Well, it’s here… sort of.  The very first 2011 BMW X3 to roll through Fort Wayne sits in our showroom here at Tomkinson BMW, if only for a day.

BMW won’t let us send it out on the road – it’s not quite street legal, actually – but we did give customers a chance to poke around the roomier interior and play around with some of the cooler new features.  (The top-down camera in the nav display was one favorite.)  The extra legroom in both front and back also drew rave reviews.  Wait till people get a chance to drive it!  It’s always fun when we get to introduce a new model that amounts to more car for less money than its predecessor.

We took a few pre-orders from Fort Wayne BMW customers who will have their X3s by early January.

The first 2011 BMW 535 and 550 will be here within the next few days, and we couldn’t be more excited!  The members of our team who have had the chance to drive the new 5er are raving about it.  We’ll have plenty more on the launch once they arrive, but in the meantime check out this review from iMotor.  The words “best in class” are thrown around quite a bit.  Look out Mercedes!  Interestingly, the reviewer’s only quibble is with the design… consensus here, though, is that it’s a great looking car.  What do you think?  Eye of the beholder, I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBd0RdoMfhQ

Plenty of exciting stuff coming out of the Detroit Auto Show from BMW.  A new Z4 Roadster, Active Hybrid launches, and other advances in Efficient Dynamics.    Perhaps of more immediate excitement to Fort Wayne BMW enthusiasts is the 2011 BMW 740, available in both ‘i’ and ‘Li’ body styles.

2011 BMW 740, playfully splashing

Given the popularity of the flagship 7 Series in Fort Wayne, we expect that many will be intrigued by the space, luxury and styling of the 740, equipped under the hood with a 6 cylinder twin turbo that delivers 315 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque at a base MSRP right around $70,000.  Stay tuned.

Personalized exclusive colors are starting to become more and more popular amongst BMW owners.  We’ve seen just a few in Fort Wayne so far, as these are not inexpensive to apply, but BMW indicates that interest is on the rise among enthusiasts who are truly looking for one of a kind.

Here’s an example from the Frankfurt Auto Show: Frozen Gray Metallic.  Pretty gorgeous, we think.

A "Frozen Gray" BMW M6 at the Frankfurt Auto Show