I spent the day at the Roswell, Georgia, BMW dealer with my friend S as he shopped for 7-Series BMWs and I must lodge a complaint as the owner of a 2001 BMW 530i “e39″ with a 3 Liter inline six motor.

The complaint is based on the two numbers after the series number of each car. For example, in the past, a 750i had a 5 Liter engine, a 328i had a 2.8 Liter engine, and the 318i had a 1.8 Liter engine. The engine displacement has always been kept in the two numbers after the 3, 5, or 7 Series number.

Now, as we test drove a 2011 BMW 740Li and a 750Li I discovered that the 2011 528i has my car’s engine, a 3-Liter inline-6, and is just sporting the 28 “out of tradition.” What? What’s more, the 740Li sports a twin-turbo 3 Liter 6, not a 4-Liter, and the 750Li sports a 4-Liter 8 and not a 5-Liter!  Even more, the 2011 BMW 335i is a 3-Liter inline-six with a twin-turbo and not a 3.5 Liter engined car.

The first thing the dealer did when we shot off in the 740LI was, “doesn’t feel like a six, does it?”  The tail doesn’t at all designate that the traditionally and historically naturally-aspirated award-winning BMW engines are now often turbo and twin-turbo-assisted, though this is not represented in the new alpha-numeric nomenclature.  Since “i” means fuel-injected and “x” means all-wheel-drive and “L” means long-wheelbase, shouldn’t “t” mean turbo or “b” mean biturbo?

Am I silly or are you as appalled as I am?

Still here at Mr. Tire getting new Yokohama shoes for my old Beemer.

Apparently the down-side of telecommuting and running a distributed virtual agency and not commuting every day is that all that sitting and not rolling “breaks” the tires and “eggs” them.

So, en route to NYC for my big Manhattan Sales Tour, Fall 2010, on 95, at speed, my wheels went crazy-nuts. Off to the Maryland Welcome Center rest top, got the Exxon guy to check the tires, and they were toast.

So, here I am in Aberdeen, Maryland, at the Mr. Tire, swapping out my trust old Continentals for a slick pair of Yokohama tires. Then, safely, back onto the road.

Oh, and after 8 years of city-driving, I have killed 3/5 mag wheels / rims — already tossed the spare’s rim but now I am told that 2/4 of the remaining rims are shot and need to be replaced.

Off to eBay to see if I can get 3 used true model-appropriate mag wheels for my 2001 e39 BMW 530i.

I hate to love nice cars at moments like this.

While I do miss my 1997 Land Rover Discovery, RIP, I have nothing but pride and excitement for my 2001 E39 BMW 530i, bought used from BMW. She’s fast, tight, quick, handsome, timeless, reliable, and not getting long in the teeth even after 89k miles and almost a decade since she was born. I just bought another two years of registration in Virginia on her and feel an explosion of pride every time the valet drives up. In fact, I am so besotted that I find myself checking out other E39 5-Series BMWs — it’s a handsome sedan. My ode to my 5.

BMW‘s official unveiling ceremony isn’t until Monday, but a few authentic shots of the all-new “F10″ BMW 5 Series are floating around cyberspace. These three low resolution images only give us a frontal glimpse of the upcoming 5 Series sedan, apparently as it does a dress rehearsal for its big show at the beginning of the week.

Our first sans-camouflage observation says it looks much like the 5 Series GT, its close sibling (nobody was expecting any radical styling departure anyway). Thanks to its “sport sedan” role, the new 5 Series four-door sports a slightly more aggressive flair to its front facade and side styling.

In case you were wondering, the little black buttons just ahead of the front wheels are side view cameras, just like those found on the 7 Series. We’ll reserve further judgment until Monday, when they pull the rest of the tarp off. Thanks for the tip, Brandon!

The cars dance and the BMW wins every challenge: better acceleration, tighter turning radius, superior styling, and that light grey leather interior our two cars share.

All of the 8 short films in the BMWFilms.com series, The Hire, are amazing. I searched and found a great place to get the DVD, which is no longer available from BMWFilms.com, and that is from eBay Seller ENJOIWEB.

Check the list of stuff he is selling. He is an awesome seller and I now own the DVD of all 8 films for $25 delivered.

So worth it! Of course, if you want to see it, just ask me. I won’t loan it, but I will come over and we can watch it together.