1. INTRODUCTION What I REALLY Like
- Somewhat exclusive street presence - you see scores of Mercs, BMWs and Audis on any Mumbai road. Within this universe of premium cars, the GT does feel a bit exclusive, almost belying its 'relatively' modest price point amongst the big 3.
- More comfortable than its immediate peers, be it the C, 3 or the 5 (No Audi was ever in serious reckoning). The E class is the only product I would have clearly preferred to own over this - the incremental price being the only deterrent.
- Enthusiast's delight.
- Huge 520 ltr boot extremely user friendly (in volume, shape and loading profile), meaningfully usable even after placing the space saver
- Notchback flexibility, drop down rear seats.
- BSI + Secure for unparalleled peace of mind.
- ZF 8 speed gearbox is a delight.
- Superb ride quality.
- Sporty yet practical, the right kind of spacious.
- Sedan sportiness with crossover height seating comfort.
Nice
- The alloys are gorgeous. Better than the Luxuryline. I think they're the same ones that came with the 328i.
- The CLA like frameless windows look great.
- Chrome ... or the lack of it. I hate the chrome overkill on the Luxuryline.
- The pop-up spoiler is a neat party trick.
- Does not feel bare bones or stripped down. Genuine luxury product for the luxury price tag, quality of leather seats aside.
- Steering (yup - you read that right).
What I REALLY dislike
- Lack of a spare wheel in a proper wheel well. I love every inch of available boot space and to share it with a spare wheel is annoying.
- Sub-par leather seats (Sport Line has leatherette). My civic leather seats are much plusher.
- Air conditioning is below par. This was quite a surprise.
- The beige interior. On hindsight, I wish I had pursued an all black interior option more seriously. I settled for the model that was available for ready delivery.
Not so nice
- The missing sunroof although having owned this car now for a couple of months, I really don't miss it as much as I felt it at the point of purchase.
- The rear & side window blinds - from the F30 official review it seems the 3 series gets these. Perhaps the GT doesn't get this at the back because of the notchback factor and on the side because of the frameless windows. Just guessing - don't know.
[Q to Forum: Is there any simple aftermarket solution to this?]
- Rear visibility through centre mirror is non existent. Side mirrors not that great either.
- Too much beige including some avoidable areas. My civic with beige interior has two tone grey in places like the floor and the lower part of door frame where the feet tend to rest and touch. The GT in the same places is ALL BEIGE, a veritable dirt magnet. Its going to be VERY hard to keep this car clean.
- Looks are not universally drop dead gorgeous, although I have no complaints about how it looks and personally find it quite sporty looking.
- I'm not an audiophile but to my non-expert ears, the audio output seemed strictly average.
- Slow wipers, even at fastest setting. (ok I haven't used them but just copying from the F30 official review)
- No audio or other controls for the rear passenger (most luxury cars miss this). It could have been as simple as a physical separate remote control like the Altis provides. How difficult is that!
[Q to forum: Any simple after market solution for this?] OTHER NOTABLE OBSERVATIONS
- No sunglass holder
- No holder tag for toll tickets etc (although there is a small compartment on the right below the light control switches).
- Central cup holder cover can be completely removed and conveniently placed in a net in the glove box so it doesn't rattle.
- No specific place to keep the key fob.
- All 4 windows get auto up/down feature. Long pressing the lock key on the key fob will auto close all open windows.
- Hand brake is nice and sporty manual style one. I like this slightly old school touch.
- Tailgate opening height can be adjusted through the MMI settings.
- iDrive interface is pretty intuitive and user friendly.
2. OPTIONS CONSIDERED
I discussed this in much more detail here:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...audi-a4-4.html (BMW 3 Series vs 3 Series GT vs Volvo S60 vs Audi A4)
I've anyway summarised the key options considered for ready reference.
Octavia
I like that its fun to drive, Diesel, A/T, has a huge boot with notchback flexibility and proper spare wheel. Not prohibitively expensive (relatively speaking). However, it didn't seem like a big enough upgrade after the Civic and I wondered if 1 - 2 years down I would feel like I have sufficiently upgraded. What ultimately ruled it out - the VAG factor ... period!
Skoda Superb (2016)
All of the above, except that its a no questions upgrade over the Civic. One additional hesitation was in case the diesel again came with a relative (to price point) modest engine output, although recent reports suggest the diesel version will be about 160bhp. The current 140 bhp diesel output makes the 3 series clearly head and shoulders above on the performance front. Nevertheless all this was moot and there was only one factor that ruled it out - the VAG factor!
New C class
Drop dead gorgeous looks and feels distinctly plusher than the Beemer. However, now that it doesn't have a spare in a wheel well, the boot with its odd contours is even less usable than a 3 series. The back seat too seems much more cramped. Both these factors made it an instant deal breaker. Merc reliability is still a notch lower than BMW in India (my anecdotal understanding) and to the best of my knowledge there's no BSI type assurance with the Merc. When it comes to owning an expensive German, the BSI factor played a BIG part in my ultimate decision.
Any Audi
Not even worth considering. I refuse to pay that much money for a glorified VAG product with underwhelming CVT gearboxes (the new A6 with DSG was beyond budget). I like the looks of the Audi but simply don’t care to be subjected to VAG ownership at that price point. Too much money to risk on VAG.
3 series
Much more spacious than the C but still cramped boot once you put in the space saver. Also, both the 3 and C (and 5 for that matter) make you sit really low, are fairly cramped (not the 5), and come with very limited boot space. For all the plushness and driving pleasure they provide, a Superb / Octy / Camry just give you a much more complete car experience compared to this.
Camry Hybrid
This was one sweet car! The comfort is just superlative and I found it reasonably satisfying to drive as well. But the sheer size it carries makes it a bit cumbersome for self drive. Also, moving that much real estate around and getting a 400 litre boot makes you feel a bit short changed. I won’t be surprised if 6 – 7 years later I pick this as a 3 GT replacement. I’d be in my mid-40s by then and it would be perfect. At this time though, I would rather enjoy the Joy of Driving than the sheer Luxury of the Camry.
E class
Literally ticks every single box for me (BSI aside). Proper full size sedan unlike the 3 & C etc. Big boot, full size spare wheel. Luxury, space, driving pleasure all superlative. There is only one reason I did not pick this - I did not want to stretch to even the discounted price that the E warranted (approx 52/53 lakhs if I recall correctly). For well under that price point I'm BSI covered till 60,000 kms.
3. BOOKING AND DELIVERY PROCESS
I approached both Infinity & Navnit motors (Andheri). I thought Infinity motors was pretty
thanda in its approach to dealing with me. Navnit on the other hand was much more prompt in not only offering the best possible deal but also being responsive without being overly pushy.
The entire purchase was completed within the space of a week. This was somewhat an impulse buy with TDs also limited only to the Octy, C class, Camry and GT over a single weekend for most part.
Navnit sent a car home for a TD very quickly on the requested day. I requested a second TD at the dealership on the immediately following Sunday - the 2nd TD sealed my decision and I walked away after paying an initial booking amount of Rs. 3L. My exchange deal for the Nissan Sunny was also closed with their agent. The balance amount was wired on Tuesday and delivery given within 4 days - i.e the following Saturday. The entire process from first TD to vehicle delivery was concluded in less than 10 days.
I dealt with Darshan and Ayaz from Navnit and I would happily recommend both of them to anyone seriously considering a BMW. (PM me if you want their contacts).
On the delivery date, I did insist they keep things very simple. They organised a small pooja, put minimalist ribbons on the door handles and explained all the papers to me and also gave me a thorough briefing of all the workings and controls of the GT.
The RC book (a flimsy paper unlike the smart card which was previously being issued by Mumbai RTO) has reached me in less than a month, so all papers are now complete.
4. WHAT IT COST, ALL TOTAL
Final proforma invoice attached, which is self explanatory. PM me if anyone has questions.
At the time of purchase, BMW dealers were doling out fairly generous discounts. The 3 series, with the impending face lift a few months from my purchase was getting the max discounts (with additional support to dealers from BMW India). At the time of purchase the quote for a 320d with 3 year 40,000 BSI and Secure thrown in was about 38.5 lakhs if I recollect correctly. That still makes my GT purchase dearer than the 3 series by about 7 odd lakh.
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