Brunch @ BMW 27th August (Sunday)

[cyclonite]

Hey guys?? who went for this event??

http://www.bmw.com.my/com/en/general/events/brunchBMW.html

It was a nice hangout in the hot sunday afternoon. Yeah it was very hot so we all stayed under the air cond canopy areas all the while :). If you click on the F&B link on the site you will see the lovely food they had.. La Bodega was the caterer so we had unlimited flow of buffet food and awesome drinks... all FOC!!!

It was a public event...no registration/invitation needed

Anyway the best part was the cars right? :) So here are what were available for the test drive

BMW 1 series
BMW 3 series
BMW 5 series
BMW 7 series
BMW X3(manual)
Mini Cooper
Mini Cooper S(manual)

So there you have it :) Enough ultimate driving machines to keep one occupied the whole afternoon.

I personally got summoned for speeding. The 1st time in my life I got a speeding ticket. I was in the 525i power shifting all the way from 2nd gear upwards on the fast lane and suddenly police stopped me :angry_smile: Furthermore that was the 1st car I tested on that day and I'm glad it didn't really spoil my spirit for there were more cars to come.

I had a very clear road on the BMW 120i and so was able to reach 170 - 180km/h easily.

Had a close call in the X3 when I lost control but got it back into control w/o any accident of coz :) my lesson learned that not all 4WDs can be pushed to the limits the way a sedan car can hehehe... Here's what happened la... I was heading towards one of the u-turn in 4th gear...(btw the X3 was diesel and redlines at 5k rpm) upon approach to the u-turn, heel-toe from 4th gear down to 2nd gear and took the u-turn... I thought I had more grip than needed so I began to open the throttle even before passing the apex and then the car started to understeer out of the corner. The exit of the corner was 2 lanes wide so I allowed the car to slide out on understeer out to the left most part of the road but then the car suddenly snapped into oversteer violently so I immediately applied opposite lock and my right foot was nailling the throttle to the floor(still in 2nd gear) and thankfully the power came in and the car snapped back into straight line again. the car literally snapped so violently it nearly hit the wall across the 2 lane highway.. crazy man.. good thing didn't kena

anyway who else went?? come one share your experience here :)

Ohh btw... the Mini Cooper S was quite fun to push around too... very sporty handling.. very predictable around corners

 

[Cow]

I was there!!

I test drove the 730i and my gf test drove the mini cooper park lane.

The 7-series was amaaaaaaazing. It looks damn big from the outside, but once you settle your butt into the comfy driver's seat, all that mass seems to disappear. The same applies when you're driving it. It did not feel THAT big.
But my gf sitting at the back had something else to say, she could literally sleep in the backseat with her legs comfortably stretched out straight.

Took awhile for me to get used to the Up and Down shift buttons on the steering wheel. Didn't meddle with the i-drive as I couldn't be bothered. Too many things and too little time. Ride comfort is 100000% I could barely feel the bumps.
The road heading into and out of the Equestrian Club is rather bumpy and I plowed through it like nothing. Literally felt like riding on a cushion of air.

Handling was superb for a car of its size. Steering was light and it somehow felt heavier as speed increased.

Power was not too bad. I was expecting an underpowered tank, but the engine carried the car around with not much trouble. Nail the throttle and you don't even feel the car lunge forward and before you know it, you're hitting 160 - 180km/h.

The Mini Cooper Park Lane was rather nice too. I can't say much about it because my gf was the one driving. She didn't push the car, she was just merely enjoying the drive. All I can say is, the backseat in the Cooper is rather spacious :)

Too bad the test drive route was so short.

 

[cyclonite]

Hey Cow...

You described it the best la... but why didn't you test the 740Li?? It was worth the wait man... it was an awesome car.

While driving out I could hardly feel the car's engine vibration and could hardly hear a thing. It was 1 machine build with total comfort and luxyry in mind.

Can only hear the engine if I was in the wrong gear. ie: if supposed to be in 4th gear but I was in 2nd gear then can hear a little.

Yeah the gearshift buttons confused me too and the worse thing is the whole day I was there all the salesmen wasn't too technically knowlegeable about the cars.

The handling and ride comfort was superb but I could tell there were a thousand and 1 electronics at work to make it that way, eg: when I threw the car around the corner and nailled the throttle I could feel the traction control and the active diff shifting the torque to the correct wheels and could feel the active suspension compensating the yaw moments.

For a car weighing over 2 tonnes it had quite little body roll althought could still feel if I literally left-right-left-right the car on a straight road. Even then the ride was really firm.

I didn't reach 180 lah.. only just under 170 coz a lot of cars. The gearshifts still not as smooth as CVT or DSG technologies though :)

 

[Cow]

I wanted to wait for the 740, but I was like,"aiya anything la". 730 good enough. Since I know I won't get enough time with the car to fully appreciate the difference between the 2 models.

hehe I even cheekily asked the girls behind the test drive counter if they had the M5 on test drive.. but of course they did not. Saja la nothing to do while waiting.

Cyclonite, did you roll over any horse shit on the way out and in? LOL

 

[cyclonite]

COW,

not sure about the horse shit la hahaha...

if nothing to do while waiting you should have walked to the other canopy at the far end of the field where all the nice food were. :)

I saw the queue for all cars were very long anyway so might as well make the wait worth it that's why I choose to go for the 740Li loh... anyway I thought that no wait would have been as long as the mini cooper S. Actually the 740Li was the last car I drove due to the wait.

I think I shortened the mini's gearbox and clutch life tremendously la because I was pushing like crazy. Basically power shifting all the way from 2nd gear up to 5th at 2 long straights. When I reached the traffic light there was burning clutch smell. Anyway the mini salesman who went out with me was so freaking fat lah.. I think he weighed 2 tonnes so the car probably felt like 50bhp less hahahahaha

 

[jack_736]

heyz bro's..
i was part of the production crew...
it ws jus aweseome whn they brought in all da cars frm da lorries n parked em inside
da M6 n M5 engines were awesome !!!
so was da MINI track car...
jus freakin powerful !!!

 

[cyclonite]

ohh the john cooper works mini huh.... they should have allowed test drive of that car and the M5 as well lah...

the stock mini cooper S was not as responsive as I would have loved it to be. I was expecting it to be at least as good as golf gti lah.... maybe it was the salesman's weight la hahah