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AUTO REVIEW
BMW 640i BySteveSchutz,MD
This is a strange time. Regular gas goes for belched out clouds of toxic fumes that were bocharger (or two or three or more) in five
about $1.40 per gallon in San Antonio, an assault on every sense. Those days are to- years.
which translates to roughly 80 cents in 1990 tally over as all new vehicles routinely drive
money, yet automobile manufacturers are through places where what comes out of Cue the BMW 640i, a turbo-six cylinder
doing everything they can to get their vehi- their tailpipes is cleaner than the ambient air. luxury grand tourer that until recently was
cles to use less and less fuel. Why? A recent edmunds.com study found that a only available with a V8 engine in the U.S.
Ford F-150 had to drive a startling 3,800 (As noted below, it can still be ordered with
Part of the reason is the reality of product miles before it produced the same pollution a V8.) Based on the superb 5-series sedan
development times — it takes a minimum as a standard gas-powered leaf blower did in platform, the “6” comes in coupe, convert-
of three years from green light to launch 30 minutes. Modern cars are very clean. ible, or four-door Gran Coupe versions. I re-
when a new vehicle is created, and even cently tested the coupe.
longer if a new engine is involved. And three Nevertheless, they’re getting even cleaner,
years ago regular gas in San Antonio went and a lot of the credit for that goes to count- The exterior design of the 640i coupe is
for $3.40, more than twice what it is today. less engineers who somehow make each typical contemporary BMW, which is to say
Plus there’s the reality of ever-increasing year’s automotive propulsion systems cleaner sleek and modern, but completely inoffen-
emissions requirements, which compel au- than the one the year before. The latest path sive. Ten to 15 years ago, the company was
tomakers to produce cars and light trucks to lower emissions involves turbocharging, widely criticized for styling that was consid-
that emit almost no pollution. and this change has proved to be so effective ered too avant-garde, and in response BMW
that I can’t imagine any diesel or gas powered has made all of their non-electric vehicles
A quick aside: when I was a child in the internal combustion engine won’t have a tur- look almost anonymous. Whether that’s a
late 1960s and early ‘70s, cars routinely good or bad thing depends on your point of
52 San Antonio Medicine • April 2016
