BMW and M Power Owners

Gaygle · 5 Jul 2017 at 00:40

I bought one of those cheap ones from eBay for about £5. It's obviously not perfect, but it's very close to it, and with the fact it costs £5 as opposed to £40 makes a lot of sense. When it's on the car you quite simply wouldn't know it was not a genuine product. If I need to replace it every 3 years instead of every 5 then so be it. I can buy 8 fake badges for every one Genuine one.

panthro · 5 Jul 2017 at 07:55

Gaygle said:
I bought one of those cheap ones from eBay for about £5. It's obviously not perfect, but it's very close to it, and with the fact it costs £5 as opposed to £40 makes a lot of sense. When it's on the car you quite simply wouldn't know it was not a genuine product. If I need to replace it every 3 years instead of every 5 then so be it. I can buy 8 fake badges for every one Genuine one.

Pretty much this. I always buy the fake bonnet badges and wheel covers.

Lunawolfy · 5 Jul 2017 at 13:27

Car has been in the bodyshop for two days now

Sucks! 5-6 days to replace a fender, two wheels and respray

MoRT489 · 5 Jul 2017 at 14:17

Is anything in particular missing on the 'must-haves' list for this X3: http://usedcars.bmw.co.uk/X/2.0TD-x...24754-606355653-3497075.aspx?srcmdc=se_na_mf_
The only missing spec I can see is no service pack (not sure if this is already reflected in the price and if it can be a bargaining token) and it has heated front sport seats rather than electric memory seats.

panthro · 5 Jul 2017 at 14:27

Yes, 2 cylinders and 1L from the engine.

I can't believe they haven't brought the updated steering wheel across from the other models.

Did you know there's an all new X3 out shortly? Maybe bide your time; £30k is a lot of money to spend on an outgoing model.

MoRT489 · 5 Jul 2017 at 16:13

Would prefer the 30d obviously but that adds ~£5k and the speed limit here is capped at 40mph so it's not really necessary...

I did know about the new model out in November but, much as I would prefer the updated interior, that won't be available for under £30k for another 2-3 years so it's kind of irrelevant as I'm not buying new, although I suppose upon release current models might lose a bit of value (but then that will apply equally to the one I need to sell). I also can't believe they didn't bring across the new steering wheel!

My 2012 X3 (F25) is in need of a few things doing and the older it gets the more likely it is to need more/lose value, so I was thinking to upgrade now before it costs me a couple of grand which could instead be put towards a new car. I'd like to do the same with my 330i but the 4 series are still silly money.

Lunawolfy · 5 Jul 2017 at 17:21

Pretty sure the wheels are universal(ish). You can probably buy that 16 plate then just buy a spare wheel and have it changed (either at the dealers or yourself).

M-Sport wheel is pretty much mandatory IMO.

magicoi · 5 Jul 2017 at 17:29

Do you not want the visibility pack? High beam assist with adaptive lights are great - have them in mine.

Regards the revised m-sport wheel - it makes a big difference to the interior but to retrofit doesnt look cheap -0 look at the wheel on ebay! ouch!

Shame you cant stratch to the 30d but yeah they cost more.

[TW]Fox · 5 Jul 2017 at 17:45

Lunawolfy said:
M-Sport wheel is pretty much mandatory IMO.

It has the M Sport wheel - just the older one. The newer one looks better but the older one is a better wheel which feels more solidly put together. The new one is covered in cheap nasty creaky plastic.

[TW]Fox · 5 Jul 2017 at 17:49

magicoi said:
Do you not want the visibility pack?

I'm sure he does but finding very high specification cars with things like that fitted as well as everything else you'd want is very difficult when buying used.

MoRT489 · 5 Jul 2017 at 22:41

Would be nice, but as long as it has Xenons I'd be happy. Is there a way to get the VIN from the reg number so I can check the full factory spec? I've tried on the BMW warranty website but it doesn't let me go further as it says it has a warranty already.

Is the on board entertainment system the same in the F25 LCI as the earlier F25?

[TW]Fox · 5 Jul 2017 at 22:45

No, it's NBT in the LCI.

Robi · 7 Jul 2017 at 10:43

I know this question has been asked a million times, but is professional navigation worth it over business? I've been looking for an M135i for months now and I either find the car which ticks all the boxes but doesn't have pro nav, or the car does have pro nav but isn't estoril blue/black dakota for example. I'm genuinely starting to go insane now.

I don't think it's a budget issue either, as even when I up it from £20k to £22.5k it still appears that this option is rarely ticked. This strikes me as odd considering it's sought after and widely regarded as an essential option (albeit an expensive one). Admittedly I've only ever sat inside a car with pro nav, but in my opinion the larger screen just sits nicely and compliments the interior.

Dangerous Dave · 7 Jul 2017 at 10:49

Robi said:
I know this question has been asked a million times, but is professional navigation worth it over business? I've been looking for an M135i for months now and I either find the car which ticks all the boxes but doesn't have pro nav, or the car does have pro nav but isn't estoril blue/black dakota for example. I'm genuinely starting to go insane now.

I don't think it's a budget issue either, as even when I up it from £20k to £22.5k it still appears that this option is rarely ticked. This strikes me as odd considering it's sought after and widely regarded as an essential option. Admittedly I've only ever sat inside a car with pro nav, but in my opinion the larger screen just sits nicely and really does compliment the interior.

I wouldn't buy one without it but it is really if you need it or not, it is an easy retro fit if you want to go down that route.

My wife has a Mini with what is BMW business navigation and it seems perfectly fine, main thing that annoys me is due to the smaller screen you can't have split screen so no nav with the media details up.

Asking here probably isn't the best place as 99% of people will say you need it when in reality 95% of the general car buying public would be happy with the free business nav. My father in law doesn't even turn the radio on in his cars.

[TW]Fox · 7 Jul 2017 at 10:54

It's not that easy a retrofit.

xs2man · 7 Jul 2017 at 14:56

[TW]Fox said:
It's not that easy a retrofit.

Not that easy, but last time I looked it can be retrofitted, professionally, for around £1200 (http://www.autologics.co.uk/bmw-retrofit-navigation/BMW-f20-nbt-navigation), so if the car you really want comes up, and doesn't have it, at least you know there is the option to retrofit it. Cheaper than the £2.5k jump in budget you put in at least.

I wouldn't personally spec a car without it, and would likely discount most cars that don't have it. But then again, if you have a certain spec that your looking for, and you can get it all apart from this, after looking for ages, then it is worth considering.

Of course, warranty then becomes the issue here.

chroniclard · 7 Jul 2017 at 15:05

If your doing a million miles it might be worth it but otherwise the standard nav thing is fine.

Dangerous Dave · 7 Jul 2017 at 15:13

[TW]Fox said:
It's not that easy a retrofit.

I've done it twice and wouldn't say it was hard. Not anymore difficult than the RNS510/Bluetooth/midi/canbus controller install on a Golf.

I think the parts were around £700-800, my only concern would be warranty claims assuming they notice it. I doubt they could argue a gearbox failure etc

[TW]Fox · 7 Jul 2017 at 15:22

chroniclard said:
If your doing a million miles it might be worth it but otherwise the standard nav thing is fine.

Not sure I understand the relevance of the mileage. The main benefits are just how much nicer it makes interacting with the car rather than the navigation aspects.

chroniclard · 7 Jul 2017 at 15:35

M135i has much more important factors than a slightly fancier nav thing.