[wjones14]

In a word - phenomenal!

First the hard facts:

06-Dec-2014: Order placed
14-Jan-2015: Production Number assigned
26-Jan-2015: PCD date scheduled
02-Feb-2015: Production completed
06-Mar-2015: Oregon Highway vessel reaches Charleston SC port
10-Apr-2015: Performance Center Delivery

Total time from Order to Delivery: 18 weeks

Specs:

Alpine White M235i Coupe
6-speed manual
Coral Red Leather
Driver Assistance Package
Technology Package
Black Kidney Grills
M Performance Side sill decals
M Performance Exhaust w Rear Diffuser
Chrome Exhaust Tips

Mods (the day after I got home):

M Performance Stainless pedal covers
M front fender emblems

OMG, what a car! I am absolutely thrilled with it. It has just over 1000 miles on it now after a 900+ mile drive home from SC. So it's not broken in yet, I haven't discovered its full potential, and yet I already have no doubt I made the right choice with this car.

As far as the Performance Center Delivery, I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone who has the means and the time. It's exciting, educational, fun, special, and memorable.

Here's how my delivery went:

We flew in to the Greenville-Spartanburg airport the afternoon before. I called the Marriot, identified myself as a PCD customer, we were picked up in a new BMW X5 within 15 minutes, and shuttled to the hotel. Dinner for two at the hotel restaurant was included, which was a limited menu from the regular restaurant menu, with several choices of salads, entrees, and deserts, plus two vouchers for beer, wine, or house liquor. It was very good.

Breakfast was also included the next morning, and it was a full buffet with omelet stations, etc. BMW even picked up the server tips for both dinner and breakfast, so no expense at all other than a tip for the X5 driver who picked us up at the airport. We were picked up at 7:45 am in a Ford shuttle bus and transported to the Delivery Center. I'm going to say there were about 8 cars being delivered that day, so about 16 people in two vans.

I was super-excited to see that mine was one of the two cars in the PDC lobby, and everyone oohed and aahed as we entered.

We got an overview of the day from the staff, and then were broken up into two groups. Our group went to a classroom where the instructors introduced themselves. The lead instructor, Mike Renner, talked over a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the safety and performance details that make BMW the Ultimate Driving Machine. The classroom session took maybe 20 minutes, and then we outside to do some driving.

I was in a group that included another M235i owner, a 228i, and a 435i. The 2 series owners drove identical red M235i automatics, while the 435 couple drove a red 435. There were walkie-talkies clipped to the map pockets in the doors and we received instructions over the radio. The instructor was in a blue 335i, and we followed him to the road course section. It was a small course about 1/4 mile long with 5 turns, and cones set up as a slalom on the longest straight. I have done a bunch of HPDE track days with my Mustang, and there was surprisingly little in the way of instruction before the PDC road course, compared to the instruction you get at an HPDE event. But then again, this course was small, and there were no guard rails or barriers to run into, so this was super-safe. After a parade lap with the instructor leading, he pulled off the track, told us to stop while he got out of his car and off to the side, and then directed us over the radios to start lapping. He told us when we were off the preferred line, braking too early or too late, and had everyone stop when we bunched up. It was hard-core, go-as-fast-as-you-could driving! After maybe 10 minutes, we switched drivers, and did it again.

Then it was on to the ABS braking exercise. First, the instructor had us stand near a cone set up as the braking line, and asked us to stand next to the spot we guessed the car would end up when he stomped on the brakes at 20 mph. Of course, the car went further than we thought. So given that, he asked us to stand near the spot we thought it would end up at 40 mph. We guessed it would be about double, but it was actually about 4 times the length of the 20 mph stop. He did it again at 55 mph, and this time he showed us how you could actually steer the car while standing on the brakes, because the exit area had cones set up forcing you to turn left to avoid them. Then one by one, we all practiced hard braking and car control at 30, 40, and 50 mph.

Then we headed to the wet skidpad, and got in the instructor's 335i while he rode shotgun and manipulated the stability control on/off switch. He had us drive about 30 mph and then floor the accelerator while he turned off the stability control. The car immediately did a 360 and spun off the track. I liked doing that! We repeated that with the stability control on, and saw how the system would keep the car from spinning out, even while applying full throttle.

The last part of the track experience was when rode as passengers in M5s with the instructors. I went with Mike Renner, and he took a route that was part skidpad and part road course, all with the stability controls off. That was one violent ride! The rear tires were smoking for the duration, and the rear end was just snapping back and forth on every turn.

I'm going to say the track time was about 90 minutes.

After that, we headed back inside, and a guy named Josh went over my car with me, front to back, inside and outside, for a good 90 minutes. Information overload! I retained maybe 75% of what we went over.

That brought us to lunch. There's a cafeteria in the Center with all kinds of good lunches, from healthy salads to stir-fry, deserts, water and soda - all complimentary. The instructors all picked customers to have lunch with, Mike sat down with us, and we had a good time talking BMWs and other stuff with him.

After lunch my car had the license plates on it, and was sitting outside, replaced by an X6 inside. Before getting in the car, however, we still had the off-road course to experience. We paired up in X5s, and followed the instructor. I was in awe how capable these vehicles are in off-road situations. I thought they were more luxury and less sport, but I was wrong. The first thing we did was to go over a set of whoop-de-doos, which was simple enough. Then we went through a stream about a foot and a half deep, where the front/rear cameras were submerged! Then we did a hill climb and descent, but for the descent part we were instructed to use the Descent Control system, and not touch the brakes. Scary, but it worked as advertised. Finally, we tested the vehicles' leaning ability. The dash LCD includes a gyroscope that displays the lean angle. We put one set of tires over some huge mounds and at one point got the X5 at a 26 degree angle. I really believed we were close to tipping over, but the instructor said the X5s could actually lean a full 45 degrees. 26 was good enough for me...

Finishing off the guided part of the day was a tour of the X3, X4, X5, and X6 manufacturing plant. We got in our new cars and followed the guide across the highway. The tour was about 45 minutes and fascinating. It had also been a long and draining day, so 45 minutes was enough to be honest. I was ready to hit the road. But before we did, we visited the BMW Museum next door for a final photo op and maybe 10 minutes inside.

It was about 3 pm when we left to head north to CT, some 13 hours away. We drove until almost midnight, stopping a bunch of times for scenic overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, and then at a Mexican restaurant in Bristol TN about 7:30 pm, before making it to Harrisonburg VA. The next morning we were up before 8, had breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, and then just drove north until we got home about 3 pm.

It was an incredible, phenomenal experience all around. And the car is pretty good too. Did I mention we hit 116 mph on the way home? I don't normally do that, but Route 81 through VA, Maryland, and PA is a wide, sprawling highway, and there were a lot of cars doing 90. The car pulls much harder in 6th gear than my Mustang ever did in 5th, and it was just so tempting to step on it. 116 mph was just about 4000 rpm, so it was still well below the recommended break-in limit. A good time was had by all.