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Recently I had the opportunity of participating in BMW's "Ultimate Driving Experience",
which consisted of a day of test-driving the newest BMWs of North America. |
I chose to drive the 2003 BMW 330Ci Convertible.
It has a 3.0L, inline 6 cylinder engine, with 225hp. Its 0-60 time is 7.5s, because of its
automatic transmission.
The test-drive was in the street, without anyone else in the car.
The 330 was pretty amazing and incredibly fast. I smoked a BMW 525i with absolutely no problem.
About 4-5 times I redlined the tach, because the automatic trasmission wouldn't upshift. I am not
sure if this is normal, but I had to let go off the pedal because I was afraid of busting the engine.
In any case, superb car.
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The second part of the test-drive was definitely the most incredible. It was the Performance Handling Course, during which we pushed the BMW 745 Li, the Mercedes S430 and the Lexus LS 430 to the limit in a specially designed test track. |
Here are the specs of these incredible cars.
BMW 745 Li: 4.4L 325 hp, V-8 engine; 6-speed automatic transmission (first in the world); 0-60 mph in 5.9s; price: $72,500.
Mercedes S 430: 4.3L 275 hp, V-8 engine; 5-speed automatic transmission 0-60 mph in 6.9s; price: $73,300.
Lexus LS 430: 4.3L 290 hp, V-8 engine; 5-speed automatic transmission; 0-60 mph in 6.3s; price: $55,400.
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While getting input from a professional race driver in the passenger seat, we drove the three luxury sedans
on a 1-mile track of sharp turns, slalom runs and straight-aways where we could compare the 5.9 second acceleration of the
BMW to the other two cars. |
We drove the BMW 745 Li first. Above is an actual picture from a 745 Li BMW in action on the test-track. That was what it all looked like, except that the track was dry. In any case it was glued to the ground even in the fastest turns. It's acceleration on the straight-aways was awesome, the handling in the turns -- very responsive. After its tires caught fire, it was time for the Mercedes S430. The first thing that struck me was that when I pushed the pedal to the floor the car was "hardly moving" compared to the BMW. There was a definite difference between the power of the two cars. Nevertheless, the Mercedes S430 was taking the turns very nicely, but with more sway when compared to the 745 Li. That could be explained, however, by the fact that the S430's suspension is softer and its tires have bigger profile. Then it was turn to test the limits of the Lexus LS430. They weren't hard to achieve, as it turned out, because although acceleration was faster than with the S430, it was much harder to keep the car stable into the turns. I drove it the way I drove the other two cars and I missed one turn taking out some cones. More power than the S430, but not as good as both the BMW and the Mercedes on most everything else.
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FINAL STANDINGS: |
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The third part of the day was fun, but it couldn't be compared with the other two. It consisted of driving the 745 in the street, yes, under the speed limit. During that time, we found out about all kinds of equipment like the iDrive system, that make the 745 a revolutionary car. |
This day was a great experience as I had the chance to race-drive one of the best cars in the world. As of now.