[v&v]

Belated Congrats Suman , i too missed the thread somehow. Happen to TD X1 recently.

Can you please elaborate on MID info it offers. Also about the controls Herman Gordon ICE offers and when interfaced with USB. Have you tried the external HDD ?

One more observation was the front overhang , it pretty low, even though GC is 190mm the front GC is around 135 mm or so. Have you faced any issue with bigger speed breaker or Crater ?

Must say the drive and handling is very good. Now i know what my Safari lags from its 2.2 mill. DS mode simply transform X1 into a beast. Also its super silent.

Major dislikes - Bootspace, Runflats, Should have provided at least cruise control. Was also surprised to see absence of Orvm heating option. DSC override too was desirable when they have given override for DTC.

Thanks in advance

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by v&v

Also about the controls Herman Gordon ICE offers and when interfaced with USB. Have you tried the external HDD ?

I'm swinging back and forth like a pendulum between laughing out loud and asking you to just kill me.

V & V, poor Mr. Herman Gordon - whoever he is, God bless his soul has little or nothing to do with the harman/kardon system in the BMW.

[navin]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

I'm swinging back and forth like a pendulum between laughing out loud and asking you to just kill me.

V & V, poor Mr. Herman Gordon - whoever he is, God bless his soul has little or nothing to do with the harman/kardon system in the BMW.

Sam I'd have missed this if Viddy had not gently nudged me in this direction and boy I am glad he did.

I assume Sidney might have been refered to as "her-man" when he accompanied his wife to her political dinners (for those who do not know Dr Sidney Harman's wife, Jane Harman, is/was a Senator/Congresswoman) or maybe Herman Gordon is part of the the famous Herman family - Herman's Hermits, Herman Cain, Herman Miller, and the most famous of them all Pee-Wee Herman

In fact rumour has it that it was Pee-Wee's voice that convinced JBL to tone down the HF in their GTO937 and 637 and introduce the 938 and 638.

[abishek2222]

Originally Posted by suman

would like to thank a couple of people who were instrumental in my taking the final insane plunge - Akshay (Flyingspur) & Abishek (Abishek2222).

Congrats & Your welcome ,sir.

Originally Posted by v&v

Have you tried the external HDD ?

One more observation was the front overhang , it pretty low, even though GC is 190mm the front GC is around 135 mm or so. Have you faced any issue with bigger speed breaker or Crater ?

I do have a seagate external 250GB hdd, works fine.
GC is never a problem the car has never scrapped the bottom on any speed breaker until now , covered over 10,000 km with the X1.

Happy Motoring! -

[SumitB]

Suman, congratulations on another wonderful choice and I hope that this too serves you like the old horses have been. Read the whole thread in one go and drooled over the pictures. The color is to kill for and as always, your narrative make is that much so exciting to read.

[nitinbose]

Hi Suman,

Its almost six months since you've owned the X1. Could you please let us know if there's anything specific to ownership that you may have to share? How much have you spent on servicing/repairs, if any?

How is it to drive the X1 in the City and on the highways?
What is the FE you're getting now?

[suman]

Sorry for the long silence folks, life continues to be hectic & I know that I have been neglecting this thread! Please bear with me while I neglect it a little more , but in the meantime, The Devil has crossed 10.5k kms & is nearing the first service mark. This was on the 9th of Feb, a little over six months of ownership -




There's really been nothing to report apart from the fact that I've been having a lot of fun! The sad news is that The Devil was scratched - once from a large flying stone that hit the left front door with a loud clunk (luckily, this disappeared with Formula One Scratch Out) & then from a beggar's crutches at a traffic light on the left rear door (the bugger was trying to squeeze through an insufficient gap between two cars & left a long scratch).

Quick reply to some of the open questions (and I'm LOL at Sam's comments on Harmon Kardon!)

Originally Posted by v&v

Can you please elaborate on MID info it offers.

I will put up some pics soon (I know they are long overdue) which will help explain what info is available. In a nutshell, the MID in the instrument cluster has the time, the outside temp, the range, the service info, average speed & mileage. Abishek has already answered you about the External HDD, I will update you soon on my USB experiences (as soon as I find time to copy some of my music on one).

Originally Posted by v&v

One more observation was the front overhang , it pretty low, even though GC is 190mm the front GC is around 135 mm or so. Have you faced any issue with bigger speed breaker or Crater ?

Not a single incident of scraping so far, be it speed breakers or craters (which we have our fair share of in Gurgaon)

Originally Posted by v&v

Must say the drive and handling is very good. Now i know what my Safari lags from its 2.2 mill. DS mode simply transform X1 into a beast. Also its super silent.

Yup, I agree! Are you planning to go for it?

Originally Posted by nitinbose

How much have you spent on servicing/repairs, if any?

Nitin, as I have mentioned earlier in this thread, I do not need to pay anything on servicing etc as I have taken a 3 years/60k kms coverage under BSI Ultimate

Originally Posted by nitinbose

How is it to drive the X1 in the City and on the highways?

Incredible although I haven't done an out of town yet.....

Originally Posted by nitinbose

What is the FE you're getting now?

Between 10.5 & 11 kmpl with a fair bit of ripping on the expressway. This can easily go up to 13+ with restrained driving but then, what would be the point!

[suman]

Boy, time really flies & the Devil completes a year with the family today although it does seem like just the other day that we brought him home! I apologize for not having updated the thread regularly & I intend to rectify this very soon . OTOH, not much to report really....

Renewed the Insurance through ICICI Lombard, cost Rs 49,777 including an Add-on Silver Plan for Rs 19,850, covering Zero Dep, Consumables, Tyres & Hydrostatic Lock. BMW Secure (which is by Bajaj Allianz) was working out to be too expensive & I didn't think it worth the price just for the Return to Invoice facility it offered apart from a few other minor items. Besides, with Bajaj, there was a restriction of twice a year only for claims - ICICI doesn't have that restriction.

Only cost so far has been on the Rear Wiper Blade - the car cleaner must have given it a yank during cleaning, which had caused the clip to break. He kept quiet about it & I got a rude shock during a smart shower on my way home. There was a loud noise, I looked in the mirror to see the blade drop off & the Arm whirr around directly on the windscreen! Stopped it immediately, luckily, there were no marks on the glass! Being in relatively quick moving traffic & rain, it didn't make sense for me to stop & try to retrieve the Blade - I was pretty sure that quite a few cars had gone over it already. Obviously, this kind of stuff wasn't covered under BSI Ultimate so I gingerly asked the cost - Rs 1,400 odd, so that wasn't too bad

The Bridgestones have been behaving themselves very well, no complaints so far (knock wood!!). There is a faint pull towards the left that has developed over the course of the past couple of weeks so I guess its time to take it in for Alignment & Balancing. This is something that is not covered under BSI Ultimate either & this is going to hurt - IIRC, it will cost upwards of 3k, depending on weights used. Well, I don't mind spending it once a year for a good cause. Am planning a quick trip up to the mountains around mid August & would prefer to get it done on our return. But if the pull increases, then it would be dicey waiting that long. Let's see.

The other thing - having lived with the Run Flats for a year now, I must say their evils are exaggerated on this forum! Yes, that psychological fear of the absence of a 5th wheel on long distance journeys will always remain but the tyres themselves aren't bad at all, once you get used to them. I realize that I nowadays fly over the same stretches that I used to pussyfoot over in the initial stages. But yes, you cannot fly over broken roads or over stones, you need to be careful. But I guess that is something one would need to watch out for with all low profile tyres, not just Run Flats! And being careful is something I would be, in any case, with this vehicle.

Mileage - consistently between 10.7 & 11.5 kmpl for the past six months, even through the torrid Delhi summer that we had this year, with a high of 11.7 & a low of 10.4. This is with all the ripping included. A light foot would yield amazing dividends on this vehicle for those thus inclined.

Couple of scratches added on - one arising out of a late night encounter with an Esteem who insisted on squeezing through a non-existent gap on the Mahipalpur-Andheria Mor road & the other caused by a cycle rickshaw in North Campus. The first one was touched up by the dealership FOC, I haven't got around to taking the vehicle back to them to get the second one attended to. Both these were on the bumper, just ahead of the left front wheel arch. I have noticed that this area is vulnerable probably because people don't realize the length of this section! I haven't yet attended to that nick on the windscreen as it doesn't affect visibility & I didn't want to lose the NCB.

The driving experience? What can I say, pulling away from the pack when the light turns green & I'm in the first row - Priceless & unmatchable! Even otherwise, I can safely say that my decision to use an X1 as a daily drive has been vindicated over the past one year. Whether it is in bumper to bumper traffic or empty stretches late at night or the expressway in the mornings, I haven't really had any cause for complaint. And the pushed-back-in-the-seat feeling never fails to bring a smile to our faces!

Well, that's it from my end folks, will be back soon. In the meantime, I leave you with some pics of the one year old taken this morning. Planning a belated birthday treat of a shampoo tomorrow, look out for more pics in a couple of weeks

[narayan]

Hey Suman - congrats on the BMW ! extremely belated but somehow missed this thread..

so is the Safari still around or the X1 replaced the Fiesta ? going by the mileage figures you have given above is it a petrol ?

happy travelling..

[suman]

Thanks Narayan, nice to hear from you, hope all is well!

The X1 replaced the Safari (I sold that in August 2011 to fellow Team-bhpian Dragonov), the Fiesta is still around & has completed 145k kms. The X1 is a Diesel, mileage for Petrol would be lower

[jalsa777]

Heads up for Mumbai dwellers.
My x1 gives a mileage of around 10.1 kmpl in city driving. And this is with the light foot of my father.

[AdiSinghV12]

Nice writeup!! My X1's front left tire just got punctured... Repaired it at a local shop and instead of going through the manual, I googled BMW X1 tire pressure and got directed to this thread and settled for 30 for front and 34 rear. Let's see how's the ride! Wish you lots of happy miles ahead. Cheers!

[Freewheelin_KD]

Hi Suman! Great review that covers every detail of the X1 and your ownership.
Wanted to know if you were finally able to solve the 'pulling left' issue that had reoccurred in your car? We are in the market for a car in this range and due to the offers that are going on this version of the X1, it is looking quite interesting. However, upon inquiring with several owners in our circle, came to know that they are facing some alignment issues. Also spoke to a workshop in-charge of the nearest dealership and he said that alignment being off was the most reported problem in the X1. Wanted your opinion on the same since you have almost clocked 18k kms with your devil. Thanks.

[abishek2222]

Originally Posted by Freewheelin_KD

if you were finally able to solve the 'pulling left' issue that had reoccurred in your car? We are in the market for a car in this range and due to the offers that are going on this version of the X1, it is looking quite interesting. However, upon inquiring with several owners in our circle, came to know that they are facing some alignment issues.

His set of four tyres as well as mine where both replaced due to the alignment issue , after which it has not cropped up again.

[suman]

To begin with - my apologies! When I had started the chronicles, it was my intention to provide regular updates along the way. Blame it on work, blame it on prioritization, it just hasn't happened that way! I actually couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at my last update - a year ago!!!

Well, 28th July came by again yesterday, here are a few pics of the two year old, going great guns & none the worse for wear after two years on the NCR battlefield! 29.5k kms on the odo & I'm particularly impressed (knock wood) with the Run Flat tyres and the fact that there's still around 4mm of tread depth left in them












So what's been happening over the past one year? Life has been quite smooth actually, apart from one rude jolt last September.........