20 march 2015 motormag.com.auTHE
VENTGIVE ME ANDROID
Absolutely love your magazine and
have been a subscriber for years. I also
subscribe to other car magazines and easily
managed the switch from print to digital
subscriptions, but when I went to do the
same for MOTOR there was no joy for my
Android tablet. For some archaic reason
(style over substance perhaps?) you only
seem to wish to cater to the iPad market. In
any event, I still love your work.
Bruce England, via email
Bruce. Good news: with a bit of arm
bending, MOTOR is now available on
Android. It’s on Zinio, a platform available
to Android users, but best of all, it’s $45 a
year, or $3.75 (!) an issue.CRACKED THE S**TS
I’m still in shock to have turned to Letter
of the Month (January, 2015) and seen
the photo of a BMW E92, like mine, with
details about cracked rims. Last week at a
routine service at BMW the news came back
that not one, but both rear rims (19in), had
“hairline cracks”. The dealer claimed it’s
not common – I was more than seriously
annoyed. The wheels are four years old and
one has cracks side-by-side on the inside.
It also makes sense that the run-flats, in
30-series profile, allow very little in the
way of compliance and that these cracks are
the result of this. The ride comfort, or lack
thereof, says it all. I for one would like to
jump on board a class action... Anyone?
Glenn Kiernan, via email
Sorry to hear, Glenn. If anyone would like
to be put in touch with Glenn please fling
MOTOR an email.RIP: THE DEFENDER
I realise that the Land Rover Defender does
not have a ‘performance’ image in the sense
normally associated with your magazine,
however, in an offroad sense, it has the
highest performance of any offroad vehicle,
bar none in my opinion.
This iconic vehicle will cease production
on December 20 this year after an unbroken
production run of 68 years in the same
facility at Solihull; the home of Land Rover
in the UK. No other vehicle in the world
has such a record. There probably wouldn’t
be anyone who has ever had anything to do
with a motor car, who has not heard of the
Land Rover.
Anyway, you probably get lots of strange
letters. Just thought I’d let you know about
the Defender.
Martin Hayden, via email
Thanks for sharing your sentiment, Martin.
It’s sad enough that Holden and Ford arePURGE YOUR RAGE
Send us your rant. Or something nice. Go on, it feels goodWALKING past the local BMW showroom the other
day I saw the new 2 Series Active Tourer sitting
under the advertising tag line: ‘Where 2 next?’
Where 2 indeed?
It made me think about the purpose of the model.
On the surface, it is obviously a riposte to Mercedes’
B-Class as no German maker can stay away from
an opposition niche for too long. But is it doing the
brand more harm than good? To whom, exactly, is
the 2 Series Active Tourer meant to appeal?
I assume it is appealing to ‘aspirational’ mums and
dads with young families, all of whom have active
lifestyles and, according to BMW’s research, don’t
know front-wheel drive from rear-wheel drive. Ah,
aspirational – aspiring to what? Let’s face it, take
the signature BMW grille away and the design could
easily be Korean.
When I was young I used to sit in my father’s
E21 320i, dreaming of the day I would be able to
drive it. When I did get to drive it, it proved to be an
engaging drive, albeit tricky in the wet. Subsequent
generations refined the formula, while still having
their sights on the ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’.
Smooth six-cylinder engines mated to rear-wheel
drive, combined with a driver-focused cabin, made
the 3 Series the one that drivers, and other car
manufacturers, aspired to.BMW no longer stands for ‘The Ultimate Driving
Machine’. Even their slogan acknowledges that,
with the shift to ‘Efficient Dynamics’. So while new
customers flock to the upmarket badge at a new low
price point (not really that low when you put just
a few extras on your 2 Series Active Tourer) what
happens to the old faithful, who remember what
BMWs were like and bought them because they
were fun to drive?
I looked around the showroom at the X5, X6,
Active Tourers, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Series and was a
little disappointed that I didn’t find any of them
particularly exciting.
The trouble is, when you are desperately trying to
match the opposition niche for niche, you end up
losing sight of what you do best and go for safe, but
uninspiring, design that culminates in the 2 Series
Active Tourer. Here is a sobering thought then for
BMW: if your only selling point is as an aspirational
brand, once you become too ‘common’ on the roads,
people will, by definition, aspire to something else.
BMW, you may get new customers with your 2
Series Active Tourer, but I suspect they will not be
repeat customers.
Anthony Brown-Greaves, via emailMY BMW ANGUISH
SPECIAL EDITION
PULSAR WATCH
Our Letter of the Month winner, Anthony, will
never be wanting for numbers again with this
quad-dial Pulsar watch fixed to his wrist. From
the stainless-steel construction to the black
multi-dial face, the $250 (RRP) PU2001X1 is the
perfect partner in time. Features include a date
and chronograph function, along with two-year
warranty, and it’s water resistant to 100m.Win
this!
LETTER OF
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day I saw the new 2 Series Active Tourer sitting
under the advertising tag line: ‘Where 2 next?’
Where 2 indeed?
It made me think about the purpose of the model.
On the surface, it is obviously a riposte to Mercedes’
B-Class as no German maker can stay away from
an opposition niche for too long. But is it doing the
brand more harm than good? To whom, exactly, is
the 2 Series Active Tourer meant to appeal?
I assume it is appealing to ‘aspirational’ mums and
dads with young families, all of whom have active
lifestyles and, according to BMW’s research, don’t
know front-wheel drive from rear-wheel drive. Ah,
aspirational – aspiring to what? Let’s face it, take
the signature BMW grille away and the design could
easily be Korean.
When I was young I used to sit in my father’s
E21 320i, dreaming of the day I would be able to
drive it. When I did get to drive it, it proved to be an
engaging drive, albeit tricky in the wet. Subsequent
generations refined the formula, while still having
their sights on the ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’.
Smooth six-cylinder engines mated to rear-wheel
drive, combined with a driver-focused cabin, made
the 3 Series the one that drivers, and other car
manufacturers, aspired to.BMW no longer stands for ‘The Ultimate Driving
Machine’. Even their slogan acknowledges that,
with the shift to ‘Efficient Dynamics’. So while new
customers flock to the upmarket badge at a new low
price point (not really that low when you put just
a few extras on your 2 Series Active Tourer) what
happens to the old faithful, who remember what
BMWs were like and bought them because they
were fun to drive?
I looked around the showroom at the X5, X6,
Active Tourers, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Series and was a
little disappointed that I didn’t find any of them
particularly exciting.
The trouble is, when you are desperately trying to
match the opposition niche for niche, you end up
losing sight of what you do best and go for safe, but
uninspiring, design that culminates in the 2 Series
Active Tourer. Here is a sobering thought then for
BMW: if your only selling point is as an aspirational
brand, once you become too ‘common’ on the roads,
people will, by definition, aspire to something else.
BMW, you may get new customers with your 2
Series Active Tourer, but I suspect they will not be
repeat customers.
Anthony Brown-Greaves, via emailWorldmags.netWorldmags.net