BMW 7 Series Test Drive

[grandpa_spec_F6]

I went and had a look at the Holden dealership down the road to check out the new VF commodore. Even after I told the guy I didn't intent on buying, just looking he tried to get me driving one, checked out the F6, asked I'd trade it on an SS etc etc.

Left with a bunch of pretty books all about the VF but my 5 minutes looksie turned into about 25 minutes and the only way I got to leave was to give him my name and number so he could 'check if I was still interested'... in a years time.

That being said, bloody nice bloke! Very helpful and very knowledgeable... and I might have a semi-love afair with the VF SS Redline ute, no way in hell I'd let them wine and dine me + test drive

One day when the finances allow however, if I had the means to BUY one and I had INTENT on spending the dosh then I wouldn't mind a dinner put on and a drive of an E63 AMG... 5.5L Bi-Turbo... /drool

[jimt3te50]

Let's be honest Rodge, you're an accountant- a weekend with Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson wouldn't make you buy the car, let alone just having just the car for the weekend! lol

[*ICEMAN*]

No moral dilemma. They provide you with a $150 meal and expect you to spend $100k+

One sale would pay for the night, just dont make it you who buys

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by grandpa_spec_F6

Left with a bunch of pretty books all about the VF but my 5 minutes looksie turned into about 25 minutes and the only way I got to leave was to give him my name and number so he could 'check if I was still interested'... in a years time. You got away lightly mate. Lucky they didn't get you for a overnight test drive and then try and put the squeeze on you.

One day when the finances allow however, if I had the means to BUY one and I had INTENT on spending the dosh then I wouldn't mind a dinner put on and a drive of an E63 AMG... 5.5L Bi-Turbo... /drool

Yeap I'm keeping a copy of BMW's promotional literature and offer and one day might just say to M Benz, you know, why don't you guys match that offer and I'll test drive a CLS63

Originally Posted by jimt3te50

Let's be honest Rodge, you're an accountant- a weekend with Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson wouldn't make you buy the car, let alone just having just the car for the weekend! lol

Phew, just thinking about that raised my blood pressure

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Yeah the Mrs wasn't too impressed with me bringing home all the 'new car' promo materials ... she would have probably threatened divorce if I turned up in a new ute

If you ever get to drive a CLS63 I'll pay for my flight over and you can take me for a spin

[Rodge]

, you never know mate.

It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for what is ostensibly a modest bribe, (and unfortunately I've found
I'm not immune from this temptation myself). I'm not proud of it but human nature is a funny thing and its hard to
resist as the outcome of this poll demonstrates.

I think the fact that they stroke one's ego is part of the allure of this sort of thing. People get a small favour, whether
its a dinner out, free flights to a vehicle presentation and some hospitality, extended use of a vehicle, invitation to a
track day or corporate box at a sports event or whatever else is masquerading as a bribe and one finds oneself in a
position where for reasons unknown this sort of persuasion has an allure all of its own and can be difficult to resist.

Its almost like you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. If you don't do it you'll wonder what the vehicle
would have been like and what it would have been like to have a really posh dinner at one of the finest
establishments in your city with a very significant table credit. If you do it, you beat yourself up that you're so weak
to fall for their corporate persuasion.

Doing this I know I've opened a conduit for them to mess with my head and inevitably this will make my existing
vehicles feel old tech and outdated...I know my good friend Peter gave me good advice when he said just throw their
offer in the bin, but I can't help myself.

I'm presently waiting to see if they have the latest 750i twin turbo 4.4 petrol to evaluate, (not interested in test
driving or purchasing another diesel engine, (just google diesel DPF problems if anyone wants to know why). With
a modicum of luck they won't and this will be over before its started, which is probably the best outcome.

If they do I'll do it and in so doing take some comfort from the poll result that I'm not the only one who would be
silly enough to go down this track....but the fact that we could afford one if we really love it, (which is obviously
why we were targeted as part of the marketing programme), perhaps makes this process all the more dangerous.

It must be a tightly targeted direct marketing programme though because my client who owns a 6 year old Audi S8
didn't get the offer which I find rather curious. Maybe they're just targeting S Class owners hoping to nab a few
before the new S Class comes out later this year, I think on their part its a pretty cunning marketing strategy as
without the posh dinner offer I wouldn't have bothered.

[GQ_Smooth]

Rodge:

If you ever appear on Porsche's "radar" as a potential customer and be invited to one of their promotional outings, make sure you don't take your credit card or cheque book. No hard sell, just a fantastic day with fantastic people, driving fantastic cars treating you like royalty. Hard to get on that list though they are very selective and rarely take tyre kickers (helps going to Uni with their FMR marketing assistant). With what they put on, it's no wonder there is approximately 200% profit in the cars they sold 10+ years ago, it pays for a lot of promotion!

It's kind of like a drug, you'll want to pay to experience that joy again, and again, and again etc...

[Rodge]

Thanks for that advice mate, i'll definitly try and stay off their radar.
FPV laid on some track days here when they launched the SC range over here down at a local racetrack and they certainly put on a great day with great hospitality, pretty girls, knowledgeable chaps, including flying Paul Cook FPV's head engineer over to brief us on the SC engine development and there was plenty of hands on opportunity to belt SC cars around the track and one F6 for comparison, for a while, before it overheated . Anyway the day culminated in some hot laps with a leading V8 Supercar driver in a SC GT-P. Man I was on a super high after that, so high I managed to wangle my way into attending two of those launch events

BTW Hot info for any young chap chosing a colour for their Ford, I had a chat with each of the pretty Ford girls, (purely for market reasearch purposes of course as i'm too old and have been married to long to be attracted to any of them ), under the auspices of wanting to know which of the 12 SC cars was their favopurite colour and they all loved Vixen Red, so there's the inside scoop, if you want to look great picking up your hot young lady on a date, you need to arrive in a Vixen Red SC FPV

Anyway...sorry I digress....back to the story. I thought I was cunning getting an invite to two track events but of course the end result is I bought a SC FPV, so it was Ford N.Z. who were the cunning ones. Its a bloody brillaint car though so a classic win-win for Ford and I as far as i'm concerned.

Thanks again for the heads-up on the Porsche events, I'd couldn't resist that I reckon, especially if there were pretty young women involved

[GQ_Smooth]

How about a pretty girl who's one of the driving instructors and know the car inside out. Tell me you wouldn't hand over your cheque book!

[Rodge]

^^ I'd sign anything if she looked like Jessica Alba or Scarlett Johansson

Here's a scary financial thought, maybe BMW will be cunning enough to have a really pretty young lady to show me over the controls of the 7 Series, I hear that I-Drive can be pretty tricky, maybe she can help me work out that stick, I'm sure my wife won't mind
Anyway I'd better do some work, look at this thread and how many hours this bloody offer has already made me spend

[duaned]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

Drop skids.. post pics on AFF..

[Rodge]

You know, if Ford had of engaged in some creative marketing like BMW does, say offerring carefully selected upper model Holden and HSV owners a reasonable incentive to test drive a G6ET or FPV maybe that would have helped them avoid the mess they're in...just a thought.

[GQ_Smooth]

Originally Posted by Rodge

You know, if Ford had of engaged in some creative marketing like BMW does, say offerring carefully selected upper model Holden and HSV owners a reasonable incentive to test drive a G6ET or FPV maybe that would have helped them avoid the mess they're in...just a thought.

Rodge:
Having a little inside knowledge of what use to be involved in organising these type of events. I don't believe there is enough margin in the cars be able to do the research into it. Not to mention the dealer network differences from "average cars" compared to "exotics" would make it near impossible with the current set up. FPV could have managed it if there dealers were on board and contributed, it can't be just done by the manufacturer if it's a sales event (promotion yes, sales no).

[grandpa_spec_F6]

This just makes me want an SC GT, and I'd even have a crack at the 4.4L turbo Bimmer... sound very nice...

Too many cars, not enough money ... /thread

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by GQ_Smooth

Rodge:
Having a little inside knowledge of what use to be involved in organising these type of events. I don't believe there is enough margin in the cars be able to do the research into it. Not to mention the dealer network differences from "average cars" compared to "exotics" would make it near impossible with the current set up. FPV could have managed it if there dealers were on board and contributed, it can't be just done by the manufacturer if it's a sales event (promotion yes, sales no).

I know Ford N.Z. did extremly well with their FPV sales in 2011 with those track days they organised and sales were up from memory 230% on previous years FPV sales, (how much of that would have been guys holding off the year before to buy the SC FPV anyway, nobody would be able to know), what I can say is that the track days certainly sold me as I couldn't differentiate the performance between my F6 and a SC GT-P until I had some decent track time...and when late on the second track day event when most people had gone home I finally got some decent track time on my own in a SC GT-P, I knew it was game over for me and the chequebook simply had to come out...and then there was the hot laps with Johnny Macintyre At a rough / (wild) guess I'd speculate those track days cost circa $20,000 a day to run and there were about 30 guests in the morning session and about 40 in the two afternoon sessions I attended, so say about $20,000 / 70 = approx $300 per invited guest per day. Money well spent, who knows ???

I remember back in the 1980's (seems like a lifetime ago now) that Honda ran a win a Hondalulu marketing campaign, (intentionally mis-spelt), anyway if you test drove a Honda Civic hatch you received a $50 petrol voucher fto thank you for your time and there were a certain number of trips to be won to Honalulu as well. I went for that deal too and ended up buying a Honda Civic hatchback...is anyone else seeing a pattern here
I reckon something of along the lines of that magnitude would be a campaign that could still work for Ford and at least do something to mitigate their losses in the lead up to the inevitable closure.

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by grandpa_spec_F6

This just makes me want an SC GT, and I'd even have a crack at the 4.4L turbo Bimmer... sound very nice...

Too many cars, not enough money ... /thread

http://www.caradvice.com.au/202915/2...series-review/

They do look good mate. I'm really looking forward to it after reading this review at lunchtime.

[2011G6E]

There's a hidden danger...

I had a boss who let me drive his old XJ Jag...about the same age as the Commodore we drove at the time...and it "ruined me" for the Commodore, which until then I thought was just peachy-keen and a great drive.

The boss at my last job owned a BMW 740i...I rode in it a couple of times, and drove it once. That "ruined me" for literally anything I drove ever since.

Once you go high end Euro, you know you'll have to go back, but you always remember what you're now missing out on...

[smoo]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Once you go high end Euro, you know you'll have to go back, but you always remember what you're now missing out on...

Yup, hard to work on, expensive parts if not inconvientely sourced overseas, or pay thru the teeth for some poor bugger to work on it. Ex V8 and I6 S Class, and V8 and I6 5 series owner, I'd take Falcon/Fairlane anyday thanks.

[timeout]

Originally Posted by smoo

Yup, hard to work on, expensive parts if not inconvientely sourced overseas, or pay thru the teeth for some poor bugger to work on it. Ex V8 and I6 S Class, and V8 and I6 5 series owner, I'd take Falcon/Fairlane anyday thanks.

Lol. I wouldn't having driven a 750i and A8 4.2 anything else seems like cheap junk.

A good euro mechanic will sort you out parts wise.

Rodge test drive the bloody thing, if you started this thread you are already partial to the idea.

[Rodge]

I'm picking it up this afternoon, the twin turbo 4.4 V8 750i model. I'll collect my thoughts afterwards and share a brief summary of them early / mid next week. Thanks to everyone for voting and commenting.

[Rodge]

BMW 750i Motorsport. 330 Kw 650 nm, ZF eight speed, massive brakes, multi adjustable suspension, Eco something or other I can't remember who cares , Comfort plus, Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus..anyway 5 different suspension settings which tighten things up progressivly as you scroll through the menu.

Approx 500 km's on day 1 Corommandel Loop plus general running around.
Initial impressions and initial highlights.
Overall its a superb bit of kit and the chassis and suspension settings are an absolute delight to work with and multi adjustable depending on your mood.
Harmon Kardon stereo if just brilliant, I'm now officially deaf already
Adaptive Cruise control is nice on the straight sections of road or when you get tired.
Handling in Sport or Sport Plus is taunt and tightly controlled, excellent brakes, not quite as good as the 6/4 Brembo's on my Sc GT-P but very good nonetheless.
Brilliant Chassis, very surprised how well this car handles.
Everything you've read about the ZF 8 speed is correct, its 2 generations ahead of the ZF 6 speed in our Ford's and it shows in every way, more adaptive, more intuative, smoother, much quicker shifting, there isn't a better gearbox in the world.
As you'd expect this car is chock full of all the latest technology.
Heads up display which I thought would be a bit naff is actually a very good bit of kit.

If I can get my camera back off my daughter I'll have more comments and some photo's in due course. Stay tuned.
Edit, I should have taken my good friend Peter's advice and not driven it. Makes my current cars look a bit dated...something I knew was always going to happen

[Rodge]

Okay so the above comment I made pretty much sums it up and the BMW went back early today after another 200 km belting. I didn't bother with photo's as there's plenty in Car Advice's review in post #46 and by and large I agree with the majority of that review although would add that there's no bloody way in the world these cars are worth ANYTHING like what BMW ask for them...
Rather than giving BMW any more free publicity on a Ford Forum, if anyone wants any more info or comparisons on how this 750i compares with Ford Australia's best feel free to PM me with your question. I won't be buying one but thoroughly enjoyed the drive experience. Thanks again to everyone for voting and for your comments. In summary an exceptionally good car but lacks the raw hard- core top end horsepower kick of my SC GT-P which I still love

[Psi-Pop]

and how did it sound on the rev limiter?

[Rodge]

^^ Pretty muted really, comes with Bi Modul exhaust but it reminded me a lot of my F6 in terms of its exhaust sound at wide open throttle, not impressed with that aspect of the car.