[and 1]

yup i went. probably 50ish people. unfortunately no 1M...

couple good promos for club events and some good member plugs by eric. i think larry had good stuff to say. i think those of us who are complete geeks about bmw/M/cars in general didn't hear too much new, but that's to be expected. some nice raffle items too, including a surprise from larry: 2 pairs of tickets to the grand am at lime rock!

highlights:
-the e92 m3 will likely be the last n/a bmw produced
-e92 m3 sedan will indeed stop production before the coupe (this fall iirc). the new 3 will debut as a sedan first, as will the m.
-larry talked about bmw exploring low-pressure turbos that are almost always on boost as a way to help efficiency and throttle response. this could tie in with the rumors going around about a tri-turbo arrangement for the upcoming m3. maybe something n54-based with an extra single low-pressure turbo?
-though he made a good point that a third turbo just adds more cost to the engine. maybe an n55 with an additional low-pressure snail?
-at the end of the 1m presentation, there was a final slide title Rumor Control that larry was quick to skip. i remembered a few points of it. but first, this was an earlier version when the 1m was only slated for 800 units worldwide. but anyways: it said no DTC or sunroof would be available. crap...there was one other i remembered last night but can't think of now.
-several people asked about diesels and manual transmissions
-except for the 135, m3 and 335, the sales rate for cars with a manual is less than 10%. when the z3 first came out, it sold over 50% with manuals. i think these are USA-only numbers but i didn't get to ask.
-expect to see more diesels coming. the x5d is now outselling the x53.5xdrivebmwlongname worldwide.
-the take rate on the 335d was slower than expected. marketing studies have shown that most people who buy diesels are more concerned with economy than performance. hopefully bmw will start bringing the 20d and 23d engines stateside soon!
-the 335d was made as an automatic worldwide because the manual couldn't handle the low end torque. larry had 2 manual 335d put together and took then out to....some track recently. he even told the race drivers to pull out of this pits as if from a light on the street. do not try to spin the tires.


ok yeah that's enough!