2026 F66 S as loaner
Initial impressions after driving it about 25 miles:
I like the looks of the exterior. It's a bit plainer w/o, e.g., the hood scoop or side scuttles, yes, but the JCW package dresses it up nicely (and I'm not offended by that);
Overall, I also like the looks of the new interior. Yes, the dashboard and door inserts are hard and perhaps a bit cheap looking, but it's not like I would, e.g., ever take a nap with my face against them (think of the interesting pattern on your cheek, though!);
The OLED in the middle of the dash is just gorgeous;
The head-up display was all I needed, and I didn't miss having any other instrumentation in front of me one bit;
The lack of many physical controls does mean that's there's a bit of a learning curve, but I'm sure that I would quickly learn how to access the things I need;
I found the seat a bit soft, but would probably appreciate it if I drove a long way in the car. The steering wheel, OTOH, felt great in my hands;
The "Experiences" are a bit quirky, and the Go-Kart mode almost downright juvenile . . . unless you were trying to ring lots of performance out of the car, in which case the different shift points (? or so it seemed) would be helpful. If it were my car I would probably only switch to Go-Kart to impress passengers (which would certainly be fun);
That said, one benefit of Go-Kart mode would seem to be that it turns off auto start-stop, which I found especially annoying coming from an F56 SE;
So I really like the ride and handling (tires are Hankook Kinergy XP non-RFT in 215/17R215), but have yet to drive on any rougher roads;
Based on my butt dyno, I would say that my SE is faster 0-60 (especially 0-30) and probably about the same 50-70. The SE starts to run out of steam (er, electrons) quickly after that, though, so something to keep in mind if you regularly drive at high speeds;
It's looking like I will have the car at least through this weekend, so if anybody has any questions, features you'd like me to explore, etc., just say the word.
- To sum things up, I'd be quite happy with this as my car, if only it were electric - I just can't get past the additional noise and lack of drivetrain smoothness of the ICE drivetrain, not only at start-up (which is better in Go-Kart mode, but still delayed/less smooth vs. an electric motor) but even at speed (i.e., when you feel the transmission shifting).