Aussie Motoring

Between January and March of this year BMW have delivered 4,174 vehicles here in Australia and that’s a 12 percent increase on sales for the same time last year.

Despite rising interest rates and some very black days on the share market there’s still a big market for what BMW describe as their “premium brand”

BMW are expecting their sales figures to rise even further when deliveries of the 1 Series Convertible and Coupe begin next month.

The BMW 1 Series Coupe will go sale for $54,400 (plus dealer and on-road costs) for the 160kW 3.0 litre 125i petrol model.

The 120i 1 Series Convertible comes with a little less grunt and is powered by a 4 cylinder 115kW motor and will retail for $52,900 plus dealer and on-road costs.

It’s been a long time since I had to put up with a backseat driver and that’s just as well because I tend to arc up fairly quickly when someone tries to tell me how to drive.

However if I was a member of the United Kingdom’s armed forces otherwise I might have to keep a lid on my temper because backseat drivers are about to be fitted to 200 vehicles belonging to their Navy Army and Air Force vehicles in an effort to improve road safety.

Not only will these automated pests provide instant feedback to the driver but they’ll also provide data for motor pool managers … and if you’ve ever been in the services you’ll understand why many military drivers would shudder at that thought.

You can read the full story here.

I still remember the response when I returned a rather bent truck to the base motor pool one day years ago. The Warrant Officer didn’t care that all the bent bits were on the back of the truck and had been caused by some dopey woman who thought that she could drive a Land Cruiser and do her makeup at the same time … or that I had been stationary at the end of a line of traffic for several minutes before she hit me … or that there was a little matter of rank involved here.

He wanted blood and by God he was going to get it and seeing that the vehicle had been booked out to me so it was my blood he wanted. And if he couldn’t have blood he was going to watch me suffocate in paperwork.