BMW M Gmbh Headquarters and BMW M Studio - My Private Tour

[bimmer-boy]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

Although Sebastien Vettel also has an infiniti Q80 and an Infiniti QX70S Sebastien Vettel Edition.

I take it vettels had the CP pack too?

And great write up by the way

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by bimmer-boy

I take it vettels had the CP pack too?

And great write up by the way

LOL I'm sure it is!

[DarthColin]

I'm curious also as to how the matte paint will stand the test of time. I've talked my wife into buying an M5 (biggest hurdle btw), and she doesn't care how much extra the Individual extras are. However, I smash a lot of bugs here in Saskatchewan, and spend a lot of time scrubbing the off the front bumper and mirrors. I wonder if some type of 3M film or equivalent would be a good idea. I've seen on Drive Clean's YouTube channel that some orange scented cleaning spray gets bugs off fairly easily, and with less scrubbing/wiping.
Good to know that the "clear" coat is thicker, and more resistant to swirl marks, etc.
Nice pictures and write up, you lucky bugger you.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by mstmng

porsche offers as well

Just had a service on the Merc and Sales said they no longer offer factory collection. Was too busy to go when the Merc was bought; missed opportunity

Porsche did offer factory collection (from UK) and a track day back in June this year. The only thing they could not offer (to me at least) was a temporary car prior to factory order arriving. The salesman even said he drove a VW Golf as his company car and as they were a cottage industry in the UK, they weren't geared up to offer the same as BMW.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

One thing I noticed during the tour is that they also had a lot of competitor cars in the lot - Aston Martin, Maserati, Porsche, etc. As an Aston Martin Vantage was pulling in I asked my contact why someone from M was driving the car. He said they swap cars with Aston to help them bring competitive insight to their engineering efforts. He said they drive these to help them keep M on top.

I had an industrial mentor in a large car manufacturer in the mid-80's - I was taken around the design department just before the launch of a new model and in the interior design department there was a door trim card from a yet to be released Mercedes C-Class... so Manufacturers go a bit further than just borrowing competitors cars...

Also saw some 'interesting' crash test results for the current model to be replaced; I will not go into specific details and, hence, not name the manufacturer, however, there were some insightful things on display.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

I had an industrial mentor in a large car manufacturer in the mid-80's - I was taken around the design department just before the launch of a new model and in the interior design department there was a door trim card from a yet to be released Mercedes C-Class... so Manufacturers go a bit further than just borrowing competitors cars...

Also saw some 'interesting' crash test results for the current model to be replaced; I will not go into specific details and, hence, not name the manufacturer, however, there were some insightful things on display.

That's a sign of a truly world class business intelligence function!

[termigni]

thx for the useful info and pictures.

I wasn't impressed with the M-ceramic brakes at the track with M6s and M5s. especially if you are driving these cars on the streets, ceramics are overkill. they do look good though.

[v12]

+1

But I would say, the ceramic components are super light, rotor in particular: you can lift with one finger.
So perhaps if anything, it saves you some unsprung weight.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by v12

+1

But I would say, the ceramic components are super light, rotor in particular: you can lift with one finger.
So perhaps if anything, it saves you some unsprung weight.

Yeah this weight saving makes it great bang for buck for people who care about this sort of thing.

You probably save as more weight with CCBs than from switching from 20" BMW Forged to 20" BBS FI wheels, yet the BBS FI upgrade costs $10k+ and the CCBs cost less than that, deliver weight savings plus better braking.