BMW and M Power Owners

[TW]Fox · 7 Feb 2018 at 10:07

Amraam said:
How would added safeguarding spoil the car? I'm not going to be off hunting £200 for YBF, but a nice subtle camera is probably a good thing to in case of an RTC.

It's a camera not a forcefield, it isn't going to protect you from an accident. It's a company car anyway?

Django x2 · 7 Feb 2018 at 10:08

OOI, has Spotify through an iDevice (iPhone in this case) always provided album art to iDrive over BlueTooth? Android, doesn't (although Spotify obvs works)

This is connecting the phone to the car via BlueTooth not actually using any kind of car related Spotify app, just the one on the phone(s)

crinkleshoes · 7 Feb 2018 at 10:13

[TW]Fox said:
It's a camera not a forcefield, it isn't going to protect you from an accident. It's a company car anyway?

It's not a forcefield... but it does protect you from deceitful *********

I've been in 2 minor accidents and on both occasions the other driver tried to blame me... neither had any witnesses stop to offer their details... both were found to be 100% other driver's fault.

The first I was lucky, after that I got dashcams and it won the case in the second one.

Django x2 · 7 Feb 2018 at 10:16

Those Aventadors not come with dash cameras as standard?

[TW]Fox · 7 Feb 2018 at 10:52

crinkleshoes said:
The first I was lucky

Really? Most accidents are clear cut regardless of what the other driver might say. I doubt it was purely luck!

Amraam · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:00

[TW]Fox said:
Really? Most accidents are clear cut regardless of what the other driver might say. I doubt it was purely luck!

Not from what I've been reading. Dash cam footage is becoming more and more widely used in courts to settle claims. I'm not sure why you have such a beef about it? The majority of people that have one just want to cover their back, and why does it matter if it's a company car / lease or otherwise?

Dis86 · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:03

[TW]Fox said:
Really? Most accidents are clear cut regardless of what the other driver might say. I doubt it was purely luck!

I've just been shafted due to lack of evidence. Had a woman pull out of a bus stop in front of me. It's gone against me as she claimed she was already on the road and I've hit her. No witnesses. A dashcam would have proven my story.

Simon · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:07

Havana_UK said:
I've noticed exactly the same with the F80, it spins up SO easily! It's obviously got more power & torque than the M135i had but you had to actually try to get the rears spinning in that, whereas in the M3 you have to try not to! Must be something fundamentally different in the setup between the two cars...maybe it's the LSD, or maybe it's because of the DCT box instead of the ZF8?

V8 smoothness for the win

SDK^ · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:09

[TW]Fox said:
It's a camera not a forcefield, it isn't going to protect you from an accident. It's a company car anyway?

Extra evidence is always going to be useful. There are quite a few UK videos on Youtube of people deliberately jumping out in front of cars to get run over and claim compo, or the crash for cash incidents. Without the dashcam footage the driver would have been found to be at fault.

Insurance fraud is on the rise after all.

[TW]Fox · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:13

How many instances of that are there versus how many journeys made per year?

The internet hypes everything up and we now have a bunch of people operating their own private surveillance vans

Amraam · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:16

[TW]Fox said:
How many instances of that are there versus how many journeys made per year?

The internet hypes everything up and we now have a bunch of people operating their own private surveillance vans

Just like we have a lot of people running their own personal race track on public roads.

Roads are so busy now, and insurance fraud is getting more common etc. I'm not going to say people are daft for not having a camera, but I'm not following why you think they're such a bad idea.

Simon · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:17

Fox is just worried his next hedge trip will go viral

SDK^ · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:19

[TW]Fox said:
How many instances of that are there versus how many journeys made per year?

For sure, the risk is probably low of it happening to you BUT when it does it's a whole load of hassle and grief dealing with the claim, if you don't have a witness and/or camera footage.

chanjy · 7 Feb 2018 at 11:59

I can definitely see the benefit if you drive a lot, for an average user the cost of getting dashcams installed is likely to be more than the probability of making a difference in the unlikely event you have an accident x difference in your insurance premium

sigma · 7 Feb 2018 at 13:21

Django x2 said:
Honestly, you didn't £10 is literally 10 miles, and I'm not even joking....

No I made it up to look cool and attain some internet points... damn, you got me.

Perhaps it was £20. Wasn't the current M5 and he had a few cars. Also used part worns but I guess you already know that I didn't know this.

Amraam · 7 Feb 2018 at 13:39

Amraam said:
Has anyone hard wired a dash cam to a G30 5 series? Is it easy enough to do without pulling any trim off?

So yeah, any tips on hardwiring a dash cam on a G30? Is the front fuse box easy to get to?

batfink · 7 Feb 2018 at 13:39

Interesting experience yesterday attempting to see/drive a few cars. I'm after a 1-2 year old example from one of the below and a BMW was top of my list. The message from each dealer appeared to be the same with the particular models I had chosen:

Audi dealer.....
Interested in the A4 Avant 2.0TFSI 252bhp version. None available (very rare car, apparently) but they had an A5 with that engine. Test drive booked but they had sold it by the time I arrived;

BMW dealer no. 1.....
BMW 340i Touring. Very rare car, apparently. Do they have any other vehicles in their group with that engine (140i, 440i etc)? Nope, nothing. Not even a demonstrator.

VW dealer no. 1......
Golf R estate. Very rare car, apparently. Nothing available.

Mercedes dealer.....
C350e Estate. Very rare car, apparently. Nothing available, not even a C350e demonstrator (saloon or estate). And no matter how hard you try, I don't want a saloon version.
C43? Too expensive.

BMW dealer no. 2.....
BMW 340i. Very rare....(you get the picture!). Nothing available with that engine in their group stock. No demonstrator.
What about an F11 535i? Even rarer (which I already knew)
Do I want a diesel? I only do c. 7k miles a year so no, not really.

VW dealer no. 2......
Golf R estate. Very rare car, apparently. But I'm in luck, they've got a recently registered demo which is basic spec, in a colour I don't want and no options (eg. leather). Do I want to buy it? No! I want to drive one first. How will I know if I actually like it?

I didn't think it would be so difficult to get a test drive of these vehicles. It looks like dealers only cater to those after a 2.0D and nothing else. I have no problem buying a car at distance (eg. there are a few 340i's on the BMW AUC site) but I don't even know if I like it yet. All I want is a test drive of at least a couple of the above but it appears that they are all "very rare cars". Is the market really that small for fast, practical family cars?

Dis86 · 7 Feb 2018 at 13:45

Yes. Yes it is. Btw...what about a 28i/30i?

Gaygle · 7 Feb 2018 at 13:46

[TW]Fox said:
Really? Most accidents are clear cut regardless of what the other driver might say. I doubt it was purely luck!

Are they heck!

So many accidents go 50-50 because of what one, or both, parties being economical with the truth. Dashcams have numerous uses:

- Massively help in settling insurance claims in a way that is fair and not reliant on ropey witness accounts or drivers lying to try and escape liability.
- Can help against spurious personal injury claims.
- The driver with the dashcam may well change their driving because they know that their own driving is being recorded as much everyone elses.
- Can massively help secure convictions in serious collisions of various people's driving.

Sure, a dashcam is not a forcefield that protects you from having an accident, in the same way that a seatbelt is not a magic device that will prevent me having an accident. A seatbelt helps safeguard me from personal injury, a dashcam helps safeguard me from personal liability. This, to me, is obvious and I feel like your dislike of YouTube dashcam warriors who try and cause a near miss just so they can act all high and mighty is clouding your view of how useful the camera can be in many situations.

In the other thread, when talking about the BMW warranty, you were saying about how 500 quid per year isn't a lot of money to spend in the context of the car for the peace of mind it gives. A dashcam is £100 and is a one off purchase and gives lots of people peace of mind that if they should be involved in an accident, particularly one that wasn't their fault, it can be sorted out quickly and fairly without the usual circus of "You're saying they ran into the back of you, the other party is saying you reversed into them - there are no witnesses that can corroborate either story so it'll be settled 50-50".

[TW]Fox · 7 Feb 2018 at 13:50

Gaygle said:
the usual circus of "You're saying they ran into the back of you, the other party is saying you reversed into them - there are no witnesses that can corroborate either story so it'll be settled 50-50"

Which almost never happens outside of the minds of those convincing themselves to become a dashcammer. If you have someone run into the back of you unless they've got some proof you reversed into them at traffic lights for no apparent reason it's going against them.

Some European countries ban the use of dashcams. Why do you think that might be?