[live2dream]

Hello all,

My F30 headlights on both sides started fogging up after heavy rains on multiple occasions. It dries up after some time. The headlights have never been removed or worked upon. Does anyone else face this problem? The car is still under warranty.

[dealer]

Originally Posted by live2dream

Hello all,

My F30 headlights on both sides started fogging up after heavy rains on multiple occasions. It dries up after some time. The headlights have never been removed or worked upon. Does anyone else face this problem? The car is still under warranty.

You should take this matter up with BMW and ask for a fix or replacement of headlights. Since you're under warranty there's no reason to look at anything else

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by live2dream

Hello all,

My F30 headlights on both sides started fogging up after heavy rains on multiple occasions. It dries up after some time. The headlights have never been removed or worked upon. Does anyone else face this problem? The car is still under warranty.

I don't think it's a serious issue. Your case likely falls under the light fogging that does not raise any need for alarm.

BMW's official position is:

"The condensation phenomenon is promoted by damp, humid air that penetrates into the headlamp from the outside by entering through the ventilation system. This then evaporates in the headlamp while it is still warm, and when the unit cools it then precipitates to form condensed moisture of the inside of the headlamp lens.
This neither causes corrosion damage to the headlamp, nor does it exercise a negative impact on the intensity of the light that it emits."

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...lights/YFcTUkX

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...light/HQ4kO4KW

[Dr.AD]

To all the F30 owners, have you played around with that is called the "Driving Style Analysis" in the iDrive?

The iDrive has this feature that analyzes the driving style under Eco-Pro mode (this feature does not apply to any other driving mode). It gives 'stars' for a smooth and "economical" driving style (and hence works only in Eco-Pro mode). It measures two parameters: Anticipation and Acceleration. The lines you see on the screen are initially all rough with some local ups an downs. As you get more and more stars, the lines get smoother and eventually when you get 5 stars on both the parameters, the lines become totally smooth.

This feature is discussed a lot in many BMW forums, and people have been trying to get 5 stars, just for curiosity. It is quite a difficult (and also boring, to be honest) task. You have to drive very smoothly, brake with a lot of anticipation (coasting and slowing down before braking), and accelerate very smoothly without any sudden jerk whatsoever (now you know why I said boring; basically the whole fun of accelerating is gone).

I almost always drive in the Sports mode. However, this time, just for curiosity, I decided to try to achieve the illusive task of getting 10 stars. This thing is just like a game - you gain stars with smooth maneuvers and lose stars if you do something abrupt. Again, this is both boring and frustrating, and I would never recommend this to anyone. However, I tried my best just for the sake of curiosity to see if I could do it, and here it is. I finally managed to get 10 stars:

[Moontan]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

To all the F30 owners, have you played around with that is called the "Driving Style Analysis" in the iDrive?

I saw this post on your thread and wonder if it's just for a LCI iDrive. I'm not sure and I've been meaning to check it out. I'm always on Comfort or Sport and have not hit Eco in a very, very, very long time. Did you find it distracting? I feel I would, so I'm not sure of the practicality with 245 ponies at my disposal. . That said, congratulations are in order, I suppose.

[Moontan]

This last weekend I got my F30 328i serviced. I'm one of those that sources all replacements and preventive additives myself and use a FNG for it's lifts and specialised tools. In the spirit of sharing, I'd like to share how much time and effort went into this exercise. The pandemic jimmied things from a sourcing perspective. So here goes:-

Things that needed change:-

1) Engine Oil: My initial plan was to go with LM's Molygen 5W-40. Unfortunately, all I could source was 4Lts and not an additional 1Ltr, as my N20 takes 5Ltrs. The suppliers blamed it on the situation as they were not able to get regular supplies. So I stuck with LM's Toptec 4100 5W-40, sourced from those amazing guys at VAGtune.

Cost for 5Ltrs: INR 5040

2) LM's Engine Flush: Also from VAGtune

Cost: INR 410

3) I removed my BMC oil infused air filter and replaced it, for the moment, with a MANN C 24025 paper filter, OEM spec.

Cost: INR 2400

3) Oil Filter: I had ordered a MANN H 816z Kit from the authorised distributor in Bangalore who Dunzo'd it to my residence, a couple of months ago. But as I'm not in Bangalore and needed it in Salem, he had run out of stock and had no idea when he would get new stock. I went with Hengst's E61H D258 which is another OEM spec filter. I now have a spare OEM spec MANN filter at home in Bangalore for my next change.

Cost: INR 800

Cabin Filter: As most BMW's come from factory with activated carbon cabin filters, they need changing every 3 years or so. This was the three year interval so I used a MANN CUK 25001 filter. OEM spec again.

Cost: INR 1400

When I service, I get all rubber reconditioned. This meant raising the car on a lift, removing the bottom shields, water washing the strut's and arm's rubber boots, checking for any bit of damage or rigidity and then applying rubber conditioner. This conditioner, most FNGs have, and I used his supply.

Cost: INR 0

Another bit I always get done, is to remove all four wheels and use a caliper cleaner spray to clean the...calipers, with a metal brush. Inspection of pad wear is also then done and a general conclusion is usually reached that BMW's CBS based brake pad wear on it's iDrive has been smoking something happy.

Cost: Not sure. I have a can of caliper cleaner and there's loads left. Cost of can was INR 500 or so, IIRC.

Labour: This, as it's not my normal FNG in Bangalore, was a different though enjoyable, experience. The whole job took about 90 mins, with 3 mechanics on the car and me telling them what I wanted done and how I wanted it done. I learnt a lot from their experience and they, I hope, learnt a teeny bit about someone who loves their machine and who will not compromise on what needs to be done as an ongoing and preventive measure.

Cost: INR 1000

A strange takeaway: Since changing back to an OEM spec paper air filter, there is a huge difference in the exhaust sound. It growls again, and burbles in Sport. It never did this with the BMC filter. Let me check this a bit more and update all F30 owners. I'll DIY swap to the BMC and check again if it's not just the regular service placebo.

That being said, Oil infused filters work better on these machines during the monsoon as it's oil properties repel water better and we certainly don't want a hydro-lock. You just need to IPA clean the MAF sensor more often, which is the simplest DIY you can attempt.

~Peace 'n' Blessings~

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Moontan

. I'm always on Comfort or Sport and have not hit Eco in a very, very, very long time. Did you find it distracting? I feel I would, so I'm not sure of the practicality with 245 ponies at my disposal.

I agree this is a useless feature. I almost always drive in Sports mode, and I found that to be the best mode both on the highways and in the city. I fine the car terribly boring to drive in the Eco Pro mode, and I would never use it by choice, except for exploring the features once just to understand them.

As I said, this Drive Style Analysis was an experiment I did just to explore this feature and understand how it works. I would never ever recommend this to anyone as a useful feature nor would I myself use it ever again.

In general, I like to explore all the features in the car and just understand them. I may find them useless and not use them later, but exploring them is still fun. This was one such exploration.

[Moontan]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I almost always drive in Sports mode, and I found that to be the best mode both on the highways and in the city.

As a follower of your thread, I have noticed the excellent fuel economy you get on your highway runs with a very good average speed as well. This diesel on your F30 is one very impressive engine and now knowing that those figures are hit while it's in Sport mode is, with all that torque and horses being put to work, mind blowing.

Have you done a trip on Comfort to see if there is even greater mileage to be had?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Moontan

As a follower of your thread, I have noticed the excellent fuel economy you get on your highway runs with a very good average speed as well. This diesel on your F30 is one very impressive engine and now knowing that those figures are hit while it's in Sport mode is, with all that torque and horses being put to work, mind blowing.

Yes, the diesel engine is very impressive. I absolutely love it on the highways. The only (relative) negative I think is the low RPM behavior, where this engine is not as smooth as you would expect from a car in this segment. It is a bit rough to idle. Further, there is a small but noticeable lag when you press the pedal say at about 1000rpm. I have driven the 328i and it is much better than the 320d in the low RPM response.

However, once you are in the 1500rpm and above range, all these minor issues disappear. The engine is smooth and very punchy above 1500rpm. In a typical highway cruising, the engine stays perfectly into the peak torque band and it is extremely responsive to any throttle inputs at highway speeds, without any major penalty on fuel economy. This is the reason I always get good efficiency on the highways drives regardless of the driving modes.

Have you done a trip on Comfort to see if there is even greater mileage to be had?

Yes, I have done those trips too. During my first year of owning this car, I mostly drove in Comfort mode. Later I started playing around with the Sports mode and by second year of ownership, primarily used Sports mode. And I also occasionally drove in Eco Pro mode just to explore the settings and features (for short duration only).

Funnily, I noticed that there is no noticeable change in the fuel economy regardless of the driving mode. In fact, my data suggests that I get better economy in Sports mode than in Comfort mode, specifically for the highway drives. This could be because the car is better prepared to respond to accelerator inputs in Sports mode, and maybe the already available enormous torque of 400Nm is better utilized in the Sports mode. Conversely, the Eco Pro mode seems to be a gimmick because it does not give a better FE by itself. It just makes you drive slowly and in a boring way. If you drive like that in the Comfort mode, you will still gain all the FE benefits without having to switch the mode. So Eco Pro by itself adds nothing.

Just to clarify, I did not buy this car to get a good fuel economy, and fuel economy is not my priority. However, since I love tracking data and analyzing data for fun (and I also do that as a profession, but that is different topic ) I have been tracking a lot of data anyways.

Although I do not care about fuel economy per se, I do care about the range! I do a lot of highway drives (well, used to do before covid) and there I hate to have to refuel all the time and especially in remote areas or smaller towns. With a real-world range of about 850km on the 320d, I never have to refuel in small towns. My weekend trips happen on a single tank of fuel, and even long drives like Bangalore-Hyderabad can be done without having to refuel on the way. This range is more important to me than fuel economy by itself.

[Kelly66]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Conversely, the Eco Pro mode seems to be a gimmick because it does not give a better FE by itself. It just makes you drive slowly and in a boring way. If you drive like that in the Comfort mode, you will still gain all the FE benefits without having to switch the mode. So Eco Pro by itself adds nothing.

Actually, ECO Pro is useful in highways when you want to maintain steady speed because whenever you take your leg off the pedal it goes into coasting (which is as good as neutral) and useful when there are ups and downs like in the Blore-CBE or Chennai routes.

Last year, on a 770 km trip (559 km on highway largely on ECO Pro/Comfort and 75% on A/C) I got a FE of 21 kmpl (highest till date) with an avg speed of 44.4 km. I mainly use Sports mode to overtake or get over those steep slopes. City driving is only in Comfort.

For nearly 6 months after I bought the car I never knew about this coasting feature and I used to do Comfort mode. On an 803 km trip (579 km on highway) I got a FE of 18.1 kmpl, with an avg speed of 40.1 km.

So, I guess ECO Pro adds around 2-3 kmpl to one's FE.

[Kelly66]

Originally Posted by Kelly66

I mainly use Sports mode to overtake or get over those steep slopes. City driving is only in Comfort.

One more use for Sports mode...you are coming down a slope or a long stretch of open road and you notice a red light or some traffic, so instead of breaking, I shift the gear lever to left to move to Sports mode and the engine breaking starts since it normally shifts down one gear to pick up RPM. This is what we do in a manual car, right? I know you can do this by moving the lever up or down, but I have to look down because I still don't remember which is + and _

[drmohitg]

I had a small query. For a car covered under BSI, BMW allows you to get a service done once the iDrive starts showing a range of 2000 kms. My question is that is there a similar allowance for the month mark also? For instance my car is showing Brake oil service scheduled in month of October,2020. Is there a 1 or 2 month allowance here too where in I can get the said service done in August or September, 2020.

Actually I need to visit them for another issue related to the DRLs. And since covid is a concern, I wanted to avoid re-visiting them in October again and was wondering if the Brake oil service can also be conducted a month earlier.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Kelly66

Actually, ECO Pro is useful in highways when you want to maintain steady speed because whenever you take your leg off the pedal it goes into coasting (which is as good as neutral) and useful when there are ups and downs like in the Blore-CBE or Chennai routes.

So, I guess ECO Pro adds around 2-3 kmpl to one's FE.

Good to hear this.

From BLR, there are pretty good highways like Chennai, Kanyakumari, Hyderabad, Hassan where it is entirely safe to drive on cruise control. I would have normally stayed in Comfort mode, but this post is a revelation for me.

Especially with family in the car coupled with that pesky 120 km/hr buzzer, a cruise limit at 118 km/hr would be perfect .

[Kelly66]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Good to hear this.

From BLR, there are pretty good highways like Chennai, Kanyakumari, Hyderabad, Hassan where it is entirely safe to drive on cruise control. I would have normally stayed in Comfort mode, but this post is a revelation for me.

Especially with family in the car coupled with that pesky 120 km/hr buzzer, a cruise limit at 118 km/hr would be perfect .

I am not sure ECO Pro (i.e.coasting) and Cruise Control work together though. My car doesn't have CC hence coasting (i.e. RPM comes to neutral) makes sense and it kicks in only if your leg is off the acceleration pedal and goes away when you break or accelerate again.

Whereas in CC mode the accelerator is kept pressed by the system on & off to maintain steady speed, even though your leg is off it. So, do check out and let us know if coasting kicks in CC mode. Maybe it does when you are in a down slope in CC mode, which should also be good enough.

PS: The lowest speed at which coasting works is around 60 kmph (default on iDrive may show 80).

[Moontan]

Achievement unlocked!

Here's to another hassle free 50K. This has been the most reliable car I've ever owned.