[John Casey]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

The BMW UDE (Ultimate Driving Experience) has been announced for 2026 and you X3, i4, and i5 fans are in luck – you’ll get to drive the BMW X3 M50 and the all-electric i4 xDrive40 and i5 xDrive40 at this year’s event. Check out the link below for locations and dates.

https://driving.bmwusa.com/ude

UPDATE: the BMW UDE page still doesn't have the dates for the free UDE - only the M Track Days. They should be adding the UDE dates soon as the first events are usually in April sometime. Below is some good info on the UDE from @Phillies8008.

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

The M Track Days have a cost associated and are more like one of the classes you can take at the Performance Center while the Ultimate Driving Experience is free, or at least has been the last two years I've attended. When I looked at the page yesterday this was the case.

The UDE will have a bunch of cities and the M event will likely only have a few if the prior years hold true.

FWIW, the autocross event at the UDE I attended last year had five cars: i4 e40, i5 e40, M340i, Z4 M40i, and the X3 M40i. The only M cars at the event were for display only. I'm hoping that they'll have an M240i this year, as I'd love to try it out.

Also, if anyone cares, both years I've been to the UDE you could sign up for Performance Center classes at a 20% discount. I believe this discount is available through other avenues as well, the BMW Card being one of them.

[Phillies8008]

Huh. I feel like they've had more than three models in the past. Wonder if they're just not listing them?

[Lebbros]

Same cars as 2025 ?

[markslc1]

Skipped Seattle again!

[curtdragon]

All trash lol. UDE with the least driving cars lol. Ironically show a M240 but not on the list of cars.

I’m only seeing 4 locations and it’s $1400. Not sure if it’s updated yet or that’s correct

[Jd19]

The Chicago event mentions the i4 M50, i5 M60, iX M70 and XM for the 0-60 challenge. Much better than the “headline” cars on the main page.

[John Casey]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

Huh. I feel like they've had more than three models in the past. Wonder if they're just not listing them?

For the UDE autocross, they usually only have a couple different models (and sometimes just one model) - at least for the ones I've participated in. The M Track Days are something different.

[John Casey]

Originally Posted by Lebbros

Same cars as 2025 ?

Yeah, I thought that was odd too. I think in 2025 it was the i4 and not the i5, but I could be remembering that wrong.

[John Casey]

Originally Posted by curtdragon

All trash lol. UDE with the least driving cars lol. Ironically show a M240 but not on the list of cars.

I’m only seeing 4 locations and it’s $1400. Not sure if it’s updated yet or that’s correct

They pulled the schedule for the free UDE event. They'll put up a final one soon probably. These are marketing events for BMW, so you'll get to autocross a couple new models that are geared toward a larger audience - don't count on M cars being in the autocross lineup.

[tracer bullet]

For the lazy, like I normally am:

[I-driver]

$675? for what?

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by I-driver

$675? for what?

Probably to chip in to pay for the instructors, track rental, wear and tear on the cars, fuel, tires, moving them from one event to another, and so on. Was this a rhetorical question?

[Phillies8008]

The M Track Days have a cost associated and are more like one of the classes you can take at the Performance Center while the Ultimate Driving Experience is free, or at least has been the last two years I've attended. When I looked at the page yesterday this was the case.

The UDE will have a bunch of cities and the M event will likely only have a few if the prior years hold true.

FWIW, the autocross event at the UDE I attended last year had five cars: i4 e40, i5 e40, M340i, Z4 M40i, and the X3 M40i. The only M cars at the event were for display only. I'm hoping that they'll have an M240i this year, as I'd love to try it out.

Also, if anyone cares, both years I've been to the UDE you could sign up for Performance Center classes at a 20% discount. I believe this discount is available through other avenues as well, the BMW Card being one of them.

[GOLFFRR]

willow

[John Casey]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

The M Track Days have a cost associated and are more like one of the classes you can take at the Performance Center while the Ultimate Driving Experience is free, or at least has been the last two years I've attended. When I looked at the page yesterday this was the case.

The UDE will have a bunch of cities and the M event will likely only have a few if the prior years hold true.

FWIW, the autocross event at the UDE I attended last year had five cars: i4 e40, i5 e40, M340i, Z4 M40i, and the X3 M40i. The only M cars at the event were for display only. I'm hoping that they'll have an M240i this year, as I'd love to try it out.

Also, if anyone cares, both years I've been to the UDE you could sign up for Performance Center classes at a 20% discount. I believe this discount is available through other avenues as well, the BMW Card being one of them.

Wonderful summary. Thanks. I should have added something like this to the main post, but I thought the webpage had more info the other day.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by John Casey

Wonderful summary. Thanks. I should have added something like this to the main post, but I thought the webpage had more info the other day.

It definitely did – looks like maybe someone at BMW hit "post" too soon.

[My M3]

Would love to have more of them in Australia

[chimera.]

Been waiting for the M Track Days in Austin to open up…finally