# PCD X5 50i M Sport 12/3. Awesome.



## 335xray (Nov 30, 2007)

This is a repost from Xoutpost...

Picked up my Alpine White M Sport 50i on Friday at the Performance Center. As many people have said, the delivery experience was awesome. A special thanks go to Andy and Ray at the Performance Center. Andy did my driving instruction portion and my delivery. I met Ray at lunch and I rode along shotgun in his M5 for the hot lap which was truly a thrill.

I flew out Thursday night on a non-stop flight to Greenville-Spartansbugh airport. I called the hotel from the plane and they had Warren waiting for me in a gold 550GT which was pretty darn nice. He told me BMW provides them with new vehicles every 10K miles. The staff at the hotel was very nice and I had a late dinner on the performance center and then hit the hay.









Early morning rolled around, up, showered and packed and off to the buffet. Any buffet you can get a custom omelet is pretty darn good in my book. At breakfast I met Brian and Nicole, a really fun, crazy couple from Iowa. Brian was picking up a 335iS and was very excited (Congrats guys!). After breakfast, they get everyone on the short bus for the trip to Performance Center. 









When we arrived, Brian's car was in the lobby and my car was in one of the delivery bays.









We started the morning with bit of classroom time as they always do. A nice explanation of what we are going to do during the day and why they do it. Ray did a very nice job.









After class, we were all placed in cars/trucks similar to what we were taking delivery of. I got an X5 Diesel which was fun since I was never able to drive one at my local dealer as they were always pre-sold. We did three different exercises, the skid pad, emergency braking and the road coarse/slalom. Lots of fun to be had at each exercise, learning how traction control saves your butt etc. We did the skid pad in 335d since it isn't as fun in an X-drive vehicle. The rest of the exercises were done in our respective vehicles. I was glad it wasn't my X5 or my tires on the road coarse as the tires were protesting quit a bit 

Danny, thrashing a 550i pretty well









After the road coarse we came back to the Performance center, some of the group did the off road coarse and the factory tour, while my group did our delivery. Any did my delivery and did a great job. Very thorough but he didn't drag things out. I learned several things even though my wife had taken delivery of her X5 35i SA just two week prior at our local dealer. I was able to spend as much time with the car going over it as I wanted, then they had me take it out and park it on the tarmac out front with an M6 and E90 M3 competition package.










































































Andy with the X


















We had a nice lunch where I got to meet Ray again, one of the instructors who is a very accomplished motorcycle and road racer. Right after lunch (they feed you and stuff you full and then sling you around) they did the hot laps in the M5. I got to ride solo shotgun with Ray for my lap and boy did I have a **** eating grin from ear to ear. The instructors are truly skilled drivers. That was definitely the highlight of the day besides actually picking up the X.









Ray in the M5









After the hot lap our group did the off road coarse and then the factory tour.









Some deep wading...









Brain getting his X tipped and trying to get out to photo it at the same time...the delivery guy was like..."Uh, safety first, you need to get back in the car..."










Another tipping shot...










Brain and his sweet 335is










The X and the factory


















The Factory tour entrance










After the tour, I high tailed it over to a local tire store where I had already had a set of winter wheels and tires shipped so I could have the summer only wheel/tires switched out...good thing I did. The local store had me on my way about 100 minutes later. The hardest thing was getting the OEM 20's into the 55 gallon drum garbage bags I brought and then lugging them into the back of the X. Hot tip for anyone transporting the 20"s...they just fit with the rear seats folded down. You could only get some one in the front passenger seat.

With my new X6M 20" reps on (Staggered 10" front and 11" rear shod in Michelin Latitude Aplin winter tires 275/40-20 all around) I headed through the hills of SC, NC and TN. I ended up taking NC-208 and TN-70, which are two lane roads with no lights where they truly let loose a snake and followed it with a bulldozer. I ended up doing most of that portion of the trip in the dark.

The truck handled awesome with the winter tires on with adaptive drive set to sport and the tranny set to DS. I didn't push it too hard since I was staying within the break-in recommendations, but the truck felt planted and wanted to go even faster. After arriving at my Uncle's home in TN, I had a leisurely night with family. My father had stuck around after Thanksgiving to meet me and drive back to Ohio with me, so we got up fairly early Saturday, had a heart healthy southern breakfast and headed home...and it just started to snow!










It snowed nearly the entire trip home to Ohio, with temps hovering just above, then below freezing. I was so glad I didn't risk it and leave the summers on. Boy would that have been dangerous and stupid. The 20" Michelin's handled the drive without breaking a sweat...even a passing run above 90 

All-in-all I couldn't be happier with the truck, the PCD or the snow tires. I highly recommend the PCD if you can arrange it and if you haven't been to the Biltmore Estate, you should make the short trip up to Asheville. My trip home was 435 miles and got 18.8 mpg with an average speed of 59 mph. Not too shabby.










X


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## necromancer (Sep 7, 2010)

Nice write up. That truck has balls.

Sent from my DROIDX using BimmerApp


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## roy335 (Jul 13, 2010)

Nice trip and write up, congrats!


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## laser (Aug 2, 2004)

Fantastic write up / photo shoot, very complete description of the PDC experience ..... maybe ought to be a Wiki :thumbup:

Are you going to drive the new ride to the Sugar Bowl???


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## 335xray (Nov 30, 2007)

laser said:


> Fantastic write up / photo shoot, very complete description of the PDC experience ..... maybe ought to be a Wiki :thumbup:
> 
> *Are you going to drive the new ride to the Sugar Bowl???*


I wish I had the time off...sounds like a heck of a road trip! :thumbup:

X


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## I-Won-Today (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks for the post and great write-up :thumbup: To bad I wasn't in the office that day to personally say hi. 

Enjoy your new BMW!


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## dencoop (Aug 17, 2005)

Congrats on your new Ultimate driving Toy :thumbup:

Nice color Combo:bigpimp:


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