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Drive it like u stole it

Sounds like fun, especially if you are up in Yorkshire.

Enjoy

Took me a while to get around to this but here's my review from my recent extended test drive of the F80 M3 Competition pack.

Whilst I applaud BMW for allowing people behind the wheel of their top end cars, I have to say that the way the local main dealer handled the entire process was almost farcical.

On the run up to the booking I had at least 3 to 4 calls from the dealer to confirm dates, times etc. It took a fair bit of arranging - they would never phone me back when they said they would, then said that I could only have the car for the day (9hrs) when all the BMW spiel said 24hrs. When I queried this, she said she would have to speak to her manager and would call me back. This was on the Friday and I was supposed to have the car the following Monday. Of course, the call never came so I just turned up on Monday morning as planned.

When I arrived you could instantly tell there was nothing prepared so they ran around for a good half an hour to see if a car was indeed available. She said I could only have the car for the day due to day insurance, when I said that I was supposed to get a call from her manager on the issue she said he doesn't work weekends!

Anyway, they had found a car. A brand spanker F80 M3 DCT Competition Pack with just 4 miles on the clock so I went through the paperwork and she handed me the keys! Just as I was about to leave she said that there was probably very little fuel in it and did I went them to put some in. I didn't want to take the piss so said it was fine and I would fill it up, but she insisted so we both went out to the nearest filling station whereby she added £30 . Nice touch, but it was of course crappy 95RON and the M3 does take advantage of 97RON so was a bit disappointing but hey, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth!

To say it was a brand new car it was in a bit of a state tbh. It didn't look like it had ever been washed and was coated in a thick brown dust. Even the interior was dusty.

I took it fairly steady on the way home (about 8 miles), aware that's it's important to get some temperature into the fluids and tyres AND the fact that this thing is not even run in yet.
I had literally just pulled into my driveway when I got a call from the main dealer that went something like this...

"Hello Sir, it's xxxx from BMW Stratstone. Errrrmm, you know that M3 that we have just given you for the day...well....erm....can you bring it back please. It's a customer car that we have just sold and we can't have any miles on it!"

You couldn't make this stuff up you know.

So, back to the main dealer I go and hand them back the keys to a car which now has 20 miles on it instead of 4!

I hung around for another 20 mins and they approached me with another set of keys. Another half hour sorting the day insurance (again) and out I go to collect a M3 DCT Comp pack with just 2 miles on it! Unfortunately it was probably the worst colour I can think of (Brown...although BMW probably call it something cool like Sepang Bronze) with the 666M alloys which I find awfully fussy. It was in a similarly filthy state so I decided the first thing to do was take it home and give it a good clean...
<continues in next post>....

What were your thought on the car?

Also... it’s nice to see someone care... I doubt many people would have the courtesy to drive it carefully at only a couple of miles, let alone wash it! Nice work

Can’t say I’d choose either colour though

Think BMW call the brown colour Smoked Topaz

<...continued>

I'd wasted almost two hours going back and forth from the main dealer so I was keen to head out onto some of the best local driving roads in the Yorkshire Dales. The weather was also superb!
So...what about the car. The first thing that struck me was the quality of the ride - it really is very good! It's completely customisable in that you can select one of 3 modes for suspension, steering, throttle mapping and gearbox and then save them to the M1 M2 or M3 setting for quick recall. I actually found the Comfort was by far the best for the suspension; it was still firm enough for non-track work and was really compliant over the bumpy stuff. I spent most of the time with the other settings in their most aggressive mode.
The second thing that struck me was how good the brakes are. I mean really, really good. Absolute massive power but with awesome feel and feedback. I couldn't get them to fade no matter what I threw at them. Probably the highlight of the car for me.

That may give you the impression that the rest of the package was a little underwhelming.... and unfortunately it was. Don't get me wrong, 444bhp and 406ftlb is never going to be boring but combined with what must be the pinnacle of DCT development, it just left me feeling a bit disconnected from the driving experience. It was like the whole drive train had a big gooey piece of elastic in the middle of it. Like the only thrill you could really get from it was going really fast but that soon becomes pretty tiring both in terms of concentration and NVH. I tried various combinations of settings but none really solved the fundamental problem for me which was not having a manual stick to stir.
Not to be dissuaded I did over 250 miles in total and averaged 11.2mpg . I did find on occasion that the performance was a little inconsistent. Every now and again, full throttle through second and third just felt ballistically quick - then 4th gear hooked up just perfectly and it felt EVEN FASTER!!! Almost face bendingly fast.... but somehow also a bit sterile in it's delivery (and in the noise it made). Other times, it would feel like perhaps the ECU was dialing back the power quite substantially. Could be a number of reasons for it but I wasn't seeing any traction control lights flashing.
Overall, the time I had with the car did give me a really great insight into it. Would I pay £60k for one? No way. Would I have DCT? No way. I actually think the manual would be a totally different experience...and surely one for the better.

But in any case... thank you BMW...it was a blast!

Glad you got there in the end OP, I actually like the brown weirdly.

BMW are mad giving these out as Demos before the rubbing in service. No wonder some have started to see Premature Turbo failure! They aren’t meant to be driven above 4000-45000 RPM for the first 1200 Miles haha.

Good on you for giving it a clean too, I can’t believe the state some of these cars get into before even being delivered!

Im glad you posted a part 2.
I was reading this thinking you got a loan of a car like that and just took it home and parked it then got a second one and took it home and washed it

Well I'm glad you actually managed to get some miles in one OP!

Maybe it's me, but I like both those colours! The "Brown" one looks great to me in the photos with the sun on it.


But I'm with you on preferring my BMWs with a manual gearbox.

So, presumably, you got the follow-up call asking you to buy the thing...what kind of deals are they throwing at these now?

Angelus666 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 09, 2018 11:30 am So, presumably, you got the follow-up call asking you to buy the thing...what kind of deals are they throwing at these now?

Can just imagine the reply being "don't want the brown one, its had the s**t kicked out of it before it was ran in"

It's a fair point, so you're allowing this car to be smashed for free 24hr test drives in the running period...doesn't make for a great long term proposition does it.

Angelus666 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 09, 2018 11:30 am So, presumably, you got the follow-up call asking you to buy the thing...what kind of deals are they throwing at these now?

Quick follow up....I never heard from BMW again after this! Depreciation has hit these cars very hard indeed and there are some real bargains around used. Still just too sterile for my liking though. I would still love to have a go in a manual.

ph001 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 10:49 am

Angelus666 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 09, 2018 11:30 am So, presumably, you got the follow-up call asking you to buy the thing...what kind of deals are they throwing at these now?

Quick follow up....I never heard from BMW again after this! Depreciation has hit these cars very hard indeed and there are some real bargains around used. Still just too sterile for my liking though. I would still love to have a go in a manual.

Test drove a manual (in M4 guise) last year and I personally much preferred it to the DCT (admittedly I am a bit of a manual man). First gear is so much nicer on the manual and gave the car a bit more soul...didn't buy one though.

Ha, just had a quick scout around Autotrader to see what kind of money these are going for now. Looks like £35k can bag you a minter. Try and find a manual though.....