BMW new gen M3 and ultimate drive (UDE?)

[equ]

For old times' sake, I did one of these events today. It was also ultra convenient as I live 12 minutes from MetLife stadium. I did pay $250 for the 3-4h event.

Worth it? No. A complete waste, no again. Anyway, I'm so not into cars these days, I had trouble getting interested in any sort of detail. Just followed instructors words. Exercises were full braking, braking with turning, lane change with no braking... All of these were at increasing speeds of up to 60 for the braking and 50 for the (tight) lane change. I did ok in them though the surface (parking lot D) seemed to go from sticky to greasy very quickly as the car was losing grip.

Liked the m3 much more than the m4 in headroom; getting in and out.

Never looked at the grilles, I'm not shopping for this car. They did have enormous ceramic brakes that completely overpowered the tires (mostly p-zeros with some p4s in there). Fronts were 275.

The fixed buckets were good for these exercises.

Then we got one recon, one practice and two timed passes at an auto-x course. I got 3rd out of twenty something people, not bad for someone who has no talent or passion for auto-x. I didn't love it more than a decade ago, still not for me. We did get walkie-talkie tips. Instructors were motivated-ish and plenty but not having them in the cars did suck. Also, no food or snacks, no goodies, just water. Only freebies were a ziploc bag, a paper mask and bmw-branded hand sanitizer. Thanks, Covid!

The cars felt very well screwed together. Driving them did not feel special. Power felt highly delayed, between turbo & automatic, no matter the tune. It was a half beat of nothing (or let's say normal car, perhaps less than my lowly 340i) and then a 500hp rocket zooming me through cones (I hit a few over the day, just not in my timed lap ) I'm not sure I could review the cars' handling, They were heavy but fairly grippy and had decent steering... Power delivery made them not fun for me - way too much power, way too delayed... Wonder if the ZF has better settings or is a real step down from DCT (not to mention manual).

Some good colors represented. Like the light gray, lime green, the orange-red. Disliked the horsefly green.

It was more fun than another afternoon of work. Is it better than half a day of skiing or motorcycling or some other pastime? Not really. 340 felt fine to drive home though ultra soft in steering/suspension. A nice mellow engine and the manual made it better for me than 500hp 80k (or more?) m3's.

There was an iX locked up but we could walk around it touch it (behind dark curtains and phones/cameras collected). Another electric SUV, do not see the big deal, ugly and not that functional if you ask me.

Also did a back-to-back exercise of 0-45mph-0 in 4.8-4.9sec for 330i and 330e. Did not really feel a difference but was chatting with my friend who I had signed up along with. I got a little neck ache (whiplash?) as his passenger on one of the full ABS stops, I knew it was coming but either the suspension loading/unloading or the ABS grittiness meant we decelerated twice and on one of those the headrest whacked my bobbling head. I tried to do my best for payback but of course it doesn't happen once you've been warned.

[ZBB]

I have zero interest. Really can’t get past the styling. The grilles are horrible and the side greenhouse profile looks like a civic or accord from a couple generations ago…

[clyde]

That lot is one of the slickest asphalt surfaces around and that probably made the cars more slidey than they would be on most other surfaces and it sounds like you got to experience the other side of the curve.

[John V]

I thought the lot had okay grip

Sounds like you don't get much of an experience for $250 and those cars get uglier the more I see them.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by John V

I thought the lot had okay grip

maybe I'm not properly calibrated yet. Plus Oscar has some teething issues...

[lemming]

Originally Posted by John V

I thought the lot had okay grip

Sounds like you don't get much of an experience for $250 and those cars get uglier the more I see them.

It’s horrible.

And since they’re all 8 speed automatics now anyway, I don’t see how one chooses a BMW M anymore over an AMG for a GT type of driving car.

[FC]

Originally Posted by lemming

It’s horrible.

And since they’re all 8 speed automatics now anyway, I don’t see how one chooses a BMW M anymore over an AMG for a GT type of driving car.

Exactly.

[equ]

I've been a fan of the 8-speed ZF in a few cars, at least for one day loaners... Some audis, f30 bmws and my own Jeep GC diesel... I really did not like it in this application. Throttle, turbo and transmission snooze trifecta - and then insane rocketing that is confidence sapping.

[robg]

Originally Posted by equ

I've been a fan of the 8-speed ZF in a few cars, at least for one day loaners... Some audis, f30 bmws and my own Jeep GC diesel... I really did not like it in this application. Throttle, turbo and transmission snooze trifecta - and then insane rocketing that is confidence sapping.

Ugh yeah that's not good. They need to learn from Porsche as to how to properly tune a turbo engine. Or they need to bite the bullet and add a mild hyrbid system to this powertrain to "torque fill" and avoid that lag.

[wdc330i]

My car is fine. In sport.