My Afternoon at the Ultimate Drive for Breast Cancer...

[JR'Z 525]

This past Thursday the Ultimate drive came to Athens GA. I had reserved two rides: a Z4 w/3.0 auto and a 530 w/SMG. I tried to get in the line for the 545 w/6spd manual but the list was closed when I got through with my first two drives. I saw one of the parts guys get out of this car with a BIG smile on his face! Dammit! Oh well....
It was a nice spring afternoon and the tops were down on all the convertibles. The 12 mile route was mostly semi curvy backroads with a 4-5 mile stretch of freeway thrown in. My first drive was in the Z4. The first thing I noticed is how nice and hard this thing pulled from the bottom to the top. The auto shifter worked very well especially when manually shifting. You pull back to downshft and forward to upshift. I would take this motor & tranny in my 525 anytime! This car was an absolute blast to drive! It cornered like it was on a rail!
I waited about 30 minutes to get in the 530. This car was not quite as fun to drive as the Z4 but for a car of this size and weight it cornered pretty nice too. It had a little bit of lean though. I'm not sure if it had the active suspension. After messing with the I-drive for a minute I guess it was stuck on one of the satellite stations. The SMG did not shift as quick as a pure manual even when I used sport mode. The drivetrain seemed to be a little unsettled when upshifting during hard acceleration.The front end would bob up and down really bad between shifts too. I was somewhat dissappointed with it SMG overall. Maybe they'll fine tune in the future. It had a very nice hwy ride - 80mph seemed like 45mph and very quiet too. The interior was very nicely done with no glued on vinyl panels like our e34's. I prefer the sportier dash of the e34/e39 to the more luxury styled dash of this car.
In the end when I climbed back into "old paint" I wasn't dissappointed in the old e34 at all. I swear I could feel the blood line going back to to our cars!
JR

[gale]

I can't wait for it to come thru town again this year ~ September. I highly recommend it to anyone, absolutely now sales presence/pressure. The scheduling at ours was somewhat loose since the time slots weren't all booked solid in advance & nearly any car was open without reservations except for the neck snapping 540i wagon. I forget how many cars I took out but it was in the dozens.

I had the distinct pleasure of driving the 760Li from Amarillo, TX to Albuquerque with our local BMW CCA chapter when they transferred the "fleet", but the wife would renew my kitchen pass to take them down to Scottsdale, AZ the next day :( another time.

Yes, the Z4 was cool. The one I had the most fun with was the 330ic, too bad most of the cars had automatics.

The end of the drive left me craving more horsepower & something newer than my "old busted joint" & I momentarily lost my senses & put an offer in on a primo 98 540i 6-spd, but the deal fell thru so bought new wheels, springs & shocks, & did a 5-spd conversion on my 92 735i, which made it a keeper :D

Seriously, everyone make the effort to do the drive, just don't beat them up too severely before they wind their way out West :p

gale

[Brian C.]

This past Thursday the Ultimate drive came to Athens GA. I had reserved two rides: a Z4 w/3.0 auto and a 530 w/SMG. I tried to get in the line for the 545 w/6spd manual but the list was closed when I got through with my first two drives. I saw one of the parts guys get out of this car with a BIG smile on his face! Dammit! Oh well....
It was a nice spring afternoon and the tops were down on all the convertibles. The 12 mile route was mostly semi curvy backroads with a 4-5 mile stretch of freeway thrown in. My first drive was in the Z4. The first thing I noticed is how nice and hard this thing pulled from the bottom to the top. The auto shifter worked very well especially when manually shifting. You pull back to downshft and forward to upshift. I would take this motor & tranny in my 525 anytime! This car was an absolute blast to drive! It cornered like it was on a rail!
I waited about 30 minutes to get in the 530. This car was not quite as fun to drive as the Z4 but for a car of this size and weight it cornered pretty nice too. It had a little bit of lean though. I'm not sure if it had the active suspension. After messing with the I-drive for a minute I guess it was stuck on one of the satellite stations. The SMG did not shift as quick as a pure manual even when I used sport mode. The drivetrain seemed to be a little unsettled when upshifting during hard acceleration.The front end would bob up and down really bad between shifts too. I was somewhat dissappointed with it SMG overall. Maybe they'll fine tune in the future. It had a very nice hwy ride - 80mph seemed like 45mph and very quiet too. The interior was very nicely done with no glued on vinyl panels like our e34's. I prefer the sportier dash of the e34/e39 to the more luxury styled dash of this car.
In the end when I climbed back into "old paint" I wasn't dissappointed in the old e34 at all. I swear I could feel the blood line going back to to our cars!
JR

[Kennan]

From what I hear, the SMG takes some time to get used to and can become more smooth with practice.

I haven't been taken part in an Ultimate drive yet, but look forward to. When it comes to my part of the country, I plan on signing up for a 645i, a SMG equipped M3 and a 760i. Can't wait.

Oh BTW, did you see any cops along the route? From what I hear, the cops are aware of the route are either a bit relaxed or use it to their advantage.




This past Thursday the Ultimate drive came to Athens GA. I had reserved two rides: a Z4 w/3.0 auto and a 530 w/SMG. I tried to get in the line for the 545 w/6spd manual but the list was closed when I got through with my first two drives. I saw one of the parts guys get out of this car with a BIG smile on his face! Dammit! Oh well....
It was a nice spring afternoon and the tops were down on all the convertibles. The 12 mile route was mostly semi curvy backroads with a 4-5 mile stretch of freeway thrown in. My first drive was in the Z4. The first thing I noticed is how nice and hard this thing pulled from the bottom to the top. The auto shifter worked very well especially when manually shifting. You pull back to downshft and forward to upshift. I would take this motor & tranny in my 525 anytime! This car was an absolute blast to drive! It cornered like it was on a rail!
I waited about 30 minutes to get in the 530. This car was not quite as fun to drive as the Z4 but for a car of this size and weight it cornered pretty nice too. It had a little bit of lean though. I'm not sure if it had the active suspension. After messing with the I-drive for a minute I guess it was stuck on one of the satellite stations. The SMG did not shift as quick as a pure manual even when I used sport mode. The drivetrain seemed to be a little unsettled when upshifting during hard acceleration.The front end would bob up and down really bad between shifts too. I was somewhat dissappointed with it SMG overall. Maybe they'll fine tune in the future. It had a very nice hwy ride - 80mph seemed like 45mph and very quiet too. The interior was very nicely done with no glued on vinyl panels like our e34's. I prefer the sportier dash of the e34/e39 to the more luxury styled dash of this car.
In the end when I climbed back into "old paint" I wasn't dissappointed in the old e34 at all. I swear I could feel the blood line going back to to our cars!
JR

[JR'Z 525]

Yeah I had thought about my technique using the SMG might be a little slack but even when I shifted at "normal" points, it seemed a little slow. Maybe if they'd give me one for a few weeks I'd get the hang of it!

There weren't any M3's, 760's or 645's at this one but there was a new black 645 on the premises. Sweet looking ride. $72,000 sticker. The tail end looks funky to me though (much like the 7 series). All they had in Athens was Z4's 530/545's, 745's, 330 convertibles, x5 and x3's.

Thankfully, the only cops I saw were directing traffic into the dealership!
JR