One In A Field Of Two: The 2020 BMW 228i xDrive Gran Coupe

2020 BMW 228i xDrive Gran Coupe.

Perspective varies by person and experience, but to me, BMW is a maker of performance vehicles that have their roots in well-built, exciting-to-drive four-door sport sedans.  That's a huge part of why I find the 2020 BMW 228i xDrive Gran Coupe so satisfying.

There's also a pioneering aspect here.  At this writing BMW is one of two cars carving out a new niche of four-door coupes in this size class.  The Mercedes-Benz CLA250, which we reviewed in March, is its only direct competitor.

Fashionably Late: The 2019 BMW X7 xDrive 40i

The 2019 BMW X7 xDrive 40i.

Six letters that, twenty years ago, most car people would have told you would never go together. BMW SUV.

The world has changed. Porsche proved that the way to keep making sports cars is to make fast, comfortable, good-handling big SUVs to pay for them. Audi and Mercedes-Benz followed, and now BMW is actually the last to the party...but the new BMW X7 absolutely qualifies as making one heck of an entrance.

30 Minutes With: The 2018 BMW 640i xDrive Gran Turismo

The 2018 BMW 640i xDrive Gran Turismo.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, get a different car at The Quail, and repeat. Apart from an hour's lunch (this year sponsored by Nissan), this is the day from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., although heavy rains forced us to call it a day at 2:30 this year, reducing the number of cars we could drive.