Its been a glorious two years of driving. As such, I am very enthusiastic about this car. Is this thread overkill? Probably.
Sedona, AZ
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Crested Butte, CO
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Southeastern Utah
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Jasper, Alberta
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Glacier National Park
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The answer to the above question is a resounding yes. Yes, it is the best GT car in the BMW lineup. There, I made it easy for you.
Note: Therell be a lot more pictures at the end of my blathering.
My 2022 M850 turns 2 years old today and now has 36,500 miles. It has also become my favorite car……ever. And Ive driven nearly 820,000 miles so far, thus, I dont make this distinction lightly.
Granted, I havent owned gobs of BMWs – but, I have owned 10. The E60 5 series turned into the F10 5 series – all six cylinders, one MT. Then the first of the V-8s: an F10 550xi, a G30 M550xi, an F90 M5 Base and also an F90 LCI M5 Comp. All great cars. All great on the road. The fun factor really ratcheted up with the graduation to the V-8s. The M550 was sublime, even with “only” 456 HP. The M5s were insane, obviously. Part of me wanted an M8 (well, most of me….), but I thought the M850 might be the real sweet spot for what I wanted in a car. I needed very fast – check. I needed great styling – check (Duh). I needed luxury and comfort – check. (M cars can be a “tad” harsh, shall we say?) I needed close to M level handling – check. It has to be good in the snow – check. I wanted good daily driver capabilities – check. I wanted reliability for long, long trips – check. Thus, I now posit that the M850 does all of these things better, collectively, than any car in the BMW line-up. (Sure, the Alpina B8 ratchets things up quite a bit, but not “technically” a BMW.)
And, I dont care if anyone disagrees with me. I wont take offense if anyone has different thoughts. Sure, I havent driven every model of BMW. I dont need to. Will a 7 series chew up miles better while crossing the continent on an interstate? Maybe – but Ill kick their ass on a two lane road through the mountains in Wyoming and Colorado. Because I avoid freeways like the plague. Wheres the fun in that?
So, I brought this little Carbon Black beauty home a couple days before leaving on a long planned 4,200 mile trip that took us to Arizona and then over to San Diego for a family wedding. I was only 17 months into my 2021 M5Comp – which was a fabulous car – and really looking forward to taking it on this trip. But I felt the M850 was where I needed to be, so I pulled the trigger (it was on the lot) and headed off on a grand adventure – after a harrowing start. More later.
The M850 has been on 5 trips all over the Western US and Canada, travelling 17,800 miles over 62 total days. So, half of its mileage life has been on the road – away from my pothole laden city. Average daily mileage during the trips was 287 miles, with a high mileage day of 509 miles – where I stepped out the car fresh as a daisy. The only other car that let me do that was the M550. Power is effortless and smooth. It comes on like gangbusters, with the silky smooth transmission always seeming to be in the right gear. I can get nearly 500 miles on a tank of gas in the right conditions. The seats are more comfortable than the M5s. The A/C is fabulous – it actually blows lots of cold air out of the drivers front left side vent. Although the car is long and heavy, the rear wheel steering really shrinks the turning radius. I wish the trunk was a tad bigger. Ive never added oil, coolant or tire air on a trip. Hell, Ive never needed to add oil in any situation. The car has never had any problems. Zero.
Ive kept it mostly bone stock. It has the carbon roof and the Carbon Exterior Package. My only mods have been tints, a ceramic coat and and a set of Vossen HF5 wheels. The OEM tires and wheels on this size car are way too narrow. I took the fronts from an 8 inch 245 to a 9 inch 255 setup. The rears went from a 9 inch 275 to a 10.5 inch 295 setup.
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This also gave the car a wider stance. Handling and stability have been vastly improved and now it feels really planted in the corners. Passing in Sport+ is effortless – you dont need a lot of road to get around slower vehicles. Also, I should have at least PPFd the hood. It is a very long snout. Love the stock exhaust. Sure, theres things Ive missed about the M5 Comp – but I have zero regrets in making the switch. And, it feels nearly as fast.
Theres a lot of fabulous things to see on this side of the country. Ive done separate threads for each of the various trips over on the 8 forum. Heres a smattering of some of the best stuff – a little over a dozen or so pictures from each excursion. (Except Colorado. You cant do Colorado with just 15 pictures.) Theyre mostly just cars pics, but hopefully there is generally something interesting in the background. There are a few landscapes, where even a car as nice as an M850 would just wreck it.
The 5 Routes
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Trip #1 – April 2022: Death Valley, Grand Canyon, San Diego
4,220 Miles – 15 Days
The weather turned wild the second week of April. This was my deck, just a week before we were to leave. Good grief! I had four routes out of Oregon. All had passes over 5,000 feet. All buried in snow.
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The snow tires had just been taken off the M5 – I hadnt even thought about the M850 sitting down at my dealers lot. I didnt even know it existed, even though I am always checking their website for new arrivals. The mountain passes were all buried in snow. I didnt want to put the snow tires back on the M5 – it could be over 90 degrees in Arizona. I was leaving on Wed. the 20th. What to do? Well, on Fri. the 16th, you could look on the dealer website and see a nice Carbon Black M850 – with everything that you would spec, minus the Bowers & Wilkins. Is that a deal breaker? (Apparently not) My M5 lease would be up in Dec 2023, still 19 months away. Interest rates were about ready to skyrocket, M8 deals were non-existent. Maybe Id like the M850 ride a little better than the M5. The cost of money was definitely going to be higher in 19 months.
It doesnt hurt to go down and just look, right? I could get it when I get back. If I liked it. I scheduled a test drive with my CA. Dammit, I liked it. But, they didnt want an M5 with 4,000 more miles on it in 2 weeks (I was already over 23,000 miles), so I got a great deal on my lease buy-out, a great discount off MSRP and 2.75% financing. The deal came together on Mon. the 18th, but I still had a snow problem. My M5 snow wheels (705Ms) had the wrong offsets and the tires had quite the poke. It would have been impossible to source a snow set of tires to fit the OEM wheels in one day. So, my only option was my M550 snow wheels, a set of 664Ms. They should be compatible to the M850, they had good rubber on them (Pirelli Sotozero3) – but they were a non-staggered set, giving me only 8″ wide wheels at the corners with 245 wide tires. Obviously not ideal for this behemoth. Handling would suck, but I would most likely get out of Oregon. The 664Ms just cleared the calipers and 40 hours after taking possession, we were off, and headed for our first 5,000 snowy pass. Who buys a car a day and a half before you leave on a 4,200 mile trip?
It was flawless.
Even if it was a bit squirrely at times in the hot AZ sun. I think we saw the mid 90s a couple days.
Willamette Pass, OR – 5,000 Feet
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CA Hwy 139 – – Bring it!
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US Hwy 395, Mono Lake Vista – 7,500 feet
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The worst of the snow hit less than an hour later. At 6 PM we crossed Deadmans Summit at just over 8,000 feet. It was dark. It had just dropped to 28 degrees. The light snow turned into a blizzard blowing 50 mph sideways and visibility became a faint memory. We soldiered on. The car didnt really seem to give a shit that we were in snow (we never slipped) and 30 minutes later it was all over. The town of Bishop was just 20 miles away and brisket dinner was waiting. Day 2 was over. We had travelled 476 miles – we were now 768 miles from home.
All the snow and mountain passes were behind us. I hoped the snow tires would last another 3,452 miles in the heat and not just melt all over the tarmac.
US Hwy 395, south of Bishop, CA – Sierra Nevadas
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Badwater Road – Death Valley
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Badwater Basin – 280 feet below sea level
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CA Hwy 127 – Death Valley, CA
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South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park
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Courthouse Butte – Sedona, AZ
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Saguaro – Phoenix, AZ
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Jacaranda Tree – San Diego, CA]
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CA Hwy 1 – Pacific Coast Hwy (One of the finest stretches of road in all of the USA)
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Big Creek Bridge – Pacific Coast Hwy
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Bixby Bridge – Pacific Coast Hwy
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Trip #2 -September 2022: Colorado, Utah
4,083 Miles – 14 Days
Colorado in September is just phenomenal. Utah doesnt suck, either.
It was late September. We would eventually go over 12 passes above 10,000 feet. Snow threatened us again a few times. I was on summer tires. Made it without any problems.
CO Hwy 82 – Independence Pass, 12,095 feet
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Pikes Peak – Elev 14,115 feet
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Crested Butte, CO – Elev 9,000 feet
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CO Hwy 50 – Dillion Pinnacles
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Telluride, CO – Absolutely unreal
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US Hwy 550 – Million Dollar Highway, CO
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CO Hwy 65 – Grand Mesa
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Colorado National Monument – an unknown gem
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UT Hwy 128, near Moab, UT
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Dead Horse Point State Park
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Arches National Park
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Bonneville Salt Flats – they let you drive out there (I didnt)
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NV Hwy 140 – at Denio Junction (A lonely, lonely stretch of road)
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Trip #3 – April 2023: New Mexico
4,763 Miles – 16 Days
Time for a new state. Also fun just getting there.
US Hwy 20 – Juntura, OR
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UT Hwy 24 – near Torrey, UT (Fabulous scenery)
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UT Hwy 95 – Comb Ridge, SE UT
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UT Hwy 211 – Canyonlands National Park – Needles Dist.
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US Hwy 64 – Arizona/New Mexico border
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US Hwy 285 – Encino, NM
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Roswell, NM – The Truth is out There
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US Hwy 62 – New Mexico / Texas border
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White Sands National Park, NM
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US Hwy 395 – north of Bishop, CA
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CA Hwy 158 – June Lake, CA
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US Hwy 395 – Mono Lake Vista, Elev 7,500 feet
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Trip #4 – July 2023: Canadian Rockies
2,233 Miles – 9 Days
Back to our honeymoon stomping grounds.
Toppenish, WA – Murals everywhere
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WA Hwy 155 – Banks Lake
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Grand Coulee Dam, WA (Columbia River)
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Can Hwy 16 – Moose Lake, BC
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Yellowhead Hwy – Jasper, Alberta
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Jasper to Banff is possibly the best 178 miles of road in North America – absolutely stunning.
Icefields Hwy 93 – Jasper NP
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Endless Chain Ridge
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Ice Fields Hwy – Jasper NP
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Peyto Lake – It really IS that color
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Cascade Mountain & Banff, AB from Sulphur Mountain Gondola
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Mt Rundle & Banff
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Morants Curve – Bow River (Near Lake Louise)
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Can HWY 1 – Paget Peak, BC
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Can Hwy 1 – Rogers Pass, BC
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Trip #5 – September 2023: Yellowstone & Glacier National Parks
2,496 Miles -89 Days
Time to pick off two fabulous roads: Hwy 212 Beartooth Pass (MT & WY) & Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier NP.
Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
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Weather over Yellowstone Lake
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Shoshone River, WY
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Jim Mountain – Near Cody, WY(Dirty car)
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US Hwy 212 – Beartooth Pass, MT, high point goes to 10,947 feet
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US Hwy 89, near Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone NP
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US Hwy 191 – NE Yellowstone NP
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MT Hwy 86 – Bridger Canyon Road, MT
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US Hwy 89 – Fairfield, MT
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The views in Glacier Park are phenomenal.
Going-To-The-Sun Road – Glacier National Park
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Going-To-The-Sun Road – Glacier National Park
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Logan Pass – Elev 6,647 Feet
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Paradise Meadow
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US Hwy 12 – A fun stop in Pomeroy, WA
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Back home
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Ill say it again: The M850 is one fine automobile. Never get tired of hopping into it – even if its just a 2 mile run to the grocery store. I feel very fortunate and lucky to be able to experience these machines.
Might be looking at going back to Wyoming and Colorado for Round 6 in June.
Thanks for following along. Hope you enjoyed the journey.
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