[CaptJack]

Okay fellow Bimmer heads. I just got home from what has to be the ultimate E90 road test. So sit back relax and read this, knowing that you have absolutely given your soles to what is truly the “Ultimate Driving Machine”!!



Let me describe the event first. About a week and a half ago BMW held the dealer introduction for the E90. That event was held here in south Florida. This intro was for ALL dealers in the Americas; US, Canada, as well as Central and South America. From what I hear there were almost 400 dealerships in attendance. Now get this, waiting for them were 220 identical 330i’s. All in Titanium Silver with black leather, sport pkg, active steering, and steptronic trannies. Can you imagine what a sight that was? Well, since they already had all that equipment down here anyway, they (BMW NA) decided to hold the premier consumer intro down here in Ft. Lauderdale (Some people are just lucky I guess). This apparently is the very first time BMW has ever held a consumer event before the launch date of a new vehicle. From what I was told, there are two additional events like this planned. One will be in Atlanta and the other in Charleston, SC, where these vehicles come into port. So, anyone near those cities might want to contact their dealers to see if they can get you an invite. This event was also sponsored by three local dealerships (one being my dealer), Comcast Cable Co., Sirius Sat Radio as well as a few of cable network programs. I’m not sure how they picked the attendees. Probably 60% were not BMW owners. Most likely MB, Lexus and Jag buyers would be my guess.



Anyway, back to the event. They kept 24 of those silver beauties here for the “Ride & Drive” event and, perhaps more importantly, many of the big brass from BMW including Ken Brock (sp?) BMW Product Manager for the 3 Series stayed down here for the event as well. Very, very nice people and truly excited about sharing everything about these new cars they could. They are like a bunch of new fathers showing off their first child. This will be my 8th BMW and I have NEVER seen everyone connected to BMW as excited and enthused about a new vehicle as this one. This includes dealers, sales reps, managers, and tech reps as well as BMW employees. The only way to describe this phenomenon is that “this car is truly special”.



I tried to ask all the questions I could about issues I have seen discussed on the forums. I’m sure I missed a bunch but hopefully what I did ask will answer at least some the questions out there. But let me save that for later. First let me tell you a little about what we were treated to. Upon arrival at 10 AM the registration tent was set up with a breakfast spread along with numerous publications and literature about the E90 and BMW. A BMW boutique area was also there with everything from BMW key fobs to Logoed shirts and hats.



Outside the registration tent area all the new BMW’s were on open display including several E90’s and the 2006 750il



After registration we were given a presentation by one of the BMW NA brass on the new E90 and all of the new technology and features it contained. We were then briefed by the performance people there on what the rest of the day held in store for us. We would be participating in 4 separate events or stages. First would be the timed “Autocross Event” where we would be briefed in a tent located near the track set up.



The course was, I would estimate, about ½ of a mile in length with several sweeping turns, an esses section and two 90 degree sharp turns. We were penalized 1 second for every cone we whacked and 2 seconds if we failed to precisely stop the car in the marked area at the end of the course. Now remember, they are turning us loose in these gorgeous new E90’s and being told to have a ball and see how fast you can get through the course. It’s about that time I pinched myself to check and see if this was real!


Event #1
Anyway off we went with 2 runs each at the course. Now get this, the winner of the event with a time of about 26 secs and change was an employee of mine I invited as a guest. This guy drives a Dodge pickup and he beat ME, his boss by a hundredth of a second!! I’ll be adjusting his salary accordingly next week! Check out the picture of him being interviewed after the event.


Event #2
On to event 2. This was an even longer course, probably ¾ to 1 mile in length with many interesting turns and challenges (see the picture of the map). The event was not timed however and we were given 3 runs on the course and told to simply give it your best effort. The purpose was to demonstrate the effectiveness of the DSC system and active steering. To say that the system is amazing would be an absolute under statement. I’ll go into more detail of my impressions in the next couple days, otherwise this report will become a book and I need some sleep. I’ve been E90ed into the ground today.



The wonderful thing about this event is that the edges of this car’s performance envelope can only be appreciated when it’s driven to the degree we were allowed to today, using someone else’s car and their tires!!! This is something I don’t plan on doing to MY car but, boy, it sure was fun using their toys.


Event #3
Now for event #3. This is where it REALLY got good. We were issued racing helmets and given the chance to ride shotgun with a professional race driver for what they termed a “Hot Lap”. Need I say more? There were by all guesses several pairs of soiled under garments after that demonstration. The whole event took place at the Sports complex where the Florida Panthers play (remember hockey?) along with other major events. The center is located in western Ft. Lauderdale (AKA edge of the Everglades). The parking lot area is huge with a circumference of probably 2 to 3 miles. They set up a race course around the edge of complex perimeter with several turns, some sweeping others rather tight. The only difference in these vehicles was that they were equipped with manual 6 speeds and the DSC was turned off.



Well, the short of it is that I went for a ride I can hardly describe adequately. We hit 110 mph on the short straight and took most of the turns at 85 mph with braking that about put me through the windshield. Now, I’ve been through a couple of the racing programs in my days like Brands Hatch and Bonderant but let me tell you, this car is capable of things I never would have believed you could do with a stock car on stock tires. THIS CAR ROCKS!!!


Event #4
Event #4: This was the standard Susan G. Komen foundation drive where you are given a car of your choice along with a mapped route through the local streets and told to follow the route and enjoy yourself. For every mile you drive BMW will donate $1 to the Susan G. Komen foundation for the fight against breast cancer. In this case the route was 21 miles and took about a half hour to complete. I took a 330i with prem pkg, auto and no sprt pakg out twice (once just wasn’t enough). Somehow, gee I don’t know how, the darned car got all the way up to 95 mph on the interstate portion of the drive and get this; there was almost NO wind noise!! I have never been in a car that quiet, bar none. I can’t wait till the full magazine reports come out with decibel readings for 70. This sucker is quieter than a Rolls at 95!



Anyway, please forgive the grammar and typos. I’m dead tired and havn’t really proofed this thing but I wanted to let you all know tonight what an incredibly great car this is. Over the next couple days I’ll post more info on items I discussed with the “powers to be” such as Bluetooth, run flat issues, sport pkg, active steering, MP3 playback through the aux plug in the armrest, as well as a few other items. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the pics



Now the bad news: My car was released from the Prep Center in Spartanburg, day before yesterday (4/28) and is scheduled to be at my dealers on Monday the 2nd. Do you realize that’s TWO (2) DAYS AWAY? After today, I can’t wait that long!!

[soon2be90]

Officially Jealous Titanium looks great in the sun. Do you have group picture of all cars parked together?

[Ewrek]

Must have had the time of your life....trullt excellent!!! Sooo jealous. I want my car now toooo..wa.....wa.....wa. Looking forwar dto the write-ups and reviews including the blutooth one. Thanks.

[kchika]

Thanks for sharing! TiAg does look great under the sun!

[divide]

Very nice Post! Thank you very much for this information. My car also is in the USA via NY NY and I live in Maryland, but dont really know how long it will take for me to get my car. My dealer seems to have no idea when it will be in. But am thinking it will be some time this week. What do you guys think?

Also one question, why all Titanium Silver?

[spikes111]

What a writeup! I never even knew of any types of events like this. So jealous... going 100mph in an E90s around a course and in that weather! It's really great to hear such a hearty endorsement from someone who has track experience... means more to me. Can't wait for your follow-up posts Jack, and can't wait for my E90!

[Jason]

x10

[Armen52]

Daaaaaaaaaaaamn is all I can say. Wow you guys in Florida had a great opportunity. That sounds like a really fun event I wish I could go to something like that over here in Cali.

And all the praises everyone keeps heaping on this car isn't helping me wait until July to pick mine up!

Keep the awesome info coming. Thanks for this post.

[roburado]

Wow...sweet event. Thanks. Looking forward to part 2.

[a3ndy]

Fantastic write up CaptJack.

The event looked well good. All those TiAgs lined up...WOW. more pics of them would be excellent.

Cheers

[CaptJack]

Originally Posted by divide

Very nice Post! Thank you very much for this information. My car also is in the USA via NY NY and I live in Maryland, but dont really know how long it will take for me to get my car. My dealer seems to have no idea when it will be in. But am thinking it will be some time this week. What do you guys think?

Also one question, why all Titanium Silver?

I'm not sure why they chose Ti for the whole fleet. But, I will say this: I would pass up ALL sweet deals you see out there on low milage, silver w/ blk lthr, sport pkg & active streering cars for at least the next 6 mons!!!

I'll post more a bit later today with additional pics from the event.

[YYdoodle]

By the look of that handdrawn map it looks like they marked a decent course for you guys to run. Who's the guy being shot on camera? Dressed kind of sloppy for a reporter. Thanks for sharing Capt

[CaptJack]

Originally Posted by Terps

By the look of that handdrawn map it looks like they marked a decent course for you guys to run. Who's the guy being shot on camera? Dressed kind of sloppy for a reporter. Thanks for sharing Capt

The course was, indeed, well thought out. They did a great job. The performance driving poeple there were actually sub contractors hired by BMW for the national roll-out event. They came from one of the performance driving schools in the Atlanta area. They wouldn't disclose which school. I'm sure BMW made it clear to them that they were there on behalf of BMW and not their own firm and to keep their mouths shut about anything other than BMW.

The guy in front of the camera being interviewed was the winner of the autocross. His appearance can be excused however, in light of the fact that he drives a new Doge Hemi pickup. He did say, however, that he would be first in line for the first pickup BMW builds. Actually, he's a bit "over dressed" for south Florida. This time of year, since all the snow birds have returned home, anything greater than shorts and deck shoes is considered "Formal"!

[jillian]

Capt Jack please provide your thoughts with regard to bluetooth, MP3, sports package,etc that you discussed earlier!!

[BMWAustin]

Good job and thanks CaptJack. There is no SG?

[SiR]

I was there Friday to see if I can be invited, but they wouldn't let me. I talk to one lady with an English acsent and told me about another even in June and in the coming two weeks in the invitation for that event at the local dealers. I hope its true.

Im not sure if it was my Honda CBR that scared them though!

[JBOO]

Excellent write-up CJ! Thanks for taking the time to fill us in ... I look forward to hearing the rest.

Jealous JBOO!

[vivid]

Seet write up... I was invited on Thurdasy to the Atlanta event May 14th at Stone Mountain Park... I was really excited now I can't wait. thanks Captin

[CaptJack]

OK fellow Bimmer heads, here’s Part II of the “Ultimate E90 Test Drive.



Let me start by conveying my observations of the car during the Auto Cross & Gymkhana stages. The organizers, besides obviously trying to sell us all on BMW, wanted us to push the car to the limit of control to demonstrate the new DSC system and at the same time put us on a course that required significant steering input to show off the active steering technology. Well, the short of it is that they did that very well.



DSC:



The DSC really takes a bit of getting used to if you are going to push the car to its limits as we did yesterday. They gave us multiple runs (at least two, and more if time was available) on the course for good reason. After we finished the 1st run we all realized that we could have produced much better times. We had ALL underestimated the holding power of the car on the track! It became very apparent, very quickly that these cars were capable of far more aggressive driving than we were putting them though. Especially in the sweepers. When I would normally ease off the accelerator a bit in other 3’s I’ve driven, the E90 hung in there like it was on rails and was ready for more gas What was actually happening was that the DSC was intervening when it needed to, but only when it needed to. After the first run if I paid attention I could actually feel the system doing its thing. It wasn’t intrusive just kinda’ there for support, doing its thing when you pushed the car a little too far. When it wasn’t needed and the car wasn’t at its limit you could feel the car respond to your request of more throttle. If you were at the limit it didn’t matter how far your foot was down, it wasn’t going to give you any more go juice. Pretty amazing.



What we learned was that we could be more aggressive coming out of the turns and going through the sweepers. If I entered the turn balanced I could put the pedal to the floor and leave it there throughout the turn!! The DSC would place you on the very edge of the control limits of the car and keep you there. Tires squeeling, every so slight a slip but yet absolutely under control. AMAZING!



This system is so sweet no sane person would ever want to turn it off during normal driving. It obviously limits your ability to truly use the car to its absolute limits but that’s why the thoughtful engineers at BMW gave us an on / off switch.



The further capabilities of the car were really brought home to me while doing the “Hot Laps”. These drivers were without any doubt far better at driving a high performance car than I am so it was a real hoot to have them demonstrate the real abilities this car. It was very quickly apparent what the car can do with DSC off to make it truly competitive. The driver I was with came out of a couple turns in a full drift and to feel the car get its grip and accelerate out under full control was awesome! Balance baby! Balance!! His comments to me were that the car NEVER changes, lap after lap. Always the same from one car to another. Always predictable and NEVER any surprises.



By the way, they said they were only driving these cars at 80% for obvious reasons. However, it felt more like 120% to me going into and through a couple of the corners. These guys were really good.



Active Steering:



Anyway, enough about DSC. Now for active steering. Only thing I can tell you about it is that it sure required a heck of a lot less steering input through the autocross. It worked really great on the courses they had set up for us but I never had a chance to try in normal driving. The Susan Koman driver cars didn’t have active steering and I would have loved to have tested it under conditions where I could have paid more attention to it. I didn’t order it on mine because I’m just not ready to give up that great BMW connected feel you have with their standard proven steering. Someday, maybe.



Sport Suspension:



There were a several 3 owners there and everyone agreed that the E90 with sport pkg rides as well as the previous model with the standard suspension. No comparison to the e46 with sport pkg. Even with the run-flat tires and 18” rims these cars felt very compliant and comfortable. Ken Brock, BMW’s product manager for the 3 series told me that a LOT of suspension retuning went into the E90 and the new 5 link rear suspension deserves most of the credit for the improved ride comfort. Heck, I thought it was pretty darned good before, although I never told him that.



Need For Concern??



The only thing I wasn’t pleased with yesterday was the hesitation that was present when coming out of a turn and planting my foot to the floor. It was very annoying and and cost some precious time in the event. I noticed it on the second car I later drove for the other course event but dismissed it as probably having something to do with the steptronic and its determination as to what gear to choose.



However, I read a complaint on another thread from someone that said he had experienced the same problem on a demo ride in an E90 with MANUAL trans.



Oh, oh. This is a new engine. Lets hope this doesn’t show up in all the production cars. It might be a good idea to start a new thread on this issue and see if we can get some feedback from others who may have experienced the same problem.



Well, my fingers are getting tired, so it’s probably a good place to stop for now. I’ll relate more on some of the other issues later. i.e. Run-Flats, Bluetooth, MP3 playback, cruise control and more. In the meantime here are a few more pics from the event.

[a3ndy]

More piccies! Many thanks Cap'n Jack. Can't wait to see your bimmer in White!!!

PS it would be cool if someone could get their hands on the video footage of the event. Now that I'd like to see.

[Ewrek]

Drool....waiting for part 3.......very good witeup

[bimmerphreak]

best and most comprehensive review I've read yet. Many thanks. CaptJack how did the car sound from the outside/inside?