BMW has been selling their car as The Ultimate Driving Machine for decades. Things have been getting a little diluted at BMW, but I’m happy to report that they are still making cars based on that motto. The only bad thing is that all of their cars are not built to the same standard. BMW Ultimate Driving Experience is a chance to get hands on with these cars, and I was lucky enough to get an invite.
The Ultimate Driving Experience is a combination of things like test drives, autocrossing, and car control clinics. Rides in the X3 and i3 were offered, but I was only interested in the autocross with the 228i. The 228i is a great car, it’s a shame that they didn’t have one with a manual available for street drives.
Our event started with learning some basic racing techniques and then instructional laps with pro drivers. The course was not especially large (laps took about 20 seconds), but was small enough to learn without getting lost. After going around the course in the passenger seat, we got to drive the 228i around the course. The BMW 228i provides great power while not overpowering the chassis. On my laps, it had more of a tendency to understeer, but I think that would change it was on sport mode instead. The 228i was incredibly fun, so I decided to take a car for a test drive. I was interested in a 328i, but they did not have a gasoline version. I thought the BMW 335i GT would be a decent substitute, but I was mistaken. The 335i GT was massive and lazily floated down the road. It was far from being the Ultimate Driving Machine. After that I headed out because I had other obligations, but the event definitely made me consider getting a BMW.
