Standard Ignition Ignition Control Module Lx225t on 2040-parts.com

Seeing and being seen are keys to winter-driving safety

It's that time of the year when we here at AutoWeek feel duty-bound to give you a primer on winter-driving safety. We are compelled to tell you to steer in the direction of the skid, to stock emergency supplies in your trunk, to make sure your car is shod with the proper rubber to get you through the season. But winter brings more than snow, ice and cold.

Driven: BMW 6 Series convertible

Every large BMW coupe – from the E9 3.0 CS, through the shark-nosed E24 6 Series, Claus Luthe's beautiful E31 8 Series, right up to the outgoing, Bangle-era E63 6er – has had an exoticism beyond every other car in the brand's range. We drove the latest from the most southern point of Europe back to our London office to find out if it too is a truly Grand Tourer. Stepping off the 'plane in Gibraltar, greeted by a Deep Sea Blue 650i with Ivory White leather, 19-inch rims and Shadow Line exterior trim under the early summer Mediterranean sun, it's clear that the right colorway and a more appropriate setting certainly help the F12's cause after our disappointment with the car at its debut in Detroit earlier in the year.

BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics (2009) teaser video

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 28 August 2009 12:49 BMW has launched a teaser video for the Vision EfficientDynamics sports car concept that it will unveil at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show – and we've today published a new (sadly teaser again) photo of the green coupé from our friends over at IAAblog.com Not a lot until the final few sequences when we get to see the rear of this eco-friendly concept car. It shows the back of the sports car with F1-inspired winglets and other body addendum, plus external rear lights. BMW announced the car at the same time it confirmed its withdrawal from F1, claiming the concept would ‘demonstrate how efficient a sports car can be’ and that it ‘will also prove that sustainability does not apply to the drive train alone, but to design and materials as well.’ There’s been no hint from Munich on the powertrain, but in line with the other cars BMW will reveal (the X6 and 7-series ActiveHybrids) the Vision EfficientDynamics concept will almost certainly feature hybrid drive.