[NYC_340i]

My friends and I have a tradition of going to these every year and we have been doing these for the past 4 years or so.

This year I did the UDE in Long Island, Metlife in NJ and the Citizens Bank in Philly and it's a really fun way to spend a morning. It's been the same formula every year with the autocross, street drives, a few cars to look at, and a special activity (it was an xDrive experience for a while and is now the PHEV experience).

I feel like there is a good mix of people who go to these for the first time who are non-bmw owners along with bmw owners who are regulars to these events. I pretty much am familiar with most of the staff that work in these events and they sometimes recognize me and they love seeing people come back year after year.

I believe BMW is going a great job with these events and their shift in marketing strategies. Getting people more hands on experience and driver's seat time in these cars really make a big impact in persuading people to spend money and get them into a BMW. It really makes sense how BMW stopped participating in autoshows to instead focus more on hands on experiences.