Last week, BMW flew some BMW fans into Leipzig to test drive the new BMW 1 Series M Coupe. Many of them, already owners of BMW 1 Series', headed to 1Addicts to post their primeval reviews of the car.

"Personally, obviously I am not a professional road-tester and nor am I even a weekend track warrior, but I think this car is going to be great. It won't be for that vocal minority looking for a stripped-out screamer, but the rest of us will I suspect think it is fantastic, rather as Chris Harris appears to. It feels much more different from the 135i than you'd expect and actually a bit more like an E92 M3. In fact, I'd guess that BMW had the E46 M3 in mind when developing this car. " wrote Woland's Advocate 

And there were more…

"I always thought the steering in my 135 was well weighted with great feedback, but the 1M took it to a telepathic level. The retuned suspension, wider track, and larger grippier tires are certainly confidence inspiring, providing much sharper handling than that of my 135 and without feeling hefty like that of an M3. I also say that knowing we never really got to use the tires to their full potential in the cold and wet conditions. The car does feel much flatter in the corners, but will oversteer a bit if you near it. The 1M also rides much firmer with these changes, but not to the point of adversely affecting the ride which is still quite comfortable."  JasonCSU

This seems to be a trick more and more carmakers are picking up. Get a bunch of fans together– or a bunch of people who've won a test drive contest style–  send 'em somewhere cool to drive the car and then let social networking do its unstopable thang. How much establishment do you place into these consumer test drives? I've got to say that the 1Addicts did a darned good job here, but other attempts have not been as transparent and thorough.

And then there's our test drive of a prototype BMW 1 Series M Coupe here.

( 1Addicts )