[benbsb29]

Thread moved to the Long Term Ownership Reviews section.

Thanks for your regular updates, and glad to see you are enjoying the car. Totally agree with you on how newer cars are more pricey and all about more electronics added on.

[bj96]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

... I did not opt for BSI packs at the time of purchase as I felt they were exhorbitantly priced. I find BMW's service costs quite reasonable for a luxury brand. My total outgo in the 5 years has been about Rs. 2.60 lakhs ...

Lovely thread and good insights. Thanks!

I have also not taken the BSI package as my running is low. Regarding 19" wheels did it come stock or you upgraded? if so, what was the reason because general consensus seems to be it makes the ride harsher and increases risk of sidewall + rim damage.

Did you manage to get iDrive 7 and Android Auto (AA) update from the dealer? I read somewhere that dealers can update the iDrive and enable AA support. My 2019 G01 came with iDrive 6 (I guess) and no AA.

Tia,
-BJ

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by bj96

Lovely thread and good insights. Thanks!

I have also not taken the BSI package as my running is low. Regarding 19" wheels did it come stock or you upgraded? if so, what was the reason because general consensus seems to be it makes the ride harsher and increases risk of sidewall + rim damage.

Did you manage to get iDrive 7 and Android Auto (AA) update from the dealer? I read somewhere that dealers can update the iDrive and enable AA support. My 2019 G01 came with iDrive 6 (I guess) and no AA.

Tia,
-BJ

The car came with 18" RFTs. I switched to OE size 18" tubeless before switching to 19" staggered in tubeless. The switch to 19s was purely from a cosmetic point of view as I fell in love with these designs from BBS. But as it turns out, it seems to have added to the sporty feel as these wheels are lighter and have a slightly more positive offset which make them stick out a bit more. Also the sporty rubber and lower profile tyres aid handling just a bit more. The ride hasn't deteriorated at all. Or maybe it is so marginal that I can't make out any difference. Earlier I had 245/50 profile with the 18s and now it is 245/45 in 19". Overall very happy with the current set up.

As per this link what I have is the iDrive Professional NBT or iDrive 4.0. I really doubt Android Auto is possible in this version. I suppose what you have is iDrive 7.0 without AA. So it may be a possible upgrade for you.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

5.5 years/ 64,000 kms update.

Here's the break up of service costs

Attachment 2179620
[/b]

Such a great ride you have there, this is surely a keeper for another 5 years minimum . As rightly said the new cars have become very pricey.

One question - on the service cost break up there is a trend in first 4 years. Every year you end up spending additional amount after 3 to 4 months, I.e first in June and then in Sept same year. Curious whether that is a regular maintenance in addition to regular service.

Thanks again for creating the transparency of service costs, not bad for a big BMW. It will surely help people like me who are thinking to update to BMW after couple of years and sitting in fence worrying about the cost.

[TechSavvy]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

5.5 years/ 64,000 kms update.
I am really happy I could pick the X3 in 30d and M port trim. Goodies like the sport seats and 16 speaker Harmon Kardon speaker system and the 30d engine don't make me yearn for a new car even after 5 years. All the new cars in the segment are down on power and high on price! All they seem to have is electronic gizmos. Touchscreens and digital dials don't excite me one bit.

They don’t make it like them anymore. The thing is these new cars feel very refined and effortless which is okay for city traffic but when you want that raw car feel nothing like the bimmers from 5-6 years ago. They had all the gizmos you just needed and nothing more.

Also the newer gens interiors would be pleasant to be in only if it wasn’t so flashy and in your face.

Nevertheless love this 6 cylinder spec car ,
Wish you many more happy miles with it !

[Hayek]

Amazingly well kept car, and nice to see that despite the lockdowns, you have maintained the high running. Interesting analysis on the BSI - I had taken BSI for my X3, and am glad I took it - since my brake pads have lasted only about 15,000 kms and one set has been changed twice in 33,000 km and 4 years.

Agree on the rear bench quality - was quite happy with my bench early on, but after we got the Tiguan, my family is very clear that the X3 bench at best gets a Needs Improvement rating.

Wish you many more kms of happy motoring with this car.

[iliketurtles]

Congrats on completing 5 years and then some, Santosh. She looks mint, a real treat for sore eyes. Long may she grace your stable.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

5.5 years/ 64,000 kms update. I always thought I would remap the car at the 5 year mark. I have second thoughts now. The car is mighty quick as it is. I do a lot of highway trips and consciously feel I need to slow down. These days I start every drive with a resolve not to get into duels on the highway.

Allow me to play the devil’s advocate here.

You already enjoy the car so much, imagine how much more of a hoot it’ll be once remapped. Getting it remapped now will only serve to further cement your decision not to replace her for another 5 years or so. And of course, provide decent ROI on the remap, considering it will be amortised over the next 5 years.

While I understand where you’re coming from in saying that you don’t want to be a boy racer, and rightly so, getting the remap is like adding an extra set of muscles to your meaty highway marauder. In your specific use case, you’ll use that extra power and torque to cruise with ease, leaving plenty of power on tap. Leave the tearing up of sections of the highway with high speed runs to others.

I’d definitely get the ECU and maybe even TCU tune done if I were you. GTO is just one example of someone that was very happy after getting it done. So many others feel likewise. I’d urge you to reconsider.

Mo’ power, baby! Ride on.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

One question - on the service cost break up there is a trend in first 4 years. Every year you end up spending additional amount after 3 to 4 months, I.e first in June and then in Sept same year. Curious whether that is a regular maintenance in addition to regular service.

The expensive services are the ones where brake pad replacements were done. AC filters and brake pad replacements are the items that inflate the bills. Cabin AC filter replacement usually comes up once in 2 years. Brake pads once every 25,000 kms or so. I am still running on original rotors and they seem to have good amount of life left!

Originally Posted by Hayek

Amazingly well kept car, and nice to see that despite the lockdowns, you have maintained the high running.

During the initial lockdowns I managed by doing short runs in the internal roads of our area where policing wasn't that strict. But later in the year decided to get a Bosch C7 charger to keep the battery topped up. Works really well.

Originally Posted by Hayek

Interesting analysis on the BSI - I had taken BSI for my X3, and am glad I took it - since my brake pads have lasted only about 15,000 kms and one set has been changed twice in 33,000 km and 4 years.

Well, for us business folks working capital is like gold. We will find every excuse in the book to pay later

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Allow me to play the devil’s advocate here

Well played. Done. That was just the push I needed. So which shop do you recommend for the remap?

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Well played. Done. That was just the push I needed. So which shop do you recommend for the remap?

Mission accomplished

I’ve seen most of the Bombay BMW guys go with either Quantum, or E-tuners. I’m not certain if Quantum has a tuner in Bangalore or not, but I know E-tuners does. Pick either one, you can’t go wrong with them. Very reliable maps that have been widely used and tested without a hitch.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Well played. Done. That was just the push I needed. So which shop do you recommend for the remap?

If I am not wrong your earlier Laura was remapped from Pete’s. Why don’t you go with them, as they are generally good with VAG and BMWs. I got my Octavia TDI remapped from Pete’s and super happy with that.

Also in Bangalore you should check for Harmonixx tuning and E Tuners

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

When BMW gives you the service pack , they factor in the maximum consumable replacements and add it in the costs. For example if you take a 60,000 kms pack, they make a list of items likely to be replaced in that period, taking the worst case scenario into account. Now after 5 years, if you end up doing only 40,000 kms, you are losing out and BMW gains. Or if you eat up your 60,000 kms in just 3 years. This also works out to BMW's advantage. I find it always best to pay as you go.

The car decides most items that need to be serviced. Just follow this and you're good. Their service costs are quite reasonable as I said earlier. Having said that, BMW has rationalised BSI pricing and they are quite economical now. Maybe they had factored in massive depreciation in the Rupee in that 2015-18 period.

Thanks for the long-term ownership report and thanks for the lucid explanation about the BSI, Santosh.

A naive Q (am looking out for a pre-owned buy) - taking the same example of 60,000 km pack - if I purchase this BSI pack during the car purchase itself, will BMW not offer any discounts upfront to encourage this buying decision?
Apart from the costs, can you suggest any other criteria about not buying the BSI upfront?

I know you mentioned from your experience that its best to follow the service costs as they crop up during the regular running of the car.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Apart from the costs, can you suggest any other criteria about not buying the BSI upfront?

Of course, if you are not worried about the cost savings, etc. then it certainly offers the convenience of not caring about the service bills or number of service visits, etc. Maybe your warranty claims will be reviewed favourably but you will get the same benefit if you get it serviced regularly without BSI.

BMWs have been in Indian market for more than 15 years. There is enough data to suggest the following about BSI:

Around 10K km or less per year: you will lose money
Around 20K km or more per year: you will recover you money and may gain a little bit.

I can think of several reasons why you can fall short of your projected usage:
1. Pandemic ;-)
2. You start preferring another car in your garage for whatever reason
3. Your work location/status changed so you don't have long daily commutes
4. Car turns out to be a lemon and is spending several months in the garage
5. You want to sell it off prematurely and can't recover it in resale price
6. Vehicle meets with an accident and goes into total-loss
7. Govt implements odd-even rules, etc.

Warranty and Insurance can save you several lakhs if you end up with a claim. This BSI will at best save you few 10s of thousands and in 70-80% of the cases you will lose money. The only reason to buy BSI would be that someone else is paying in the case of a gift or something. Or you are flush with cash now and are more likely to waste it away on iPhone pro maxes if you don't immediately put it to some good use.

It is not the service bills (like brake pad, oil changes, etc.) one needs to fear. They are just minor pricks. You also have a bit control of over service expenses - how often you change AC filter, your driving habits can extend the brake pad life, by alternating between different cars/modes of transport, etc. Repairs resulting from part failures and accidents are the big shocks one must think and plan for.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Thanks for the long-term ownership report and thanks for the lucid explanation about the BSI, Santosh.

A naive Q (am looking out for a pre-owned buy) - taking the same example of 60,000 km pack - if I purchase this BSI pack during the car purchase itself, will BMW not offer any discounts upfront to encourage this buying decision?
Apart from the costs, can you suggest any other criteria about not buying the BSI upfront?

I know you mentioned from your experience that its best to follow the service costs as they crop up during the regular running of the car.

Androdev has explained it very well . In my case the asking price for a 5 year /60 k plan was around 3.00 lakhs. I asked around and got the information that if I did around 15k kms a year, it would cost roughly about 50k a year to service a car like this. That was translating to only 2.50 lakhs in 5 years and it made absolutely no sense in paying 3.00 lakhs upfront! At 10% p.a. the saving in interest itself was 30k a year. So I could keep the money with me, earn 30k a year out of it, add 20k p.a out of pocket and be done with service. And at the end of the 5 year period the 3.00 lakhs was still going to be with me.

I too was under the impression that warranty was linked to BSI. When I was told that the BRI warranty pack was separate and not tied to BSI, I realized that this is exactly what I need. BRI is like insurance. It protects you from paying out of pocket for part failures. As you know, on cars like these, things like gear box, suspension, engine are very very expensive to fix or replace. 1.5 lakhs seemed very reasonable for warranty cover for years 3 to 5. Interestingly the 6th year warranty costs almost the same. I was given the option but decided against it. My friendly SA too advised me that engine and GB failures are rare at this mileage and 1.50 lakhs for just one year isn't worth it considering the condition of my car and the pandemic .

People who have gone for the BSI packs, say that they can drive as hard as they want, use the brakes without any care in the world as BMW will replace them no questions asked. There is also this absurd argument that paying one big lumpsum upfront does not hurt as much as paying periodically. Full peace of mind etc.. On the contrary I feel a good driver like me who uses good amount of engine braking, who drives the car mostly on highways and uses the brakes judiciously with good anticipation etc.. is going to be subsidizing costs for others. At the end of 5 years, my decision has worked out well for me.

One other thing you need to understand is about how BSI works. They have strict standards and replacements are carried out as per what is recorded in the ECU from the various sensors. They will never deviate from this. For example, if you have come for a 10,000 km oil change and the brake pads are nearly down to the replacement point, you will not get that replacement. They will ask you to come again till the pad thickness is down to their criteria. This can be a problem if you have a long trip planned and you expect the brake pads to not last the trip. Whereas if you are not under BSI, all they need is your authorization to change. So not being under BSI, gives you that extra flexibility and can potentially reduce the number of visits to the service centre. But do note that you can be flexible in up spending for service and not down spending. If you decide not to replace a particular service item despite the conditional service system asking for it, you will risk losing your warranty as this gets recorded. I judiciously carried out the service as per the system and ensured there were no negative comments anywhere.

But, all said and done, do check the current pricing of the BSI packs. I believe the prices have been dropped drastically. So it may make sense right now to go for it. In an inflationary environment it may make sense to lock in your costs at current prices.

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Androdev has explained it very well . In my case the asking price for a 5 year /60 k plan was around 3.00 lakhs. I asked around and got the information that if I did around 15k kms a year, it would cost roughly about 50k a year to service a car like this. That was translating to only 2.50 lakhs in 5 years and it made absolutely no sense in paying 3.00 lakhs upfront!
...
But, all said and done, do check the current pricing of the BSI packs. I believe the prices have been dropped drastically. So it may make sense right now to go for it. In an inflationary environment it may make sense to lock in your costs at current prices.

Thanks Santosh for the detailed inputs. Glad to be able to understand and learn from experiences like yours

As per the latest BSI price list for X3 (pic below), the prices for the 5 yr/60,000 km option has reduced only marginally as compared to what you were quoted few years ago. The reduction is only about Rs 20,000:-



And as for the X3 BRI options, looks like they might have actually increased over the years.

[humbleroadster]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

. Earlier I had 245/50 profile with the 18s and now it is 245/45 in 19". Overall very happy with the current set up.

Thank you Santosh for your very detailed thread and the journey with your car.
I have been tutoring myself through it for some time now!

Could you point out a few more details about the staggered set-up of the wheels and rubber that you’ve got on?
Also, what is the spare size that you’re using after the change to this set-up?
I drive from Goa-Pune(and back) at least once a month and I’m still on RFTs.
Mind boggling how the RFT Vs. Tubeless discussions can jumble you up at times.

On a side note, have you thought of swapping the steering wheel with the new(er) M wheel?

Looks a little dated to me in my car. Will get it detailed soon, but I think I’ll find out where could possibly have it swapped for the best price!