[Arjun Reddy]

Congratulations. Wishing you years and miles of smiles. You will be grinning ear to ear every time you push on the right pedal.

Looking forward to your ownership review.

The chrome on the grille looks ok but yes, the aluminium finish looks a little out of place on a Msport trim.

May be the M colours on the grill fin will look awesome or even the M logo.

[MartinVirage]

Hi Graaja! Heartiest Congratulations!
Love the car and colour. Any plans to paint the alloys - Black or Gunmetal, justlike the one displayed in the auto expo.

On a side note: A friend picked up a scale model of the exact same car from Germany.

Happy Miles and Cheers!

PS: I thought the 330GT also comes with the Gunmetal/Diamond cut-ish allys like the 328i's offered when they were launched!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Congratulations...
The chrome on the grille looks ok but yes, the aluminium finish looks a little out of place on a Msport trim. May be the M colours on the grill fin will look awesome or even the M logo.

Thank you for the wishes! Yes. Even I feel that the chrome on the grille is kind of ok, but the aluminium on the window is totally out. Will check out the M color on the grille as well.

Originally Posted by MartinVirage

Hi Graaja! Heartiest Congratulations!
Love the car and colour. Any plans to paint the alloys - Black or Gunmetal, justlike the one displayed in the auto expo.

PS: I thought the 330GT also comes with the Gunmetal/Diamond cut-ish allys like the 328i's offered when they were launched!

Thank you for the kind wishes! As of now, no plans to paint the alloys. Want to keep the OE look as much as possible. If I feel very adventurous, maybe I will think of painting the alloys.

[graaja]

One thing I did not like in the Indian version of the 3 GT M sport was the aluminium window trim and the aluminium finish faux air vent (BMW made this dummy from MY 2018 ) in the front fenders. The European M Sport comes with black trims for these, and looks much more sporty. Picture below shows the comparision.


Also, I thought a full black kidney grill will complete the theme for a sporty look compared to the chrome outer lining.

Took the car to 3M for a regular paint protection treatment and black wrap for the window trims and the grill. A few pictures.

Removing the grill was a 5 minute job. There are lots of internet videos that show how to remove the grill without removing the whole bumper. The grill has two parts, the all black vertical slits and the chrome outer lining.


The outer lining wrapped. They did a good job of wrapping without any seams. They stretched the wrap over the curves and contours that resulted in a seamless finish.


The results.






This picture is not that sharp as it was taken in low light and using a cell phone. Will get better pictures when I do the ownership thread.

[Arjun Reddy]

The side looks a lot better. The front is now looking like the Skoda butterfly grille. Especially in the second photo of the grille. Really need to see this in daylight for a better view.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

The side looks a lot better. The front is now looking like the Skoda butterfly grille. Especially in the second photo of the grille. Really need to see this in daylight for a better view.

Actually, the front looks far better than it looks in the picture. Due to work related travel, I could not get daylight pictures. Will get some daylight pictures and post it later this week.

[reignofchaos]

Please get your alloys painted gloss/matte black. Those silver alloys stick out like a sore thumb.

[suhaas307]

Congratulations Grajaa!

If you go through the first page of the thread, you will notice that I was the first to suggest the GT, keeping your requirements in mind. It's the ideal car for the job and the perfect replacement for the Jetta!

Hope the Jetta has found a home(?)

Get the M-Sport suspension and M-Sport exhaust, pronto! It's guaranteed to make you grin ear to ear!

Enjoy the car in good health and spirit! Drive safe!

[noopster]

Originally Posted by androdev

That is an excellent try. I have decided to give up my share and let you keep the 100% of the sales commission.

Big talk for a guy who wanted a 20L car and ended up buying the S-class! Link

What a lovely thread, graaja! Am riveted. I would have advised you to go for the 330i with eyes closed, had I chanced upon this thread earlier.

Good luck with the new car and wish you all the joy in the world!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Please get your alloys painted gloss/matte black. Those silver alloys stick out like a sore thumb.

Yes. Plan to do this sometime in the future. The first upgrade is the M Sport suspensions. But planning to drive it for a couple of months under all types of roads before biting the bullet.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Congratulations Grajaa!

If you go through the first page of the thread, you will notice that I was the first to suggest the GT, keeping your requirements in mind. It's the ideal car for the job and the perfect replacement for the Jetta!

Hope the Jetta has found a home(?)

Get the M-Sport suspension and M-Sport exhaust, pronto! It's guaranteed to make you grin ear to ear!

Enjoy the car in good health and spirit! Drive safe!

Thanks a lot Suhaas. Yes. I very much remember your suggestion to go for the GT. At that time, my limitation was the 5L additional cost and the handling dynamics. As the thread progressed and as I started realizing the practicality of the GT, I decided to fix the handling (if found to be too bad) by M Sport suspensions and also prepared to stretch the budget. Luckily, the high discount brought the price within the 330i pricing.

M Sport suspension is mostly going to happen. But I am not keen on the M Sport exhaust, as I prefer a silent car, and the M-sport exhaust mostly alters the sound than any performance gain.

Jetta has not yet found a home. I have some enquiries, but nothing solid. It would go immediately if I decide to sell it at a very low price, but I have decided to take it slow and see if I find someone who is willing to pay a decent price as I have maintained it quite well. Right now, the Polo GT is standing in the sun waiting for the Jetta to find a home.

Originally Posted by noopster

Big talk for a guy who wanted a 20L car and ended up buying the S-class! Link

What a lovely thread, graaja! Am riveted. I would have advised you to go for the 330i with eyes closed, had I chanced upon this thread earlier.

Good luck with the new car and wish you all the joy in the world!

Thanks a lot, Noopster!

Wow. After seeing Androdev's S-Class thread and the jump he made from a 20 Lakh budget, all the guilt for having sunk so much money into a car just vaporized!

[goingout]

Congrats on your new ride! The 3GT has to be experienced to appreciate how good it is as an all-rounder. The cherry on top is the 30i engine and M sport package

Love the small mods you've made already. Look forward to more pictures!

[docsr]

graaja,
Congratulations on the new acquisition - sure looks great with the M sport blue.
What do you think of the boot space? I had seen the vehicle a few weeks ago, and felt that a large part of the boot was occupied by the spare wheel. When I asked the sales executive - he suggested that the wheel could be left at home during city drives and carried only on longer trips. But it is precisely during longer trips that one would have to carry more luggage. Fitting even one decent sized suitcase seemed challenging.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by goingout

Congrats on your new ride! The 3GT has to be experienced to appreciate how good it is as an all-rounder. The cherry on top is the 30i engine and M sport package

Love the small mods you've made already. Look forward to more pictures!

Thank you for the wishes. Planning to create an ownership thread with lots of pictures. But may take a few weeks time for that.

Originally Posted by docsr

graaja,
Congratulations on the new acquisition - sure looks great with the M sport blue.
What do you think of the boot space? I had seen the vehicle a few weeks ago, and felt that a large part of the boot was occupied by the spare wheel. When I asked the sales executive - he suggested that the wheel could be left at home during city drives and carried only on longer trips. But it is precisely during longer trips that one would have to carry more luggage. Fitting even one decent sized suitcase seemed challenging.

Thank you for the wishes. Yes. The boot space with the spare wheels is a problem indeed. The same problem exists even in the 5 series and still worse in the regular 3 series. Though in the 5 series, they have created a neat storage space for the spare wheel that creates a flat boot space, the usable space of the boot is greatly reduced. Found the same issue in the C -class as well. Maybe all RWD cars suffer from this issue.

I have not yet tried fitting luggage into the boot along with the spare wheel. Will check it with some suitcases and bags during the weekend and share some pictures.

I had discussed this issue in detail with some BMW owners. Everyone who I talked to told that they usually leave the spare wheel at home, as the car comes with RFTs which one can drive for 100kms with a flat. The car comes with a direct TPMS system that shows the tire pressure on the iDrive. If you carry a portable inflator, you can easily inflate the wheel and drive to the next repair shop to get the puncture fixed without any damage to the tire. In case of severe damage like a torn tire, you can still drive the car. Considering these points, I think we can safely leave the spare wheel back on long journeys.

However, if you change to tubeless tires, then you will definitely have to carry the spare wheel.

[the_skyliner]

Originally Posted by graaja

Planning to create an ownership thread with lots of pictures. But may take a few weeks time for that.

Congratulations, graaja! 3GT is indeed a practical car especially when you have a family to lug around. And it looks awesome in blue!

Originally Posted by graaja

Yes. The boot space with the spare wheels is a problem indeed.

I had discussed this issue in detail with some BMW owners. Everyone who I talked to told that they usually leave the spare wheel at home, as the car comes with RFTs which one can drive for 100kms with a flat. The car comes with a direct TPMS system that shows the tire pressure on the iDrive. If you carry a portable inflator, you can easily inflate the wheel and drive to the next repair shop to get the puncture fixed without any damage to the tire. In case of severe damage like a torn tire, you can still drive the car. Considering these points, I think we can safely leave the spare wheel back on long journeys.

I agree. The spare wheel is a pain to carry all the time. Have driven 320d for around 40k kms and never used a spare and thankfully even after experiencing a couple of punctures during highway runs, didn't get stranded. Just drove to a petrol pump and filled in air till I reach home.

Now in GT, as we do not usually carry lot of luggage (thankfully), I let the spare wheel as it is.

Once again, wish you many happy miles on your 2nd GT

[karan561]

Well done Graaja, those subtle mods certainly make a big difference & definitely complete the target reference 4 series GC pic you earlier shared