[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by ivar1951

Flyingspur/others, if a person only drives about 20,000 km p.a., would it still be worth taking the 3-year/60,000 km BSI at a cost of Rs 1.40 lakh? Even if the car is serviced four times in three years, the cost of service, labour plus material, should be not more than Rs 60,000 at best. One does also have the free of cost two-year unlimited warranty. Would not it be sufficient for such a person to take the normal insurance and the BMW secure policy.

I suppose it might not be worth, given that your normal warranty would run through two years anyway, and whatever part failures you might come across (unlikely, given that the 3 is at the end of its PLC and is quite stable / reliable) will be in the third year. Of course, most of this stuff going wrong in a German car usually happens around 4-5 years. Anyway don;t take my word for it. Ask others on the forum too.

Originally Posted by ishotmydog

love that colour on your 3 series, but i agree with you on the pains of maintaining a car with a dark colour. such a pain.

Doesn't even matter now... JOY is maintaining it

Originally Posted by gomzi

Hey, Great pics, absolute wallpaper stuff.

Is that Mr. Kartik Kasbekar's handiwork?

Thanks man. This is a friend who studies photography. Mr. Kartik must be too busy riding these days

[ivar1951]

The BMW Secure policy (Rs 55,000 for the first year) has a lot of hidden clauses, which are:

1. The cost of the policy will go up every year and at least by Rs 7,000 in the second year;

2. If a tyre needs to be replaced, the owner will have to pay some amount too. BMW has a criteria for determining how much the tyre has worn out and for this wear and tear, the owner has to pay. For example, if the new tyre costs Rs 18000, an owner can end up paying anything from 4000-8000 for it.

3. Each time a tyre is replaced, an owner has to pay Rs 1000 for getting the tyre balanced, etc.

4. The policy does not cover if the tyre already replaced needs to be replaced again.

And on and on....

[FlyingSpur]

@ Ivar : Glad I didn't take it. never mind the hidden clauses, the concept of Secure itself didn't make much sense to me.

[ishotmydog]

Originally Posted by flyingspur

Doesn't even matter now... JOY is maintaining it

couldn't have put it better myself, enjoy driving that beauty

[ackyash]

What is the tyre presure you are maintaing on your 320 CE.
I had my tyre pressure checked yesterday (1st time since taking delivery) and it was set at like 34 PSI -front and 38 PSI back, which is way too high in my opinion. The sticker on the driver's side door also recommends a very high tyre pressure.

But I had reduced to 30 PSI in the front and 32 PSI in the rear. Car feels lot smoother now.

Someone here is looking at xenon HID conversion kit for the CE and I also wanted to put it in my CE as I'm not very happy with the stock bulb output and spread, so I spoke to the service supervisor at the Chandigarh BMW and he was not at all happy with the idea. He mentioned that it might void warranty as putting in the coversion kit will require cutting wires etc. He further explained to me that aftermarket kits like one from Osram or Philips require earthing and wire cutting to power them up. The sophisticated control modules of the car start to give malfunction error due to the change in resistance in the wiring system. I'm no electrical / electronics engineer so I don't know, but the SA sounded very confident.

Replacing the entire assemblies and puting in the assemblies from the 320d Highline would cost upwards of Rs. 2 lacs. I think I'm going to order the Philips X-treme Power H7's for the low beams.

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by ackyash

Someone here is looking at xenon HID conversion kit for the CE and I also wanted to put it in my CE as I'm not very happy with the stock bulb output and spread, so I spoke to the service supervisor at the Chandigarh BMW and he was not at all happy with the idea. He mentioned that it might void warranty as putting in the coversion kit will require cutting wires etc. He further explained to me that aftermarket kits like one from Osram or Philips require earthing and wire cutting to power them up. The sophisticated control modules of the car start to give malfunction error due to the change in resistance in the wiring system. I'm no electrical / electronics engineer so I don't know, but the SA sounded very confident.

Avoid any cutting when your car is within warranty; wont be a joyful trip to service station else.

[FlyingSpur]

Small but significant update :

My Corolla's wing mirrors obediently swung the wrong way everytime a bloody careless biker passed too close to the car while at a red light (area, according to Dhoni). This made it very easy to just pull it back in place without worrying about it breaking and / or the electric-retract function getting damaged.

This is a point GTO usually covers in his reviews, and in the W212 E250's review he had mentioned the wing mirrors don't swing the wrong way. Having read this, I was a little (no, very) scared of the mirrors on our car coming in contact with bikers because I wasn't sure if they turned the opposite way.

Well, now I know. They do .

Bloody biker, though.

@ Ackyash - Why don't you start a thread on your car?

@ All - Recommended tyre pressures? I'm not too happy with the recommended. I've been maintaining 30 / 30.

[FlyingSpur]

Won't maintaining tyre pressure significantly below recommended effectively lead to RTF damage? I think that way the sidewall will be taking more than it should. Or something like that. God I HATE the RFT's. Not for the firm ride but for all this other crap incase of a puncture etc etc.

[nirmaljusdoit]

Originally Posted by flyingspur

Won't maintaining tyre pressure significantly below recommended effectively lead to RTF damage? I think that way the sidewall will be taking more than it should. Or something like that. God I HATE the RFT's. Not for the firm ride but for all this other crap incase of a puncture etc etc.

Flying spur -
First of all, loved the pics of your beauty ! Especially the one of the headlights with the setting sun reflected in it. Simply awesome

Am maintaining 30 Front & 36 Rear as per the directions on the sidewall sticker, ride is bit on firmer side though but nothing too harsh. But then its riding on 225/55 R16 Goodyear Excellence normal Tubeless tires
Im guessing the slightly higher profile also cushions the ride a bit.

Do you reset the run flat indicator every time you check your air pressure ? Wouldn't the low pressure warning indicate, cause 30 at the rear would be on the lower side ?

Regarding fixing of punctures after some research & looking around, ive made a kit of the following items. Will update pics soon am giving details for benefit of others too :

Did not go in for a spare tire as the boot space gets limited due to boot not being designed to carry a spare.

1. Kennedy portable air compressor - Rs.1,100
Very simple & effective, it just plugs into the cigarette lighter & inflates a flat/low pressure tyre in just 5 minutes. One can use it to atleast reach a puncture repair shop if cannot repair a puncture.

2. Tubeless tire repair kit - Rs. 500
Stranded on a highway ? Tire not able to retain pressure ? Use pliers to remove the object and plug it with the kit !

3. Stanley long nose pliers - Rs 200
To pull the offending object out of the tire !

4. Knitted cotton gloves - Rs. 20
For protection & better grip

Pending on the list :

5. Pantograph jack
Plan on getting an SX4/ City jack.

6. Hub nut wrench
Need to take the hub nut & search around for the matching wrench size. Tried the Honda city & Swift wrench but they turned out to be a size smaller.

And last of all, regarding your query about the interior lights switching on like Diwali every time the door is opened, Owners manual says that you can switch them off permanently by keeping the switch pressed for about 3 seconds ! (The one in the center with reading lights on either side)

Wish you loads of JOY & do keep us updated about your ownership experience !

[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by nirmaljusdoit

Flying spur -
First of all, loved the pics of your beauty ! Especially the one of the headlights with the setting sun reflected in it. Simply awesome.

Thank you. I'm as amateur as can be, but for these shots I had friend's DSLR with me. Still, I clicked with auto-adjustment

Am maintaining 30 Front & 36 Rear as per the directions on the sidewall sticker, ride is bit on firmer side though but nothing too harsh. But then its riding on 225/55 R16 Goodyear Excellence normal Tubeless tires
Im guessing the slightly higher profile also cushions the ride a bit.

Yes, I reset everytime. I think I'm going to switch to recommended pressures. I'm running the stock 205 / 55 R16 RFT's. Man I wish I had switched to tubeless, but dad canned the idea on the first day and said we'll do it at next change. Regretting

1. Kennedy portable air compressor - Rs.1,100
2. Tubeless tire repair kit - Rs. 500
3. Stanley long nose pliers - Rs 200
4. Knitted cotton gloves - Rs. 20
5. Pantograph jack
6. Hub nut wrench

I just love it when questions I really need to ask but have forgotten to, are answered elaborately by a Godsend like you. Thank you so much !! Now where can I go about scouring for these items...

And last of all, regarding your query about the interior lights switching on like Diwali every time the door is opened, owners manual says that you can switch them off permanently by keeping the switch pressed for about 3 seconds ! (The one in the center with reading lights on either side)

If you were a Facebook page, I'd have clicked "Become a Fan" right away

[nirmaljusdoit]

Flying spur - Here are the pics of the kit ! Will try to get you some contacts in Mumbai where you can source these from. The tire repair kit & pliers should be easily sourced, for the Kennedy compressor will check with the shop guy i bought it from.

Btw, is your interior lamp problem solved !

[FlyingSpur]

@ Nirmal - Yup, interior light problem solved. Big relief.

Thanks for the pictures of the kit. I can find several of them (good quality ones) on ebay for not that much. I'm trying to figure out what can be sourced from there.

[unknown]

Nice car mate, congrats

[FlyingSpur]

The picture shows 2505 but currently it's at 2555 Loving the experience, impromptu / planned long drives and everything, it's all goooooood !!

One small squeak from the brake pedal, that'll be fixed tomorrow.

[barcode]

Excellent thread FlyingSpur!

I followed your thread from contangoback's

Would you be able to share the deal you for the CE on the forum or via PM? I am really looking to book one in the next couple of weeks, and this info would be really helpful for the extra vitamin-M I can save.

Have fun revving!