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BMW vs Winter: all you need to know about BMW xDrive

By the CAR editorial team 21 January 2014 15:00 According to BMW, its ‘xDrive’ all-wheel drive system is more popular than any other premium brand’s four-wheel drive drivetrain. That’s right: in the UK, xDrive outsells Audi’s famous quattro system, not to mention Mercedes ever-expanding 4Matic range, and all-wheel drive version of Jaguar’s XF and XJ. If you had to name an all-wheel drive BMW off the top of your head, you’d probably plump for the X5, but the truth is that xDrive has infiltrated the majority of BMW models.

One Lap of the Web: Porsche at Le Mans, F-150 reclaims the flag and Foose talks classic rods

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- We covered the 24 Hours of Le Mans top to bottom including every make and class, but if your preferred marque is Porsche you might enjoy the Porsche Purist's look at how cars from Stuttgart fared during the endurance classic, complete with photos, stats and results.

MINI Countryman to be built in India

MINI sells worldwide – even in the US – and, despite claims it was a step too far for the brand, the MINI Countryman has been a big hit for MINI, offering as it does most of MINI’s charm but in a bigger, more family friendly package and with the option of All4 4WD for a degree of off-road ability (well, certainly the ability to treat boot sale car parks with disdain). Now, for the first time, BMW is to build the MINI outside Europe with a new MINi assembly facility coming on stream in Chennai, India, where BMW already makes 3 and 5 Series models as well as the X1 and X3. The plan is part of BMW’s plan of ‘Production follows the market’ where BMW aim to make their cars where they’re sold, so with the MINI brand showing strong growth in India since its launch it makes sense to build them there.