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Old 20th December 2013, 21:43   #466
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the_skyliner View Post
By the way, is you tire issue resolved?
Well tire issue has turned out to be longer than expected.

One tire has a thick metallic lump stuck deep inside. So it has to be changed.

2 alloy wheels have dents on the inside. They have clearly been caused when the car has hit a bump hard and the run flats' side wall has had a major impact on the alloy wheel. The guys at BMW had the same view.

They're charging me 5% of the wheels and they'll replace them.
But the larger question again remains are run flats worth it ? It was very clear that these dents would not have been caused by regular tires.
I'm in 2 minds to get the tires replaced. Right now BMW secure covers the alloys. Next time I'll have to pay for the alloys. And they cost a bomb! Rs. 38000/ piece

I spoke to the head of servicing and spares about this. I wanted his view on using regular tires.

He showed me a couple of videos on YouTube demonstrating how run flats' main advantage is that they stay on the rim when they puncture or even burst at very high speeds while normal tubeless tires almost always come off the rim when they burst at high speeds resulting in some accidents. I would encourage everyone to watch this. I for one wasn't aware of this huge advantage.
The fact that the tires can drive without repair for some distance is just an added advantage.

The learning is , run flats are an amazing piece of work. While driving I had absolutely no idea that one tire had completely burst. Even after the tire pressure alarms went off , I went to the petrol station to check the air pressure, the tire had 4-5 psi. That's next to nothing and I was surprised at how effortlessly the car was driving and that I had absolutely no clue.

I think I'm gonna keep the run flats.
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Old 20th December 2013, 22:17   #467
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Originally Posted by Bluebeem View Post
He showed me a couple of videos on YouTube demonstrating how run flats' main advantage is that they stay on the rim when they puncture or even burst at very high speeds while normal tubeless tires almost always come off the rim when they burst at high speeds resulting in some accidents. I would encourage everyone to watch this. I for one wasn't aware of this huge advantage.

I think I'm gonna keep the run flats.
I think similar video has been posted by akshay1234 on his RFT thread. Yes, RFTs are super safe when it comes to tire burst.

Once had an experience of usefulness as well as pain of RFTs at the same time. Was travelling in Europe in a 118 at midnight and accidentally my colleague drove past over a broken beer bottle. After a few kms (30-40 kms) the tire gave up and we were stranded in the middle of nowhere on a cold winter night and that too during holiday season.

Looked up in the boot only to be surprised to find nothing! That day I learned that BMWs come with such tires and no spare. Took more than 2-3 hours before ADAC people came for rescue.

Without RFTs we could have had an accident but because of no spare we were left helpless in the middle of night.

Thank you for the RFTs BMW, but why no spare tire?
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Old 21st December 2013, 11:53   #468
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

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Originally Posted by the_skyliner View Post
What kind of mats you have in your 328i?
I am using the regular BLACK carpet mats, When i got the car these were pre-installed by BMW

BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review-organ-type.jpg
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Old 21st December 2013, 14:05   #469
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

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Originally Posted by karan561 View Post
I am using the regular BLACK carpet mats, When i got the car these were pre-installed by BMW
But these stock black mats are dust magnets. They really became dirty in less than a week. I have put regular transparent mats over these.
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Old 21st December 2013, 14:41   #470
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

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Originally Posted by drmohitg View Post
But these stock black mats are dust magnets. They really became dirty in less than a week. I have put regular transparent mats over these.


But when they are clean look pretty neat almost like suede effect, check out;

BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review-1.jpg
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Old 24th December 2013, 12:09   #471
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

The new price of the baseline 320d from January is going to be 33.75L approx in Delhi. That a jump of close to 3L from the current price of 30.9L. The good part is that the current year cars in stock would still be sold at 30.9L ex showroom price and not the inflated price tag. Only limitation is choice of colors as anything other than what the dealer has in stock would come from the factory with the increased price tag.
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Old 26th December 2013, 15:23   #472
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

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Originally Posted by drmohitg View Post
The new price of the baseline 320d from January is going to be 33.75L approx in Delhi. That a jump of close to 3L from the current price of 30.9L. The good part is that the current year cars in stock would still be sold at 30.9L ex showroom price and not the inflated price tag. Only limitation is choice of colors as anything other than what the dealer has in stock would come from the factory with the increased price tag.
What would be the price of the Base Model with Xenon (Ex Showroom)
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Old 26th December 2013, 15:26   #473
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

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Originally Posted by AbhiJ View Post
What would be the price of the Base Model with Xenon (Ex Showroom)
The above prices I have mentioned are for the base model with xenons only. This is what the SA has told me. I have not seen the printed price list myself. There is a close to 3L or 10% price hike expected from January. But the current stock will still be sold on the current price only and not the revised price. BTW did you decide anything yet? Has the dealer offered you a better deal or not?
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Old 26th December 2013, 15:37   #474
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

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Originally Posted by karan561 View Post


But when they are clean look pretty neat almost like suede effect, check out;

Attachment 1181054
I agree these mats give a much better look and feel good on your feet too. However they are a pain to maintain. Hence I too use plastic transparent mats over it but have been contemplating getting rid of them atleast in the RS5.

How do you manage to clean them everyday? I really can't expect the building staff that washes our cars to vacum these mats everyday. The plastic ones are easy to clean with water. Is there any other solution to clean these carpet mats?
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Old 26th December 2013, 23:08   #475
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re: BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review

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Originally Posted by Sahil View Post
I agree these mats give a much better look and feel good on your feet too. However they are a pain to maintain. Hence I too use plastic transparent mats over it but have been contemplating getting rid of them atleast in the RS5.

How do you manage to clean them everyday? I really can't expect the building staff that washes our cars to vacum these mats everyday. The plastic ones are easy to clean with water. Is there any other solution to clean these carpet mats?
The mats are pretty easy to dust off & clean. Have got them washed thoroughly at home only a couple of times(soaking them in bucket of soap water) & dried them off pretty much traditionally the same way normal clothes are dried off.

Also to be honest the driver side mats are the ones that take maximum abrasion & beating rest are spanking new so far(at least in my car).
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Old 27th December 2013, 00:17   #476
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BMW 3 Series - Maybe

Hi Friends , Am planing to get the 3 series in the next few days (possibly in December itself).

Many thoughts and questions are going through my mind as I take this decision to shell out this much amount.
I wanted to share all that is going through my mind and possibly have some suggestions with regards to any possibility.
Well I have test driven the Audi A4 (143bhp) and the 3 series(320d) in the last couple of months.
A lot of you would totally disagree wit me but for some reason I have never been able to view the Audi in the same class as the Mercedes and the BMW. This is just a one time opportunity for me to fulfill the dream of my life and am just not able to convince myself to get the Audi. The other demotivating factor for the Audi being that a totally new version of the car is expected to hit either late next year or by max 2015.

My first love has always been Mercedes but again the C Class is about to get the new model by 2015. Also that the C Class base model is priced much higher than the other two. Have not taken any test drive for the car.

I have test driven the 3 series twice in the last couple of weeks.
Just two words to describe it - AWESOME POWER.
Other factors in favor of 3 series being :
-New model launched only last year.
-The car looks great. Love the sporty stance of the BMW's.
-BMW enjoys the same appeal as that of a Mercedes in India.

Have many thoughts and questions with regards to BMW.
The no 1 being about the Run Flat Tyres.

- The absence of a fifth tyre is making me go nuts. Not sure if this would work out but since my drives would mostly be within City, I plan to purchase a fifth tyre (TUBELESS) and keep it in the boot somehow. Since would be mostly driving within the city so would not have much of a use for the boot anyways. The sales guy has suggested me to get a similar looking alloy wheel from the market that can be kept for emergency purposes.

- Another issue is that once the run flats get punctured, they cannot be repaired. The tyre would have to be changed to a new one.
And the new ones cost a bomb. Not sure what is the exact cost but read somewhere these tyres cost almost 37k a piece. The sales guy however suggested that the punctured tyres can be repaired from local punctrewaalas.

Would anyone be able throw some light on this. Is it actually possible to get a puncture repaired for a run flat tyre ?

So as per my understanding you would always require the BMW secure package to be bought for the car if you want to ensure that the tyres and alloys are covered for replacement. This somehow I feel is kind of like a Blackmail. Elsewhere even GTO has mentioned he would prefer to change the runflats first thing after purchasing any BMW -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...d-go-flat.html

I have spoken about this run flat issue with the dealers and all of them start singing this song about how safe and secure the run flat technology is. What the hell man - Am happy with my tubeless tyres in any other car that I have owned till now.
Other thing is that the sales guys are clearly telling in advance that while we can change the runflats to tubeless immediately from the market after the purchase, the suspension warranty would get voided for the car

For now have decided to keep the runflats and maybe buy the tubeless ones sometime later. Also that would be buying a spare tubeless along with an alloy from the market to be kept as a spare in the boot. And there goes the bootspace.

As I am on a limited budget , need one suggestion from all.
The dealer has in stock 2-3 cars with chasis made in 2012. The sales guy is telling me that while the chasis has been made in 2012 the overall car has been assembled in 2013.
What exactly does this mean ?
Is this a 2012 car or will it be called a 2013 model ?
Am planing to take the VIN number of the vehicle from the sales guy.
Not sure but these could be 2012 pack cars.
I have some major doubts about this as of now.
If I purchase this 2012 pack car assembled in 2013 and go to sell it anytime later, would this be called a 2012 model or a 2013 model ?

Someone suggested that the model can be checked with the serial no on the BMW website.

And now finally the confusion remains whether to get a non-xenon or the xenon equipped model. Well obviously the xenon lights look absolutely cool as compared to the other plain ones. While the price difference between the two is only 50000, the catch here is that the dealer is possibly willing to give more discounts on a non-xenon model. Will decide about this after the final discounts are offered at the time of booking.

So I have 3 choices here.
2012 pack assembled in 2013 without xenon.
2013 model without xenon.
2013 model with xenon.

Another question going through my mind is with regards to 320i petrol. Since my running would be quite low , am thinking if I can save some money now and purchase 320i petrol. The 320i should be approx 1.5 lacs cheaper onroad.
Would need to check but the dealer might give more discounts due to fewer petrol customers. The downside would be when 5 years down the line I would be selling the car and the depreciation in the resale value would be higher as compared to a diesel car.

Due to the planned price hike from January am not sure whether the present cars would be sold at the new price or the present price. Sales guys are giving different stories on this. I have been told of a 10% price hike that would come to about 3 lacs on the ex-showroom price. Am already on a budget and if the 2013 model cars would be sold with the new price, I would just about shelve my plan to buy this car altogether.

Am open to any kind of feedback or suggestions before I take the final plunge. Any kind of advise would be most welcome. Thanks....
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Old 27th December 2013, 01:34   #477
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Not long ago I was sailing in the same boat and just a week ago decided to go ahead with the 3. I did not consider A4 seriously because of it's lack of FTD factor. CVT is a complete no-go for me.

Here are my thoughts:

1. C, 3 or A4: I think you have been bitten by the beemer bug so I would recommend 320d. It's DNA is driving pleasure and if you love driving then look no further.

2. RFTs: They are pain but addition of space saver in boot should put your worries to rest. And yes they can be repaired as like normal tubeless unless the puncture is on sidewall. Secure comes handy here as well. It is better to run on RFTs first and change to tubeless later as RFTs would fetch low resale even if changed immediately.

3. Xenons or no xenons: I would pick the one without Xenons if the difference is 2L+ after discounts. Other than looks I see no value in them as I don't drive at night anyways. If you drive at night quite much then only consider buying one with Xenons. And about 2012, if you are getting additional discount of 2L or so on that one then just go for it as you would already cover the loss of resale.

4. 320i: You mentioned that your usage is more in city. In that case go for 320d as the drivability in city is better due to high low end torque. Also, resale of 320i would hurt you a lot.

And as an additional advice, do take commitments from SA in writing. It will come handy in case of non fulfilment.

Good luck!
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Old 27th December 2013, 14:45   #478
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Re: BMW 3 Series - Maybe

Quote:
Originally Posted by wingsoffires View Post
Have many thoughts and questions with regards to BMW.
The no 1 being about the Run Flat Tyres.

- The absence of a fifth tyre is making me go nuts. Not sure if this would work out but since my drives would mostly be within City, I plan to purchase a fifth tyre (TUBELESS) and keep it in the boot somehow. Since would be mostly driving within the city so would not have much of a use for the boot anyways. The sales guy has suggested me to get a similar looking alloy wheel from the market that can be kept for emergency purposes.

- Another issue is that once the run flats get punctured, they cannot be repaired.
Would anyone be able throw some light on this. Is it actually possible to get a puncture repaired for a run flat tyre ?
The RFTs are not all that bad. More so if you are driving withing city limits. And unless you get your sidewall cracked then you can get them repaired just like any normal tubeless tyre. Still for peace of mind you can get a space saver tyre.

Quote:
So as per my understanding you would always require the BMW secure package to be bought for the car if you want to ensure that the tyres and alloys are covered for replacement. This somehow I feel is kind of like a Blackmail.
BMW secure is complimentary for the first year. After that you can even opt for add on policies in your insurance policy and all companies cover tyre damage and hydrostatic lock due to water these days. So you need not buy BMW secure only. no one is blackmailing you.

Quote:
Other thing is that the sales guys are clearly telling in advance that while we can change the runflats to tubeless immediately from the market after the purchase, the suspension warranty would get voided for the car
Write to BMW. I don't think warranty gets void. You need to stick to stock size for the tubeless tyre and you are good to go.

Quote:
So I have 3 choices here.
2012 pack assembled in 2013 without xenon.
2013 model without xenon.
2013 model with xenon.
Go for the one with Xenons. The Xenons really add a lot to the ownership experience.

Also check out this post if you are interested. Moreover I am in the process of booking a 3 series in this month only from Bird auto for a friend. If you are really interested then we can club together and probably squeeze out a better deal. Pm me if you are interested.

Last edited by drmohitg : 27th December 2013 at 14:47.
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Old 28th December 2013, 01:21   #479
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Re: BMW 3 Series - Maybe

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Originally Posted by wingsoffires View Post

Would anyone be able throw some light on this. Is it actually possible to get a puncture repaired for a run flat tyre ?
Hi wof, I had the same apprehensions as you when I purchased my 320d in September. Now, I strongly recommend the run flats. I have already had two punctures in 3 months. Repaired at the neighborhood repaid shop for 50 bucks. There is a big advantage of run flats in case you have a puncture. You do not have to stop to change tyre. You can drive to a nearby puncture shop and get it repaired. I have a space saver spare tyre that I have not used yet.

Quote:
So as per my understanding you would always require the BMW secure package to be bought for the car if you want to ensure that the tyres and alloys are covered for replacement.
Bmw offers secure complimentary in the first year but I did not find it useful as they check the tread depth to calculate depreciation amount. When I had my first puncture, they were willing to change the tyre but I had to pay 25% of the cost, so I just got the tyre repaired.

Quote:
Other thing is that the sales guys are clearly telling in advance that while we can change the runflats to tubeless immediately from the market after the purchase, the suspension warranty would get voided for the car
You may want to cross check again. My sales guy said I could change.

Quote:

For now have decided to keep the runflats and maybe buy the tubeless ones sometime later. Also that would be buying a spare tubeless along with an alloy from the market to be kept as a spare in the boot. And there goes the bootspace.
Negotiate with the dealer when you buy the car. I got the space saver free in place of accessories.

Quote:
The dealer has in stock 2-3 cars with chasis made in 2012. The sales guy is telling me that while the chasis has been made in 2012 the overall car has been assembled in 2013.
What exactly does this mean ?
Is this a 2012 car or will it be called a 2013 model ?
I bought a 2012 chassis car in sep 2013 and got a big discount. The registration document says 2013 so it will be called a 2013 model.


Quote:
And now finally the confusion remains whether to get a non-xenon or the xenon equipped model. Well obviously the xenon lights look absolutely cool as compared to the other plain ones. While the price difference between the two is only 50000, the catch here is that the dealer is possibly willing to give more discounts on a non-xenon model. Will decide about this after the final discounts are offered at the time of booking.
Xenon is definitely better because of the corona rings. The discount between 2012 non xenons and 2013 xenons should be over 2 Lakhs.

Quote:
[BAnother question going through my mind is with regards to 320i petrol. Since my running would be quite low , am thinking if I can save some money now and purchase 320i petrol. The 320i should be approx 1.5 lacs cheaper onroad.
Would need to check but the dealer might give more discounts due to fewer petrol customers. The downside would be when 5 years down the line I would be selling the

I was keen on the petrol too but the funny part is diesel gets more discount than petrol because the petrol model is usually never in stock and is got against a confirmed order. So diesel is a better deal. Also resale value is better.
Quote:
Am open to any kind of feedback or suggestions before I take the final plunge.
Go for it. It is a very satisfying buy. I had the same doubts as you but after 3 months of ownership, I am happy I did not fall for the Audi or Mercedes.
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Old 28th December 2013, 10:08   #480
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Originally Posted by Sunnysm View Post
I bought a 2012 chassis car in sep 2013 and got a big discount. The registration document says 2013 so it will be called a 2013 model.
The date of manufacture/chassis number is reflected on the registration. There may be some states which don't put the date of manufacture on the registration but most states do.

Irrespective, the car will be called a 2012 model. It's always from the date of manufacture. That is why u got a big discount.

Unless you get really lucky while selling it, people will know its a 2012 model from a simple inquiry from the dealer on the chassis number.
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