BMW Driven to Find a Cure - Carerra Motors, Bend OR

[Jand3rson]

Today was BMW's 10th annual "Driven to Find a Cure" event to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. For absolutely no cost at all, anyone could go down to Carerra Motors here in Bend, and drive one of about 15 brand-new BMW's. There were several X5's and X3's, 3 Z4's, 3 new 5's, 4 new 3's, and a 2 new 7's. I drove an E60 540i, an E90 325i cabrio, and a Z4 3.0si. Holy shit, the Z4 3.0si is fast! I had it in sport mode the whole time, and used the paddle shifters, which I have to say was quite fun! The drive is abour 15 miles, and you go by yourself, and you can flog the cars as hard as you want.



This is the 325i cabrio I drove, with one of our local newscasters just getting out after her drive:



Some guy driving one of the new 5's hit a deer while he was out!



This is the Z4 3.0si that I drove, damn it was fun:



During the sign-ups, they randomly selected people (and asked them, of course) for volunteers to drive the cars from Bend to Eugene tonight (about a 2 hr drive, and then they drive us back), for the event in Eugene tomorrow. I was one of the people selected, and I'll actually be driving the "signature car", a 330i with signatures all over the car of more than 100,000 women who have survived breast cancer, and it also has hundreds of small pics of some of the women.

So if anyone in Eugene wants to swing by the dealership and say hey while I'm there, I'll be there at about 7pm tonight.

This is the car I'll be driving:

[YAN-3]

thats cool. what would be even cooler if one of those cars was an M5 or a 6er

[asubimmer]

thats real cool man, well minus the deer thing

[ZinRot325i]

I drove an E60 540i

They don't make an e60 540 for the USA.

525, 530, 550.

Also, the 550i is just as fast as the Z4, if not a little faster.

:)

[Jand3rson]

thats cool. what would be even cooler if one of those cars was an M5 or a 6er

I know, I was talking to one of the guys there, we were saying it's too bad there weren't any ///M cars.

I forgot to add, that for every mile that every one of these cars puts on during this entire event, BMW is matching $1 for each mile and donating it to breast cancer research. This is going on all over the country, and it started in New Jersey and headed west. Check www.bmwusa.com and see if it's coming near you, and if you can, go participate in the event.

[smonkbmw]

yeah, i did this event on saturday when it was in portland. drove the x5 4.4,550i, and 330i. i was very impressed with the 330 and by far it had the sportiest feel out of all of them. some guys that showed up in a z3 were ruining it for everyone else though which kinda sucked, they were out drifting the 650cic and the 750il into curbs and taking it for an hour at a time. that kinda sucked. i did the run last year, this year and will for sure be there next year.

josh, look for my signature above the rear left wheel on the quarter panel, bout half way to the trunk!

[AdironRider]

You look pretty in pink Josh.

[e30sd]

i went to the komen drive on saturday, got to drive a 335i turbo. fun fast but fat and expensive.

[Pedro]

Sweet 9/29 they will be @ Assael BMW in monrovia. I used to work there and still drop by and talk to the salesman so hopefully i wont have a problem driving there cars since thats what i used to do.

[parkerbink]

Very cool Josh! Thanks for cluing me in I just signed up!

Thank you for joining our cause.
You are confirmed for the following:

10/04/2006 - Pacific BMW

Mr. Stefan

Los Angeles, CA 90025


Test Drive 1: GIR215122AUG1 for Z4 3.0Si on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 2:00pm
Test Drive 2: GIR215122AUG2 for 750i on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 4:00pm

[der affe]

i did it a few years ago when i worked at chapman. i passed the sales manager on the right doing 85ish in a 40 on the right, while he was on a test drive with a customer, then he watched me slide it around a right hander just before the dealership. oops! caught a little shit for it, but i was off the clock, so what-evers. he laughed about it a couple of days later with my manager.
greg

[Jand3rson]

Well, the drive over to Eugene was pretty fun, the 330i is a fucking quick car! There was a spot where the road got kind of rough, and I swerved to dodge a pothole, and the rear end swung out on me! But while the E90 is a nice car too drive, it's too much. It's too big, too fat, to isolated. There's no noise at all, either from the engine or the road, and it doesn't feel like you're driving. You don't feel connected to the road at all. And other than feeling it when you're accelerating hard, there's no sense of speed while driving. The interior was so big and so plush and full of shit, I felt lost in it. Getting back in my car and drving back home felt like I was in an aquarium, I could see all around me. The E90 was nothing but blind spots and stuff in the way. The windows are tiny and it's hard to see out of the back windshield