BMW Eco Drive 2010. Destination, Bali.

Following up on my drive of the X1 on local roads, we now head off to a nearby island called Bali for a special ECO Drive event focusing on the “Efficiency and Dynamism” of the current and latest fleet of BMWs.



On hand were a number of BMWs with petrol and diesel variants for us to pick from. X1s, F10s, X5s and even a 5-Series GT. We were all paired up and my ride for the morning (thanks to my co-driver) was the X1 sDrive18i. I wasn’t complaining as having just driven it a couple of days ago, a new driving environment might give me additional insight into the car. Oh, we were all supposed to be driving efficiently too.

Some lessons for efficient driving, gradual acceleration good, foot to the floor, bad. Less weight good, more weight, bad. Always look ahead of you and plan your approach, anticipate the traffic ahead and adjust your driving style accordingly. If you really want to save more fuel, turn off your air-conditioning. (It’ll smell bad though, no points from me if you do it)

For those of you who have been to Bali, you’d know that the roads aren’t exactly marble-top smooth nor wide. Roads here are bumpy, narrow and thanks to an earlier downpour, rather wet. Not the best place for a big car you’d imagine, the X1 then, is probably the pick of the bunch to navigate across this island. It’s smaller footprint allowing you to plot a nice line though the local roads and the locals avoid getting drenched when the little X1 drives by without plowing through muddy puddles.

The “sporty” ride (read: slightly stiff), although a tad hard, never borders on uncomfortable and the X1 remains composed throughout. On these small roads, the engine never really gets to stretch and in that sense, the modest power output from the smaller 4 cylinder didn’t really bother me. Through the small narrow bends leading up to our rendezvous point, the X1 showcased it’s car-like tractability and handling. To be truthful, by now, I’d thrown away all notion of driving frugally. So, more “Dynamics”, less “Efficient” all the way (sorry) to our rest stop, The Peak.


I’d have to give a mention to the spot chosen for freshening up, set by a cliff side overlooking the Uluwatu Surf Beach, it was Oh My God beautiful. A magnificent view of the ocean straight ahead and clear blue waters down below. It is stunning to behold.





Watermelon juice in hand, I snapped off a few shots before my co-driver took over the wheel for the return leg of our morning excursion.

What did I learn from the morning session? Well, I learnt that driving in Bali wasn’t as daunting as I’d imagined and that the X1’s small size was a great help in transversing all the narrow roads in and around Bali (Especially when we got lost on the way back and ended up in some plantation area). If it can do Bali with such ease, the narrowest carparks in Singapore won’t stand a chance against the X1.

Brimming with confidence after successfully negotiating the narrow roads, I opted for the X5 for our afternoon session. Just for comparisons sake really. Oh yes, I chose a diesel too. Strangely, even after driving so many new BMWs, I’ve never gone behind the wheel of the X5 before. On Singapore roads, the X5’s positively big, in Bali, It was ridiculous. It sure had presence, locals oogled, kids waved, and security officials saluted. They all seemed to love the X5. Baller-status achieved then, all I needed was some rap music and gold chains.

For reasons unknown, my co-pilot and I chose to drive as “efficiently” as we could. No issues for me as the interior of the X5 was a great place to be, you’d never imagine you were in a diesel powered vehicle, no chatter from the engine and with the foot down, the exhaust bellows like a proper petrol-engine. From the outside though, different story.

Sunroof drawn, climate controls set to a manageable level. The X5 cruised down Bali effortlessly. It is strange how easy this big car drove, even easier then the X1 to be honest. I’ve always had a slight issue with the adaptive steering systems in modern cars but here, on these roads, at these speeds (slow), It was the best aspect of the X5. Allowing for a relaxing cruise down lanes flanked by rice fields and the occasional cow. When power was called up to do some overtaking, the turbo diesel served up a whallop of torque to slingshot us up the road. Torque is good and delicious.

End of the day, we headed back for a regroup and had our Eyum-Pee-Geees tallied up. The pair of drivers who manage to put the biggest gap between those in the morning were the winners. I didn’t win sadly. (The winners drove without aircon under the Bali sun.)


A presentation on future BMW Efficient Dynamics technologies followed and through it all, what did interest me was the implementation of Thermoelectric power. Converting wasted heat energy into electrical energy. About 2/3s of energy from engines are actually wasted through heat. With Thermoelectric power, this heat energy can be converted back into electrical energy to power parts of the car or to help out with the drivetrain.

All in all, it really was quite an interesting look into what goes into each and every modern BMW to make them drive as efficiently as possible, most of these systems run without us even noticing. So, can Efficiency and Dynamism co exist together? BMW seems to think so and for us, that can only be a good thing.

Big thanks to the kind folks at BMW Asia and Performance Motors for letting me participate in this event and eating all that great Balinese food.