I can’t believe that I own an M Coupe after years of dreaming about M cars.
The car is more than awesome. This is a summary of my drive home to Chicago along with a collection of thoughts and pictures. The goal was to bring the car home in one piece
without getting any tickets. I have a tremendous respect for the M coupe, especially based on the reviews which label it as challenging to learn to drive. Mission accomplished!
Before we begin I need to thank DarkstarZero for selling me his M coupe. I hope that he will think of me when he sells his e92 M3 down the road ?. I also need to thank my
awesome wife for letting me actually buy it. She is the best!
Map of the journey to the M coupe’s new home:
Once upon a time… … in the DC area
A week ago (Monday April 25th 2011), I picked up the M Coupe car in Washington DC from DarkstarZero (
http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504096). He is a great guy. We
spent a lot of time talking about cars and looking for parts in his garage. It got to be well after midnight before I got to the hotel in Fairfax VA. Here are some of pictures
of the M Coupe tucked away in the back of the parking lot and some from the next morning:
Introduction on Skyline Drive Parkway
The next morning I hit the road toward the Skyline Drive via route 211. Just cranking the engine and listening to the idle feels special. That smooth whispering of that engine
at idle sounds deep, full and distinctive. The ride is very tight with exceptional grip due to hard springs but I like it (even after the 900 miles
). The vehicle’s response
to steering input and throttle input is really immediate. There is a surge on heavier throttle input which we think is due to the ECU, which is still running fuel trims for the
gruppe M intake and RPi scoop which are not on the car anymore (it has improved over the last week though). Unfortunately, the skyline drive had a lot of construction sites
along the way, but it is a beautiful road with an unfortunate 35 mph speed limit. I was able to open the throttles a little and ‘Wow
’ that engine sounds
incredibly good. The car hinted at its extreme capabilities. Here are a few pictures of from the Skyline Drive parkway:
Attention grabber
There was an interesting effect that I did not expect to be this pronounced. At almost every stop someone came up to ask or talk about the car, whether I pulled over at a stop
on the skyline drive parkway or a gas station. It’s an attention grabber for sure. I’ll admit that I spend a lot of time looking at (
drooling over) the car. Just getting
to the M coupe in a parking lot requires a slower approach with a walk around before getting in.
Discovering the S54 through West Virginia
After the skyline drive, I took I81 south to Blacksburg for a late lunch at Substation 2. In graduate school I used to get my lunch thee almost every day and the owner
remembered me 6 years later. Then I checked in with my graduate advisor and the hybrid electric vehicle team (that used to be my life in college).After that I hit the road again
towards West Virginia. There are a couple of good hills to go through and that was another great testament to the engine’s torque and power. To my great surprise, despite being
such as high revving engine, the S54 has good low end torque (but it’s not hard to impress me as my last car was a Miata). That torque delivery, which is so smooth, comes with
an awesome sound/music. Here are some pictures of that part:
Inside look from Ohio to Indiana
After night fall, I was heading towards Dayton OH and then Indianapolis IN.
On this leg of the trip, I had more time to focus on the interior of the car. I was a little worried about the comfort level on long trips in the M Coupe, but the interior can
actually be a cozy and calm place (almost like a cocoon). Coming from a Miata, the M Coupe interior is just the right size. The all-black interior (headliner, seats, dash,
carbon leather trim) creates a cool and sporty atmosphere. The seats really huge you well and, contrary to past cars I've driven, I found a great driving position. My wife said
that the seats almost ‘swallow you’. All the contact surfaces have a great, solid and luxurious feel. At first the steering wheel seemed a little too thick, but now I love it.
Actually the steering wheel in my Miata feels weirdly thin and fragile now. The high body rigidity, which contributes to the handling, also helps to lower the NVH. So the car is
pretty quiet, except for the tire noise from those 275s! Here are some extra details that came as a good surprise:
+ The cruise control takes a little bit to understand, but once you get it, it is really the most logical cruise control interface. Push forward to engage. Push forward to
accel. Pull back to decel. Push button in to reset. Up or down reset.
+ Premium sound system which sounds great to me. My iPhone fits right under the parking break handle. The car has an iPhone adaptor, but I can use Pandora through the 35mm jack
;-)
+ Sometimes the little things make a difference like that soft elbow rest by the parking brake. It’s perfect for me.
+ You have to love the red led glow over the center console which allows you to see where your fingers are. I know it’s a BMW thing, but it’s so cool and gives you a feeling of
“attack-ready-submarine-battle-station”.
At 1:00 am and little past Lafayette IN, the weather turned bad and I needed to get some sleep (with my allergies, my eyes start burning as I get more tired). The last thought
through my mind before falling asleep was that the car is exactly what I would have ordered (color, trim, options) except that I would have probably skipped the NAV system. I
dreamt about driving the car despite having driven almost 800 miles that day.
The scary rainy last leg of the journey
Wednesday morning, the weather was rainy. This is the first time I turned off the DSC in the hotel parking lot to play a little bit on the wet roads. It’s amazing how well the
DSC works and how well the car hooks up despite the wet roads.
The last 100 miles were a different experience. I80 by Chicago is pretty beat up and has ruts pushed in the road surface by the millions of big rigs driving through the area. In
the rain, the M coupe was bouncing in these ruts. I was going 60 mph following a truck at a distance when the rear end of the car swayed to the left and like a pendulum it
swayed back to the right. I would like to think that my steering inputs corrected the situation but I know the DSC saved my ass and the M Coupe’s ass. The fact that the tires
are at the end of their life span did not help. I am already looking for new tires. This was the reminder that this car demands and requires a lot of respect from its driver.
At work I had to show off the car to co-workers, especially since most of them are car nuts.
The new and old ride
The mandatory Chicago skyline photos
Taken from the Adler Planetary:
Fuel economy summary
Tank 1: 24.6 mpg (ECU indicated 24.0) Fairfax VA to Blacksburg via Skyline Drive Parkway
Tank 2: 27.4 mpg (ECU indicated 28.0) Blacksburg VA to Dayton OH
Tank 3: 26.5 mpg (ECU indicated 26.4) Dayton OH to Chicago IL (+ some driving around town)
These fuel economy number were also a great surprise, but they do reflect a lot of highway cruising. Obviously I am still taking it easy
. I remember reading some
people getting 15 mpg!
The rest of the week
The first night out for dinner in Chicago I got a ticket for no front license plate. I already had the rho-bracket for the front plate, but not installed on the
car.
Needless to say, I installed it the next morning. It looks pretty good. (Autozone was out of the black screw caps for the front license plate)
Fixed with screw cap covers
I also found a good spot to display some school pride on the car.
Here are a couple of cool details that I never knew about despite reading Zpost for a long time.
+ The filler cap holder on the fuel door hinge
+ The roll out cover on the hatch
+ The Z4 coupe shaped dash display when a door is open
+ The different shades of the color (see the entire photo collection above) from bright kids' toy blue to almost black and some fantastic navy blues and sometimes even purple.
After the positives, here are a few minor dislikes:
+ Previously the car had an M gruppe intake with an RPI scoop and an ESS tune. After removing the intake and scoop the engine surges during a medium or heavy tip in. It seems
that the ECU has to adjust the trim and calibration parameters to adjust to car’s new setup. After a week of driving the situation has improved but some minor hesitations are
still present. Any thoughts on the topic are welcome. Eventually I’ll probably get an M gruppe with the PRI scoop
I had my reasons for not buying it with the car
(and did I mention that I am still happily married)
+ There is no instantaneous fuel economy feedback available on the board computer despite the fact that the average fuel economy is available. I would just like to see
instantaneous fuel economy all the time.
+ It’s hit or miss for the GPS to locate the satellites. So half the time the navigation believes that it is not on a ‘digitize road’. Actually the nav is the one option I would
have skipped if I would have ordered the car from BMW. I feel that nav system give away the age of a car since, like computers, the interface starts to look ‘old’ after 2-3
years, but a car (esp the M coupe) design (interior and exterior) can be timeless.
+ The hands free phone system via Bluetooth is nice to have. Although I had to go dig for the pairing code on the controller under the trunk lining panels. DarkstarZero pointed
me to the thread showing where to find the code.
+ Here is a weird one. If you are listening to radio (navigation screen closed) and just change to another pre-programed station by pushing one of the number buttons, the
navigation screen flips up to tell what station you have just selected despite the fact that you pre-programmed them.
+ The ‘Glove box’ joke. This tiny glove box must be the result of BMW enforcing the requirement to have a glove box in every car. The owner's manual does not even fit in the
glove box
+ Crappy Cup holders. I am German and therefore I never understood the need for cup holders anyway…
But honestly these small things don’t matter at all once the engine is running
Sorry that this write up turned into a novel, but I felt compelled to share my happiness. It was also really hard to select only a few of the pictures from the car.
Happy Motoring,
Chicago Hokie