BMW Garage BMW Meets Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
BMW M2 Forum > BMW M2 Discussions > Got my gift from BMW today

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      04-17-2018, 10:27 AM   #23
jmh600cbr
Lieutenant
jmh600cbr's Avatar
Canada
265
Rep
443
Posts

Drives: G80
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Toronto

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2021 BMW G80  [0.00]
im in canada, had the car for about 8 weeks. got an email 3 weeks ago saying a welcome package is on its way but nothing has come yet. im not holding my breath.
__________________
2018 F87 LCI gone but not forgotten
2021 G80 6MT BSM
Appreciate 0
      04-18-2018, 05:19 PM   #24
scadagawd
Second Lieutenant
scadagawd's Avatar
Canada
47
Rep
251
Posts

Drives: BMW M2 2018
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Vancouver, BC

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmh600cbr View Post
im in canada, had the car for about 8 weeks. got an email 3 weeks ago saying a welcome package is on its way but nothing has come yet. im not holding my breath.
Don't hold your breath. I waited over 8 months and even emailed BMW Canada, but nothing's come in yet. Go figure....
__________________
BMW M2 2018 LBB
BMW X1 2016 PSM
Audi S4 2014 SMG
Appreciate 0
      04-18-2018, 05:33 PM   #25
jmh600cbr
Lieutenant
jmh600cbr's Avatar
Canada
265
Rep
443
Posts

Drives: G80
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Toronto

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2021 BMW G80  [0.00]
Quote:
Originally Posted by scadagawd View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmh600cbr View Post
im in canada, had the car for about 8 weeks. got an email 3 weeks ago saying a welcome package is on its way but nothing has come yet. im not holding my breath.
Don't hold your breath. I waited over 8 months and even emailed BMW Canada, but nothing's come in yet. Go figure....
Welp. I'll be calling them tomorrow.
__________________
2018 F87 LCI gone but not forgotten
2021 G80 6MT BSM
Appreciate 0
      05-19-2018, 04:15 PM   #26
champignon
Disrupter
champignon's Avatar
United_States
1562
Rep
2,484
Posts

Drives: 1M;Z3M Cp;135is Vert, 996TT
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Idaho

iTrader: (0)

BMW Driving Schools

I didn't want to start yet another thread on this topic, so I'm responding to these posts, below, as well as to this thread: http://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1485793

Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewc89 View Post
Bmw driving school is NOT the same thing as M school guys. They're 2 different things.

We all got the free day of driving school. It's utterly useless unless you're a noob and you don't get to drive M cars.

The real M school is $1550 for one day and $4000 for two days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HTTP 410 View Post
According to the certificate (and others on the forums) you can apply the $849 value of the 1-day CC class to any class of your choice. You just pay the difference. I've already read that the BMWCCA discount applies as well. This is the route that I'm going for the 2-day M School. My brother and I are going to go together. On second thought, we're quite competitive so this may not be the best idea.
I've been out of town, mostly in France, for a month and just got around to following up on the email I received from BMW having to do with a "free day of driving school." After 3 weeks driving a rented Peugeot 208 with less than 100 HP, even a lawnmower seems like a high performance vehicle to me right now :-)

I called the number and the woman I spoke with was obviously quite knowledgeable about the offerings, however after I spoke with her I'm not sure which if any of the options I'd be interested in. The first step, in any event, is to have your "eligibility" verified, which they do with your name and last 7 of the VIN number. This takes 2 business days, so they are going to call me back next week sometime.

To summarize what I was told, none of the classes have any manual transmission cars available to drive; all are automatics. Just that one thing diminishes the appeal of these classes to me, all of them.

If the "free day of driving school" is "utterly useless," as suggested above, then obviously I don't have any interest in that or in the 2 day version of the same thing. On the other hand, I'm not interested in tracking cars, and to me, a lot of what I enjoy about driving involves using a manual transmission. So, the idea of getting to drive a regular 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 series car with an automatic isn't exactly appealing, especially if the class is reminiscent of High School Driving classes :-)

The M-school costs something like $700 as a one day upgrade from the "free offer" of driving school we received; the 2 day M-School is $3150 in total, out of pocket, applying the offer received as partial credit. This 2 day school includes hotel and meal costs, however just glancing at hotels in the Thermal, CA, area, hotel rates are pretty cheap. I have family in San Diego, so were I to do any of these schools, I'd combine the trip with a family visit, before or afterwards.

Perhaps someone who has actually done one or another of these various BMW driving school/M-school offerings could comment on their experiences, and whether or not someone with my attitudes, expressed above, would find the whole thing worth doing, from a time and cost perspective?

Thanks.
__________________
Disappointing People for Two Centuries; 3 Pedal Fanatic
Appreciate 1
boostm3683.00
      05-19-2018, 04:36 PM   #27
Mdkcrf250r
Private First Class
United_States
122
Rep
141
Posts

Drives: 2018 M2
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Texas

iTrader: (0)

I’d like to know what the bmw driving school consists of. I was under the impression I was driving M cars.
Appreciate 0
      05-19-2018, 05:07 PM   #28
qnet
Major
qnet's Avatar
United_States
676
Rep
1,012
Posts

Drives: 18 Jeep Wrangler, 18 M2 LBB
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Morrow GA.

iTrader: (0)

I got the usb stick awhile ago, and the offer for the one day car control event. I have an HPDE at road Atlanta under my belt but I'm still a noob, since that was over a year and a half ago. I might do this, because I liked the instructors at the performance center.
Appreciate 0
      05-19-2018, 05:49 PM   #29
Spa2k
Major
United_States
1193
Rep
1,086
Posts

Drives: '13 JCW
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: US

iTrader: (0)

Having autocrossed and raced in SCCA for many years, the BMW offerings held no interest for me. However, if you’re not a racer and just want to improve your driving skills, learn more about the limits of your car and get neck deep in everything that’s BMW, take a serious look at the BMW offerings.
Appreciate 0
      05-19-2018, 06:39 PM   #30
2+3=5
Lieutenant
2+3=5's Avatar
Canada
285
Rep
586
Posts

Drives: M2
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Toronto

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmh600cbr View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by scadagawd View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmh600cbr View Post
im in canada, had the car for about 8 weeks. got an email 3 weeks ago saying a welcome package is on its way but nothing has come yet. im not holding my breath.
Don't hold your breath. I waited over 8 months and even emailed BMW Canada, but nothing's come in yet. Go figure....
Welp. I'll be calling them tomorrow.
How did you end up?
Appreciate 0
      05-21-2018, 07:48 PM   #31
HTTP 410
Captain
HTTP 410's Avatar
2106
Rep
753
Posts

Drives: 2022 M3 Competition
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: USA

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mdkcrf250r View Post
I’d like to know what the bmw driving school consists of. I was under the impression I was driving M cars.
The class that's being offered (valued at $849), I believe, is the car control class and not the one-day M school.
__________________
2022 M3 Comp BGM/Fiona Red, Executive, Drivers Assistant Pro, Parking Assist, 826M black wheels

(SOLD) 2018 M2 BSM LCI, DCT, Executive, Drivers Assist, CarPlay
Appreciate 0
      05-21-2018, 08:53 PM   #32
champignon
Disrupter
champignon's Avatar
United_States
1562
Rep
2,484
Posts

Drives: 1M;Z3M Cp;135is Vert, 996TT
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Idaho

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by HTTP 410 View Post
The class that's being offered (valued at $849), I believe, is the car control class and not the one-day M school.
Included are breathing exercises and yoga positions, to teach you how to tolerate the ASD :-)
__________________
Disappointing People for Two Centuries; 3 Pedal Fanatic
Appreciate 0
      05-21-2018, 09:42 PM   #33
izzyM2
Major
izzyM2's Avatar
641
Rep
1,207
Posts

Drives: 24’M2/21ID.4/21’MacanGTS
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SoCal

iTrader: (4)

My M USB drive.
Attached Images
 
Appreciate 0
      05-22-2018, 12:12 AM   #34
ORIGIN M.
Banned
3160
Rep
9,134
Posts

Drives: ///M
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Northern Hemisphere

iTrader: (0)

Lame that thing is UGE
Appreciate 0
      05-22-2018, 08:54 AM   #35
jmh600cbr
Lieutenant
jmh600cbr's Avatar
Canada
265
Rep
443
Posts

Drives: G80
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Toronto

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2021 BMW G80  [0.00]
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2+3=5 View Post
How did you end up?
They told me they ran out of the m2 one but will put me at the top of the list for when they arrive. they suspected 6-8 weeks from about a month ago.
__________________
2018 F87 LCI gone but not forgotten
2021 G80 6MT BSM
Appreciate 1
2+3=5285.00
      05-22-2018, 03:41 PM   #36
Tralfaz
Second Lieutenant
115
Rep
203
Posts

Drives: 2017 Long Beach Blue M2
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Plano

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mdkcrf250r View Post
I’d like to know what the bmw driving school consists of. I was under the impression I was driving M cars.
I just went to the one day M school in Greer a month ago. I applied the $849 credit toward it as well as using the CCA discount, so at the end of the day it was still more than an HPDE would be, but less worry since you're using their cars, not yours. On a day like the day I was there, not using your own car isn't the worst thing. (It was pretty wet the day I went). In addition they did provide two nights in the hotel which also included a complimentary beer and breakfast.

The day starts with arriving at 8:30 where they have coffee and such, then some time in classroom describing some high performance driving basics (e.g. braking for a turn, turning into the apex, the physics of weight shifting with braking or accelerating, tire contact patch, etc). At this time they also divide you into three groups. In our case it was one group of 5 and two groups of 4. The class time is also the time during which you are waiting for anyone getting a performance center delivery to finish up.

For the time on the asphalt, they direct each group to get in one of the groups of cars. There is basically a group of M4's, M3's and M2's (as would be expected, all are auto). Each group does a specific activity set up for that car, so after you're done with one activity, you drive back and switch to a different car for the next activity. One thing that surprised me with the activities is that, aside from the one on the skid pad, you are in the car on your own with a radio in the door pocket for the instructor to tell you what to do. No helmets. Since it was wet, the windows were also closed. So that's a bit different than going to an HPDE as a beginner.

The pre-lunch trio of activities were:

A short loop on one track mainly focused on hard braking into a few left hand turns. Each turn is set up with braking cones, a turn cone, apex cone, and exit cone. Fairly standard stuff there. We used the M4 for this.

A control track with a start through slalom cones followed by a bit of a right and left section of track. We used the M2 for this.

A skid pad (which normally would be hosed down, but that was not needed the day I was there). It starts with basically driving at 35 following a line they have in the circle. Then accelerate while following the line until you lose traction, then recover. If you get the hang of that well enough, they will get into drifting with you. I'm sorry to say that it took me a little while to get the hang of this, so I didn't quite make it to the drifting part. We used the M3 for this.

Then you break for lunch, followed by a little more time in the classroom as they talk about what you'll do next.

The post-lunch events were:

Return to the control track for timed laps. The track is mostly set up the same way, except now instead of continuing through so you can do laps, you do a single lap ending in a box of cones you are supposed to stop in. You get docked 2 seconds for taking out a cone or for not stopping in the box. I got a little aggressive with my first lap doing this and ended up spinning out (and off the track a little). I did OK the next few laps. Didn't get a top time, but didn't get the worst time. We did this in the M2's.

Go to an area they have set up with an oval of cones to do chase laps. Basically two cars line up on opposite sides of the flat sides of the oval. On go you drive around until you hit 7 laps, one car spins out, or you get within 2 cars lengths of the car ahead of you. The parking lot is slightly off camber so when you round one side of the oval your turning on a left slope, but on the other side a right slope. I managed to keep it in control on this one and won all my laps, which was cool. We did this in the M3's.

The final activity was basically opening up that first short track we did in the M4's. This time there was a long straight for you go get some speed on, followed by a left turn on to the skid pad where you had to follow that about 270 degrees, then back on the track with a few more gradual and tight turns. It worked out well that this was our groups last activity since it was a nice way to end things.

They do offer to take groups out on the full track with one of the instructors driving after that as well (which I did). They wrap things up by announcing the "winners" of the timed runs on the control course and the chase runs plus giving out the gift bag.

One thing I'll mention that they don't really talk about in the FAQ for the courses. If you have any issues with motion sickness, it's a good idea to come prepared. They don't have Dramamine there to give people. There was one guy at the class (in our group) that had some issues that led to his maybe trying one or two laps on any activity after which he ended up sitting it out. Another could only ride in the front seat when you were a passenger with the instructor showing you the track.

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed it. The instructors were cool. The cars being automatic is unfortunate, but it was interesting getting the feel for paddle shifters since I've only ever done a test drive with those on a car. I'm not ready to ditch the manual, though. In a way I'm also glad it was wet out there since it was good to get a feel for how well the cars did with hard braking and turns with a slick track.
Appreciate 5
nioh_lbbm21716.50
champignon1562.00
HTTP 4102105.50
qnet676.00
      05-22-2018, 03:45 PM   #37
nioh_lbbm2
Lieutenant Colonel
nioh_lbbm2's Avatar
1717
Rep
1,899
Posts

Drives: M2
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: California

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tralfaz View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mdkcrf250r View Post
I’d like to know what the bmw driving school consists of. I was under the impression I was driving M cars.
I just went to the one day M school in Greer a month ago. I applied the $849 credit toward it as well as using the CCA discount, so at the end of the day it was still more than an HPDE would be, but less worry since you're using their cars, not yours. On a day like the day I was there, not using your own car isn't the worst thing. (It was pretty wet the day I went). In addition they did provide two nights in the hotel which also included a complimentary beer and breakfast.

The day starts with arriving at 8:30 where they have coffee and such, then some time in classroom describing some high performance driving basics (e.g. braking for a turn, turning into the apex, the physics of weight shifting with braking or accelerating, tire contact patch, etc). At this time they also divide you into three groups. In our case it was one group of 5 and two groups of 4. The class time is also the time during which you are waiting for anyone getting a performance center delivery to finish up.

For the time on the asphalt, they direct each group to get in one of the groups of cars. There is basically a group of M4's, M3's and M2's (as would be expected, all are auto). Each group does a specific activity set up for that car, so after you're done with one activity, you drive back and switch to a different car for the next activity. One thing that surprised me with the activities is that, aside from the one on the skid pad, you are in the car on your own with a radio in the door pocket for the instructor to tell you what to do. No helmets. Since it was wet, the windows were also closed. So that's a bit different than going to an HPDE as a beginner.

The pre-lunch trio of activities were:

A short loop on one track mainly focused on hard braking into a few left hand turns. Each turn is set up with braking cones, a turn cone, apex cone, and exit cone. Fairly standard stuff there. We used the M4 for this.

A control track with a start through slalom cones followed by a bit of a right and left section of track. We used the M2 for this.

A skid pad (which normally would be hosed down, but that was not needed the day I was there). It starts with basically driving at 35 following a line they have in the circle. Then accelerate while following the line until you lose traction, then recover. If you get the hang of that well enough, they will get into drifting with you. I'm sorry to say that it took me a little while to get the hang of this, so I didn't quite make it to the drifting part. We used the M3 for this.

Then you break for lunch, followed by a little more time in the classroom as they talk about what you'll do next.

The post-lunch events were:

Return to the control track for timed laps. The track is mostly set up the same way, except now instead of continuing through so you can do laps, you do a single lap ending in a box of cones you are supposed to stop in. You get docked 2 seconds for taking out a cone or for not stopping in the box. I got a little aggressive with my first lap doing this and ended up spinning out (and off the track a little). I did OK the next few laps. Didn't get a top time, but didn't get the worst time. We did this in the M2's.

Go to an area they have set up with an oval of cones to do chase laps. Basically two cars line up on opposite sides of the flat sides of the oval. On go you drive around until you hit 7 laps, one car spins out, or you get within 2 cars lengths of the car ahead of you. The parking lot is slightly off camber so when you round one side of the oval your turning on a left slope, but on the other side a right slope. I managed to keep it in control on this one and won all my laps, which was cool. We did this in the M3's.

The final activity was basically opening up that first short track we did in the M4's. This time there was a long straight for you go get some speed on, followed by a left turn on to the skid pad where you had to follow that about 270 degrees, then back on the track with a few more gradual and tight turns. It worked out well that this was our groups last activity since it was a nice way to end things.

They do offer to take groups out on the full track with one of the instructors driving after that as well (which I did). They wrap things up by announcing the "winners" of the timed runs on the control course and the chase runs plus giving out the gift bag.

One thing I'll mention that they don't really talk about in the FAQ for the courses. If you have any issues with motion sickness, it's a good idea to come prepared. They don't have Dramamine there to give people. There was one guy at the class (in our group) that had some issues that led to his maybe trying one or two laps on any activity after which he ended up sitting it out. Another could only ride in the front seat when you were a passenger with the instructor showing you the track.

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed it. The instructors were cool. The cars being automatic is unfortunate, but it was interesting getting the feel for paddle shifters since I've only ever done a test drive with those on a car. I'm not ready to ditch the manual, though. In a way I'm also glad it was wet out there since it was good to get a feel for how well the cars did with hard braking and turns with a slick track.
Thanks for this overview of the class!
Appreciate 0
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:22 AM.




m2
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST