BMW and M Power Owners

Soldato
Joined
17 Sep 2007
Posts
11,095
Location
West Yorkshire / Market Bosworth
I am getting to grips with iDrive, it is a good infotainment system but hate to say it, the Audi virtual cockpit is better in my opinion. The Audi system just seems easier to use and more intuitive.

Would never pay for carplay over built in navigation. It would be a nice to have and fair play if your car has a media screen with no built in nav. But who would actually pay extra for it every month?
 
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Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
I too find little use for Carplay beyond providing navigation where it otherwise wouldn't exist. I have found it useful in rental cars without navigation, but if the car has a good inbuilt navigation system with realtime traffic I don't find Carplay at all useful. I don't want to be looking at messaging services whilst driving which seems to be the main advantage it has over an integrated system.
 
Associate
Joined
3 Apr 2011
Posts
1,912
Location
York
hiya, about to swap my thermostat around in my e46 m3 (2005) and rather than do a full engine flush, just going to replace the lost coolant,

I was about to order comma g48 green, but after looking at my coolant, its definitely blue.





all I can find from the service history is B83.51.2.355.290 1.5ltrs
what coolant would you recommend?.
 
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Soldato
Joined
8 Aug 2003
Posts
2,539
Location
Cambridge(ish)
What are peoples thoughts on the M4 Competition Pack? Looked a new one yesterday as BMW have 0% APR on 4-series but even with some pushing it's still a car likely to lose £40k in 4 years which doesn't really appeal so I took a 1 year old one out today which should see closer to £20k in depreciation over 3 years (still not ideal). Looking as a replacement for both 5GT & Evora, was impressed with the ride given all the reviews state that it is shocking, engine felt good (though didn't sound great) but couldn't really push engine or handling given it was damp, greasy and cold and the M4's do have somewhat of a reputation!
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Aug 2003
Posts
2,539
Location
Cambridge(ish)
You presumably already know this, but this is likely because its one of the few cars left on the old F Series platforms first seen in 2008. The 3 Series has recently ended production, I'd imagine the 4 isn't far behind it.

Yup, was seeing if they were offering any hefty discounts as well but nothing amazing hence taking a look at 1-2 year old models.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
15,686
Location
East of England
What are peoples thoughts on the M4 Competition Pack? Looked a new one yesterday as BMW have 0% APR on 4-series but even with some pushing it's still a car likely to lose £40k in 4 years which doesn't really appeal so I took a 1 year old one out today which should see closer to £20k in depreciation over 3 years (still not ideal). Looking as a replacement for both 5GT & Evora, was impressed with the ride given all the reviews state that it is shocking, engine felt good (though didn't sound great) but couldn't really push engine or handling given it was damp, greasy and cold and the M4's do have somewhat of a reputation!

Can be very skittish in the wet and they sound flat, but look good, go like hell and drive well. If you're worried about depreciation I wouldn't go anywhere near a brand new one.

You can currently get 2017 models with 10k miles on the clock for ~£40k. They still are under manufacturers warranty, barely used and have already done £25k depreciation in 18 months. In 3 years, a £40k M4 will be with about £25-30k I reckon.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2004
Posts
21,490
Location
Oxfordshire
I found the M4 CP very underwhelming to drive. Really poor turbo lag and sounded so disappointing. Felt great in corners and felt nice to drive when not gunning it, but it was just extremely disappointing. Luckily I test drove it properly after BMW initially took me on a very poor test drive which didn't show much of the car off at all, as I was quite close to pulling the trigger at first but thankfully didn't.

Also, the carbon roof was ridiculously noisy. Both of the drives, all I could hear was creaking and a rattling type noise from the roof. Was infuriating.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
26,251
Location
Here
hiya, about to swap my thermostat around in my e46 m3 (2005) and rather than do a full engine flush, just going to replace the lost coolant,

I was about to order comma g48 green, but after looking at my coolant, its definitely blue.

all I can find from the service history is B83.51.2.355.290 1.5ltrs
what coolant would you recommend?.

G48 is officially blue/green so anything G48 will be Ok
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Aug 2003
Posts
2,539
Location
Cambridge(ish)
Can be very skittish in the wet and they sound flat, but look good, go like hell and drive well. If you're worried about depreciation I wouldn't go anywhere near a brand new one.

You can currently get 2017 models with 10k miles on the clock for ~£40k. They still are under manufacturers warranty, barely used and have already done £25k depreciation in 18 months. In 3 years, a £40k M4 will be with about £25-30k I reckon.

I drove a 1 year old one yesterday and it felt new so certainly wouldn't be entertaining a new one at anywhere near retail pricing. Did sound flat in normal mode but in sports mode it did sound much better (though still not a patch on my Evora (not a fair comparison given what I've done to Evora exhaust)). Really couldn't open it up given the road conditions but even keeping it <4k rpm it was going down the road faster than most things could hope for flat out.


I found the M4 CP very underwhelming to drive. Really poor turbo lag and sounded so disappointing. Felt great in corners and felt nice to drive when not gunning it, but it was just extremely disappointing. Luckily I test drove it properly after BMW initially took me on a very poor test drive which didn't show much of the car off at all, as I was quite close to pulling the trigger at first but thankfully didn't.

Also, the carbon roof was ridiculously noisy. Both of the drives, all I could hear was creaking and a rattling type noise from the roof. Was infuriating.

The roof is bonded in and stiffer than metal, not sure why it would creak. Mine doesnt

The M3 I test drove did exactly the same as well :(

No noise from the roof of the one I drove yesterday but interesting to hear thanks. Turbo lag a low revs was noticeable but once a few revs were on, whilst there it did spool up very quickly.



Caught up with Sales person for the new car this morning and basically said not a chance at the price you've given me, whilst typing this I've had a call back from a Business Manager who didn't laugh at the price I told her would be needed to "get me in the car in December" so we'll see what she comes back with. Just to complicate matters I've just make an offer on a friends V8 Vantage (4.7 manual) that he is half thinking of selling.
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Mar 2013
Posts
9,121
I believe setting one of the many optiooptions to sports permenamtly runs some gas through the turbos to try and eliminate the lag. Not sure which option it is, or if it's just internet bs.
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Posts
25,812
Location
On the road....
The few times I drove an M4 (non Comp, don’t know if it’s different) I was extremely impressed with the relative lack of lag, I grew up on RS Turbo Escorts and drove a few Sierra Cosworths which had massive lag, compared to one of those the M4 feels normally aspirated by comparison, it’s relative to what you’ve experienced before I guess.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Sep 2007
Posts
11,095
Location
West Yorkshire / Market Bosworth
Just had a brown trouser moment on the slip road in the M2. As I was joining the motorway, must have put my foot down a bit too much for the conditions (tires may have been cold as I had only set off 10 mins before), it felt like the back end of the car snakes about 1 metre side to side. God knows what the car in the lane next to me was thinking.

Clearly I haven’t quite got used to RWD life but the greasy conditions probably did not help.

This car seems to attract idiots though as the car in the other lane was so eager to push on from the lights I thought it was going to crash on the corner.

I seem to attract some idiot on a daily basis, usually someone tailgating me for no reason. I really don’t understand it.
 
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