A Breath Of Fresh Air.
Muslims have Mecca, wildebeest have somewhere on the Savannah and geese have a warm place. But who or whatever we may be, we should all commit to one really important journey in our lives.
For Euro fans, that place is Essen. And if you don't know where that is, it's in northwest Germany, just over the Dutch border. It's a small city, not particularly remarkable, but it does have a thriving shopping district, if that's your thing.
Why do we insist that every single one of us should go there once in our lives? Well, because of the annual Motor Show. But this isn't any old car show, it's the world's greatest show and the biggest Euro tuning event in the world. In fact, it probably rivals SEMA (see eurotuner 2/05) in sheer size, but it has two distinct advantages over that event: It's full of Euros and open to the general public. Admittedly, it's on a different continent, but let's not split hairs.
We won't go on about its greatness any more because most of you are probably familiar with it anyway. However, we will just say again that you should try to get to it at least once in your life.
Despite talk of gloom and recession in the German market, Essen '04 was a rip-snorting affair, crammed to the rafters with new and exciting machinery, and more than a smattering of old skool cool.
There now follows a breakdown of the show's highlights, divided into manufactur-ers for your convenience. Enjoy.
BMW
The highlight of the show was the number of BMW 1- and 6-Series on display. Until we arrived in Europe, we'd never seen the 1-er in the flesh, and believe us, this little car needs all the help it can get. It's been hit repeatedly with the ugly stick and few of the tuners were able to fully remedy the car's awkward lines. Several made a valiant attempt, notably Breyton. The company's attempt was probably the most convincing, but then the car was set among one of the best displays at the show - Breyton had gone all-out by displaying every car in silver in a very elegant booth. It was Euro-tuning utopia. And considering the cars the company had to deal with (the 1, 5, 6, 7, Z4, X5 and X3) are not the most attractive, Breyton pulled off something special.
The 120i wore meaty 20x9" Breyton Vision wheels with 225/30 tires and had been lowered 30mm. It also had a subtle skirt and spoiler package around the bottom of the car, but the big news was the supercharger. This gives the 2.0 almost 225hp, so owners can escape the laughter.
The Breyton 645Ci was represented in soft- and hard-top versions. The styling treatment was similar across the range, with recognizable spoilers and skirts again. This time the car sat on 21x9" front and 10.5" rear wheels, with 295/25-21 Michelins on the rear. The suspension lowered it 30mm again and the car was almost good enough to want to be seen in. Almost.
The Breyton X3 wore 21x9" and 10.5" rims, but it's also available with the company's new 22x10" Spirit or Type 7 wheel. Again there was a body kit and 30mm lowering plus a D-Box to boost the turbo-diesel to 248hp. The X5 jumped to 23x11" Spirit wheels and had a 262hp D-Box, while the new 5-Series was dropped a conservative 35mm and sat on 20x9.5" and 10.5" Spirits. Again, the body styling suited the car and gave it a more homoge-nous appearance. The 7-Series had 22" wheels and 330hp for the V8 or 262hp from the 3.0 diesel. Also available was 330hp in a supercharged Z4, which took it to 60mph in 4.9sec. But even this and the wheels and the body kit couldn't make it look any better.
Kerscher's attempt at the E87 1-Series was more aggressive, with detail on the front spoiler, vents on the skirts and its signature rear valance with twin exhaust exits. However, this and the 18x8.5" front and 9.5" rear wheels just didn't work as well as Breyton's.