BMW to offer rear-wheel drive X3 SUV

Most BMW X3s spend a negligible amount of time off road - apart from crunching across Middle England's gravel driveways - so BMW has seen fit to release a version that ditches the all-paw capacity and reverts to classic rear-wheel drive. While it's still going to be some way from a classic rear-drive Ultimate Driving Machine, the X3 sDrive18d is the cheapest and most economical way into X3 ownership. You'll be able to get your hands on one from £28,580 when it arrives in the UK in the autumn of 2012.

Ford B-MAX off to a strong start in UK

The new Ford B-Max compact people carrier is off to a strong sales start in the UK, with 1,000 already delivered to customers. And that eye-catching advert (we’ve posted it below – Ford in Europe need all the help they can get to garner sales!) will no doubt raise awareness of the long-awaited replacement for the old Fiesta-based Fusion MPV and help make the B-Max a success for Ford in a segment they once dominated, but which they’d left to wither on the vine. But eye-catching  advert for the new B-Max or not, the B-Max is already selling well with over 1,000 cars delivered to customers in the last few weeks and orders for 2500 cars received by Ford in the UK before the B-Max even appeared in showrooms.

One Lap of the Web: Motorcycles in revolt

-- Danny Lyon photographed the Chicago Outlaws at the height of the counterculture: Following the gang on his Triumph, Lyon published his candid, brutal shots in 1968 with the title "The Bikeriders." Vice explains why Lyon's book mattered: He rode with them, documented their personal conversations and ultimately glorified the gang and their "existential struggle to be free." The book is due for re-release by the Aperture Foundation. -- Kim Boyle built this gorgeous custom 1978 BMW R100/7 on a shoestring budget, proving that you can't put a price on talent and taste. The as-yet-unnamed bike wears an old-school BMW roundel and some lovely details, including a headlight screen, a seat from a Ducati Monster and a custom 2-into-1 exhaust welded from 32 pieces of tubing.