Alright, folks, it feels good to be back. The BMWBLOG Podcast took a bit of a break for awhile, simply because we were all so busy traveling, testing cars, and trying to create some really good content for you fine readers, viewers, and listeners. However, we’re back now with episode 68, in which I was joined by Horatiu and James, to talk about what we’ve been up to for the past few weeks.

One of the main reasons we were so busy was because Horatiu was lucky enough to be in Italy, for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. There, he saw the new BMW M4 CSL, BMW M1 Procar, the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail sequel, and even had the chance to interview BMW M founder Jochen Neerpasch. It was an incredible event, in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and the content that came from that was genuinely fun to both make and watch.

Horatiu was also in Germany for quite some time, testing several new exciting cars, such as the upcoming BMW XM. The XM is the first from-the-ground-up M car since the original M1, which makes it a hugely important car for the brand. The car Horatiu drove was a prototype but he still could get a sense for what it’s like and he talks about that in this new episode.

I had the chance to drive the BMW i4 M50, a super important car for the brand as it’s BMW’s first-ever all-electric performance sedan. It’s also the second new electric BMW I’ve driven in as many months, the first being the BMW iX xDrive50. What surprised me is which car I liked better, as I was initially told one of them was clearly the better car and I actually felt the opposite. The best part of the i4 M50, though, is its Hans Zimmer noise. It’s such a silly, childish feature–to have spaceship noises come from inside the car when you drive–and I mean that in the best way possible. Absolutely loved it.

We also discussed some future projects we have going on, so if you want to hear what’s coming next, stay tuned until the end. As always, you can listen either from the media player down below, or anywhere else you can find podcasts; Apple, Google, Spotify, or Stitcher. There will also be a video version on YouTube soon.