BMW Experience Shanghai, a mere distraction

A trip to the acclaimed China Art Palace would have been perfect. If only it wasn’t right beside BMW Experience Shanghai.

“Daddy, look… car museum!” Pangzi said.

I took a double take and sure enough BMW Experience Shanghai appeared before my eyes. It wasn’t there before, at least not during my last visit.

“Oh, BMW Experience Shanghai is quite new,” the ambassador explained as we entered the building. “It’s the first of its kind in the world.”

At 2,000sqm, BMW Experience Shanghai accommodates a number of new models, on top of a permanent vintage collection of cars and motorcycles.

I struggled to recall why I’d agreed to make a detour to this place. Pangzi wasn’t even a BMW fan.

But it was a welcome temporary shelter from the harsh wintry cold outside. The displays were few and far from impressive.

The German cafe looked good though. I thought I could sit down for a while and let Pangzi explore the centre by himself, but he insisted on taking me along.

“Daddy, look… a cool jeep! What brand is this?”

“You’re at BMW Experience Shanghai. What do you think?” I rolled my eyes.

“Daddy, what’s an experience centre for?”

Errrr, selfies?

In one corner we found a station that seemed to be of more practical use. When Pangzi coloured his dream car on the tablet provided and projected it onto the white car canvas, it came alive via AR.

At another station, he got to try a racing game (free arcade entertainment!) but the software seemed spoilt. Most of the time he was driving backward.

After his 16th attempt he finally became bored, and asked for some real driving action.

I thought I saw a driving track outside the building, but when I took him there, it turned out to be no more than a baby’s playground.

The good news was, we were finally out of BMW Experience Shanghai. Not stepping in again.

We were here: