Tuesday, June 10, 2008

BMW Ultimate Drive - 2008

I attended the periodic BMW Ultimate Drive today, which raises money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Unfortunately I arrived just before 5pm, which is the last driving appointment for the day, so I was only able to drive one car, but it was a winner:

135i - R side

135i - 3/4 front

135i - 3/4 rear

The new 135i convertible. Quite small, but very quick with a 3.0 liter, twin turbo, 300 hp 6 cylinder engine. A nice exhaust note and definitely enough power to push you back into your seat with even moderate acceleration.

This car is very nice. I expected nothing less, but wow. I liked how, with a push of a button, both of the sideview mirrors rotated toward the rear for close-quarters or on-the-curb parking. Of course Sirius satellite radio was present, so I had it on Alt Nation, channel 21, the whole trip. Good stuff.

By the time I finished the approximately 25-mile loop, they were preparing the caravan of vehicles for the trip up to the Roseville BMW dealer for another group of drivers tomorrow. I didn't have the chance to sign the "signature vehicle" that travels around with the group. Next year.

N.B. - I've had a flickr account for years, but this is the first time I've linked directly to my pictures hosted there. I think I like how you can paste the html right into the code of the post. Much easier than uploading to Blogger and then dragging the photo within the text. There's a few more pictures at my flickr account of some of the other cars that were there today.