[vj123]

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

I'm just partial because that's where I went for my 2 day and then later advanced

Besides, Thermal raceway is a phenomenal, phenomenal racetrack w/ great surface

Oh great. I will keep that in mind when i am planning to schedule mine in the future.

[azeemhafiz]

Originally Posted by mobike008

That's wonderful to know.

I have this free offer waiting to be taken up and I was thinking of Thermal as the location instead of Spartan as I would be moving to West Coast soon. Besides the point, have lot of friends in LA to catch up too

How was your overall experience? Which M cars did you drive? Any pictures/videos that you can share? Would be interesting to know and also sets an expectation on the overall experience.

Overall experience was great. I loved almost every single minute of it. I think the free one that you are talking about is a one day school. I would really recommend the two day school if you are looking at it.

The two day school starts with a bit of theory and then quite a few drills to get you comfortable w/ braking, cornering speeds and time on the skid pad. The time on Thermal track is somewhat limited and you are mostly driving the cars on Sport (not sport plus mode). There are a few competitions as well like rat race, clover leaf and timed autocross sections and they are a lot of fun. The cars I drove when I did the two day school was M2C, M3C, M4C and then M5 (competition was not available in the school in 2019. Day 2 is a few drills and then lead follow on South palm section of Thermal track. Loads of fun.

Advanced M school is honestly the real deal. You are spending more time in two very technical parts of Thermal track, the cars are more aggressive section, the skid pad exercise quickly turns to 'here is how you drift' exercise. There is more seat time on the M5C and the M4C during advanced M school. M2's use case is limited mostly to the performance center autocross section and not widely used at Thermal raceway. BMW typically uses cars that has CCB equipped on Thermal raceway. The lead follow and speeds on Thermal are really at another level. The instructors take their job very seriously and they are proud of their job being to teach people to drive fast.

Oh and they have private coaching 1/1 with an instructor too. That is really awesome. You can pick specific aspects you want to work on and they do a great job coaching. Highly recommended.

Overall, its an awesome experience. I don't want to hijack this thread and post a detailed experience, but I am happy to elaborate over PM. Let me know.

[vj123]

Finally i have a decision, long story short i will not be moving forward with my M2c purchase.

I visited my dealership this week and test drove a M240 coupe. Its similar to a M2 in form and had ZF 8speed which comes in the M3c, so i got a feel of both vehicles.

- Within a few minutes into the drive, we felt M2c would be too small for our liking and needs. So i cancelled by M2c order immediately so that dealer can update the current build allocation before it freezes.
- ZF 8 speed was not as i had expected. Even though it was a disappointment, i hope transmission tune in M3c is much better than the one in M240.
- Dealer had a M3c in Orbit grey and it looked fantastic. It might be one of our top picks when we order a M3c.
- M3c market is pretty hot as its in its first MY. I would wait for a little time for it to cool down and also the current situation to get a little better which might allow us to do a BMW factory delivery in the future.

I think one cant go wrong with either of these options but M3c met our needs better.

Again, thanks to everyone who contributed. The journey is much more interesting than the destination.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by vj123

The journey is much more interesting than the destination.

well said

but M3c met our needs better.

Next time, it will be a good idea to pitching the M5 too, if not brand new maybe a loved pre-owned

[vj123]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

well said

I placed factory order on most of my vehicles except GTIs (which didnt have several options) and most of them has the out of state. Whole process of finding the vehicle / dealer, order process and the 3 month wait makes this process whole better than walking out of the dealership with a vehicle on the same day.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Next time, it will be a good idea to pitching the M5 too, if not brand new maybe a loved pre-owned

I would definitely look into one before i zero in my M3c order

[vj123]

Closing the loop on this thread. I ended up buying a M3c and shared my buying & ownership experience in the below discussion.

Link (2022 BMW M3 Competition | Factory order & Ownership review)