1 Series Test Drive Event

[Mr. Red]

Wow, went to this event on Friday April 4th at Pitt Meadows and I was thoroughly impressed.

Firstly, I would like to comment on the staff of the event. I am 20 years old, and being this age, thought I would be treated poorly. I was treated with the utmost respect throughout the 2 hour event even though my friend and I were clearly the youngest participants.

In terms of looks, the 1 series definately looks much better in person than in pictures. It looks balanced and very well proportioned with the optional 18 inch sport wheels. The white 135 was essentially the tii with huge vented brakes, massive wheels and amazing sounding exhaust.

We started with a tech talk about the different performance, safety and comfort features involved the 1 series, and specifically, the 1 series convertible. I was really impressed with how quickly and efficiently the car opens and closes its roof. As we were listening to a well spoken French Canadian, the tempting sound of redlining 300 hp turbocharged 6's tickled the participant's ears from just outside the tent. We knew it was time for the heart of the event.

Next it was outside for a "technology" drive. This part of the event was to experiment with the car's active steering and traction control systems. We went around a small track around 3 times each, all using automatic 135s. The active steering is a very interesting system, making the ratios change according to how fast you're going. Having driven both, I preffered conventional steering, as it was more weighted and had more feeling but the active steering was a need feature. They also wanted the drivers to get the back end out around a sandy corner to show us how fast and efficiently the traction control kicked in to "save" the car.

Lastly, it was on to the real test drive/autocross runs. The course consisted of a longish straight to cicane, 2 sweeping corners and a fast braking section. There were 5 cars in total, 3 auto 128s, 1 auto 135, and the gem, a 135 standard. I will say now that they forbid us to turn any of the driving aids off which was a bit of a bummer, but I understand why they did this. Each participant got 4-5 runs around the track, enough to experience each car. I started with the 128 auto, and was pretty impressed with the handling, but the accleration was not very good being wet. It took the transmission a long time to kick down and find its gear. The 135 auto had a lot more kick on the straights but the transmission was still holding it back. The 135 standard was amazing. The power pushed us back and got us up to speed very quickly. It was amazingly easy to get the back out but the traction control was there to hold it back. Also, the brakes on these cars are amazing. It was very wet and the staff insisted that we hammer on the brakes at the end. They provided us with amazing stopping power, exceeding my expectations.

Overall, I had a blast and would like to purchase one of these vehicles in the future if possible. If anyone has any questions, don't hesistate to post them up.

[Spalding]

I'm going tomorrow night. I can't wait!

[Mr. Red]

And Ryan's car..good to meet you man! Also met Murphymurf aka Andrew, sick e36 M, if you are selling a little bit later, I will be interested! Good to meet both of you.

[murphymurf]

Hey Red!

Good meeting you too. Good pics. The rest of you guys can see the conditions were very wet..... the pavement had been redone recently and I suspect the cars had been washed that morning as there were soap suds all over making it very slippery once you got off line.

But over all it was a great experience considering it's free The staff were very accomodating and professional as Red pointed out. Although I would have liked to spend more time in the car and on a bigger course.

And now the review. First of all, forget even trying a 128. Great car for the masses, but we want performance. And the auto in the 135 seriously holds it back. But the manual was great...... acceleration was suprising, braking fantastic and over all balance very good. Of course we had to leave on the traction control but I managed to get it's tail out... a lot of the drivers complained the engine was cutting out on them, but I don't think they fully understood it was the tranny and "limiters" holding them back. I had a lot of fun playing with the balance of the car and near the end was really pushing the car around the track smoothly. Felt alot like my M3 when trail braking, so it was familiar to me. The white one by far was the best ( even though it was auto) it had different exhaust which noticably let it breath easier ( or exhale better brakes and the best interior. The seats are very tight, if your on the bigger side you might need the luxury seats instead.

Like Red pointed out, in person the car is better than in the pics. Very good performance in a appetizing package. My biggest complaint was the lack of LSD. But price wise, it pits itself in my mind against a used e46 M3....and if thats the case, I'll stick with the M.

[Cacciatore08]

Was this event put on by BMW Canada? What's with all the Ontario plates?

[crunk3]

It was cold LOL and wet out there

[applecran]

Went today, had a blast, those little cars sure can rip around that course.

Yes BMW canada put on the event, they are touring.

Did you guys see the X6 in the lot? .....

[VtwinVince]

Looks like fun, albeit not ideal weather. I'll be out there next weekend for the Mini event.

[Mr. Red]

Originally Posted by crunk3 It was cold LOL and wet out there

Props to you man! you did a damn good job holding the umbrella! No accidents in our group atleast. Did you get a chance to drive one yet? Hopefully they will need gassing up soon.

[evo3]

Thanks for sharing. I'm in love with that white one.

[Mr. Red]

Originally Posted by Cacciatore08 Was this event put on by BMW Canada? What's with all the Ontario plates?

yeah, the cars must have been trucked in from the East because the 2 odometres I looked at had under 50 kilometres on them.

[Mr. Red]

Originally Posted by evo3 Thanks for sharing. I'm in love with that white one.

Yeah, the white one was essentially the Tii. Huge brakes, nice exhaust, carbon spoiler and diffuser massive M-wheels. Too bad it was an auto though

[Nick]

I also went today, and was glad it was a during dry session. The 135i surprised me; I think it would be a fun daily driver to have...the 128i not so much...My impression was that the car really needs the extra power to conceal its weight when accelerating, although when driving the two back-to-back it's hard not to favour the car with more power and dismiss the weaker of the two.

The active steering was an interesting experience, it felt so wrong...it gave me the sensation of somebody grabbing the wheel and cranking it more (or less, in some cases) than the amount of lock you feed into it, except without any of the feedback...it's like the car had a range of turning radii, and it was a crapshoot on the one you were going to get when you turned in at low speeds (the course they set up to highlight this and the big-brother-TC/DSC systems was comprised of a sequence of fairly tight hairpins). Despite the slower ratio in the cars with the fixed-ratio steering rack, I preferred that setup. It's not hard to swap in a quicker rack, anyhow...

The 'Auto-X' course they had set up was the best part, although it was quite short and constrained...The TC and DSC systems were not very intrusive providing you kept things smooth, and although you could feel the car's weight and the usual bit of understeer that eased it's way in around the sweepers, the car felt quite responsive to steering with the throttle, even with the automagic transmissions. Too sharp of a lift to get the nose pointed where you wanted though, and the DSC jumped in and seemed to ruin the fun of letting the car rotate.

The fully-kitted out white car sounded awesome...too bad that wasn't the car with the 6-spd manual, that would have been the ideal package.

The event was well run, and even though there are plenty other things I'd do with 50k to spend on a car, it's good to know that there will be cars like the 135i to buy second hand (albeit a lot of them are probably going to be cabrio's ) ...here's hoping they depreciate like crazy.

Ryan, did they give you a chance to drive today??

-Nick

[crunk3]

Tuesday, My friend...hopefully they have tires left on them

[dc42004]

awesome event, too bad they want use to keep the DSC on. Even the porsche GT3 RS is paying respect to the coming of the 135i.