[deepfreak15]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Some good news to beat the dreary pandemic broadcasts. We picked up a 330i Sport in Mediterranean Blue with the Sensatec Black interiors!

Some pictures for your enjoyment as of now. Still sinking in so a more detailed post later :-)

Amazing congrats on your new purchase. Wishing tons of fun with this car.

[akash.1318]

Originally Posted by jfk1975

Since I dropped by when @itwasntme picked up his sweet ride yesterday, and I haven't posted yet, he shamed me into doing this . We both share the same salesman too.

I picked up my 330i M Sport circa mid-March, just before the lockdown. Too early to start an ownership thread since I've barely had a chance to take it out.

I uploaded the 330i M Sport Specification Sheet and BSI Package brochures as well.

Being the owner of the 1st 330i to be sold in KA, was a bit skeptical on the car and it's broader acceptance. Glad to see people are warming up to it. Bump for the White with Mocha, matches with mine. Planning to get the M Body Kits installed soon

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Congratulations, this is the best colour combo you can get in 3 series...

Thank you, Turbanator. Your garage is an inspiration for any BMW fanatic.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Awesome... You were pretty much drooling all over the BMW threads lol.
So which car goes out? Skoda or Creta?

Thanks, Vid. Yes, the drooling was getting downright embarrassing wasn't it? . Sold both the Creta and the Octavia to highly deserving passionate car/bike nuts, who are also sleepers on this forum.

Originally Posted by AirWind

Ah, finally an end to a l-o-n-g-i-s-h search ... Congratulations! Serious drool machine!
Time to change the DP, eh?

Thank you, yes!

Originally Posted by sv97

Congratulations!!! A great purchase and hope you got a great deal as well in the current situation.

Thanks, deal was not a stunner BUT I was done waiting!

Originally Posted by akash.1318

Welcome to the Club.
The Sport mode exhaust will keep you company no matter where you go. You won't ever get bored of it, I can promise you that.

Thank you akash.1318, will soon find out if the neighbours are car buffs or not, when I cold start on a BLR morning. I wake up pretty early so a quick drive is highly possible. Maybe I can figure out an equivalent to the Mercedes AMG Emotion Start? It is there on the newer M cars I believe:

https://youtu.be/iekKpX0STEs

Originally Posted by avira_tk

I knew something was up when you were defending super long term loans for luxury cars. Congrats on the buy.

Thank you. Bought cash down at the end - our financial advisor is still catatonic as I type this.

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Congratulations mate...I knew when i first interacted with you that you do not want to wait any longer, you just had your eyes set on this one.

Thank you coolboy007. Without the virtual support of BMW fanatics like you, santoshbhat, anandpadhye, jfk1975, Motor_breathing, reachanoop, d3mon, Dr.AD and countless others, the beancounter side of me would have done the math over and over again without taking the jump.

Originally Posted by jfk1975

Since I dropped by when @itwasntme picked up his sweet ride yesterday, and I haven't posted yet, he shamed me into doing this . We both share the same salesman too.

Thank you Jagan! Glad I managed to shame you into sharing your stunning M Sport snaps. And sincere apologies for being a bit preoccupied that day. Mind was addled with the myriad details + clock was ticking on MiL dictated auspicious time to physically take delivery of the vehicle.

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Congrats man, she's a beauty! It was plain as daylight that you were angling for this for the longest time.

Thank you iliketurtles. Your threads are amazing, and I'll struggle to even reach 1/10th of your level of prose and wit. BUT will try!

Originally Posted by sv97

If you both don't mind can you please disclose what kind of deals you were able to get on the cars?

As Jagan has replied little earlier, BMW dealers are frankly being more stingy now (after Unlock 1.0) than they were in JFM. I got a discount of ~4 lakhs which I was perfectly fine with as I wanted the 330i Sport ASAP. I personally feel far more discounts await potential buyers from September onwards.

Originally Posted by bj96

Congratulations guys! What else did you guys consider?

Thanks bj96. I am a hardcore sedan-lover looking for a turbo-petrol RWD only, so there was practically no competition. I did consider the C220 & C300 AMG but frankly found their interiors too old fashioned and fussy to my liking. Audi had nothing to offer, and the S Line is way too expensive to even consider.

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

Woohoo!!!! Cracking choice - I was sure you wouldn’t be able to wait till the year end for this, pandemic or not!
Also, do we get choice on interior Colors in your blue shade (Tan, for e.g.) or is it always black?

Thanks! The 330i Sport interiors are in Sensatec (BMW-speak for artificial leather) and available in Black or Beige only. We felt the black would be stunning and it is. BUT the beige would have made the interiors feel much bigger.

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

Amazing congrats on your new purchase. Wishing tons of fun with this car.

Thanks!

[akash.1318]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Thank you akash.1318, will soon find out if the neighbours are car buffs or not, when I cold start on a BLR morning. I wake up pretty early so a quick drive is highly possible. Maybe I can figure out an equivalent to the Mercedes AMG Emotion Start? It is there on the newer M cars I believe

My sorta hack, if you wanna call it that, was to put the car in sport mode which will open up the exhaust valve and then physically disconnect the valve connection from the rear of the right exhaust. You get the deeper bass filled exhaust notes on all modes now since the valve is stuck open. But those pops and crackles are sport mode exclusive just like the added engine noise(BMW Active Sound Design). Another thing, did your dealer specify anything about the Android Auto and it's expected release date? I spoke to Navnit and go no response.

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Thank you. Bought cash down at the end - our financial advisor is still catatonic as I type this.

Thanks!

Cash down is the way to go. Financial planners don't take experiences into account, memories count in life.

I think this might interest you as your car is brand new. Bmw is bringing android auto to idrive.

https://youtu.be/XapkkHUfZj4

[anandpadhye]

Heartiest congratulations itwasntme

Good to see another faaast RWD sedan

Hope this car sees lots and lots of ghats and mountains - that's where she belongs.

I am also a sedan person, nothing like a classic low slung sedan, absolutely down to earth (pun unintended)

Wishing you many fast corners!
Cheers!!

[Turbanator]

Thanks, Avira for the link.

Let’s hope BMW India allows OTA update here as well. Getting navigation data from the phone on heads up is going to be very useful.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Some good news to beat the dreary pandemic broadcasts. We picked up a 330i Sport in Mediterranean Blue with the Sensatec Black interiors!

Originally Posted by jfk1975

I picked up my 330i M Sport circa mid-March, just before the lockdown. Too early to start an ownership thread since I've barely had a chance to take it out.

Wow!! Awesome! Congratulations to both of you. Both your cars look stunning. I think BMW does not have any wrong color! Whichever color you pick, the car looks great :-)

Nice to see a lot of G20s coming in on the forum. Looking at all your G20 pictures with the futuristic interiors, my F30 suddenly looks outdated :-)

Wish both of you many happy miles on the car.

I hope one day all of us in Bangalore with the 3-series can meet together. I see so many 3-series (F30 as well as G20) owners from Bangalore here on the forum. I don't know if there is a group for BMW owners (like there is one for XUV, Duster, Hexa owners etc), but it would be great to have one.

Let's see after the situation comes to normal. It would be awesome to have a group drive with a bunch of 3-ers together!

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by akash.1318

My sorta hack, if you wanna call it that, was to put the car in sport mode which will open up the exhaust valve ...
Another thing, did your dealer specify anything about the Android Auto and it's expected release date?

I'll leave it stock for now. Don't want to be 100% Dr. Jekyll from day one. Will keep some of the surprises for later

Originally Posted by avira_tk

I think this might interest you as your car is brand new. Bmw is bringing android auto to idrive.

Thanks, Avira and glad to see BMW is leapfrogging many auto manufacturers by directly integrating wireless Android Auto into the HU. Unfortunately, the Sport is iDrive 6 and I will not be able to enjoy either Apple CarPlay or AA. Having said that, my MY16 Octavia had both and frankly we rarely used it with our iPhones & OnePlus mobiles. One issue is of course the fussy cabling required and secondly AA at least was a (totally uncalled for) shabby implementation of a great concept by Google.
I am hoping I won't miss AA too much as the years roll on.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Heartiest congratulations itwasntme
Wishing you many fast corners!

Thank you Anand! If it wasn't especially for existing F30/X3 owners like you, coolboy007 & santoshbhat with whom I was in close virtual contact over the last few months, I'd have bought the new Superb.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Wow!! Awesome! Congratulations to both of you. Both your cars look stunning.
Wish both of you many happy miles on the car.
I don't know if there is a group for BMW owners (like there is one for XUV, Duster, Hexa owners etc), but it would be great to have one.
It would be awesome to have a group drive with a bunch of 3-ers together!

Thank you Dr.AD. Yes we should do both - I at least am unaware of such a group. Maybe the hardcore modders do have but I'll be at sea in that kind of crowd.

[itwasntme]

The 330i Sport variant is pretty rare so sharing some interior pictures of the key differences with the M Sport:

1. Biggest by far is the iDrive 6 ana-digi dials which magically look digital but are very much analogue :-)
2. Sport leather steering wheel as compared to the M Sport version.
3. Smaller real estate on the touchscreen iDrive MID.
4. Gloss black themed inserts as compared to carbon fibre in the M Sport.
5. Sensatec artificial leather (black/beige options) Comfort seats as opposed to the Vernasca leather (Mocha/Beige/Cognac) Sports seats in the M Sport.
6. Lack of ambient lighting.

[vb-saan]

Congratulations! Looking forward to a detailed ownership review

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Biggest by far is the iDrive 6 ana-digi dials which magically look digital but are very much analogue

This indeed is the best part of the package – clean and classy dials. Similar to the over-sized grille in their SUVs, that new digital dial looks completely over-the-top, almost like a game console.

[adi_petrolhead]

Congratulations @itwasntme this is brilliant news! Always wondered who and when will take the plunge for this Sport variant specifically.
So besides the iDrive 7, ambient lights, different steering and few things here and there, what do you really feel is a miss, features wise? I know you'd be missing something from the Octavia here. Are there any 2020 specific updates? Does the Sport variant also have valves in the exhaust like in the M Sport?

[BigBrad]

Hey, congrats on the car. Absolutely love the blue shade!

Originally Posted by itwasntme

differences with the M Sport:

1. Biggest by far is the iDrive 6 ana-digi dials which magically look digital but are very much analogue :-)

This to me personally is a plus. Am a big fan of proper analogue dials rather than a TV showing me the data. And I just don't like the reverse tachometer implementation in new BMWs.

Congrats again and happy revving!!

[akash.1318]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

The 330i Sport variant is pretty rare so sharing some interior pictures of the key differences with the M Sport:

4. Gloss black themed inserts as compared to carbon fibre in the M Sport.

"Aluminium tetragon with highlight trim finisher in Pearl Chrome" not Carbon Fibre. I think the carbon fiber is exclusive for M340i(either as an accessory or standard, not sure. Remember reading the same on Bimmerpost)

[Puneet0051]

Congratulations on your buy. Lovely choice of color. Yes thats right Beige would have made it look more Airy inside I couldnt wait that long for the new Beemer. Older 1 was phasing out, 4 Lac discount is Criminal on this car ain't that less.