Tickling the Throttle @ #BMWDrive
This has got to be the latest (not as in happening, but as in, late. Very late) post for all who went for the BMW Efficient Dynamics Drive close to a month ago.
In conjunction with their effort to promote Diesel Technology that is much safer and cleaner for Mother Nature, BMW Malaysia organized a drive for 12 bloggers from KL all the way to Belum Resort, located up north in Perak. The distance covered for one way is about 350km which was very reasonable for a drive in order for you to experience it.
It was a 2 day road trip which started on a Saturday. It's been awhile since I have to wake up early in the morning for Saturday but it was all worth it when I reached Mandarin Oriental for the briefing and breakfast courtesy of BMW Malaysia. There, we were given a briefing regarding the technology of the car before we depart.
Sashi, the man is giving us a brief intro about the car
Right after breakfast, we were led to the Beemers all lined up in front of the KLCC main lobby entrance. That was no doubt a damn grand experience. Just for that day, I felt my social status went up a few notches.
Me in the car, trying out the control and etc
You don't think walking out to the entrance of KLCC lobby with your Beemer waiting for you is classy? What do you think if I tell you we had police escort opening our way for us from KL to PJ? I bet now you'd agree, right? Lol.
Finally, I know how it feels to drive with police escort, stopping all other cars for me, making a path for us during traffic jams. XD
The BMWDrive convoy was led by a damn cool racer driver, Ivan Kong who works for BMW himself under the training department or something like that. Now there are a few reason why every blogger who went for the convoy thinks he is cool;
1. He can drive freaking fast
2. At the same time, he can hold 2 walkies to talk to us and his support cars (ensuring none of us got lost in the convoy)
3. At the same time, he spots traffic ahead for us to overtake in country roads (those old roads by passing small towns and etc)
4. When he spots traffic, he gave detailed description of the car, driver and what the driver is wearing or doing!
5. He knows Lady Gaga's songs better than I do
Seriously, this Ivan is damn awesome. While spotting traffic for us he'd like be saying something like;
"Watch out for incoming traffic. Red Wira, the driver is wearing a songkok and smiling by himself"
which was absolutely true when we passed the freaking car!
Once we left the Sungai Buloh toll, that's where the fun began. We were driving Beemers and we were in a convoy! Woohooo!! Ivan kept asking us to "tickle the throttle" if we needed to accelerate because the accelerator is so damn sensitive, if you floor it, you'd prolly hit something very far in a short time. :D
Of course, I had the pleasure of actually flooring it as I purposely kept a distance behind the car in front of me (another Beemer in the convoy) in hope for me to reach 200km/h which I did eventually hit. The feeling was doubt exhilarating. Ho ho ho.
When you're driving a Beemer, you hardly realize how long it took you to drive from one location to another. Reason? It was so comfortable and relaxing to drive a BMW car. Serious shit, I'm not paid to say this but it is from my very own experience! Hahaha. Without me even noticing it, we reached Ipoh for lunch at Indulgence.
If you're from Ipoh, you'd probably know that Indulgence is one of the finest place to dine. Heck, the price for their dishes are pretty insane too for common folks of Ipoh to enjoy. Of course, the premium status of Indulgence is well suited for BMW and that's why we were there. :D
After an awesome meal, we continued our journey up North and once again, it was exhilarating especially with the bends of the hill roads. I nearly kissed Shaolintiger's ass (his car, I mean) and accidentally drifted (in built system saved me from crashing) due to the fact I was cornering at 80km/h on hill roads. XD
Alas, we reached Belum Resort (contradictory, are we there yet? Belum) just before the sunset. The place was beautiful and I bet it was pricey too. But it was all taken care of by BMW which we did appreciate. :)
There's nothing else better than to receive a welcome drink in the form of champagne. Once we got down from the Beemers, we were welcomed and served various drinks ranging from fruit punch to champagne and red wine for those who adore the alcohol touch in their thirst quencher.
Not long after checking in the nice cozy rooms at Belum Resort, the sun set and it was time for dinner. Dinner was awesome with a lot of fun happenings which took place that not many bloggers seem eager to bring out and share in their blogs. Well, let's just say that Jenga was way too fun that everyone did crazy stuff (which wasn't very nice if you happen to clean up after us). KY roughly documented it somewhere in YouTube. Go look if you wanna find out. Lol.
The next morning, right before we started our drive back to KL, we had time for water rafting! And no, we weren't sitting on kayaks with plastic paddlers. It was old school water rafting! That means, bamboo!! Ho ho ho. The cold water in Lake Temenggor definitely gave all of us a wake up call, especially for those who were still sleepy.
Don't look at the leg hair
After water rafting, we cleaned up and hit the road once again heading towards Ipoh for lunch before KL for the end of the drive.
The BMWDrive was no doubt eye opening for many who weren't informed about the Diesel Technology. For layman, we normally think of diesel vehicles like the following;
- They are noisy and dirty
- They are less powerful
- They are usually bus, lorry or taxi
Well, these are misconception. How noisy, dirty and powerful a vehicle is, is all dependent on the engine and fuel quality. BMW showed us that with a proper diesel engine and diesel fuel, a car can be more powerful due to the presence of the extra torque generated and in the same time more environment friendly (lesser emission of CO2 compared to petrol cars). In addition, fuel consumption is much lower than the regular petrol cars in BMW's Diesel Technology.
We were shown a few examples and tests during the drive and we are convinced that the Diesel Technology is good. In fact, it's better than petrol cars due to the following reasons;
- Emits less CO2 and dirt compared to petrol car
- Consumes less fuel (no refuel for entire 770km journey)
- More powerful thanks to the additional torque by diesel engine
- Diesel is cheaper than petrol by 10 sen at the moment. Lol
- The 320d and 520d are cheaper in comparison with 320i and 520i
If you're still having doubts about Diesel cars, go check out the BMW showrooms and ask for assistance and information. I'm sure they'll be helpful enough to enlighten you on the benefits of Diesel Cars.
I found my dream car after the BMW Drive. It's definitely gonna be a Beemer. ;)
Thank you Sashi from BMW and everyone for making this the best drive ever.
P.S. I wish I knew about the RM1/week for Twitter SMS during the drive. I ran out of credit for my BB service because I sent out an SMS to test whether it was working long time ago. So, every time when my credit is actually insufficient for my BB plan to work, there will still be RM2.40. If I knew there was a RM1/week Twitter service back then, I could have tweeted much much more. I had to rely on Wifi at Belum Resort which was alright, but it could have been much better.
Damn, why can't this page came out earlier. :(
Cheers
Robb
In conjunction with their effort to promote Diesel Technology that is much safer and cleaner for Mother Nature, BMW Malaysia organized a drive for 12 bloggers from KL all the way to Belum Resort, located up north in Perak. The distance covered for one way is about 350km which was very reasonable for a drive in order for you to experience it.
It was a 2 day road trip which started on a Saturday. It's been awhile since I have to wake up early in the morning for Saturday but it was all worth it when I reached Mandarin Oriental for the briefing and breakfast courtesy of BMW Malaysia. There, we were given a briefing regarding the technology of the car before we depart.
Sashi, the man is giving us a brief intro about the car
Right after breakfast, we were led to the Beemers all lined up in front of the KLCC main lobby entrance. That was no doubt a damn grand experience. Just for that day, I felt my social status went up a few notches.
Me in the car, trying out the control and etc
You don't think walking out to the entrance of KLCC lobby with your Beemer waiting for you is classy? What do you think if I tell you we had police escort opening our way for us from KL to PJ? I bet now you'd agree, right? Lol.
Finally, I know how it feels to drive with police escort, stopping all other cars for me, making a path for us during traffic jams. XD
The BMWDrive convoy was led by a damn cool racer driver, Ivan Kong who works for BMW himself under the training department or something like that. Now there are a few reason why every blogger who went for the convoy thinks he is cool;
1. He can drive freaking fast
2. At the same time, he can hold 2 walkies to talk to us and his support cars (ensuring none of us got lost in the convoy)
3. At the same time, he spots traffic ahead for us to overtake in country roads (those old roads by passing small towns and etc)
4. When he spots traffic, he gave detailed description of the car, driver and what the driver is wearing or doing!
5. He knows Lady Gaga's songs better than I do
Seriously, this Ivan is damn awesome. While spotting traffic for us he'd like be saying something like;
"Watch out for incoming traffic. Red Wira, the driver is wearing a songkok and smiling by himself"
which was absolutely true when we passed the freaking car!
Once we left the Sungai Buloh toll, that's where the fun began. We were driving Beemers and we were in a convoy! Woohooo!! Ivan kept asking us to "tickle the throttle" if we needed to accelerate because the accelerator is so damn sensitive, if you floor it, you'd prolly hit something very far in a short time. :D
Of course, I had the pleasure of actually flooring it as I purposely kept a distance behind the car in front of me (another Beemer in the convoy) in hope for me to reach 200km/h which I did eventually hit. The feeling was doubt exhilarating. Ho ho ho.
When you're driving a Beemer, you hardly realize how long it took you to drive from one location to another. Reason? It was so comfortable and relaxing to drive a BMW car. Serious shit, I'm not paid to say this but it is from my very own experience! Hahaha. Without me even noticing it, we reached Ipoh for lunch at Indulgence.
If you're from Ipoh, you'd probably know that Indulgence is one of the finest place to dine. Heck, the price for their dishes are pretty insane too for common folks of Ipoh to enjoy. Of course, the premium status of Indulgence is well suited for BMW and that's why we were there. :D
After an awesome meal, we continued our journey up North and once again, it was exhilarating especially with the bends of the hill roads. I nearly kissed Shaolintiger's ass (his car, I mean) and accidentally drifted (in built system saved me from crashing) due to the fact I was cornering at 80km/h on hill roads. XD
Alas, we reached Belum Resort (contradictory, are we there yet? Belum) just before the sunset. The place was beautiful and I bet it was pricey too. But it was all taken care of by BMW which we did appreciate. :)
There's nothing else better than to receive a welcome drink in the form of champagne. Once we got down from the Beemers, we were welcomed and served various drinks ranging from fruit punch to champagne and red wine for those who adore the alcohol touch in their thirst quencher.
Not long after checking in the nice cozy rooms at Belum Resort, the sun set and it was time for dinner. Dinner was awesome with a lot of fun happenings which took place that not many bloggers seem eager to bring out and share in their blogs. Well, let's just say that Jenga was way too fun that everyone did crazy stuff (which wasn't very nice if you happen to clean up after us). KY roughly documented it somewhere in YouTube. Go look if you wanna find out. Lol.
The next morning, right before we started our drive back to KL, we had time for water rafting! And no, we weren't sitting on kayaks with plastic paddlers. It was old school water rafting! That means, bamboo!! Ho ho ho. The cold water in Lake Temenggor definitely gave all of us a wake up call, especially for those who were still sleepy.
Don't look at the leg hair
After water rafting, we cleaned up and hit the road once again heading towards Ipoh for lunch before KL for the end of the drive.
The BMWDrive was no doubt eye opening for many who weren't informed about the Diesel Technology. For layman, we normally think of diesel vehicles like the following;
- They are noisy and dirty
- They are less powerful
- They are usually bus, lorry or taxi
Well, these are misconception. How noisy, dirty and powerful a vehicle is, is all dependent on the engine and fuel quality. BMW showed us that with a proper diesel engine and diesel fuel, a car can be more powerful due to the presence of the extra torque generated and in the same time more environment friendly (lesser emission of CO2 compared to petrol cars). In addition, fuel consumption is much lower than the regular petrol cars in BMW's Diesel Technology.
We were shown a few examples and tests during the drive and we are convinced that the Diesel Technology is good. In fact, it's better than petrol cars due to the following reasons;
- Emits less CO2 and dirt compared to petrol car
- Consumes less fuel (no refuel for entire 770km journey)
- More powerful thanks to the additional torque by diesel engine
- Diesel is cheaper than petrol by 10 sen at the moment. Lol
- The 320d and 520d are cheaper in comparison with 320i and 520i
If you're still having doubts about Diesel cars, go check out the BMW showrooms and ask for assistance and information. I'm sure they'll be helpful enough to enlighten you on the benefits of Diesel Cars.
I found my dream car after the BMW Drive. It's definitely gonna be a Beemer. ;)
Thank you Sashi from BMW and everyone for making this the best drive ever.
P.S. I wish I knew about the RM1/week for Twitter SMS during the drive. I ran out of credit for my BB service because I sent out an SMS to test whether it was working long time ago. So, every time when my credit is actually insufficient for my BB plan to work, there will still be RM2.40. If I knew there was a RM1/week Twitter service back then, I could have tweeted much much more. I had to rely on Wifi at Belum Resort which was alright, but it could have been much better.
Damn, why can't this page came out earlier. :(
Cheers
Robb
4 xtra squirt(s):
interesting post though it was a late entry.
gosh i miss ipoh. lol!
Reverse Psychology at work.
Don't. Look. At. The. Leg. Hair. *Looks* =/
ahhh i miss them cars! that was an awesome trip
Hey, what a cool thing to do! Is there anyway I can get involved in it too? (If there is one next time)
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