Mini Paceman (2013) Death Valley spy shots

By Ollie Kew

Spy shots

31 July 2012 15:32

Want a BMW X6 that's smaller, even less practical and has a huge dollop of retro smeared over it? Look no further than our latest spy shots of the new Mini Paceman.

It's essentially a two-door 'coupe' version of the Countryman soft-roader, and it'll be beginning its mini adventure around the trendier parts of town and country in the first quarter of 2013.

Well, it's set to stretch the Mini name to new proportions (and levels of irony). The Paceman is the same width as the regular Countryman, but 13mm lower and 20mm longer to emphasise its coupe brief.

The roofline has also adopted a more sweeping rake - it's very Range Rover Evoque in profile, and there's hardly a better car to crib styling inspiration from right now.

The leather-clad concept Paceman of 2011 was powered by a John Cooper Works-spec 1.6-litre turbocharged engine, providing 208bhp and 192lb ft to all four wheels permanently. An overboost function ramped torque up to 207lb ft  - handy for sniffing out those valuable overtaking opportunities. The Paceman Concept also featured an electromagnetic centre differential to send 100% of the power to the rear wheels in extreme circumstances.

The production Paceman is unlikely to be the drift hero that that sort of set-up suggests, but as with the Countryman, you can count on BMW's finest working their fingers to the bone to try and engineer some of that classic go-kart feel into the taller and heftier Paceman.

Engines will mirror the Countryman's range, with Cooper and Cooper S petrols, and Cooper D/SD diesels. A range-topping JCW iteration with the same powerplant as the concept will roll out in due course.

You'll pay a premium for the sleeker physique: the Countryman range starts from £16,510, but a usefully optioned Cooper S Paceman will be well past £20,000 once it's on your drive. We'll deliver the final verdict when the Paceman launches in 2013.

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Mercedes S-class (2013) spied in Death Valley

By Ollie Kew

Spy shots

19 July 2012 12:15

Here comes the new version of the biggest Benz, the 2013 S-class. These new photos reveal more of the limo's sheet metal, as engineers strip away disguise for their hot weather tests. 

The front end is beginning to appear: note that finely-louvered grille in the front bumper, and the bejewelled headlamps. Those lights will feature Merc's new 'Magic Light Control' system, which uses adaptive LEDs to illuminate the route ahead, even helping the driver peer around corners, while not dazzling oncoming cars.

The shape of that C-pillar is interesting, too. Its curvature, and the angle of the bootlid, appear to have a bit more of the CL and CLS-look than today's monolithic profile.

Oh yes indeed. This S-class has more magic than the lovechild of Paul Daniels and David Copperfield, with features such as 'Magic Body Control'. This system uses cameras and sensors in the car's nose to monitor the road ahead for bumps, and then vary the damping rate accordingly. So, if you spot a gnarly pothole in your path, there's no need to flinch and wait for the inevitable, bone-shuddering thunk. Allow the S-class to notice the crater and adjust itself, leaving you to simply continue wafting along.

The big S borrows a trick from the SLK too, with 'Magic Sky Control' - essentially a glass roof panel with a variable tint controlled by occupants. Disappointingly, given the enticing name, it doesn't allow UK buyers to tailor the weather.

Mercedes always makes a safety statement with its flagships, so the new S will feature the latest in emergency braking and radar-guided cruise control. The standard wheelbase model arrives first in 2013, with a stretched version following soon after.

The S-class is the latest in a run of exciting cars to stray into our Death Valley photographer's rangefinder: we've also seen the new Mini Cooper S and BMW X5 sweating it out in the Californian desert.

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Mini Cooper S (2013) iDrive spied in Death Valley

By Georg Kacher

Spy shots

10 July 2012 09:53

Spotted testing in Death Valley, USA, these spy shots reveal key details about 2013's new third-generation Mini hatchback.

A BMW iDrive-style multi-controller is clearly visible inside the new Mini's cabin and it's also a good chance to compare a standard Cooper with a Cooper S range topper. 

So it would seem. Clearly on display in these test mules is the centre console-mounted rotary/button control from Mini's parent BMW, used in everything from the 1-series to 6-series Gran Coupe. It's Munich's solution for navigating through a modern car's extensive infotainment and dynamic options.

Minis can currently be specced with a BMW-derived rotary-controlled interface: Mini Connected, which allows drivers to update their social network profiles from inside the car, as well as the usual sat-nav and radio functions.

It's unclear whether iDrive will be lifted straight into the Mini untouched, or if its functionality will be slimmed down. Surely the controller will be restyled for something a little more in keeping with the Mini's retro-pastiche theme.

These spyshots show both the standard, cooking hatch and the hot hatch version of 2013's new Mini clan. Whereas standard cars get the nearside single exhaust outlet, the Cooper S mule we see here has a centre dual-pipe exhaust, as per the current Mini Cooper S.

Sportier, fatter multispoke wheels are the other giveaway to the Cooper S's identity.

Oh yes - the 2013 Mini hatch is just the start of a huge range expansion for the Anglo-German brand. In the next few years we'll see a four-door Clubman estate, an expanded five-door hatch to challenge premium family cars like the Audi A3 Sportback and Mercedes A-class, and even a low-roof, long-wheelbase MPV designed to appeal to style-conscious families who shun tall, mumsy people-carriers.

The five-door 'Sportvan' will emerge in 2016, but you won't have to wait that long for Mini to go niche-hunting once again - the Countryman Coupe (supposedly inspired the the BMW X6 high-riding coupe) will arrive in early 2013, six months before the classic Mini hatch debuts.

There'll be a lot more Mini in your future BMWs as well: the next 1-series and X1 are set to go front-wheel drive in order to part share more efficiently with BMW's British-based brand.

Does yesterday's announcement of a £250m investment in Mini Oxford make sense now? BMW is spending big time on its smallest brand, as it plans a big increase in the range and, it hopes, future sales of Minis.

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BMW X5 (2014) spied in Death Valley

By Ollie Kew

Spy shots

17 July 2012 13:51

BMW is certainly giving the new X5 a hard time of it in its pre-reveal testing regime.

We've previously spied the 2014 X5 at rain-soaked Nurburgring, and now captured it testing in Death Valley, USA.

Because Death Valley, California is an ideal environment in which to test a car's hot-weather performance, the mule seen here has had some of its frontal camouflage stripped away to allow more airflow into the engine bay.

We can now see the exact shape of the trademark kidney grilles, and the lower vent below them, as well as supplementary apertures in the lower area of the bumper.

Unlike the X5 CAR's spy photographer saw at the rainy 'Ring, which sported rectangular exhaust outlets, this car has smaller, circle-section pipes, perhaps alluding to this being a lower-powered version than that papped before.

The F15 (that's BMW model code) X5 will be released in early 2014, and though the exterior styling will take an evolutionary step, the main revisions will be under the skin. BMW's new 'X For All' architecture will be used, as in all futrue BMW X-cars. These advanced underpinnings could cut the hefty X5's weight by up to 150kg against the current model. For comparsion, a current-gen X5 xDrive30d SE weighs in at 2150kg.

If these spy shots really do show a lower-powered X5, it could well be running four-pot power. Sources have confirmed to CAR that a 2.0-litre 245bhp/258lb ft diesel motor will be offered in the new X5. Petrol-devotees can spec the 28i engine from the X1; these four-cylinder X5s will provide a strong rival to the new Mercedes ML250 CDI.
At opposing ends of the moral compass, there'll also be a petrol-electric hybrid, and new versions of the lucrative X5M, which will feature a 565bhp twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 The ActiveHybrid will team a 3.0-litre turbocharged straight six with a 109bhp electric motor.

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