[Jay-K]

wow! lucky!

[or0b0to]

Awesome experience man, congrats.

One question for you... In the photos, Mineral Grey looks a little purple-ish on the 4, is that the impression it gives in person too?

[BMWRL]

Very cool guy. A bit jealous as I consider myself a BMW superfan...

[Vervain]

Originally Posted by Raja Ventureshield

No, I was told that the documentary was a hoax to trick me to divert my attention. As you can see through my writing that they surprised me and gave me the car for 48 hours. There may never be any documentary, but they did a whole lot of recording after the revealing and was advised that if for any reason my footage is ever used I will be compensated. Money aside, I had a great weekend and no one can take that away from me. There were no strings attached and BMWNA has seriously spent a lot of money driving in 15 member crew from NYC/Philly for 3 days to my town to do this. Plus fly the car over to our dealership. I was told after they took the car back, it's headed to NJ for press release and media coverage.

It shouldn't take a genius to figure out that they did this to push the new 4 series. But I am just happy as they could have used anyone, but they used me and my family had a great time throughout the event. I got to drive at the track with the Chief BMW Performance instructor. Making some good friends along the way and enjoying the sceneary of VA/WVA. It sure was a great way for BMW to introduce the new model and I have nothing but positive things to say about this car.

All in all thanks all for the positive comments.
Anyone who had negative comments thank you as well. You are entitled to your opinion. BTW, all opinions here will be biased as we all love and drive bmws.

It must have been an incredible experience that BMW really pulled out all the stops for.

[Powaup]

Sounds like an incredible experience I bet you had the time of your life. Looking forward to the technical review. 1 question though:

if they gave you the option to swap your e92 m3 for that 435 would you have done it?

[hyperboost]

I wish one day I would have a chance to do this.

[Raja Ventureshield]

Originally Posted by or0b0to

Awesome experience man, congrats.

One question for you... In the photos, Mineral Grey looks a little purple-ish on the 4, is that the impression it gives in person too?

The Mineral Grey to me at least had more of blue hue than the purplish as you may see in the pix. This is possibly due to the lens and editing (perhaps). Sparking Graphite from e9x platform has more purplish hue to it than this did to my eyes at least. The color is amazing. Also notice how much less the orange peel is on the car.

Originally Posted by Powaup

Sounds like an incredible experience I bet you had the time of your life. Looking forward to the technical review. 1 question though:

if they gave you the option to swap your e92 m3 for that 435 would you have done it?

Yes, I have a Dinan M3 and I would have swapped it for the 435. The M3 is only driven by me as it's manual gears. Also my wife hates sitting in it as she gets motion sickness from it fast. This car was refined. It's really not a fair compareson as the e92 is a 08 and this is a 14. Also so years apart, in a car world it's almost a lifetime. :-)

The M3 is more of brute force and this was more of a gentlemen like well behaved machine. I can only imagine how the M4 or M3 will be. The interior IMHO is so much more clean and open. Visiblity is hugely increased as well.

[Raja Ventureshield]

i hope to have the technical writing soon and post it for all to get more glimpse of the mean machine.

[Raja Ventureshield]

Originally Posted by hyperboost

I wish one day I would have a chance to do this.

I hope so as well. It was worth every minute.

[or0b0to]

Originally Posted by Raja Ventureshield

The Mineral Grey to me at least had more of blue hue than the purplish as you may see in the pix. This is possibly due to the lens and editing (perhaps). Sparking Graphite from e9x platform has more purplish hue to it than this did to my eyes at least. The color is amazing. Also notice how much less the orange peel is on the car.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up first person perspective. I had a feeling it was more bluish, kinda like gunmetal grey, than purplish.

In today's world of digital post processing it can be difficult to ascertain what something really looks like.

[bwaltz]

Raja, great article. Lucky you! Just wondering, did, you, your wife or any of the other participants have any issues with the height of the seats relative to visibility? I've read where the seats are lower in the F92 compared to the F90. For the past 12 years I've been driving an E46 which has fantastic visibility, even for my 5'-8" height. I would have already ordered a 435 M Sport to replace it if it weren't for the seat-height question.

[Raja Ventureshield]

Originally Posted by bwaltz

Raja, great article. Lucky you! Just wondering, did, you, your wife or any of the other participants have any issues with the height of the seats relative to visibility? I've read where the seats are lower in the F92 compared to the F90. For the past 12 years I've been driving an E46 which has fantastic visibility, even for my 5'-8" height. I would have already ordered a 435 M Sport to replace it if it weren't for the seat-height question.

visiblity is much improved over the e9x.
I am 5 10 and my wife is 5 flat. She had no issue nor did i have any issue with the seat and with visiblity. the new navigation without the little hump opens up space in the front. The seat is also improved in my opinion, but the one i drove was full speced with lumbar support.

[bwaltz]

Thank you Raja. Looks like I'll be paying a visit to the dealer very shortly.

[Ivan@PYSpeed.com]

Originally Posted by hyperboost

I wish one day I would have a chance to do this.

+1

[jhohensee]

Thanks for the posts, Raja and BluBaron79! I've been driving a 2000 E39 for 11+ years and decided it was finally time to replace it. I made my downpayment on a 435 M Sport this past Saturday. Reading your enthusiastic reactions to the car has made me a lot more excited about buying a car, sight unseen, that costs more than my first house.

Thanks again!

John

[naterater]

Great write-up! Looks like you had an amazing time, just as I did.

[Raja Ventureshield]

Originally Posted by naterater

Great write-up! Looks like you had an amazing time, just as I did.

great. Nice to meet you Nate. You should write your review and post some of your pictures from the weekend. I saw a few of them that the agency showed me revealing the car in the hanger in 100+ degrees. But i heard you also had a blast with your gf at the track.

[naterater]

Originally Posted by Raja Ventureshield

great. Nice to meet you Nate. You should write your review and post some of your pictures from the weekend. I saw a few of them that the agency showed me revealing the car in the hanger in 100+ degrees. But i heard you also had a blast with your gf at the track.

It was brutally hot! The A/C in 4-series was nice though... I am working on a write-up and should have it up soon.

[Raja Ventureshield]

Originally Posted by naterater

It was brutally hot! The A/C in 4-series was nice though... I am working on a write-up and should have it up soon.

Great, i look to read your review and compare notes.
I just updated the thread (page 1 with my tech write up).

[naterater]

Originally Posted by Raja Ventureshield

Great, i look to read your review and compare notes.
I just updated the thread (page 1 with my tech write up).

Your's is pretty thorough... Good job! I am kind of jealous you got Matt Mullins. I have met him at the BMW PDS in South Carolina. Cool guy!

I was on such a high that I hope I can remember all the small details. Hope to have it done by the end of the week.

[mt1955]

Thanks for the additional technical review, I'm glad you arrived at the same conclusion as I did on the best exterior colors being white and mineral grey. I almost went with mineral grey but since I have a F20 in MG/CR combo I felt I needed a change and went with AW/CR instead for the F32. I know you liked the red interior but at any time did you feel there was too much red given it extends to the lower half of the dash?

Can you provide your impressions of the steering when compared with your E92 M3? Different classes & generations of cars as one is an M and the other is not however a lot of folks have negative feedback on the steering of the F30 so curious on if you feel BMW got this right on the 4 series? Will you call it a work in progress or as good as (or close to) your M3?

[Raja Ventureshield]

Originally Posted by mt1955

Thanks for the additional technical review, I'm glad you arrived at the same conclusion as I did on the best exterior colors being white and mineral grey. I almost went with mineral grey but since I have a F20 in MG/CR combo I felt I needed a change and went with AW/CR instead for the F32. I know you liked the red interior but at any time did you feel there was too much red given it extends to the lower half of the dash?

Can you provide your impressions of the steering when compared with your E92 M3? Different classes & generations of cars as one is an M and the other is not however a lot of folks have negative feedback on the steering of the F30 so curious on if you feel BMW got this right on the 4 series? Will you call it a work in progress or as good as (or close to) your M3?

I did not think the red was too much at all. Then again I really like coral red. i think it looks totally classy. The lower 1/2 of the dash is of good quality. it does not look cheap at all.

As for the steering wheel, that is the first thing i noticed. The feeling is completely different and less direct. It is still accurate but just doesn't feel as directly connected as the e92. Also, i read but can't compare as i never drove a f30. The f32 from what i understand has improved steering. It's def. not as close to the M3 but after few hours of drive, you tend to get used to it and think less of it as the car does so many things well. That becomes a little detail IMHO.

The AW/Coral will look amazing. Congrats and enjoy it in good health.