2012 BMW 6-Series Coupe front view

2012 BMW 6-Series Coupe front view

2012 BMW 6-Series Coupe side view

2012 BMW 6-Series Coupe rear view

2012 BMW 6-Series Coupe interior

2012 BMW 1-Series

2012 BMW 1-Series side view

2012 BMW 1-Series front view

2012 BMW 1-Series rear view

2012 BMW 1-Series interior

2011 G-Power BMW M3 GTS front view

2011 G-Power BMW M3 GTS front view

2011 G-Power BMW M3 GTS side view

2011 G-Power BMW M3 GTS rear view

2011 BMW Alpina B5 Bi-Turbo Touring front view

2011 BMW Alpina B5 Bi-Turbo Touring front view

2011 BMW Alpina B5 Bi-Turbo Touring side view

2011 BMW Alpina B5 Bi-Turbo Touring rear view

2011 BMW Alpina B5 Bi-Turbo Touring interior

2011 BMW Alpina B5 Bi-Turbo Touring interior

2011 BMW 750Li

2011 BMW 750Li side

2011 BMW 750Li rear view

2011 BMW 750Li interior

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept front view

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept front view

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept front view

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept side view

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept side view

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept rear view

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept rear view

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept interior

2011 BMW 328 Hommage Concept interior

2011 BMW Alpina B7 front view

While the M3 dives into the corners with confidence, the B7 launches out with ferocious conviction. The M3 pulls energetically on the short straights, but the B7 puts its power down with resolve and steadily reels the smaller coupe back in.

2011 BMW Alpina B7 front view 2

Headquartered in Germany, Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH (“Alpina”) has been working its magic on BMW models since the 1970s, and while most think of Alpina as an aftermarket tuner, the company is officially recognized as an automobile manufacturer.

2011 BMW Alpina B7 side view

Mirroring the various chassis and powertrain options offered by BMW, the Alpina B7 can be had in standard- or long-wheelbase, and with rear- or all-wheel drive (xDrive). The sportiest variant of the four is the short-wheelbase, rear-wheel-drive model.

2011 BMW Alpina B7 rear view

The heart of every Alpina model is the hand-crafted engine, and the B7 is fitted with a highly modified version of BMW’s N63, the all-alloy direct-injected 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 currently fitted to the BMW 750i.

2011 BMW Alpina B7 interior

While the 750i’s N63 develops 400 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque, the modified twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 in the Alpina B7 jumps to 500 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque – raising specific output to 115 horsepower per liter.The suspension architecture utilizes BMW’s Dynamic Damping Control and Active Roll Stabilization, as found on other 7 Series models, but Alpina wouldn’t be expected to leave it alone.

2011 BMW Alpina B7 engine

The automaker increases spring rates by 20 percent and lowers ride height by about half-an-inch overall.The exterior of the B7 is distinguished by unique twin double tailpipes and its special front and rear lower spoilers. Alpina says the latter reduce lift by 30 percent at the front and 15 percent at the rear, and improve high-speed stability without adversely affecting the drag coefficient.

2011 BMW Alpina B7 rear seats

We say they look far too “tacked-on.” Alpina’s blown 4.4-liter comes to life like a cadet springing out of bed for a drill sergeant’s call. Any thoughts of turbo lag are slammed to the back of the brain (and forgotten) as the B7 takes off. Yes, it’s big and heavy, but it gets out of its own way with authority.

The BMW 335i Coupe smartly blends luxury and sport; it’s as content zooming along a winding country road as it is motoring along the bleakest of freeways during those endless road trips. Part of its flexibility can be attributed to BMW’s much-lauded twin-turbo straight six under hood. It’s an engine that’s not long for this world, as a more fuel-efficient, single-turbo version is in the offing from Munich. We’ll miss the twin-turbo’s stout powerband and overall tractability. It’s deceivingly smooth — you’ll find yourself climbing well above posted speed limits if you don’t pay attention. It’s docile at low rpm, but surges through the tach with immediacy at a squeeze of the throttle. The EPA rates the two-door 335i at 17/26 mpg. We averaged 25.3 mpg hwy/hooligan combined.

Interior styling puts the emphasis is on business, not glamour. The sole embellishment is LED illumination along the doors, adding a graceful line along the cabin. Quality materials are apparent with every touch, from the plush leather to the dash. Our car featured iPod integration and a USB adapter ($400), but not the improved iDrive system and its 8.8-in screen. Yet the tiny radio display proved surprisingly adept at scrolling through 30 GB of music.

BMW swore that our X6 M was a burgundy cannonball in a straight line, so our first competition was run-whatcha-brung night at nearby Milan Dragway. This event held great appeal, inasmuch as almost nothing is required of the driver, apart from those long, hot waits in the staging lanes, where most racers place bags of ice on their intake manifolds and fiddle with hot Holleys and push their cars by hand so that the engines remain cool. Not us. We idled for 20 minutes at a crack, with the A/C blasting, seat fans at max blow, seat massagers silently unkinking thigh muscles, and Steve Tormé—Velvet Fog fils—singing “Straighten Up and Fly Right” out of 11 speakers surrounded by “Merino” leather, which perhaps comes from Miami dolphins.

Our X6 M was a prototype and wasn’t equipped with launch control, which will be standard on production models and will likely improve acceleration times by a couple 10ths. So, before each run, it was necessary to program the X6 M for take-no-prisoners mode. I first had to press the minuscule “M” button on the steering wheel that was programmed to disable most of the stability control, then up popped a menu on the nav screen on which I had to toggle through “Settings,” “M Drive,” “Power Sport,” and “Power Sport” again (because the only alternative is “Efficient,” which is not a term anyone would ever use to describe my driving). After all that, of course, I’d worked up quite a sweat, so I had a sip of cool iced tea stored in the center console and calmed my nerves by eating three tasty digestive biscuits.

But, suddenly, as I was still munching, it was my turn at the Christmas tree, where I repeatedly staged too deep and had to back up a couple inches. In the X6 M, this is difficult, especially when a red-faced man in the starting booth is screaming and the competitor in the far lane is overheating the 500-cubic-inch Hemi in his Ford Anglia, an engine he built at the expense of multiple mortgage payments and his wife. To obtain reverse, you have to push a button on the side of this BMW’s bizarre shifter (do not even think of touching the top button, which engages park), then make sure the shifter is in the right-side gate, then push forward and release, hoping against hope that these calisthenics will illuminate the orange “R” between the tach and the speedo. This took forever, inciting the red-faced person to utter a very bad word, although I had said the same word a moment prior.