|
It all happened in a blur. Slow moving car in fast lane – check. Refuses to move to the slow lane despite flashing and honking – check. Move to the next lane to complete overtaking maneouvre – check. Detect dead mongrel on the road too late – check. Front-wheel hops and lands hard – check. Fear the worst for the double wishbones – check. Stop and complete check to note down any damage, and find none whatsoever – check. Relief – double check!
The new, third-gen BMW 650i is a tough cookie, then. So what if the bonnet, doors and boot are made of aluminium, the fenders of thermoplastic and the roof of weather-proof material? It can take punishment. Just hours before, we were driving down to a classic car event organised by our friends at Zigwheels, in Pune. The approach road to the venue wasn’t in the best of shape, with crater-sized potholes and some really bad stretches. But that didn’t seem to bother the BeeEm. The worrying front overhang and low bumper lip forced us to drive with a gentle hand, but the car scoffed at our caution.
With the wheelbase stretched by 75 mm, BMW have managed to liberate more room on the inside. A geek (such as myself) would tell you the figures in cubic volume, but simply put, the rear occupants have a wee bit more room, especially for their poor knee caps. Other improvements? The most obvious one is its looks. The last-gen was an attempt at making a baleen whale look pretty, but this one brings back the days of the first-gen shark nose that gave it such a cult following. Sharper in appearance, the new car isn’t scared to show the bulge on the bonnet and the corona headlamps just add to its newfound, menacing look. The interplay of surfaces below the light catcher give it a lot more character, but it’s at the rear where the dumpy ol’ second-gen looks, er... dumpy! The new tail lamps have more in common with Maserati than BMW, but heck, there’s never anything wrong with the way a Maser looks, right?
MORE ON PAGE 2>>
|
