7/3/2008 Performance Center Delivery (Pictures and Movies)

[reynard082]

Well, better late than never ... but here's the summary and pictures for the PCD that I did on 7/3/2008. Right after taking delivery, I went to Seattle ... so that's the reason for the delay.

Me and my dad flew from Philly to Atlanta and drove up there to GSP. The Marriott picked us up and drove to the hotel in a X5. BMW picked up dinner, breakfast, and the room for the night. It was all class while at the hotel. The shuttle drove us over there the next morning.

When we got there, we were greeted by the instructors and went to the class room. The instructor, Donnie Isley, gave us the waivers and went over a few subjects. He made it very clear that this was N.Y.C. (NOT YOUR CAR), so drive it like you stole it. Which I had no problem with, at all. Our class consisted of a couple taking delivery of a 128i 'vert, two 3-series vehicles, and me.

The car I drove for the day was the 135i. We started with the braking exercise. Get that 'ish up to 35, 40, 45 each time around, and brake hard. While the instructor was emphasizing the 3 S's. (I'm pretty sure it's) Steering, Stopping, and Sight. The last time around we got it up to 45 and we stopped when he told us to stop.

Afterwards, off to the AutoCross portion. This was my personal favorite. 20 minute of pure car-trashing. Stop, go, hard left, hard right. There were marbles forming on the track after the PCD group was peeled off.

Then we went on over to the concrete wet pad. Did 25mph around a polished, wet concrete wet pad. While doing that, the instructor would turn the DTC off, and tell us to gun it. The car would spin out every time. Then we would do it with the DTC on. It was amazing how it stuck every time. It's good to know I have this for the winter time.

On your average PCD, you would head off to the Factory Tour. But, the factory was closed that week ... so we got special access to the high-speed track. It started off with ABS testing on the 1/2 concrete, 1/2 asphalt track. Get it up to 45 and wail on the brakes while having your tires on both pavements. Your car stuck perfectly. However, there was the special BMW that the instructor drove while you were in the car. This car had the ABS disabled, and it spun right out while on the 1/2 and 1/2 pad. God bless ABS.

Now what is probably a very close second for my favorite part was the actual high-speed test track. Where 5 vehicles in our group went up to 110+ mph. There was one rule, Don't Pass the Instructor. I topped off at 132mph.

After that we did the X5 off-road portion, nothing much to report here. You can see the pictures. Then we had the catered lunch afterwards and Donnie offered up his famous M5 hot lap. Which was epic.

Then came up the main event, the actual delivery. This was amazing, having the small private room for it. My actual delivery was pretty quick, since I got the simple version of the 128i Coupe. It only took an hour or so.

After the delivery, me and my dad proceeded to drive to the tail of the dragon via 276, then over to the foothills parkway. From there, over to Buffalo, NY ... then back to home near Philadelphia, PA. I got the break-in done that weekend and averaged 25.5mpg for the whole trip.

I signed the order of intent on 4/5/2008, and was handed over the keys on 7/3/2008. It was totally worth the wait.

Even though I had issues with getting the date as quickly as I hoped to, the BMW PDC Staff, and the Marriott hotel staff were all class in every way. They made this experience totally worth it even with the road bumps.

Full Specs
2008 BMW 128i Coupe
Sports Package
Steptronic Transmission
Paddle Shifters
Non-metallic black
Black Leatherette
Black interior
Rear bumper bike rack preparation

Pictures: http://www.tuckwillow.com/bmw/
Movies (of the skid pads): http://www.tuckwillow.com/bmw/movie.htm (quicktime required)

Enjoy.

[S54dan]

Great pics! Man I love doing that X5 off-road course.. Congrats on your new car!

[Celsius2]

Matt very nice writeup w/ pics and movies! You are so lucky!

-Chris (Taylor)

[GQ 135i]

Nice pics & vid, glad to hear it was fun

[Artmasterx]

Interesting... so you ordered a 128i and drove a 135i for the PCD driving. Do you know if they always do that? Was it an automatic or manual?

I will be heading down there in about 2 months to pick up a 128i coupe as well!

[reynard082]

Originally Posted by Artmasterx

Interesting... so you ordered a 128i and drove a 135i for the PCD driving. Do you know if they always do that? Was it an automatic or manual?

I will be heading down there in about 2 months to pick up a 128i coupe as well!

No idea if that's the way it always is. It was a 135i with Steptronic and Paddles.

[willwin2day]

We always try to match up one of our cars to a car that is close to the one you are taking delivery. Currently, we only have two 135s and they both are automatic. If for some reason our 135s were in for scheduled service, then you would probably be driving a 335.

All the best,
Donnie Isley
BMW Driving Instructor

[Purgatory]

Extremely cool, "better late than pregnant, I always say." I wish that we could have something like this in Canada. Great photos, great video clips.

Congrats!