Simon Jackson

BMWs don’t come much more iconic than the 2002. In 2021 the 2002tii reaches its 50th birthday so you’ll see much in the way of celebrations to mark the milestone occasion this year, including in this issue. With the help of The 02 Register, experts in everything 2002, we take look at the car that many consider to be a better all-rounder than the (equally iconic) 2002 Turbo. And, sticking with the letters ‘t’ and ‘i’, we bring together the latest BMW to wear them, the F40 128ti, and the last car to carry the designation before it, the E46/5 Compact. It’s a bit of a ‘meet the family’ ti aff air on page 10. We are currently living through extraordinary, historical, times in motoring as the world shifts from traditional fuels to electric power. It wasn’t so long ago that we were all convinced (certainly in the UK) of the benefi ts of moving from petrol to diesel cars, and diesel BMWs were exceptionally popular. Leading that charge was the E46 330d, a car that could swallow huge distances between refi lls and which off ered excellent performance too. If an E46 330d rocked up in your rear view mirror on the motorway you would likely get out of its way pretty sharpish. In light of the times in which we now live, where diesel is evil, does buying an older BMW oil burner still make sense? Even one as highly regarded as the E46 330d? Mike Evans did just that, we meet his sixteen-year-old example with over 200k on the clock to see if the model remains as desirable as it once was . Back in the land of high octane petrol, David Towe is an ex-pat living in Australia, known on both sides of the globe for his love of BMWs and racing. David currently competes in a beautiful E30 M3 down under and has quite a history with the brand and its cars on road and track, we meet the man and explore his ex-works JPS E30 M3 on. Naturally, you’ll also fi nd our usual mix of new BMWs, old BMWs and everything in between elsewhere in this issue, together with our unrivalled technical advice and the latest news from the BMW world.