BMW and M Power Owners

Dropped my M340i Touring off at my local dealer this morning for its brake fluid service. They gave me an i4 M Sport eDrive40 for a loan car (car is filthy as I've just driven it back from the dealer). Interesting thing to drive (never driven a full EV before), it feels fairly 'brisk' (0-60 is quoted at 5.7 seconds I believe) in Sport mode and I (weirdly) quite like the electric Millenium Falcon 'spaceship' noise it makes when you put the foot down :D

I think the iDrive 8 screens and functionality would take a bit of getting used to coming from iDrive 7 in my G21. It's nice and crisp/responsive and the screen size is substantially larger but I don't find it very intuitive and some of the screens with car settings etc look like you are staring at a Windows PC monitor full of folders! The main dash display I'm not so keen on - there's far too much going on in it and it just doesn't read as easy as my G21 dash in my opinion. That said, I'd guess you wouldn't be long in getting used to it all if you drove it regularly. Quite a nice colour too (I think it's Tanzanite Blue?).

I'm off work today and I've got it all day until mine is ready, so might go out for more of a play in it before I'm due to pick mine back up :cool:

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dlockers said:
I reckon inverting the car interior must be a significant design headache and hardly worth it for some of the items.
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It wouldnt take anything with some things. Things like all wheels arent available for the UK. That cant have anything to do with LHD/RHD. Same with the full panoramic sunroof on a lot of models. EU get a choice of Sky lounge or the half cost full panoramic roof. UK just gets the full price sky lounge and you have to have it with the B&O stereo option in the UK, you cant just have the sunroof by itself.

None of that is design related, its just a decision by somebody in BMW.
 
NVP said:
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Had a nosey around an i5 yesterday as was there for a "service" on the i3 :rolleyes:

Very nice, but rather large! Lovely interior, but still not a fan of the lack of buttons and the new iDrive would take some time to get used to.
Also a shame BMW never bother with front boots...
 
Does this mean I can start posting in this thread now?

Picked up the new family runaround this morning, a 2021 BMW 320D Touring M Sport which has done 17500 miles.

Comes with the Tech Pack and M Sport Pro Pack.

It's an upgrade from a 2006 320D Touring M Sport (I guess I could have posted here anyway...) which has done 187000 miles and is starting to get a long list of issues.

Things I like so far? The Wireless Android Auto, the HUD, the comfort and probably yet more things I'm going to discover.

Things I'm unsure about? The gesture control, it may wear off fast and I'm sure once my son realises he can mess with it might get turned off soon.

Here's a few pics:

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And props to Williams BMW for throwing in a free BMW Teddy for my son too :D

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Just out of curiosity how long does it take in seconds roughly for wireless Android Auto to start up when you first get into the car? I've got a wireless AA dongle in my car which takes approximately 25 to 30 seconds from getting in the car until it prompts me to start Android Auto.

I'd presume a head unit with wireless AA built in would start up quicker?
 
nlel1975 said:
Just out of curiosity how long does it take in seconds roughly for wireless Android Auto to start up when you first get into the car? I've got a wireless AA dongle in my car which takes approximately 25 to 30 seconds from getting in the car until it prompts me to start Android Auto.

I'd presume a head unit with wireless AA built in would start up quicker?
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In my mums Q4 by the time my seatbelt is on and I’ve got the car in drive it’s on the screen.
 
nlel1975 said:
Just out of curiosity how long does it take in seconds roughly for wireless Android Auto to start up when you first get into the car? I've got a wireless AA dongle in my car which takes approximately 25 to 30 seconds from getting in the car until it prompts me to start Android Auto.

I'd presume a head unit with wireless AA built in would start up quicker?
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Same as above, get sat in with the belt on and car in drive its ready to go.

Not sure how much it relies on the phone though, my new 2016 Camaro had Android Auto. I had a Samsung Galaxy S5 at the time and it was sluggish using the touch screen in the car.

I upgraded to a new Galaxy S7 afew months after having the car and the Android Auto performance improved dramatically.

I guess its basically just screen mirroring and the phone is doing the work anyway. Which makes sense.
 
Mad_Jay said:
Not sure how much it relies on the phone though, my new 2016 Camaro had Android Auto. I had a Samsung Galaxy S5 at the time and it was sluggish using the touch screen in the car.
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I bought a used Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini off eBay in September 2019 for £53.90 to use with wired Android Auto and it wasn't very good. So bought a Motorola Moto g8 Power for £165 in July 2020 after months of struggling and that was much better.

Then I bought a Motorola MA1 Wireless adapter and had to buy a new phone as the Motorola Moto g8 Power didn't support 5ghz WiFi. Ended up with a Samsung Galaxy A34 5G for £205.62.

Its all working as intended.
 
Test driving a 2019 plate 4 Series Gran Coupe tomorrow. Any pointers on what to check for/ask?

Given the choice, would you go for 4WD or happy with standard RWD? The test drive car is RWD but there's another with X Drive on Cazoo we're considering.
 
4wd is only available on the 20d and 35d iirc?

my 4 coupe and now 4 gran coupe has not thrown up any faults in the time i have owned them
'13 428i coupe - 2017-2021
'18 440i gc - 2021-present
 
Cadder said:
Test driving a 2019 plate 4 Series Gran Coupe tomorrow. Any pointers on what to check for/ask?

Given the choice, would you go for 4WD or happy with standard RWD? The test drive car is RWD but there's another with X Drive on Cazoo we're considering.
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I'd go for neither of them and I'd buy a different car.

It's not that there is anything wrong with them, but it's a very old platform now and 2019 was one of the last years produced. You are therefore presumably going to be paying a significant amount of money for a car which is essentially a 2011 3 Series.

A 2019 3 Series instead will be a much better car and is a brand new platform. I'd look at one of these, instead.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I'd go for neither of them and I'd buy a different car.

It's not that there is anything wrong with them, but it's a very old platform now and 2019 was one of the last years produced. You are therefore presumably going to be paying a significant amount of money for a car which is essentially a 2011 3 Series.

A 2019 3 Series instead will be a much better car and is a brand new platform. I'd look at one of these, instead.
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Thanks for the advice. The same age and mileage 3 series estates are a few grand more though and we're stretching our budget as it stands.

Would an older - say 2017 - 3 or 5 series be better than a 2019 4 series Gran Coupe?
 
Cadder said:
Test driving a 2019 plate 4 Series Gran Coupe tomorrow. Any pointers on what to check for/ask?

Given the choice, would you go for 4WD or happy with standard RWD? The test drive car is RWD but there's another with X Drive on Cazoo we're considering.
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Ignore fox. He seems to think the number 4 == the number 3.
 
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