I took advantage of the awesome weather this weekend to take the 135i on a small road trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway. This car gets plenty of action during the week on my long commute to work and back, but it felt good to take it through the paces on a long set of twisty roads I don't usually get to navigate. My wife, my dog Winston, and I sat off on Saturday morning in Asheville, NC -- elevation 2,314 feet -- and headed northeast into the Pisgah National Forest.
After about an hour of switchback turns, we had made our way 4,460 feet up to Curtis Valley overlook where we stopped to grab a few pictures with the mountains in the background.
From there we continued past Mount Pisgah at 5,722 feet, before descending down to 3,268 feet as we reached Linville Falls, our final destination. While the aesthetics of this build were simple, I can't help but love the OEM+ look it has.
*non car-related content*
We spent the next 5 hours hiking, taking in the views, and letting the dog swim around.
Note the BimmerStreet N54 single turbo tee -- love this thing. I've worn it a lot, washed/dryed a bunch, and still feels excellent.
Then it was back in the driver's seat for another 2 hours on the Blue Ridge Parkway back home as we admired the sunset. On a few open stretches, I was even able to dial in the 23psi map I've been running.
This daily driver is an absolute animal, as confirmed by the reaction from my wife (her first time riding with since the single turbo upgrade) the first time the open WG dumps roared, and can hold its own in the tight turns thanks to the minor suspension upgrades. Next up on the agenda is another oil change (3,000 miles comes around quick at the rate of usage this thing sees) and scheduling DynoJet appointment for sometime in September so I can get some new numbers.
All in all, in the last 7 days, I've logged about 16 hours of driving and over 1,000 miles with zero hiccups. Let's hope this good luck continues, and all my maintenance will continue to pay off despite pushing probably close to double the stock power output.