Yay! 500 dollars and a chance to check out some BMWs.

So today has been a pretty good day. Gotta admit.

First winning 500 dollars in an all in bet at the Woodbine Race Track. Then getting a chance to test drive 8 different cars in a closed circuit, with much thanks to BMW of Canada.

Man, turning 50 dollars into 500 dollars is one sweet feeling especially when it was a leap of faith kind of bet. Only reason I bet on the horse was because it's name was "Finish in Style". Lol guess I finished in style :D. Other than that service at the Woodbine Club was satisfactory as usual, but there was a new waiter there that started that day and he always forgot to bring me a straw for my Pina Colada. Food was great. So after all this usual weekend festive, my father, my brother, and I went to Downsville Park for the BMW Comparison Drive.

Let me tell you, that was an abundant experience. To be able to learn about BMW's history and get to literally test the car to its limits without fear of hitting someone or damaging the car is a worth while experience. But with all things of this nature a safety walk through and in class session was necessary before we can start tearing things apart.

The vehicles of choice were:

BMW's 3 Series Sedans consisting of:

323i
328i
328i x-Drive
335i
335d

Lexus's IS-250 AWD

Audi's A4 2.0 Quattro

Mercedes Benz's C300 4Matic


As you can see this was a comparison of the All wheel drive capabilities of these cars.


To start, everyone participating in the event had to listen to a presentation and accompany one of BMW's driver training instructors for an introductory lap, to familiarize the participants to that track.

The track consisted of

1. Full - circle turn at an angle that would shift you to the side of your seat. Speed was at 40KM/h
2. Navigate through a salom, it consisted of 3 turns in total.
3. Accelerate into a turn then stop enough to activate ABS but not completely stop, meanwhile turning in the process. The scenario was similar to avoiding a car that swerved into your lane.
4. After that navigating to once another similar ABS stop&turn.
5. Then you were to navigate another salom but this time you have to keep your eyes looking at a fixed position, which is that of a road sign and be able to navigate the turn without looking at it. It was a demonstration to turn using your peripheral vision.
6. Slow down for a 15KM/h corner and once navigated you floored it, to check out the torque. And hit the brakes hard once you passed the break sign. And finally come to a complete stop and proceed back to the lot.


Ok I am going to tell you right now, the Audi failed. I hated it so much. IMO there was way to much power assisted turning at low speeds. I hate that, you loose the feeling of actually controlling the car.

Other than that all other cars performed quite well. To be honest I never knew diesel cars were that good. I was so skeptical of diesel cars during pre-registration survey and it asked if i would consider purchasing a diesel car, my answer was "definitely not". Only because I had the old mind set of diesel = sluggish. Boy was I wrong.

The 335D ( Diesel Version) of the 335i. Was an absolute beaut. Never knew diesel would be that good.

My review will go something like this. The worse of cars I will talk about first then I'll save the best for last.

First, I loved the Audi before this, I thought Audies were pretty good cars, and that their technology inside was decent. While test driving the A4 I had my world rocked. It was defiantly not what I expected. First the power assisted steering in low speeds made the car feel like it just wasn't there. And during some of my exercises the power steering kicking in really effected some of the turning because it was meant to be hard and responsive not easy and lax. This effected my ratings because seriously I don't want some unresponsive car that's like tuned for "easy" driving. I'm a speed, hard cornering type of guy.

Second, came the BMW 323i, even though this test drive wasn't really about this car, it gave me a different perspective of it. To be honest, it was to slow, and no power seating and comfort things. Though I do love its bigger brothers its just that this guy just didn't perform like a "sport oriented sedan", just slow around corners, things like that. I wouldn't buy it, but someone looking for the entry level 3 series would, that don't mind the performance of things.

Third, the Lexus IS-250 AWD, it was a solid contender but lacked in acceleration, braking was good and the vehicle controlled fairly well. But the internal feel of the car just wasn't there.

Fourth, came the 328i x-Drive, it performed well, I liked it, smooth throughout the exercises. Very solid car. Good acceleration, comfortable. I wouldn't buy it though. Since I had other choices.

Fifth, came the Mercedes Benz C300 4MATIC. I loved this car, what i expected from MB. Truly amazing. Definitely considering this car.

And Finally, the 335D. MAN!! This car changed my whole perspective to diesel. Like WOW. It was truly amazing. I just can't put feelings to text. Just beautiful, with all that TORQUE!!!
DEFINITELY WIN WIN. In my book.

If you noticed some cars missing its because time didn't allow to test drive those cars. Though they was nothing really I missed from it.

Also not only was I so pleased with this experience to be able to have the opportunity to experience what these 4 companies had to offer, I even registered for a BMW driver training course to be able to experience this thrill again.

The staff at the event was terrific, courteous, funny, very knowledgeable, answered any question i had without hesitation. 10/10


Other than that, Im looking forward to my driver training course thats comming up.