BMW and M Power Owners
- Thread starter panthro
- Start date
We keep umming and aahing between that and an m2 Comp.. 3 series newer tech and more practical but that m2...
I had one made to order, waiting at the port when the lockdown hit and the world turned upside down. Decided to cancel and wait it out since it was a large amount to sink into a depreciating asset and I was not being forced into an upgrade. But I am still mooning after it, and every time I see a G20 on the road I think they look pretty handsome.
Don't do it! It'll melt your eyes.
Honesty Fox, you’re a top notch member and I really appreciate your posts so I don’t mean to wind you up, but aren’t you bored?
You clearly have plenty of budget and a real enthusiasm for cars, are you not bored of warm german saloons? You could try all manner of other types/manufacturers and you might actually love them. Why don’t you jump into a 911 or an F type maybe, you obviously like something with a bit of punch but still a comfy daily.
yeah, buy A GSF or something if you still want a saloon.
It will be way more involving than the BMW for sure
Good luck getting anything nearly new for £30-35k.
I guess if you’re frequently using the back seats sure, boots are plenty though. Can count on one hand the times I used the back seats of my 3 series in 2 years, so went back to a Z4.And the F Type/911 are useless in terms of practicality compared to a 3 Series. Pretty sure Fox would hate the Jaguar quality-wisealthough the F Type is much nicer than the woeful XF.
Maybe it’s just me but I’d like to mix it up a bit after a decade of the same.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
It's just my thing I guess - I have no real desire to own anything more exotic and whilst I like and appreciate proper sports cars I don't really want one. I've always had a real thing for saloons - I was the guy who watched Gone in 60 Seconds at the cinema before I could even drive and wanted the detectives 540i over anything else in the film.
For me a car and driving is more than just raw performance numbers or pure driving thrill - it's about the entire package. We love road trips and always have done (Having done many all over the world) and that's reflected in my taste for more touring type cars than outright performance cars. I don't drive cars hard or particularly fast and so the additional talent of something like a 911 would be absolutely lost on me. I simply don't have the ability or inclination to drive one properly and if you're not going to do that then your focus tends to be on the more boring stuff which, invariably, isn't as good in cars like that (Imagine having a poor infotainment system. The horror!)
I like to have the latest tech, I like nice infotainment systems, I like pleasing interiors and I like the whole 'Do everything' area of the car market - I guess I'm a dull and boring person at heart and find the best car is always the best compromise and the best blend of everything. I don't want a car that's really quick but has a naff interior, or that costs an absolute fortune to run, or whatever. I'm also fairly risk averse so I always want a cast iron warranty, too.
So my motoring enjoyment comes from spec and car cleaning and driving nice cars to nice places, rather than lap times and outright performance.
So this is why I tend to end up in BMW Saloons - not because I'm blind to anything else but because invariably if there is a car that goes reasonably quickly yet efficiently, is comfortable and high tech inside yet decent looking on the outside, handles nicely but remains comfortable and isn't a bankrupting proposition to own and live with it tends to be a BMW saloon.
Which explains the M340i. It's far quicker than I need or want but a BMW saloon must have a 6 cylinder engine. As much as I like my 530d and as fantastic as the current range of BMW diesels are (and they really, really are fantastic, I've driven them all including the absolutely astonishing M550d) I don't think my future usage or the marketplace lends itself to a diesel for my next car. So that pretty much leaves the M340i.
I've settled on the idea of replacing both our cars every 5 years or so and I've had the F10 5 years next year. It's a great car and I still absolutely love it. But I don't do the mileage I used to when I first got it.
Fair enough, I guess it’s a case of ain’t broke don’t fix it.
What’s your opinion on the hybrids, seems to fit your style better than a whole hog 340i. Personally I found my 330e ludicrously comfortable to drive in traffic because of the electrification, it’s like having a silent torque converter for crawling traffic and a fast petrol for everything else.
What’s your opinion on the hybrids, seems to fit your style better than a whole hog 340i. Personally I found my 330e ludicrously comfortable to drive in traffic because of the electrification, it’s like having a silent torque converter for crawling traffic and a fast petrol for everything else.
Ideally, I would actually like a plug-in hybrid. But..
330e/530e are both 4 cylinder petrol engines with small fuel tanks
545e is on paper absolutely perfect but I am on the fence about what they've done with the G30 5 Series facelift. Especially the wheels, of which all options seem to have contracted out to Halfords.
I will replace our Mini with a Mini Electric in a couple of years so the EV element I guess is covered there.
330e/530e are both 4 cylinder petrol engines with small fuel tanks
545e is on paper absolutely perfect but I am on the fence about what they've done with the G30 5 Series facelift. Especially the wheels, of which all options seem to have contracted out to Halfords.
I will replace our Mini with a Mini Electric in a couple of years so the EV element I guess is covered there.
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 7,607
We won’t mention the time when TW crashed his BMW during spirited driving 
which one the current m4 or the new 4 series?
The new 4. Gopping.
I quite liked it on the website and the interior is definately a step up
The front looks like horrendous oriental stereotype! Buck teeth, slanted eyes. Ironic that it's been designed largely to appeal to the Asian market.
The current m4 however is really good looking. I was just massively disappointed with it in terms of power application and handling.
Me too. I do need a Porsche in my life at some point so I've just started researching the facelifted Macan, but there's no getting away from the fact that it has an interior from 2014 and the prices are really high. The servicing costs are crazy too, so whilst they hold their values well, you are paying for the privilege.
Have you found any AUC cars with Driving Assistance Pro yet? Annoyingly it's not in the list of filters so you have to click on every car and look for it.
My minimum spec is Tech Pack and Premium Pack. Comfort Pack would be nice for the heated steering wheel, but it's not a necessity. It's a shame that so many of the cars are spec'd with the Shadowline Pack.
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Oct 2006
- Posts
- 3,640
One thing to bare in mind with the 3 Series is that the additional hardware for using Apple Wallet app to access the car is only available from July 2020 build onwards. You’d hope that as part of this and the over the air updates that they will be able to make use of the new Apple APIs to allow car play to put the navigation graphics on the HUD/instrument cluster.
At the same time BMW announced that some options with be available on subscription like adaptive cruise/high beam assit/heated steering wheel. For that to work the hardware needs to be present it will be interesting to see if all new build have the radar on the front although as far as I can tell the adaptive cruise on Minis/i3s only uses the camera system to detect traffic so they might be offering a lesser option using the camera which is already standard on the 3 Series.
At the same time BMW announced that some options with be available on subscription like adaptive cruise/high beam assit/heated steering wheel. For that to work the hardware needs to be present it will be interesting to see if all new build have the radar on the front although as far as I can tell the adaptive cruise on Minis/i3s only uses the camera system to detect traffic so they might be offering a lesser option using the camera which is already standard on the 3 Series.
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