BMW Euro-kars & Kopi: Electrified breakfast drive to Kluang
17 Aug 2024|2,564 views
You can read the official range figures of an electric vehicle (EV) a hundred times over - perhaps even live with it daily in Singapore - in trying to find the assurance that it can go the distance.
But anxiety is often irrational. And that applies to anxiety about range too. The best way to overcome and disprove it? To face it head on yourself.
That's exactly the opportunity that BMW Eurokars Auto presented to a group of its BMW EV customers when it organised a breakfast drive up North in end-July. And not just across the border, too - but all the way to Kluang.
This particular day marked Sgcarmart's second breakfast drive with BMW Eurokars Auto's customers - but the first time that we were travelling with an EV fleet, with the only petrol-powered models being a few support cars
Same early start, different crew of BMWs this time
We mentioned it previously already in our breakfast drive with Eurokars a couple months back, but finding yourself in the BMW Eurokars Experience Centre at 5:10am - half-awake, and with the rest of the Leng Kee belt still shrouded in darkness and silence - is initially quite disorienting.
The pieces start to fall into place, however, when you realise that by the time the entire convoy has successfully pushed through the Second Link's two customs and arrived at a rendezvous point, we are still nowhere near sunrise. (To be exact, it is only 6:30am.)
A group of all electric BMWs, with their headlights piercing the darkness outside of the Petronas station just across the Second Link, is quite the sight to behold at 6:30am. Bonus points go to the i5 and i7 for their stunning Iconic Glow grilles
Ultra-early starts have their benefits. More manageable traffic aside, the entire morning awaits. Besides, how else do you get to relish the pinkish-blue glow of the sky as day breaks, while you're bearing down on the North-South Highway at rapid pace?
As a quick aside, I'm not too sure if BMW had pre-dawn breakfast drives on their checklists when first conceptualising the 'Iconic Glow' illumination on the kidney grilles of recent models. But here, at Gelang Patah R&R, the sight instils awe.
Providing the most pizazz on this drive are the biggest electric sedans on the pack: A couple of i7s and more recently-introduced i5s.
Still, looking around reveals other siblings within the family of varying shapes and smaller sizes - from formidable mid-sized offerings (the iX3 and the i4), to the properly compact (the iX1), and of course, to the all-guns-blazing tech flagship (the iX). If anything, this first visual speaks already to the way the BMW i family has grown over the years.
Today's drive will cover at least 280km up and down from the Singapore-Malaysian border - which actually works out to a nice sweet spot: Good enough for owners to put that 'anxiety' to the test, but also not bloated to the length that will require recharging to come into the picture.
Despite the not-insignificant distance of the Singapore-Kluang-Singapore round trip, all of the models here - from the i4 to the iX1 - easily have it in them to finish the drive and still have range to spare
On paper, it's the iX that has the shortest legs here - but even knocking a theoretical quarter off its WLTP-rated range of 425km, for real-world conditions, presents no issue for today's required mileage. The numbers just grow from there. With its rated 474km, the iX1 is surprisingly capable despite having the smallest battery, while the iX3 is not too far behind with 460km. Meanwhile, all the sedans are even better, with the i4 nearly hitting 500km, and the i5 and i7 hovering just slightly over and under 600km respectively.
Unfortunately, a lack of cars in the fleet means that we personally don't get to experience the thrill of the electric drive. But buckled into our combustion-powered 520i, we make quick progress towards Kluang Railway Coffee anyway - a good 1.5 hour drive away.
The same familiar driving experience
Unlike many other brands on the market, the path that BMW has chosen to pursue with its electric cars is an interesting one.
The decision to build effectively identical twins - electric versus combustion-powered - atop of the same platform means that from a user perspective, what we're getting in the 520i is remarkably similar to that in the customer i5s.
In this eighth-generation car, that means a very cushy, big-saloon experience with just the right amount of edge behind the wheel to not take the fun out of driving. There's also the amount of tech: Glowing grilles on the outside aside, we have our own light show on the inside too thanks to the car's Interaction Bar.
Other creature comforts include wireless phone mirroring (Waze is essential when driving up North), and a banging Harman/Kardon sound system for us to crank those road trip tunes up. On our Launch Edition car, we even get a high-definition head-up display that makes life on the road that bit more pleasant.
Creature comforts found on the all-electric i5 are found here on our 520i too, including a banging sound system, wireless phone mirroring, and a head-up display within its luxurious interior
Initially, I am slightly dismayed that we're not sharing the Eurokars customers' electric experience up to Kluang.
An earlier chat with a couple of drivers reveals that this will mark their longest drive. Fully electric too! I imagine this to be the sort of milestone, bucket-list morning for a not-insignificant number of the customers present. Not being able to share in the excitement of something so momentous for them feels like a shame.
But on the way to Kluang, the disappointment quickly melts away.
Sure, the silky-smooth propulsion offered by the i5's electric motor would have been nice. But the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine in the 520i is a workhorse eager for its legs to be stretched too, providing good punch even above three-digit speeds - and with a slightly rorty (synthetic enhancement notwithstanding) soundtrack to boot.
Cars and coffee: Re-energising with caffeine!
A point of note if you ever make the drive to Kluang yourself: There's more than one branch of Kluang Rail Coffee around the town centre, so if you get separated from a convoy midway, er, please take it upon yourself to quickly clarify the location. The original outlet - which is still there - got its name because it was situated right next to the KTM train station.
Established in 1938, the single humble stall has since grown into a franchise spanning different locations in Kluang. It's not wrong to think of this as a Ya Kun-equivalent on Malaysian soil, except with a far wider spread of local fare.
Beyond the (aromatic and strong) coffee and toast that's served here, other mainstays include mee siam, nasi lemak and mee rebus. Of course, you should expect to be well fed if you're joining Eurokars on its breakfast drives; the spread it provides here to its customers effectively spans the entire menu in a help-yourself buffet sitting.
Apart from the memory of a surreal convoy-drive to bring home, breakfast drives should also include the chance for some shopping.
Even before you've set foot through its gates, Kluang Coffee Powder Factory makes its presence known. And not just through the large words protruding from its roof, as well as the larger-than-life levitating coffee pot; the aroma of roasted coffee hits right as we swing the heavy doors of our 520i open.
If time permits, Kluang Coffee Powder Factory even offers quick guided tours around its grounds, coffee and otherwise. Already in the 'lobby' area, however, one can get up close with the factory's past with an entire photo wall documenting its milestones.
Coffee, part two: It wasn't just our stomachs, but our boots that were filled on this breakfast drive
Locals apparently even know this as 'Cap Televisyen', or 'Television Brand' coffee - a legacy of its founder's efforts to give his coffee some prestige back in the 1960s by associating it with television sets when the latter were a luxury for most households.
The place is also a great spot to grab very reasonably-priced coffee packs, made in-house, as well as keropok for friends and family at home. Perhaps even a second cuppa for the road?
Who's to say you can't do a breakfast drive - and a rather adventurous one too - even with an EV?
Singapore-Kluang-Singapore: All-electric (for the customers at least) and drama free
Some drama always makes the storytelling process more fun, but on this drive, there is none to spill. By 10:30am, the convoy is ready to roll back out to Singapore - all clearly with more than enough range left in their cars to spare.
We even overhear one car informing the support crew that they'll be breaking away and driving off solo from the Factory. Surely there is no bigger vote of confidence in the range of an EV than essentially saying, "We're actually fine on our own here, 140km away from Singapore."
Back at the border by lunch!
If our previous Eurokars breakfast drive demonstrated that you don't need to carve out too much of your weekend away for a cross-border drive, this one demonstrated that you can do it regardless of whether your BMW is propelled by a combustion engine or an electric motor too.
Earlier on in the morning, Ms. Charmain Kwee, Eurokars Group Executive Director, who herself drove the BMW i5 up, had shared with us that BMW Eurokars Auto had planned this drive for its customers "to really test the range of their cars and dissipate all their concerns regarding range anxiety". For these lucky owners today, we'd say: Mission accomplished.
Don't forget to check out these other Malaysian road trip stories here!
A hearty breakfast drive to Desaru
You can read the official range figures of an electric vehicle (EV) a hundred times over - perhaps even live with it daily in Singapore - in trying to find the assurance that it can go the distance.
But anxiety is often irrational. And that applies to anxiety about range too. The best way to overcome and disprove it? To face it head on yourself.
That's exactly the opportunity that BMW Eurokars Auto presented to a group of its BMW EV customers when it organised a breakfast drive up North in end-July. And not just across the border, too - but all the way to Kluang.
This particular day marked Sgcarmart's second breakfast drive with BMW Eurokars Auto's customers - but the first time that we were travelling with an EV fleet, with the only petrol-powered models being a few support cars
Same early start, different crew of BMWs this time
We mentioned it previously already in our breakfast drive with Eurokars a couple months back, but finding yourself in the BMW Eurokars Experience Centre at 5:10am - half-awake, and with the rest of the Leng Kee belt still shrouded in darkness and silence - is initially quite disorienting.
The pieces start to fall into place, however, when you realise that by the time the entire convoy has successfully pushed through the Second Link's two customs and arrived at a rendezvous point, we are still nowhere near sunrise. (To be exact, it is only 6:30am.)
A group of all electric BMWs, with their headlights piercing the darkness outside of the Petronas station just across the Second Link, is quite the sight to behold at 6:30am. Bonus points go to the i5 and i7 for their stunning Iconic Glow grilles
Ultra-early starts have their benefits. More manageable traffic aside, the entire morning awaits. Besides, how else do you get to relish the pinkish-blue glow of the sky as day breaks, while you're bearing down on the North-South Highway at rapid pace?
As a quick aside, I'm not too sure if BMW had pre-dawn breakfast drives on their checklists when first conceptualising the 'Iconic Glow' illumination on the kidney grilles of recent models. But here, at Gelang Patah R&R, the sight instils awe.
Providing the most pizazz on this drive are the biggest electric sedans on the pack: A couple of i7s and more recently-introduced i5s.
Still, looking around reveals other siblings within the family of varying shapes and smaller sizes - from formidable mid-sized offerings (the iX3 and the i4), to the properly compact (the iX1), and of course, to the all-guns-blazing tech flagship (the iX). If anything, this first visual speaks already to the way the BMW i family has grown over the years.
Today's drive will cover at least 280km up and down from the Singapore-Malaysian border - which actually works out to a nice sweet spot: Good enough for owners to put that 'anxiety' to the test, but also not bloated to the length that will require recharging to come into the picture.
Despite the not-insignificant distance of the Singapore-Kluang-Singapore round trip, all of the models here - from the i4 to the iX1 - easily have it in them to finish the drive and still have range to spare
On paper, it's the iX that has the shortest legs here - but even knocking a theoretical quarter off its WLTP-rated range of 425km, for real-world conditions, presents no issue for today's required mileage. The numbers just grow from there. With its rated 474km, the iX1 is surprisingly capable despite having the smallest battery, while the iX3 is not too far behind with 460km. Meanwhile, all the sedans are even better, with the i4 nearly hitting 500km, and the i5 and i7 hovering just slightly over and under 600km respectively.
Unfortunately, a lack of cars in the fleet means that we personally don't get to experience the thrill of the electric drive. But buckled into our combustion-powered 520i, we make quick progress towards Kluang Railway Coffee anyway - a good 1.5 hour drive away.
The same familiar driving experience
Unlike many other brands on the market, the path that BMW has chosen to pursue with its electric cars is an interesting one.
The decision to build effectively identical twins - electric versus combustion-powered - atop of the same platform means that from a user perspective, what we're getting in the 520i is remarkably similar to that in the customer i5s.
In this eighth-generation car, that means a very cushy, big-saloon experience with just the right amount of edge behind the wheel to not take the fun out of driving. There's also the amount of tech: Glowing grilles on the outside aside, we have our own light show on the inside too thanks to the car's Interaction Bar.
Other creature comforts include wireless phone mirroring (Waze is essential when driving up North), and a banging Harman/Kardon sound system for us to crank those road trip tunes up. On our Launch Edition car, we even get a high-definition head-up display that makes life on the road that bit more pleasant.
Creature comforts found on the all-electric i5 are found here on our 520i too, including a banging sound system, wireless phone mirroring, and a head-up display within its luxurious interior
Initially, I am slightly dismayed that we're not sharing the Eurokars customers' electric experience up to Kluang.
An earlier chat with a couple of drivers reveals that this will mark their longest drive. Fully electric too! I imagine this to be the sort of milestone, bucket-list morning for a not-insignificant number of the customers present. Not being able to share in the excitement of something so momentous for them feels like a shame.
But on the way to Kluang, the disappointment quickly melts away.
Sure, the silky-smooth propulsion offered by the i5's electric motor would have been nice. But the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine in the 520i is a workhorse eager for its legs to be stretched too, providing good punch even above three-digit speeds - and with a slightly rorty (synthetic enhancement notwithstanding) soundtrack to boot.
Cars and coffee: Re-energising with caffeine!
A point of note if you ever make the drive to Kluang yourself: There's more than one branch of Kluang Rail Coffee around the town centre, so if you get separated from a convoy midway, er, please take it upon yourself to quickly clarify the location. The original outlet - which is still there - got its name because it was situated right next to the KTM train station.
Established in 1938, the single humble stall has since grown into a franchise spanning different locations in Kluang. It's not wrong to think of this as a Ya Kun-equivalent on Malaysian soil, except with a far wider spread of local fare.
Beyond the (aromatic and strong) coffee and toast that's served here, other mainstays include mee siam, nasi lemak and mee rebus. Of course, you should expect to be well fed if you're joining Eurokars on its breakfast drives; the spread it provides here to its customers effectively spans the entire menu in a help-yourself buffet sitting.
Apart from the memory of a surreal convoy-drive to bring home, breakfast drives should also include the chance for some shopping.
Even before you've set foot through its gates, Kluang Coffee Powder Factory makes its presence known. And not just through the large words protruding from its roof, as well as the larger-than-life levitating coffee pot; the aroma of roasted coffee hits right as we swing the heavy doors of our 520i open.
If time permits, Kluang Coffee Powder Factory even offers quick guided tours around its grounds, coffee and otherwise. Already in the 'lobby' area, however, one can get up close with the factory's past with an entire photo wall documenting its milestones.
Coffee, part two: It wasn't just our stomachs, but our boots that were filled on this breakfast drive
Locals apparently even know this as 'Cap Televisyen', or 'Television Brand' coffee - a legacy of its founder's efforts to give his coffee some prestige back in the 1960s by associating it with television sets when the latter were a luxury for most households.
The place is also a great spot to grab very reasonably-priced coffee packs, made in-house, as well as keropok for friends and family at home. Perhaps even a second cuppa for the road?
Who's to say you can't do a breakfast drive - and a rather adventurous one too - even with an EV?
Singapore-Kluang-Singapore: All-electric (for the customers at least) and drama free
Some drama always makes the storytelling process more fun, but on this drive, there is none to spill. By 10:30am, the convoy is ready to roll back out to Singapore - all clearly with more than enough range left in their cars to spare.
We even overhear one car informing the support crew that they'll be breaking away and driving off solo from the Factory. Surely there is no bigger vote of confidence in the range of an EV than essentially saying, "We're actually fine on our own here, 140km away from Singapore."
Back at the border by lunch!
If our previous Eurokars breakfast drive demonstrated that you don't need to carve out too much of your weekend away for a cross-border drive, this one demonstrated that you can do it regardless of whether your BMW is propelled by a combustion engine or an electric motor too.
Earlier on in the morning, Ms. Charmain Kwee, Eurokars Group Executive Director, who herself drove the BMW i5 up, had shared with us that BMW Eurokars Auto had planned this drive for its customers "to really test the range of their cars and dissipate all their concerns regarding range anxiety". For these lucky owners today, we'd say: Mission accomplished.
Don't forget to check out these other Malaysian road trip stories here!
A hearty breakfast drive to Desaru
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