BMW, Mercedes, Mini Cooper, Porsche, service & repair center Mississauga, Ontario. European import car specialist, servicing Mississauga, Toronto & the surrounding area since 1997.
There’s a big difference as you can see, between a Mann Genuine Oil Filter and a Chinese counterfeit, or Chinese after market oil filter. Although they look slightly similar when they are new, except after use they may destroy your engine by allowing foreign matter to wear out your precision build engine.
The old saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words. Hmm… as you can see bellow it’s quiet self explanatory. Shall we say?
A complete fail of any filtration what so ever, the problem is not where it was made. The problem is the quality. Unfortunately a poor quality oil filter may destroy a fine engine unnecessarily.
As a quality Oil filter goes, they are actually among the most reasonably priced components you can buy for your car. It’s common sense not to install inferior quality filters since their purpose is to keep your engines vital components live longer.
The savings can’t be justified on a poor quality filter that’s applies to most other filters as well, but none of them as crucial as your oil filter is to your engine’s longevity, naturally goes hand in hand with a high quality motor oil.
We always thrive to provide your fine automobile with the best there is available today to drive longer and further tomorrow.
Are your car’s tires getting older? Be careful, they might turn into a time-bomb.
There are several factors that can effect a set of tires life time. At first the quality of the tire, than your driving style, and most important maintenance.
Yes tires need maintenance too, like keep them inflated to the factory recommended psi listed on the tires wall, and or owner’s manual. Than the rotation, they should be rotated at least every 10,000 km.
Check the alignment. Is your car pull one our an other direction? Can you see is irregular tire wear? Than you need to get your car alignment checked.
Another factor where do you live. For example if you live somewhere hot and you use tires with very soft compound. Those tires provide you with great handling and grip, but they wont last that long than a harder compound, less grip, and a firm ride tire.
Or if here in Canada, you use your winter tire at summer driving, winter tire are soft soft compound tires, basically you kill your winter tires, you just will leave a lot of rubber on the road.
There are on other factor, that no one really talk about here in North America. In Europe and in some Asian countries too, tire manufacturers inform customers about the dangers of old tires, and the very real dangers of driving on new tires that are actually six years old, or even older. But here in Canada, we are being kept in the dark.
Let me please explain it. You are driving you convertible, that you use only at summer time. The car has only thirty thousand km in the odometer, it looks like a brand new, it smell like a brand new, but it is 6 years old.
You checked the tires, you monitor the tire pressure at all the time, they look great. Plenty of tread, no bald spots, no wear and tear. They look like brand new too. However those tires could actually be ready to break apart at any moment.
Porsche Carrera GT
Do you remember Paul Walker’s deadly accident with the Porsche Carrera GT ( Fast & Furious Star)?
The final police report states it he’s body was going way too fast (who not with a car like that). The car only had 3300 miles in the odometer, but it was a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT super car. Because the big horsepower and the small size, it’s notoriously difficult to handle. Also had 9 years 4 moths old tires on the car. Even Porsche specifically says no older than 4 years old tires can be used on Porsche Carrera GT, due to six hundred plus horsepower .
Most tires manufacturers recommend replacing the tires at every 6 years or less due to compound degradation. Remember a tire is more than keep your vehicle roll down the road. A tire is more than a cushion between the road and the wheel rims. Your life, your family life and other’s life on the road depends on you tires, so it worth few seconds from your time to take a very close look at them.
Modern Hybrids Could Be Split Into Two Main Categories
Modern hybrids could be split into two main categories. One of them like the BMW 3 and 5 series, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus -Toyota, Ford and numerous others are based on the principle of a highly advanced gas combustion engine, with the help of an electric motor and a relatively small lithium ion or nickel metal hydrate battery pack for electric energy storage. Worth to note the Toyota Prius also works on a similar platform but they are a world apart from a performance hybrid in general which we would like to talk about .
The second type of Hybrid propulsion is built more toward electric driving like the Chevrolet Volt (Cadillac ELR ) for instance, where the combustion engine is truly a range extender versus the BMW hybrid, where is the combustion engine is the heart of the propulsion system which is based upon.
I remember to reading about BMW in particular, they were already experimenting with compressed liquid hydrogen as a fuel source on their 7 series cars in 1972. Unfortunately at this point in for our daily driving nothing is as stable at normal outdoor temperatures as the “old” refined gasoline or diesel fuel as a source of energy storage for everyday driving when the driven distance is considered.
There are endless variations of the modern hybrid cars available today in fact here are too many to list, you need to focus on your way of driving and daily commute to make an informed choice. And yes, we do repair Hybrid BMW.
Hybrid Automobiles on The Today’s Market
Let’s look at what’s available on the market today. There are endless variations of the modern hybrid cars available today in fact here are too many to list, you need to focus on your way of driving and daily commute to make an informed choice. The modern hybrids are very energy efficient.
Due to the help of the electric motor which will propels the vehicle forward in stop and go traffic, and also will help out the combustion engine if needed in hard acceleration, or with spirited driving, in many cases most accessories are driven by electric motors to be able to provide maximum comfort when the combustion engine is not working say in slow traffic for instance .
The modern hybrid drive train also recovers the kinetic energy, by coasting to stop with the help of the electric motor and regenerative braking, instead of converting the kinetic energy into heat by using the traditional brakes.
The new BMW X3 Hybrid
Your traditional brakes still work the same except they are applied in a later stage of the pedal effort to help recover the kinetic energy from the vehicle forward motion .
Let’s look at today’s highly advanced combustion engines. We are slowly reaching the point in the combustion engine development where there is very little room for improvement of the internal combustion engine. For instance we have electric water pump, variable oil pump, variable camshaft and intake passages, variable fuel pump and the list goes on. Pretty much most of the combustion engines parameters are influenced by an advanced army of electric motors and myriad of sensors and of course the mighty computers which overlooks the entire operation.
We have today reduced the reciprocating mass in the modern engines to an amazingly small components yet we are still going further in the development of these highly sophisticated internal combustion engines. I have been working on these cars since 1976 and I can tell you the changes are astounding. Compared to yesterdays design and engineering principals in general we had engines ten years ago with adequate power. Today the same engines produce at least twice the power with nearly half of the fuel spent doing it right on front of your eyes. The progress is just amazing towards efficiency.
Have you watched Formula 1 lately? Have you seen the late model super cars? They have one thing in common, they are all hybrids.
Please let me explain: Did you know? Formula one is a precursor of the road technology in the extreme. The new 2014 rules state it, engine has to be 1.6 liter and has to have a KERS system to help reducing the race cars fuel consumption.This technology is finding it’s way to your car today.
Hybrid BMW 7 Series
Ladies and gentlemen this is a parallel hybrid system very much like BMW’s current performance hybrids on the road today. There are many others as well like Porsche Panamera, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus as well just to name a few.
The same could be said about the new hyper cars of late say the McLaren P1 or the Porsche 918. Both are using an electric motor to boost the output of the traditional combustion engine, in particular ever more so on the F1 race cars.
Due to the engine size and the turbo lag which would make the current race cars non-drivable with the help of the electric motor this modern hybrid cars became more powerful than yesterdays ultra high performance engines.
Just for instance we had the Bugatti Veyron with thousand plus horsepower from an 8.0 liter W16-4 turbo fed engine. which in fact was an engineering masterpiece to the Mclaren P1.
Mclaren P1 has “only” 3.8 liter twin turbo engine, but with the help of the electric engine, the 3.8 liter output 916 horsepower combined today. How’s that for progress?
A BMW hybrid is like your traditional BMW just better in every way.The BMW hybrid, includes their famous sporty razor sharp handling, luxury, style and performance. The big difference is they are extremely fuel efficient in daily driving. Worth to note, try before you buy, you should really test drive one. You may be pleasantly surprised how good the modern hybrids are and how much the technology improved over the years. Better get used to it we will be seeing more of them in the near future, so get ready and enjoy.
Modern Internal Combustion Engine
Don’t be afraid about their complexity. A modern internal combustion engine is very – very complex machine by itself. Gas or diesel, hybridization will not make it worst, if anything probably better in the long run.
The purpose of this short article is intended to clarify some of the myth and mystery hanging around this high tech cars with their advanced and very efficient propulsion systems, and I may ad, you can enjoy them without fear and have a peek into the future of our mobility coming to your neighborhood already.
If you are interested more in the details how hybrid cars work, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask me or my staff. We will be happy to assist you any way we can. Call us for more details at 905.795.0419
BMW doesn’t just build fast and reliable automobiles and fast bikes… Their engineer changed asphalt for ice for a while and they build fast racing sleds too.
BMW‘s sled building business is on full display in Sochi. The Germans, the Canadians and the Americans – all three nation are medal favorites – among the nations racing BMW sleds.
While all those sleds bear the same BMW logo, only one will have gold medal. Which one? The sleds are all the same… The difference will come from the athletes. Who is stronger mentally and physically? Who will be able to drive their BMW sleds on the limit… Also there is a set up… Yes, a racing sleds need to be set up before the race too…
In Europe, new passengers cars are being equipped with WiFi enabled dashboard monitors. The connected car more and more becoming a standard on modern cars where you can surf the web and receive vital information about traffic, weather current events and more with the modern Wifi and cellular service enabled vehicles.
This technology will become more prevalent on new cars as this vehicles will be able to share data between each other as well to warn for traffic congestion, weather conditions and the like between cars as they’re traveling down on the road.
There are other considerations to have modern cars communicate true wireless means, they will be able to run self diagnostics and software upgrades behind the scenes without going to a service facility.
Location based advertisements may show up on your screen, to have a cup off coffee or tea when you pass by your favorite coffee shop.
This technology is at our door’ step and will arrive very quickly, here to Canada and most of North America as well. According to the engineers, by 2016 around 100 million connected cars will be on the road sharing information between each other and the rest of the world.
The way it will work is at this moment looks like a WiFi antenna will be mounted externally, and a WiFi mobile hotspot will be embedded inside the vehicle. At the current rate it will cost just around $100 for 3G connection and about $200 for 4G connection.
In North America GM is very aggressively moving to produce WiFi connected cars. Their technology is developed in Germany by Opel at GM’s European subsidiary .
However the front runner is Audi. Last year they introduced Audi Allroad with the WiFi hotspot. They also formed a brand new partnership with Google and the Android operating system.
Naturally there are a lot of parties interested in participating to have all this becoming a reality including Google and Apple and so forth. They will appear on BMW and Mercedes-Benz dashboard. Of course Honda enjoyed the race… They announced, they will support Apple too.
How date transfer will be priced, we don’t know yet… How expensive it will be, well time will tell…
The next step will be self driving cars… in the near future, so stay tuned.
Battery manufacturing technology changed a lot over the past few years. Today’s modern European car’s battery requires only minimal maintenance to deliver peak performance in their intended lifetime (on average 4 to 6 years in our climate).
Modern battery does not need anything other than the occasional recharge if not driven long enough daily. There is no way to top them up. In most cases they are sealed and has a closed system to prevent tempering with them.
Just because your BMW’s battery is maintenance free, it does not mean it can be dirty. All battery should be clean at all the time. Cable connection needs to be clean and tightened. Also they should be inspected regularly for corrosion, clean connections and state of health like charge.
A lot of battery problems are caused by dirty batteries and loose, dirty cable connections.
We recommend to check your car battery’s vent pipe/hose integrity to prevent early corrosion on the surrounding delicate electronics, like the intelligent battery sensor on most modern BMW or Mercedes automobiles.
Your alternators health will effect the battery state of charge or long term health, therefore testing the alternator regularly may save you more than a no start convenience down on the road.
Did you know most late model German cars engine computer will turn your alternator off if no charging is needed of the battery to save on fuel ?
In fact true the battery sensor the engine computer will command the alternator to be on or off, in multiple applications. For instance at full acceleration the alternator is turned off to increase engine performance as well.
Furthermore with the proper equipment we can recall your daily driving record to analyze the charging system effectiveness. Battery health and state of charge is being recorded as well, by the engine computer, until the battery has been disconnected.
We thought you may like to know how this energy management works on your fine German Import car behind the scenes.
If your vehicle is in storage at winter time or used infrequently, disconnect the battery cable to eliminate drain from electrical equipment. Keep the battery full charged at all the time, which mean you should charge it in every two – three weeks.
For extended storage, remove the battery from the vehicle and keep 100% charged. Charge the battery every month if stored at temperatures below room temperature (18 – 20 Celsius). If stored in a warmer room, (above 20 Celsiuses ), charge every two weeks.
Make sure you store your battery out of reach of children.
Cheap traditional, older model battery chargers are generally unsuitable to perform battery maintenance charge as they treat all batteries in the same way. They provide a steady but unregulated charge to the battery. This can easily lead to over, or under, charging of the battery and thereby decrease its lifespan.
If you work on you car’s battery, remove all jewelry from your hands, wear safety goggles and plastic gloves. You should be aware, the battery is contain corrosive acid, and might explosive gases be present, therefore work away from open flames and do not smoke.
Are you like many Canadians, driving around at winter time? Do you have winter tires on your car?
Why should you invest in winter tire?
Winter tires cost money and rather annoying to bother to change them and so fort the saying goes.
Is it right?
The facts are they designed for the cold temperatures not just the snow but the freezing numbing cold road, to stay supple providing your car with traction.
Quebec has mandated winter tires due to the overwhelming statistics of the crash data collected involved people driving on all season tires caused 38 percent of the accidents in.
The winter months. Do you walk around in flip flops in the winter, or do you use your winter boots? Just as an individual adjust to the seasonal changes, your car needs to be adjusted for the harsh unpredictable winter.
Compare the cost of winter tires to the time money and effort lost if you get involved in an accident, or worst, due to lack of control cause an accident inadvertently. Accident could happen to anyone but accidents are waiting to happen if you have no control over your vehicle. A ton and a half vehicle traveling at speed will need all the help it can get in foul weather.
Please think before you drive. Thank you for your attention.
The foundation of Burkard Bovensiepen laid in the 1960s in the form of a performance enhanced BMW 1500.
It has since developed into a permanent fixture in the luxury sports car segment. What were then the first technologically and qualitatively relevant products marketed by ALPINA, namely four-cylinder petrol engines with Weber dual carburetors in the BMW Neue Klasse, are now in modern form high tech automobiles.
Equipped from the outset with the best possible genes by BMW, they currently represent the ultimate in performance, comfort, driving culture and efficiency.
The new BMW ALPINA B3 Diesel Bi-Turbo combines these characteristics like no other automobile before it. ________________________________________________________________________
Related: AdBlue
The most important facts you need to know about the urea (AdBlue) injection on modern diesel powered passenger cars in North America.
Both manufacturers BMW and Mercedes has it in their fleet of high tech clean diesels to comply with the strict North American emission requirements. North American emission requirements has been government mandated. Continue Reading… or call us for more details at 905.795.0419
As all of Alpina’s cars, the D3 diesel Bi Turbo starts as a stock BMW, in this case a (European-market) 330d with a 3.0-liter turbo-diesel in-line six engine.
The stock BMW 330d produces 258 horsepower, the Alpine D3 bi turbo putts out 345hp (350PS) and 700Nm (516 lb-ft) of torque, for a zero to100km/h mph (62 mph) sprint in just 4.6 seconds. The top speed is 278km/h (173 mph).
Alpina states it, the Alpine D3 Diesel Bi Turbo is the fastest diesel production car in the world.
The BMW Alpine D3 Diesel bi Turbo will be available as a sedan or wagon. Alpina has not said whether it will bring this breathtaking fast diesel to North America.
There is an interesting history that stems from the live of John Cooper, a man whose passion was to create and race cars meant for the fast track. He was a co-founder of the Cooper Car Company (later touching base with the original mini cooper), and his work eventually helped to revolutionize auto racing by placing the engine at the rear of the car.
Off the track, Cooper created the possibility of a vehicle meant for the road, but with the heart of a race car. This came together in a 2013 Mini Cooper S Hatchback.
The license to the name Cooper along with famous mini cooper was signed over to BMW in 2007. The vehicles are now sold under the name MINI, and among them the MINI Cooper S Hatchback is known to be the sportier version of the lot.
The British-based John Cooper Works company was founded by Michael Cooper (son of the John Cooper) in 2000, and its purpose is to create both accessories and tuning parts for new MINIs. It is the gem in the family and it clearly is the best with a manual transmission to both respect and experience the full potential of the car.
It comes with 208-horsepower JCW engine, kind of like a professional sprinter ready to spring forward at the start of the race.
This is an incredibly intuitive car. It’s also unbelievably fun to drive.
This MINI can go from 0-100 km/h in 6.5 seconds. It has a six-speed manual transmission, automatic stability control and traction control.
A JCW is not just for anyone. A hefty price may weigh down on some, but true auto enthusiasts – the ones that appreciate and maintain their car, and enjoy a fun drive – will know perhaps that the price matches the value of the car.
The BMW 4 Series Coupe turns heads faster… It outperforms the competition aesthetically and on the race truck as well. It is sleek and athletic exterior commands the eye, while its 326hp engine accelerates from 0 to 100 km/hour in an incredible 4,8 seconds.
The BMW 4 Series Coupe also features Air Curtain technology. The BMW 4 Series Coupe intakes channel air around the front wheels and then out through the Air Breather side vents, reducing drag and fuel consumption.
And with the lowest center of gravity of any current model, it truly is the perfect balance of stunning design and dynamic performance.
4,8 seconds accelerations from 0 to 100 km/hours.This performance figures achieved with optional M performance exhaust and M Performance Power Kit on 345i xDrive with 8-speed Sport Automatic Transmission.
A complete fail of any filtration what so ever, the problem is not where it was made. The problem is the quality. Unfortunately a poor quality oil filter may destroy a fine engine unnecessarily.
