.

This welcomed news comes on the heels of several cool wagons no longer being available for sale in Canada including the new Volkswagen Passat, Volvo V70 and V50, Subaru Legacy wagon and Mazda6 wagon.

Now, let’s just hope BMW makes a wagon available in 335i form with a six-speed manual!

[Autoblog]

Cadillac ATS Learns How It’s Done From BMW 3-Series

If imitation is one of the most sincerest forms of flattery then GM is sending a pretty big tip of the hat to BMW and the 3-series.

The newest member of the Cadillac family, the ATS, is apparently going to be a very familiar driving experience to the 3-series as Cadillac has supposedly bought various iterations of the 3-series and has stripped them down to the chasis to learn about how BMW makes the 3-series the benchmark in the sport sedan segment. Cadillac will then study, mimick and incorporate what they learned into the ATS. Sounds like they’re pretty serious about making a legitimate condender.

With that said, even if ATS succeeds at offering the driving experience of  a 3-series, it will be outdated from the get-go. BMW is very close to completing the next generation 3-series which will undoubtedly set the bar even higher. The new 3-series is expected to debut late this year. Same goes for the ATS.

I’m curious as to what Cadillac’s slogan will be for the ATS. Something like “Just as good as an older 3-series” just doesn’t seem to work that well, does it. In any event, even if the ATS is based on a previous generation 3-series, that still means it should perform very well. And with Cadillac’s typical pricing advantage over the Germans, it will position as a tasty alternative to 3-series, A4 and G37 loyalists.

[Autoblog]

Next Generation BMW 3-Series Strips Off More Camo

BMW is getting closer and closer to revealing the production version of the next generation BMW 3-series. For the first time, BMW’s best selling model has been snapped without any camo whatsoever. Despite the irritating swirly plastic wrap, this helps us to get a general sense of the lines and the shape.

The new 3-series seems to have a  rather shapely front hood along with squared off halos which we first saw on the new 6-series. This would suggest that BMW may be departing slightly from it’s rounded signature halo rings. However, it is a bit hard to tell with that swirly wrap. It’s possible that the halo’s will still be rounded. Whatever the shape, expect them to be LED’s on higher trim models. The tail lights will also be LED’s and will resemble pretty much every sedan in the line up. In fact they seem to have a striking resemblance to the tail lights of the new 5-series.

There’s no details on power plants just yet, but as BMW has already confirmed, there will be six, four and even three cylinder engines dropped in the engine bays of future BMW’s.

Click past the jump to see some more pics of the new 3-series.

[CarPix]

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2012 BMW 3-Series Starting to Hatch, M3 Gets Inline Six

Although we don’t have very many clear shots of what the 2012 BMW 3-series will look like, BMW has let us in on what it has in store for body styles.

All the usual bodystyles will carry over such as the sedan, wagon, coupe and convertible, but there will be yet another addition to the 3 series family. A hactch.

BMW is banking on the 550i GT (which we enjoyed immensely) as being a big success and it is putting its marbles on a GT version of the new 3 series as having similar results for them.

Okay, now that the practicality is out of the way, let’s talk about the big boy: The new M3.

The V8 will be reportedly replaced by a twin turbo inline 6 cylinder engine. BMW makes incredible inline six’s so, we’re not too disappointed. Plus this likely will result in slightly better fuel economy. The V8 is good enough to produce 420 horses, but BMW may be able to push 450 horses out of its tuned inline six.

Also the coupe in general will likely get a lower roofline, and a more vertical windshield. The convertible M3 may even make a return but will have a  hardtop instead of canvass. Expect the sedan version of the M3 to stick around as well.

We’ll keep you up to date as more details arise, but you already knew that. Just something you have to say.

Bad Volvo! 2011 S60 Gets Naughty

Even though some of their models can hold their own, Volvos aren’t exactly known for their performance abilities. With Volvo’s new ‘naughty’ campaign, they’re hoping to change that perception.

Volvo released two short 10 second spots claiming that “naughty volvos are coming” and this sparked speculation that the new S60 would have an R variant. We got pretty excited of this notion, but the new S60 didn’t even show up at the Geneva Auto Show as expected. Naughty!

Turns out the whole campaign was to just showcase the abilities of the T6. With 300 horsepower and 325 pound feet of torque, the new S60 is more powerful than the previous generation S60 R and has the same AWD system. There are three spots for the naughty campaign. Level 1 sees the S60 perform a slalom course with ease, though not really pushed. Level 2 has the S60 (now in red) drive the slalom a lot more aggressively around breakable objects. In Level 3, the S60 does the same thing as level 2, only it does it all in reverse.

There’s also going to be a level 4, but just how much naughtier the S60 gets is up to you. If you join Volvo’s facebook group you can have a say in what you want the S60 to do next. Our vote is to have the S60 do the course in reverse with the driver blindfolded. That would be impressive. Actually we’d be even more impressed if the S60 did the slalom faster than the 3 series or A4.

There’s also a naughty elk test as well!

See all the videos  after the jump

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