BMW Taxi Ride!

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niky

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My article on the event:
http://bigbigcar.com/FeatureArticle.aspx?id=9

^^^It was a nice, rainy Thursday afternoon... my very first BMW event as a media practitioner (not just as an enthusiast), and I must say, I truly enjoyed myself.

Shame on me for taking this long to actually get in and drive the new BMW 3-series. I must say, it's a pretty good car, though I was hoping for more involvement from the steering wheel... still, if I actually had the money, I'd consider one...

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But the 1-series, man, that's something else. Pin-sharp, go-kart-like reflexes, it's the perfect size for a driver's car... in other words, too small to actually do anything else but carry you to where you want to go. It's a shame that they took so long to make a Coupe version... because that's what this car deserves to be. Instead of a horribly impractical, plasticky little hatchback that your significant other will absolutely hate, it'd be a horribly impractical little Coupe that at least looks dramatic (if not beautiful).

The X5 was also pretty good. Yeah, yeah, yeah... it's not that impressive when you drive it back to back with a 5-series or an X3 (which, dreadfully, looks as ****ty on the inside as it does on the outside), but considering the size and weight, it drives really well.

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But the star of the event was Herbert Grunsteidl. Somebody said that this guy was one of the greats, like Walter Rohl, but I can hardly find anything about him online. Whatever... the man is a drift-machine. Drove the M5 and M3 sideways all day and didn't break a sweat. Even more amazing, neither car actually broke, though they said that after a few days of this stuff, the M3's clutch was on its way out. Amazing stuff...

The M3 is just too hardcore for closed-course drifting. Too much composure, too much grip. Even in the wet, you can feel the tires clawing at the concrete as the car goes sideways, leading to a lot of aborted drifts. The M5 is more easy-going, more wiling to slide... but the M3's tenacious grip and raw, visceral feel just hooked me. Man, that V8 sounds like sex! Whatever misgivings I'd had about the loss of the straight six went out the door when Herbert revved that baby up! Who cares if it's slower than other cars at the same price? I'd buy it just to hear it cough to life in the morning... :lol:

Man, I can't wait to get an M3 media test unit for a week's drive. I'd sell my soul to get it... :D :D :D
 
Wow, nice stuff! That's incredible for you.

The M3 may not be fastest in a straight line, but it was quicker than the (R?)S4 around Top Gear's test lap by the majority of a second.
 
I didn't actually realise you are a motoring journalist.

Seemed like a great experience, and I enjoyed the read! 👍
 
That was interesting to look over. How I wish I could do an event like this.

And you're an automotive journalist? That's really cool too.
 
*repeats what was said in thread*

Fantastic article!

At first, observing the thread title, I thought BMWs were being used as taxis... then I realized-
 
I'm still having trouble understanding the taxi part. You said you were driving the cars, yet taxi implies that somebody else was driving. Unless you were in the drifting M3.....
 
I had Nurburgring in my mind when I saw the thread title.

Looks like you had great fun, I wish they held events like that here (and I was apart of them).
 
if possible, try to get closer look at 130i 3-door hatch! Imo, it's the second best looking BMW after Z3 M coupe..
 
@Duke: Yeah, it feels that way... the M3 was noticeably less torquey than the M5, so with four aboard, it felt a bit slower. Hell, I've ridden cheap turbo cars that felt faster... but the M3 just feels so right going round a corner... I couldn't care less that it doesn't drift...

RE: Automotive Journalist: There's a caveat there. You know the difference between an amateur and a professional? That's right, a professional gets paid. I don't. Basically, a friend, who's been an internet hack for the past five years, invited me to start a new publication online. We've got nearly the same connections that print journos have, and we're getting good feedback from some of the old-timers, including those who used to work for EVO Philippines... for those of you who read EVO outside the UK, it's the Philippine writers who've made some of the non-UK content... these guys were actually the first (or one of the first) major print outlet to do a test-drive of the Venturi Fetish, the Gumpert Apollo (I was shocked at this one) and the G350 Cobra-clone.... my dream, actually, was to get a gig with EVO Philippines, but sadly, they folded before I'd gotten up the gumption to apply.

errh... anyway... I'm not getting paid for this stuff... not yet, but I'm getting my press ID (hopefully) within the year, and I'm on the beat with the big boys... that's about the most I can hope for for now... but who cares? I get to drive new cars, and drive them hard... all year long... and some of them are pretty good (though some are total crap) that's worth not getting paid for... :lol:

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RE: 130 - we don't get it here, yet... but I know there's one or two grays around... I can't wait to try one out...
 
I got taken out around the Nurburgring in '99 in a new M5 RingTaxi. There were three of us in there, he spent the first third being smooth and quick, then the middle third being very, very quick, then the last part of the complexes completely bloody sideways. Hilarous. That M5 could hustle.
 
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