BMW M Experience: More than just fast cars
28 Mar 2025|1,742 views
When it's close to midnight and you're about to head to bed in your hotel room, you don't typically end up sitting on the balcony soaking in the cacophony of screaming engines that form the midnight symphony. And the instruments playing were wide-ranging: 911s, R8s and Corvettes were aplenty, but I even saw a DB5, a 300SL Gullwing and even a KTM X-Bow.
But then again, the W Abu Dhabi is no typical hotel. Sure, there are some hotels that overlook and sit adjacent to a racetrack, but the W Abu Dhabi is quite literally in the middle of one. The Yas Marina Circuit hosts the annual Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but also a whole host of events including track days (such as the one buzzing around the night I was there).
The Yas Marina Circuit, which wraps around the W Abu Dhabi hotel, is an ideal setting for the BMW M Experience
And it quite literally wraps around the hotel. The portion of the track from Turns 12 to 15 snakes around the hotel and under the bridge connecting the two blocks, offering guests front-row seats to the on-track action.
This is no ordinary venue, but it is a fitting place to host the BMW M Experience.
The BMW M Experience gives guests the chance to drive a range of M cars on a race track, and so much more
Pedal to the metal
What is the BMW M Experience? It's a month-long affair that brings together BMW dealers, owners and guests to experience the M brand.
This idea of putting customers on a race track isn't new. In fact, BMW already runs various driving experiences on race tracks in Germany, as well as the Snow & Ice Experience in Austria and Sweden.
These activities have proven worthwhile from a car-selling perspective. According to Silvia Neubauer, Vice President Customer, Brand, Sales at BMW M GmbH, one in five participants of such drive experiences end up purchasing an M car. In some of the more exclusive events, conversion rate has even gone up to 50%.
Core to the experience is the opportunity to unleash a range of M cars on a race track - arguably their "natural environment"
That's a business model that the brand surely wants to fast track.
This particular BMW M Experience is in some ways an extension of these existing programs, but also different as well. Where the Race Track Experiences are more focused on the technicalities of driving on a race track, here in Abu Dhabi it is a more wide-ranging experience that promotes breadth over depth.
A key draw is of course to experience the full performance of M cars on the race track - where many would consider such cars to be most 'at home'.
The Yas Marina Circuit offers a unique opportunity - to drive on the portion of track that you can quite literally see from your hotel room balcony
What that translates to on the Yas Marina Circuit is the opportunity to drive up to 5 different models - the M2 Coupe, M3 Touring, M4 Coupe, M5 Sedan, and M5 Touring (I managed to drive three of them).
It is worth highlighting that the 'M car' experience is far from singular.
A wagon with over 700bhp? Yep, the M5 Sedan/Touring pair delivers outrageous performance on a racetrack, yet still delivering a level of precision you expect from an M car
The M5 is clinically bruising. With over 700bhp and 1,000Nm of torque, all-wheel drive, and even a Boost function, the M5 obliterates straight stretches of the racetrack with hilarious ease. Through corners, the car’s alert front-end means that it is more than happy to change directions quickly, though quick left-rights in an almost 2.5 tonne car tends to beat some breath out of your lungs.
The M3 Touring is not quite as brutally quick, but still demonstrates that same steadiness and compliance to driver input. With four-wheel drive, it powers out of corners rabidly, putting its 503bhp to good use. And yes, it is still quite the chuckable car.
The M3 Touring delivers rabid yet surefooted performance
Compact, agile and quite playful, the M2 is a thrilling drive that will put a smile on anyone's face
The M2 lives far on the other end of the spectrum. Power is a not-insignificant 473bhp, but it's the car's compactness and liveliness that jumps out at you. Hard on the brakes into the first slow corner, the car wiggles underneath my bum - I burst out in laughter, though probably in equal parts glee and nervousness. Throttle inputs also have to be much less ham-footed, because here power is sent only to the rear wheels. We were told to leave the electronics on (definitely the right call), but the M2 still delights.
But the M Experience extends beyond just a track day.
What's better than launching a 738bhp BMW XM? Easy - doing it on a drag racing strip, and trying to beat the guy next to you to the quarter-mile mark
The Yas Marina Circuit also includes a drag racing strip, and that seems like an ideal place to unleash the extreme performance found in the XM. If 469bhp and 870Nm of torque isn't quite enough performance for you from the XM 50e, there's also the XM Label Red Edition that delivers 738bhp and 1,000Nm of torque.
I may not particularly love the idea of the XM, but there's no denying the effectiveness of its performance. And I will commend the car for standing up to the punishing heat and repeatedly being sent down the quarter-mile strip over and over and over again. No warning lights, no temperature issues, just down the strip, u-turn, reach the start line, and go again. I had to stop to find time to film - the car obediently just waiting for the next driver to belt up and launch it past the lights once more.
The M Mixed Reality combines the virtual and physical worlds, hooking up a driver with VR goggles into an actual car to deliver a unique driving experience
Performance can also be experienced in the virtual world, such as on driving simulators. Hooked up to a Cooler Master Dyn X rig, I could feel all the bumps and various forces associated with driving a M4 GT3 race car on the Yas Marina Circuit as I was trying to do my best racing driver impression (I wasn't very good, naturally).
BMW has also tried to merge the virtual and physical worlds, through something called M Mixed Reality. You drive a real car while wearing VR goggles, and it can turn an empty piece of tarmac into a small racetrack (there's even Mario Kart-like coins to collect in the game that you are playing).
Guests can also get up close with the latest BMW M products, including the iX M70 and M3 CS Touring
Time behind the wheel(s) is complemented by showcases of the latest that BMW M has to offer, such as the new iX M70 and M3 CS Touring, thus giving attendees to see the broad portfolio of what BMW M has to offer. And the day culminates with a unique dining experience - dinner served on the start/finish straight of the Yas Marina track.
The day culminated with a unique dinner on the start/finish straight, with an appearance by the M8 MotoGP Safety Car
Expanding experiences
This experience-based model isn't unique to BMW, of course. Other brands (typically high-performance land/or luxury ones) run similar events with two-fold intent: To deliver exciting opportunities to existing customers, and to woo new ones.
It's here worth asking the question: What is BMW M hoping to achieve?
With the M Experience, the brand looks to extend beyond the technical nature of track driving, and offer a broader (and in some ways more accessible) experience
While the M brand is traditionally associated with petrolheads and drivers who have an affinity for track driving, the undeniable reality is that the automotive world is evolving, and the M brand along with it. It's telling (though perhaps not so surprising) that the best-selling M model last year globally was the i4 M50 - an electric car.
As the products evolve, embracing electrification but also becoming more sophisticated and well-featured, and inevitably moving upwards on the price ladder as well (the XM is million-dollar car in Singapore), it is understandable that the brand wants to elevate the beyond-car experience as well.
The evolving nature of M cars, and M customers, is likely driving the brand's desire to elevate the beyond-car experience
The customers are likely evolving, too. BMW has some complex nomenclature when evaluating this - the brand calls them "clusters", such as 'affluent rationalists' and 'digital performers'. Whatever 'cluster' the customers may come from, there's a simplified reading into this: BMW M wants/needs new customers, and these new customers are likely not going to be exactly the same as those that have come before - less about just setting personal best lap times, more about the thrilling lifestyle that the M badge can deliver. (One can't help but wonder how much of it is driven by a newly-affluent crowd, and especially the Chinese market that makes up a quarter of the brand's global sales.) The need to expand to new customer groups (younger, more tech-savvy, less 'traditional' in their approach to motoring) demands a need to offer new opportunities and experiences.
Flying, then: Customers attending this BMW M Experience also get an opportunity to hop into a helicopter to see Abu Dhabi from a birds eye view. Sadly I spent most of the time on solid ground, with the exception of the boat ride to lunch. I was expecting a simple cruise, but instead we were taken on a brief high-speed run through the marina that included high-lean-angle turns that I guess is the aquatic equivalent of donuts.
The BMW M Experience arguably foretells the brand's future: Not just producing great cars, but also trying to deliver accompanying great experiences
BMW M has recorded 13 successive years of sales growth, but the brand wants more. This BMW M Experience perhaps foretells where the brand is going: Beyond simply making fast, exciting and engaging cars, BMW M wants to deliver "money-can't-buy" experiences. This M Experience will likely go on the road (there are after all many racetracks, or otherwise, around the world to explore).
But of course, it is actually a money-can-buy experience, to the tune of €5,900 for this particular Abu Dhabi iteration. The draw is both in the curated nature of the event, and the special metal that come along with it. The M cars form the skeletal base of the experience, but BMW M wants to build a more exciting, enticing and wide-ranging body around it.
As Neubauer puts it, "It's all about experiencing a lifestyle and bringing a community together". And of course, hopefully to get more people to buy more M cars.
When it's close to midnight and you're about to head to bed in your hotel room, you don't typically end up sitting on the balcony soaking in the cacophony of screaming engines that form the midnight symphony. And the instruments playing were wide-ranging: 911s, R8s and Corvettes were aplenty, but I even saw a DB5, a 300SL Gullwing and even a KTM X-Bow.
But then again, the W Abu Dhabi is no typical hotel. Sure, there are some hotels that overlook and sit adjacent to a racetrack, but the W Abu Dhabi is quite literally in the middle of one. The Yas Marina Circuit hosts the annual Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but also a whole host of events including track days (such as the one buzzing around the night I was there).
The Yas Marina Circuit, which wraps around the W Abu Dhabi hotel, is an ideal setting for the BMW M Experience
And it quite literally wraps around the hotel. The portion of the track from Turns 12 to 15 snakes around the hotel and under the bridge connecting the two blocks, offering guests front-row seats to the on-track action.
This is no ordinary venue, but it is a fitting place to host the BMW M Experience.
The BMW M Experience gives guests the chance to drive a range of M cars on a race track, and so much more
Pedal to the metal
What is the BMW M Experience? It's a month-long affair that brings together BMW dealers, owners and guests to experience the M brand.
This idea of putting customers on a race track isn't new. In fact, BMW already runs various driving experiences on race tracks in Germany, as well as the Snow & Ice Experience in Austria and Sweden.
These activities have proven worthwhile from a car-selling perspective. According to Silvia Neubauer, Vice President Customer, Brand, Sales at BMW M GmbH, one in five participants of such drive experiences end up purchasing an M car. In some of the more exclusive events, conversion rate has even gone up to 50%.
Core to the experience is the opportunity to unleash a range of M cars on a race track - arguably their "natural environment"
That's a business model that the brand surely wants to fast track.
This particular BMW M Experience is in some ways an extension of these existing programs, but also different as well. Where the Race Track Experiences are more focused on the technicalities of driving on a race track, here in Abu Dhabi it is a more wide-ranging experience that promotes breadth over depth.
A key draw is of course to experience the full performance of M cars on the race track - where many would consider such cars to be most 'at home'.
The Yas Marina Circuit offers a unique opportunity - to drive on the portion of track that you can quite literally see from your hotel room balcony
What that translates to on the Yas Marina Circuit is the opportunity to drive up to 5 different models - the M2 Coupe, M3 Touring, M4 Coupe, M5 Sedan, and M5 Touring (I managed to drive three of them).
It is worth highlighting that the 'M car' experience is far from singular.
A wagon with over 700bhp? Yep, the M5 Sedan/Touring pair delivers outrageous performance on a racetrack, yet still delivering a level of precision you expect from an M car
The M5 is clinically bruising. With over 700bhp and 1,000Nm of torque, all-wheel drive, and even a Boost function, the M5 obliterates straight stretches of the racetrack with hilarious ease. Through corners, the car’s alert front-end means that it is more than happy to change directions quickly, though quick left-rights in an almost 2.5 tonne car tends to beat some breath out of your lungs.
The M3 Touring is not quite as brutally quick, but still demonstrates that same steadiness and compliance to driver input. With four-wheel drive, it powers out of corners rabidly, putting its 503bhp to good use. And yes, it is still quite the chuckable car.
The M3 Touring delivers rabid yet surefooted performance
Compact, agile and quite playful, the M2 is a thrilling drive that will put a smile on anyone's face
The M2 lives far on the other end of the spectrum. Power is a not-insignificant 473bhp, but it's the car's compactness and liveliness that jumps out at you. Hard on the brakes into the first slow corner, the car wiggles underneath my bum - I burst out in laughter, though probably in equal parts glee and nervousness. Throttle inputs also have to be much less ham-footed, because here power is sent only to the rear wheels. We were told to leave the electronics on (definitely the right call), but the M2 still delights.
But the M Experience extends beyond just a track day.
What's better than launching a 738bhp BMW XM? Easy - doing it on a drag racing strip, and trying to beat the guy next to you to the quarter-mile mark
The Yas Marina Circuit also includes a drag racing strip, and that seems like an ideal place to unleash the extreme performance found in the XM. If 469bhp and 870Nm of torque isn't quite enough performance for you from the XM 50e, there's also the XM Label Red Edition that delivers 738bhp and 1,000Nm of torque.
I may not particularly love the idea of the XM, but there's no denying the effectiveness of its performance. And I will commend the car for standing up to the punishing heat and repeatedly being sent down the quarter-mile strip over and over and over again. No warning lights, no temperature issues, just down the strip, u-turn, reach the start line, and go again. I had to stop to find time to film - the car obediently just waiting for the next driver to belt up and launch it past the lights once more.
The M Mixed Reality combines the virtual and physical worlds, hooking up a driver with VR goggles into an actual car to deliver a unique driving experience
Performance can also be experienced in the virtual world, such as on driving simulators. Hooked up to a Cooler Master Dyn X rig, I could feel all the bumps and various forces associated with driving a M4 GT3 race car on the Yas Marina Circuit as I was trying to do my best racing driver impression (I wasn't very good, naturally).
BMW has also tried to merge the virtual and physical worlds, through something called M Mixed Reality. You drive a real car while wearing VR goggles, and it can turn an empty piece of tarmac into a small racetrack (there's even Mario Kart-like coins to collect in the game that you are playing).
Guests can also get up close with the latest BMW M products, including the iX M70 and M3 CS Touring
Time behind the wheel(s) is complemented by showcases of the latest that BMW M has to offer, such as the new iX M70 and M3 CS Touring, thus giving attendees to see the broad portfolio of what BMW M has to offer. And the day culminates with a unique dining experience - dinner served on the start/finish straight of the Yas Marina track.
The day culminated with a unique dinner on the start/finish straight, with an appearance by the M8 MotoGP Safety Car
Expanding experiences
This experience-based model isn't unique to BMW, of course. Other brands (typically high-performance land/or luxury ones) run similar events with two-fold intent: To deliver exciting opportunities to existing customers, and to woo new ones.
It's here worth asking the question: What is BMW M hoping to achieve?
With the M Experience, the brand looks to extend beyond the technical nature of track driving, and offer a broader (and in some ways more accessible) experience
While the M brand is traditionally associated with petrolheads and drivers who have an affinity for track driving, the undeniable reality is that the automotive world is evolving, and the M brand along with it. It's telling (though perhaps not so surprising) that the best-selling M model last year globally was the i4 M50 - an electric car.
As the products evolve, embracing electrification but also becoming more sophisticated and well-featured, and inevitably moving upwards on the price ladder as well (the XM is million-dollar car in Singapore), it is understandable that the brand wants to elevate the beyond-car experience as well.
The evolving nature of M cars, and M customers, is likely driving the brand's desire to elevate the beyond-car experience
The customers are likely evolving, too. BMW has some complex nomenclature when evaluating this - the brand calls them "clusters", such as 'affluent rationalists' and 'digital performers'. Whatever 'cluster' the customers may come from, there's a simplified reading into this: BMW M wants/needs new customers, and these new customers are likely not going to be exactly the same as those that have come before - less about just setting personal best lap times, more about the thrilling lifestyle that the M badge can deliver. (One can't help but wonder how much of it is driven by a newly-affluent crowd, and especially the Chinese market that makes up a quarter of the brand's global sales.) The need to expand to new customer groups (younger, more tech-savvy, less 'traditional' in their approach to motoring) demands a need to offer new opportunities and experiences.
Flying, then: Customers attending this BMW M Experience also get an opportunity to hop into a helicopter to see Abu Dhabi from a birds eye view. Sadly I spent most of the time on solid ground, with the exception of the boat ride to lunch. I was expecting a simple cruise, but instead we were taken on a brief high-speed run through the marina that included high-lean-angle turns that I guess is the aquatic equivalent of donuts.
The BMW M Experience arguably foretells the brand's future: Not just producing great cars, but also trying to deliver accompanying great experiences
BMW M has recorded 13 successive years of sales growth, but the brand wants more. This BMW M Experience perhaps foretells where the brand is going: Beyond simply making fast, exciting and engaging cars, BMW M wants to deliver "money-can't-buy" experiences. This M Experience will likely go on the road (there are after all many racetracks, or otherwise, around the world to explore).
But of course, it is actually a money-can-buy experience, to the tune of €5,900 for this particular Abu Dhabi iteration. The draw is both in the curated nature of the event, and the special metal that come along with it. The M cars form the skeletal base of the experience, but BMW M wants to build a more exciting, enticing and wide-ranging body around it.
As Neubauer puts it, "It's all about experiencing a lifestyle and bringing a community together". And of course, hopefully to get more people to buy more M cars.
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