BMW Car Club - Scotland
Visit to Eastern BMW (M Power), Newbridge - 7th October 2012
Following on from our successful dealer event back in March we received an invitation from Grieg Black the Mpower manager at the Eastern dealership in Edinburgh. Greig wanted us to come along with the club and they would put on an event just for us.
Eastern a long established family company whose roots go back to 1927 when John Brown set up the company, have not been selling BMWs for all these years, their BMW dealership on Corstorphine Road was an Edinburgh landmark for nigh on 35 years, well it was for me anyway. Things move on though and in August 2009 the BMW and Mini set up moved to a custom built premises at Edinburgh’s Luxury Car Village, Newbridge, Edinburgh which is the company’s flagship showroom and what a nice place it is! A few of the Scottish Region M owners are already customers of Eastern’s Mpower certified dealership.
Our E46 M3 owning chair woman Issy Phillips worked with Grieg to come up with a plan and the M Power Day was born and scheduled in to coincide with the region’s October monthly meet. On a fresh sunny Sunday morning 22 cars turned up to decorate the environs of the Eastern BMW site. We were welcomed by Sales Manager Gregg Murray and Sales Executive Bellal Abbas (Billy) who stepped in at the last minute to ensure the arrangements all went smoothly. They opened the site two hours early to allow us to have the showroom and facilities exclusively before they opened to the public. They were so impressed, even a bit taken aback by the quality of our cars and three of the best were picked out to take pride of place at the front of the premises. Gary Morgan’s E30 M3 sport evolution, Azzy Razaq’s E36 M3 GT and John McCall’s E46 M3 CSL all literally outshone a new E93 M3 brought out from the showroom. Four generations of the M3 were a sight to behold!
On the clubs stand there were a further four E46 M3’s including Graham Paterson’s cabriolet in individual Mora, with Innes Chapmans E36 M3 Evo in Velvet Blue both looking stunning in the sun that shone all day. Cambell Stephenson’s E60 M5 was also looking good leaving the rest of the cars to be shiny(sic) understudies for the day.
With the cars parked and the inevitable last minutes detailing done we were invited in for a most welcome coffee and hot rolls for breakfast, well the ones who listened to Issy got them! We were all struck at this point by how welcoming the staff were, something that did not change through the day and a big thanks to Gregg, Billy and also Sales Executive Anthony Davidson who all looked after us during the day. After the refreshments the workshop tours began, again big thank you to Service Manager Derek Drummond and M technician Mike Tasker. Not only did we get a tour of their immaculate facilities, the mysteries of the double vanos were explained, an E96 M3 was stripped down to make this all the more clear. Many queries and questions were answered about members cars and a couple of cars even got a quick check over. Issy was chuffed that the sub frame on her E46 M3 was in such fine fettle after a quick inspection up on the ramp!
Even with our display the star of the day was the undoubtedly new M6 and we all took turns to have a seat in the lovely machine including the kids, John Adams son Josh aged 9 and Davie Walker M3 owner aged 48. I have say Davies wee face fair lit up when he got to play with the M6’s head up display!
With all the delights of the dedicated BMW showroom a few of the club guys wandered across the site to the Mini showroom where they looked goggle eyed at the Mini Goodwood with its luxurious interior of Rolls Royce made leather and cashmere.
About this time we thought the day was coming to an end when the Eastern guys pulled out another bunny from their bag of tricks, some rather (over?) generous goody bags, details only known by those who were there! All of this goodwill and help was not one way. This staff at Eastern were genuinely interested in the members cars and asked pertinent questions about them and we even gave them some additional information about the history of the immaculate BMW Isetta bubble car from the 50’s which sits on display in the showroom.
The arrangements were that we would be at the showroom from 10am till 2pm so I was quite surprised when I looked at my watch to find out that it was nearly 4pm and the staff had not bodily thrown us out yet! Yes they were that nice.
After the meet a few of us retired to a local eatery and discussed the day, I then went home and checked the forums; the reaction was the same in both. On this occasion it was not the usual after meet comments about a great day out with mates and comments regarding erudite “banter”, no it was praise for Eastern BMW and the reception from their staff quickly followed by comments like ‘I will be using them in future’. This showroom certainly lives up to the company’s business ethos being geared up to giving ‘The Ultimate Customer Experience’. Well BMW is the Ultimate Driving machine after all!
So it was another great day out made so by the organisational skills and nervous tension of our regional chair Issy Phillips whose final word on the meet shall be my final words of the article “One of my top days with the club I think!”
Words Sandy Fleming and Pictures - Neil Robinson (NeRo)
A few of my photos from the day ...
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