[astroricardo]

Originally Posted by Das BMW

Is MTD worth the money, half or full? I live in Austin and the idea of driving an M4 around COTA sounds great, but wondering how much drive time you get for the $

It's not what I think most consider track time. I did one in Sonoma last year and we got 4 laps in an M3/M4 and it's pretty much follow the leader, no passing, etc. We did get up to 100+ on the straights. That's only part of the experience though. There was a 0-60-0 challenge where we drove 4 cars (M8, M8 Convertible, M5 and X5M) and an Autocross in M240ix (usually would have been an M2, but not available last year). Plus a hot lap with the instructors which is insane.

It's really not even a 'drivers school lite'. It's fun though, you do get to drive them all. Another big plus is you get to see all the options, colors, etc in person. They are all optioned out. It's mostly a marketing thing, I'm sure they just want you to fall in love with one and run to the dealer and order it.

I would do it again though, it was fun.

[calbears]

Originally Posted by astroricardo

It's not what I think most consider track time. I did one in Sonoma last year and we got 4 laps in an M3/M4 and it's pretty much follow the leader, no passing, etc. We did get up to 100+ on the straights. That's only part of the experience though. There was a 0-60-0 challenge where we drove 4 cars (M8, M8 Convertible, M5 and X5M) and an Autocross in M240ix (usually would have been an M2, but not available last year). Plus a hot lap with the instructors which is insane.

It's really not even a 'drivers school lite'. It's fun though, you do get to drive them all. Another big plus is you get to see all the options, colors, etc in person. They are all optioned out. It's mostly a marketing thing, I'm sure they just want you to fall in love with one and run to the dealer and order it.

I would do it again though, it was fun.

The Full Day gets you 3 track sessions in lead-follow, plus skid pad, autocross, drag and stop race. You'll also have a professional (Motorsport) driver at the full day session. This will be Samantha Tan in many of the stops (her schedule permitting) or someone like Connor de Phillippi or Robby Foley.

[astroricardo]

Originally Posted by calbears

The Full Day gets you 3 track sessions in lead-follow, plus skid pad, autocross, drag and stop race. You'll also have a professional (Motorsport) driver at the full day session. This will be Samantha Tan in many of the stops (her schedule permitting) or someone like Connor de Phillippi or Robby Foley.

I did the half day, should have specified that.

Something else to keep in mind is our group had like 32-ish drivers, 3 events over basically 2.5-3 hours. You're not getting much if any time with the instructors, unless you do something silly like pass them or turn DSC off. It's a nice taste of all the vehicles though.

[RickObe]

I just got the Ultimate Driving Experience email announcement for my city. It says the i4 M50 and the 330e are what they're using for the autocross.

For someone six months in with their first BMW, is this worth going to? Truly free? How much of a sales pitch do you get trapped in?

[astroricardo]

Originally Posted by RickObe

I just got the Ultimate Driving Experience email announcement for my city. It says the i4 M50 and the 330e are what they're using for the autocross.

For someone six months in with their first BMW, is this worth going to? Truly free? How much of a sales pitch do you get trapped in?

I've been to one of their free events also. They are really free, no sales pitch and we even got a burlap BMW logo'd shopping bag with goodies (water, chocolate, etc).

They don't have a UDE near me or I definitely would go.

[stoked335d]

Originally Posted by RickObe

I just got the Ultimate Driving Experience email announcement for my city. It says the i4 M50 and the 330e are what they're using for the autocross.

For someone six months in with their first BMW, is this worth going to? Truly free? How much of a sales pitch do you get trapped in?

Went to one in NJ past few years. There is no sales pitch at all. Auto cross is fun. You will get a $1000 discount offer to buy a new BMW within some time frame. I saw some people come in to test a single car and leave to get this discount only.

Be prepared to wait a lot to test other cars. Some assholes always take cars for a joyride for over 30 min instead of doing the 10 min designated loop.I was bummed that they removed all M car testing after first day due to supposedly 2 M cars being crashed.

[jyjttom]

I got a free one day for the Performance Driving School. Going to the one in Thermal. Anyone been to that? If so how was it?

[kiw1]

Booked COTA 4th August

[kiw1]

Originally Posted by jyjttom

I got a free one day for the Performance Driving School. Going to the one in Thermal. Anyone been to that? If so how was it?

Really good. You do a skid pad, times autocross, another variant of the autocross in different cars and also a lead follow which is epic. I got paired with another driver who was a really nice guy. Here are some videos we took.

https://youtu.be/QBnSVXbQ9jY

https://youtu.be/xrV1UyugL1s

[Delmoney335]

Originally Posted by RickObe

I just got the Ultimate Driving Experience email announcement for my city. It says the i4 M50 and the 330e are what they're using for the autocross.

For someone six months in with their first BMW, is this worth going to? Truly free? How much of a sales pitch do you get trapped in?

I just went to the UDE in Miami at hard rock stadium. For a free event it’s pretty good. Some time in each car , i4 M50 and 330xe. Also have a test 0-60 and brake test for the ix M60. Also offer street drives on various models. You only get 2 laps on the auto cross each time. You get 3 rounds to go around. It’s a short track but it’s fun to try a diff car. I’ve never driven an ev before so it was interesting to see the difference. Also no sales pitch.