So I went on a 10 day trip to hit up 5 Canadian provinces and 3 American states to do video for special events that dealerships were putting on for the next 2 months. This time I just took pictures with my Samsung Galaxy S2X and iPhone 4. I left the "big" camera alone for doing work plus I didn't want to truck it around with me for personal pics. It seemed like my phone*cameras were good enough to capture memories from my trip. So here are some of the pictures I took so you guys can see what I kind of do!
So my trip starts from Vancouver airport to Montreal, then back to Toronto....kind of a strange way to get somewhere while using extra fuel but whatever gets me there....and this is what I find after parking the plane for 5 minutes:
My first choice of rental is a new Chrysler 300 which I love to drive because of it's awesome luxury, technology, engine, and pimp status. But now it's snowing and I'm slightly worried about my choice of RWD rental. I'm to drive more than half the distance I just flew within 5 days. I chose to get the new Grand Cherokee for $20 extra a day. Then I see this beautiful German on the security screen and jokingly ask if the company rents that one....and he said yes. I asked if it was AWD....he said yes. "So you're going to give me one heck of a snow deal on that vehicle right?" The rental car agent came back with $5 a day extra on top of the Grand Cherokee price. DONE!!! I signed off...took the key....and this is what I got for the next week:
Some of you wonder what model?
It's the engine of my choice...I know what a 335 is like...but what's up with this new 2.0L twin scroll turbo-boosted in a mini 5 series body?
First thing was program my phones into bluetooth:
Then it was time to park the car and go see my Aunt/Uncle/Cousin where I would stay overnight to save on hotels and eat good home cooked food.
The next morning it was time to hit up Montreal to meet up with my business partner and meet some new guys to our business but I detoured to Ottawa to have breakfast with more family before Montréal in the early afternoon. Here are some stats of my trip with this new engine:
I drove it quicker than I would but stayed very attentive as to not stand out to the police. I left cruise on at 77MPH but often sprinted 10mph quicker to get past groups of vehicles with a scapegoat ahead.
The ride was amazing for a stock 328i. It was light on it's toes and that turbo......It felt like my 330 but it didn't need to downshift aggressively as long as revs were just above 2,000RPM. I don't know what options are standard or optional but it had heated seats and a sunroof which was perfect to keep the cabin nice and bright and the driver nice and warm on a long drive. Finally I got to Montréal and valeted the car which they parked right at the front while other "normal" cars were quickly parked in the lot...LOL.
After an amazing dinner during meetings at 8pm it was time to meet our fellow ZHPMafia member in Montréal. He's Alexandre with the Imola Red ZHP. He sent me into this desolate industrial/college area where the streets are wide and noone around. It was as if we were meeting to exchange something shady in -10C/14F. I waited patiently at the end of the road so I was in full view. Then I see some beautiful cutoff HIDs....FX-R's....drool worthy! Then I see this semi-Imola Red E46. Is this the ZHPMafia member? No member would let his car get that dirty.....but it's true....Alexandre has probably the ZHP record to the volume of crap he can stick on his car. Windows roll down. First words from Alex...."Let's see how fast this thing is." "NOW?????" "YES." We line up the cars down a straight piece of road knowing there's a stop sign close by. Three.....TWO.....ZHP Borla exhaust is at 2,000RPM.....ONE.....Alex launches while I launch the steptronic 328 with an easy right foot stomp. Poor Alex scurries a moment for traction with his Blizzak LM60 winter tires trying to light a fire on the cold concrete. The 328 with Xdrive AWD and all seasons gets instant traction 100%. WHOOOOSH!! turbo is boosting and the 328 gets ahead of the ZHP in the first of 8 speeds. Alex trying to keep up gains his traction and is at the rear door of the 328. But the 328 has him and adds an extra car length by the end of the next gear. Sadly the stop sign summons us to cut the fun down to a calm 0MPH. The 328 stops before the ZHP. Windows down.....Alex is disappointed. His MAFIA graded vehicle is being handed a 2nd place from the base 328.... But the fun isn't over....excuses were made and a rematch is in planning. Three seconds later it's planned and it's time to get to the next stop sign in a hurry. THREE.....Alex is more conscious of winter tire slip.....TWO.......I sit there doing nothing but waiting to transfer left pedal to right pedal....ONE. We're off....but same result. The space was longer so the 328 got into 3rd gear before the next stop sign turned us legal again. So it seems like a 328 engine/8 speeds/AWD have a great advantage. I think a ZHP with summers in the summer would come to a break even match until speeds got higher then the 3.0L displacement would own the 2.0L.
After driving his car and him driving the 328 we parted our ways as I had to drive back to Toronto. A 5 hour drive starting at 9PM. So at 50 miles I got tired...LOL. I had to pull over into a dark exit, set a 20 minute timer and recline the seats. I did this 3 times and it took me 2.5 hours to go 100 miles. Then the rest of the trip I did it as if I was jacked on 5 Starbucks double expressos. Well the trip computer only measured my moving time from Montréal to Toronto and here it is with amazing results:
The next morning I was to drive to Windsor to film at a Chrysler dealership which is 225 miles away. Here's the car waiting patiently for the next road-trip:
On the way I needed a pick-me-up:
I get to the dealership and it looks like it's so cold, the cars are frozen to the ground:
Time to film!!
After a long day of driving and filming I head into the Holiday Inn to get a good night's rest for the next road-trip after a 4PM checkout! I had a lot of video to process and presentations for Audi of Canada. After doing I went out to shoot Windsor and across the river which is Detroit, Michigan.
It was freezing cold out so it was time to get back in the car and drive across the US border to Detroit. You can use this bridge to get across the river here:
Or you can take the tunnel which I did and I ended myself up right in the heart of Detroit downtown beside the iconic GM building:
I needed a place to pull over and snap a few pics and found myself here....LOL:
Then I switched locations to a place I knew was safer:
After that I ended in "the hood"...
I think this driver is from "the hood"...
Time to get to my hotel:
I stayed at the club level and went to the club lounge for some free dinner:
Smoked salmon, seared tuna, roast beef, fruits, veggies, and jumbo prawn salad.
Then time for a goods night rest in a sea of pillows and fluffy blankets:
The next morning I met up with my business partner whom I travelled with all day. It was time to visit dealers in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana as well as one of the guys who head up a certain brand/model of vehicles.....all in one day!
We got to Indiana and found this park were Wilbur Wright who pioneered flight had a memorial:
Time to film at the first/oldest Chrysler dealership in Indiana....
Finally after dinner I dropped my business partner off in Detroit while I continued my way to Toronto all in one day. We put on about 15 hours of driving together which was awesome because we were in a Bimmer!! On the way back by myself I wanted to know what the vehicle was like in high end acceleration so I put the vehicle dynamics into sport mode, moved the shift lever to DS, scanned the highway a mile ahead and put this baby into WOT until the engine wouldn't go anymore. Fortunately the limiter is low for the base model and I was stopped at 130mph on the speedo which is probably 115-120mph in GPS speeds. The vehicle ran up to that speed really fast. That turbo sure helps in rolling acceleration....passing time is very short because of boost!
I decided to drive home at normal speeds I would go now that I don't have the need for speed....Here is my fuel economy on the way back from across the border to Toronto:
According to the trip and distance to empty....my full tanks were easily pushing me past 500 miles per 19 gallon tank which is 2.5 gallons larger than the E46. If I drive my ZHP nicely in the suburbs or highway I can achieve 500 miles + with just my 16.5 gallon tank which leads me to believe that the 328 has marginally better mileage than a similarly driven ZHP. In the city the 328 will do better and at lower highway speeds it will do much better as I achieved 36MPG near the beginning of my trip.
Car is ready to go the next morning for some local meetings in Toronto finally....
At a competitors dealership to film so I park the BMW out of the way....LOL
Quiet on the set!!
Then I had to climb this ladder.....and all gear up...good thing they placed the top where the only patch of snow was!
The view from the top was spectacular of course if the goal was to show how much stock you had:
It looks like my design work and company programs/successes in the past has got our company marketing control for part of Audi Canada's 2013 year and hopefully further in the longterm. I was doing some video editing at the dealership while my partner was strategizing the year with the big guys.
And now the driving has come to the end with my little F30 that could. After dropping my business partner off at the airport for meetings I gassed up the car for return at Toronto airport. But after fueling the car up I needed to see what this baby could do at low speed but driven hard. I found a snowy parking lot to test the xDrive capabilities with traction aids off and I can verify that AWD oversteer is marvelous! After my few minutes of fun my fuel economy went WAY DOWN!!
It was a pleasure to drive this car 2,030 miles / 3,300km, even though it was base. While it is softer than the ZHP, it was welcomed on long distance driving for a nice sporty comfort. ECO mode helped keep the highest gear for economy, normal mode for city driving, and sport mode for increased throttle response and one lower gear than what normal mode would choose. Bump the gear shift lever over to DS and the program would drop another gear down which makes the 328's engine shine in responsiveness and fun. I only complain about the 4 cylinder sound....it's hard to make a nice refined/grown-up sound with a 4 banger. It'll always sound immature/trying to grow up/whiny when pushed hard. But I liked everything else about the car.
Now that I was flying with the CEO, I was doing everything at the top of the level. So I checked in first class ahead of time, bypassed long security lineups at the airport, and headed for the first class lounge for some peaceful time away from the busy airport before boarding for Ottawa:
Getting some mushroom soup, veggies, hummus and pita chips to snack on:
I chose to stay at the BMW sponsored side of the lounge:
But anywhere is pretty comfortable:
You're free to take as many magazines as you can read so I stacked up on close to 10 magazines to read at home....LOL. Luckily my roll-on luggage was able to handle an extra 10lbs of paper material!
You're also free to have as much of this as you wanted before your flight...
I got the pleasure to be the 1st person on the plane and the pleasure to watch what entertainment happens as people board like an official trying to find the Asian lady who brought on a carry on nearly larger than her 4'5 stature. LOL
We got in early so we ordered room service after a quick morning nap:
I finally got to drive the P.I.M.P mobile...LOL:
Time to position some key cars for a video-shoot....
The next day it was off to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Landing was interesting because there was so much snow in a non-chaotic mess. Here you see what they call "Mount Plow-more" because there is so much of it...LOL.
The airport was new so the hotel was further away and we needed to transport all our luggage so we just took the airport cart to the hotel...haha.
I upgraded my gear because I couldn't pan with the tripod I brought so now I had this to work with which is a pleasure to pan in all directions with. After donating my many organs and arms I got this!
This new tripod made filming much more fun and freshened up my interest in video...now if I could only figure out how they do it so well in movies and sports games...LOL
Back on the roof again!! The mound on the left behind the lot is a snow pile where bulldozers truck it up and empty!
After a busy day filming it was time to get in some "me" time for myself and the CEO. So a black sea mineral/sea salt bath and steam room getaway was in place.....
It's so frozen here in Winnipeg that cars have icicles hanging off of their cars!
After the spa is was time for a great pizza place for late dinner! Here's the caesar salad:
Gourmet pizzas:
Being the snap happy guy I am I asked the chef if I could snap a picture inside the wood fueled forno oven since we sat immediately in front of all the pizza making for our entertainment:
Next day...Sunday, it was off to Canada's largest Christian Church based in Winnipeg where they make an awesome program for connecting people to others and to put the Christian faith into real life examples to propel everyone to be successful in all parts of life.
I met one of the many film guys at the church and now I'm going to be buying a new toy...a shoulder mount from Amazon that's only $26!
http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-S...tudio+shoulder
Near the end of the day it was time to fly to Regina! So off we went to the lounge to get away from the regular airport busy-ness and did some work while having a great snack!
Can't forget dessert!
Even at 35,000 feet over populated areas there is still signal.....shhhhhhhh.....
We end up at this amazing hotel.....my favorite one so far because of it's "old world" feel and the amazing history it has. It's the only place the British Royals stay when they come to Regina.
The room is completely full of awesome and comfort...
The lobby and lounge are amazing in that you feel like you have been taken back a century...
The view outside the hotel suite window is just as "old world" themed minus the cars...
I love this hotel......
The pillows in this bed were epically like sleeping in a warm silky cloud...LOL
But sleep must come to an end and now I have to wake up...
The most awesome morning sugar boost..haha
You know when you're in a cold/snow laden city when....
Yes it's that cold.....
In the boardroom strategizing the multiple videos that need to be filmed. What vehicles we need, where we need them, how they need to be setup, etc...
Then I learn that I am filming a commercial that's supposed to go primetime at a local station...way to throw a lamb into the wolves guys!!
And of course...it's time to film up top again! This time my finger just about gets frost bitten....I'm just not ready for this...LOL
The view is incredible though:
Then coming down from the roof disaster strikes! My camera has been damaged, disabling the recording of external audio. We quickly run out and try to diagnose our problem further. We've got 30 minutes before specialty stores start to close. All diagnosis says this camera is no good anymore and we're at the most important video shoot we can be at. So what do we do? We head over to Best Buy to purchase a new DSLR. I chose the Canon T4i/650D to get up and running again. I upgrade to get the 18-135 STM lens and an extra battery because we need to film ASAP as we have 2 hours left of daylight. I have 10 minutes to learn how to use the camera and to use what power is left in the brand new battery while the other one charges. All in all we had absolutely no downtime and $1,200 later we were happy with our choice of path around the obstacle.
Like my new camera case?
The next morning we are off to Edmonton, Alberta. So at the airport we grab a quick breakfast at the lounge in Regina:
Obviously I didn't eat enough at the lounge so after arriving in Edmonton...
In Edmonton, yep....time to film again. This time it's warm out!! Didn't need a jacket even!
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Originally Posted by Tnhl1989
