The Hottest Cars From BMW Test Fest
The hot ticket this month for auto journalists was an invite to the second annual BMW Test Fest in Thermal, CA. It’s an all-you-can eat chance to drive, in one day, most of BMW Group’s line. This year, BMW added its other brands: Mini, Rolls-Royce, and BMW Motorrad (motorcycles). You haven’t lived until you see a $400,000 Rolls-Royce cross a man-made stream more than a foot deep and emerge unscathed.
Since this is the Ultimate Driving Machine company, the drives included both scenic public roads outside Palm Springs and a racetrack, BMW Performance Center West, that most days is a training facility for owners or intenders of BMW Group vehicles, as well as a proving ground for BMW racecars, and a racetrack. Here are some of our favorites.
The 2020 BMW 8 Series M convertible is an absolute delight to drive, to ride in, and to be seen in if you do business in Hollywood or Miami. The 8 Series is replacing the 6 Series (historically, sometimes the 6 Series replaced the 8 Series). If you want the M version, and in a convertible and not a hardtop coupe, you're looking at $120,000 and up.
The BMW X5 is emerging as the best all-around, midsize (194-inch), upscale SUV. BMW is showing off the X-cars' (SUVs, or SAVs in BMW terminology) off-roading chops — hill-climbs, rocks, fording streams. Take that, Land Rover. The X5 starts at $62,000 for the six-cylinder model.
The X5 descending a hill. The X5 can handle ascent, descent, and one-side-raised angles that will make you wish for a spotter. The front camera is most helpful for seeing just in front of the hood.
BMW's M8 GTE racer shares the track at BMW Performance Center West with a Mini (briefly). A pair of M8s are contesting the IMSA road racing series. Both finished top 10 at the 24 Hours of Daytona last month in what was essentially a 773-lap shakedown cruise. To compete for the podium, BMW has to negotiate the rules that govern each car's top performance.
The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is an exquisitely crafted all-wheel-drive SUV that competes with the Bentley Bentayga. it is intended to go off-road (not just up gravel-surface ski-house driveways), fords 21 inches of water, and is a model of quietness until you crank up the audio. It starts at around $325,000, and that's before options such as rear seats that fold out from the luggage, and a wicker picnic set.
The Cullinan has coach doors, meaning the front door is front-hinged, the rear door is rear-hinged, and some readers become unhinged if we don't call them suicide doors. (Happy now?) Note the umbrella that pulls out from the rear door.
This is the new, full-size BMW X7 SUV. The interior is superbly crafted. It goes on sale shortly for $74,000 with a 335-hp turbo six, and $93,000 for the 456-hp turbo V8. BMW allowed journalists to ride in but not drive the X7. For something 11 inches longer than the X5, we thought the second-row seat ought to have a little more legroom, though you can adjust it at the expense of third-row passengers.
In non-technical terms, the front grille of the X7 is freaking massive. Get used to it. The BMW iNext EV concept has an equally big schnozz. But then, Lexus (and others) have even bigger grilles relative to their frontal areas. As does Freightliner.
Barbarians at the Shift Gate? The crystal transmission controller on the X7 is going to be polarizing. Volvo already has Orrefors crystal console shift gear. Think of them as upscale disco balls.
Writers and editors got a chance to try test their skills autocrossing Minis. The John Cooper Works editions are amazingly quick on the track and in autocrossing.
On display: historic Minis Coopers dating to the early 1960s. The Mini was the forerunning of today's most common drivetrain architecture: engine in front, transmission in front, driven wheels in front. That allows more cockpit and rear trunk room. A half-dozen front-drive BMWs are in the offing (most with AWD options). Some will share technology with Mini, which BMW has owned since 2000.
The M version of the BMW X2 (X2 M35i) subcompact SUV reaches 60 mph in less than 5 seconds. The X2 (all trim lines) is popular in urban areas because it's easy to park at 172 inches long.
For the longest time, German automakers gave you black cockpit trim, black leather, or black vinyl seats, with maybe the option of beige. Now, behold the X2 M35i's orange upholstery. On a small, fun car, it looks great.
The performance tuner Alpina serves as BMW's preferred upmarket performance and luxury expert. The latest, just unveiled, is the Alpina B7: 600 hp, 590 pound-feet of torque, 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds, a top speed of 205 mph,and a bespoke interior. At $143,000, it's $39K more than a 2020 750i xDrive, but $16K less than the V12 M760i, and faster.
There was tape covering the name badge, but this is the BMW X3 M Competition: an all-out performance car with a 503-hp, twin-turbo six-cylinder engine. Riding the racetrack from the back seat — no seat bolsters — you are thrown side-to-side in turns, almost against the front seat on braking, and this with the seat belt snugly attached. The X5 has long had an M version, so now the X3 (and X4) get their turn. Look for it this spring.
For 2019, the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid gets a convertible (photo) as well as the hardtop dating to 2014. It's economical to drive as a commuter car, now 18 miles on battery alone, and a total 369 hp from electric motors and a three-cylinder engine. At 4.5 seconds 0-60 mph, the i8 won't scare Lamborghini, and the fold-up doors preclude wearing a kilt or skirt to the office. It would be a great two-person, pack-light tourer with more modern driver tech. But it still turns heads.
A new BMW Z4 emerges in 2019, returning to a fabric and not metal roof. Bigger, heavier, more powerful and costlier than the Mazda MX-5 Miata, the Z4 is a joy to drive top up, top down. The 255-hp turbo four is perfectly quick, and starts at $51,000; the six-cylinder M version has 382 hp and costs $65,000. The same drivetrains will be in the new Toyota Supra, which annoys Supra-macists. As if BMW engines hamper performance.
Thermal, CA is near Palm Springs. The BMW Performance Center is new there. For many years, this is one of the places where palm trees come from.
BMW Performance Center West is one of many facilities being developed in North America for car owners of most of the leading sports/performance brands. The idea is to give them a chance to enhance their skills in the relative safety of the racetrack, and then transfer those skills to safer, more informed street driving and dealing with emergency situations. (BMW also has one at its factory in Spartanburg, SC.) There are also off-roading courses for the likes of Land Rover.
Many of the facilities do corporate days. But more importantly, they also do training — for a fee — of teen drivers, to give them the skills that can’t be learned in high school driver’s ed, or in a commercial course that teaches you to pass a test, not deal with a blown tire at highway speeds or the loss of control on a snowy road.
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