[beingbeyond]

hello all,

I finally would be getting delivery of my dream car the 330 li m sport pro... sky scrapper grey. A few of fellow team BHP'ians have helped me around the service package & extended warranty, thanks a lot!

A few queries have been doing rounds in my head

1. How should i treat the vehicle for first few 000' km. should i be riding slow, or normal, chan i accelerate well?

2. given its my first luxury car, what should i do for good upkeep in general compared to my current car (I have a jeep compass). Should i use normal fuel or the premium version, what else to keep in mind.

3. Also any suggestions for which coating I should get for the vehicle, and any recommendations for vendors in Bangalore. I am sure there would be some scratches and want to avoid it.

4. Other suggestions?

The delivery of the vehicle is 3-4 days away, and sure these would be sleepless

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by beingbeyond

1. How should i treat the vehicle for first few 000' km. should i be riding slow, or normal, chan i accelerate well?

2. given its my first luxury car, what should i do for good upkeep in general compared to my current car (I have a jeep compass). Should i use normal fuel or the premium version, what else to keep in mind.

3. Also any suggestions for which coating I should get for the vehicle, and any recommendations for vendors in Bangalore. I am sure there would be some scratches and want to avoid it.

Congratulations, it’s a great car.

1) Below is what BMW suggests for first 2000 kms



2) I am always using XP95. Suggest using the same.

3) I have whole car PPF. Felt very necessary in Bangalore

[AnkitShroff]

I got a text from BMW representative stating that the service plus plan is getting discontinued from Jan 1. Does anyone have any update on what exactly are they planning? I was planning to get the 3-yr/ 40k kms service plan (basic; not plus) for my recently purchased 3GL, I will probably buy it before the year end if a major churn is expected that might also result in price increase of the basic plans as well. Thanks.

[Maverick_Tilu]

I bought my M Sport Pro in July but didn’t install a dashcam at the time. Now, considering the road stories we hear and the attention BMWs tend to attract, I feel a dashcam is essential.

My BMW dealer has quoted ₹75,000 for their OEM dashcam and insists I should go with it to keep my warranty intact. They mentioned that using third-party dashcams might risk voiding the warranty, especially for electrical components.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• Have you installed a dashcam in your BMW?
• Which brand and model did you choose?
• Is the dealer’s claim about third-party installations affecting warranty valid, or can I safely go for a high-quality third-party option if installed professionally?

Any experiences, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by Maverick_Tilu

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• Have you installed a dashcam in your BMW?
• Which brand and model did you choose?
• Is the dealer’s claim about third-party installations affecting warranty valid, or can I safely go for a high-quality third-party option if installed professionally?

Any experiences, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

1) Yes
2) BMW Advanced Car Eye 3.0 Pro
3) Yes, since it involves electrical work (if hard wired) and any 3rd party installation will definitely void warranty. I did not want the visible wires and went with BMW hard wiring.

But I am surprised with the pricing. When I got my car in Aug, the actual price was 65k and I got it for 60k. Could not manage more discounts on accessories as I got a bigger discount on the car. Unless it’s a new version, a 10k increase in 4 months is crazy.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Maverick_Tilu

• Have you installed a dashcam in your BMW?
• Which brand and model did you choose?
• Is the dealer’s claim about third-party installations affecting warranty valid, or can I safely go for a high-quality third-party option if installed professionally?

Yes. I had installed the BMW Advance Eye first-generation dashcam in my 3GT. It was not a great dashcam, but I did it to keep the warranty intact.

The dealer's statement depends on the type of installation. If you just fix the dashcam to the windshield and take power for the dashcam from the cigarette lighter socket, then this will not affect the warranty in any way. But if you hardware the dashcam, then this will affect the warranty.

So, if you can live with the wire routing from the cigarette lighter socket to the windshield, then get a good third-party dashcam. But if you want a clean install with hardwiring, then get the BMW original one, even though it may be priced atrociously.

[niranjanrvce]

I took the 3GL for a ~3000km roadtrip and thought of posting a quick update here on how the car performed.

The route was Blore-Hampi-Aurangabad-Ajanta-Ellora-Mahabaleshwar/Tapola-Blore, with some local sightseeing at these places. The roads were a mix of 4/6 lane carpet smooth roads, broken highways with massive potholes, 2 laned state highways with heavy local traffic, city roads and some delectable ghat roads. The cars in the convoy were the 3GL, a Hilux and a Octavia 1.8. I initially considered taking a Kodiaq instead of the 3GL for more practicality but am super glad I took the 3GL instead.

Now, there are some areas where the 3GL could have been better:
1. The runflats held up well throughout the journey - but gave me a few periods of stress in between when I couldn't avoid a couple of big potholes and the suspension bottomed out and I had to pull over to the side to check for any sidewall bulges. Although I was lucky not to get any tyre issues, it definitely plays on your mind on imperfect roads. And I have collected a few more small scratches on the alloy edges after this trip.
2. The boot space is too small for families on long trips. Luckily we had the massive cargo space of the Hilux and dumped all the suitcases there. Definitely a big constraint if I were to do a longer trip with just this car.

That said, I absolutely loved the way the car behaved over the trip length. The power on the 30i is just perfect for our roads and I did most of the trip in Sport Individual mode where I have everything configured to 'sport' but steering configured to 'comfort'. I wanted the engine braking and instant throttle response of sport mode but wanted the lighter steering feel of comfort on big highways since there isn't much throwing the car around on them. On the ghats though, I moved the steering to 'sport' as well when I got some well tarred empty stretches to have fun on. The Mahabaleshwar-Satara road is perfect for this kind of fun.

Typical highway cruising speeds kept the rpm at ~2000, with a small tap on the throttle enough to complete quick overtakes. On most of the highways, you'll find clusters of trucks+cars every once in a while and with the 3GL, I could pass these clusters quickly, get some pace on to put distance between them and settle down to a comfortable cruise again. Also, as always, there were a few odd cars every now and then wanting to do their version of 'racing with BMWs' - I would ignore them if there is traffic or do a quick spurt of acceleration and get away if it was empty. The 3GL has enough power to simply disappear from traffic even at part throttle. And it is so linear that your co-passengers will continue to sleep in peace even through any acceleration bursts. But I must say, most cars throughout the journey were well driven and it felt like people were generally keeping to highway etiquette more than I expected. Two wheelers was another story though, especially the suicidal ones clogging the highways around Aurangabad.

Another highlight of the car for me was the ride quality. I had to do the 1000km dash from Blore-Aurangabad on a single day and a lot of the stretches from Hospete-Bijapur-Solapur were broken or had massive tramlines created by trucks. The supple ride on the car made a massive difference here and I could reach the destination without any fatigue at all. The car takes undulations and patches on the road really well and you don't really need to slow down for them. The catch though is to keep an eagle's eye out for any bigger potholes that can kill your tyres. On the return journey, there are massive diversions from Satara to Belgaum where you have unmarked speed breakers, patches of tar and stones and big potholes. My wife and 2 kids slept through all of it - that is how comfortable the ride was. Just needed to drop speeds on these bad patches and the damping on the suspension took care of the rest.

Last bit on the handling - I always drive with traction set to 'Dynamic Traction' because I find the DSC way too intrusive. Full DSC robs of you of throttle response exactly when you need it - and makes your turn-ins slower. With dynamic on, the car is a hoot to drive around twisites. Yes there is some body roll but who cares - it will stick to your intended line like a leech and allow just that tiny bit of rear slide to get the nose turned quickly into the corner and let you get on the gas in full. And the feel of the rear wheels being so connected to your throttle inputs while your front is free to steer as you wish is inexplicable. Just pure joy of driving.

All said and done, this trip really helped me explore the capabilities of the 3GL as a fast family car and I couldn't be happier with how it performed. Couldn't recommend this more for someone looking for a sedan in this segment.

A parting pic from early in the trip on Chitradurga bypass:


PS: I have the ACE3.0 dashcam and would recommend one for everyone. On one of the stretches from Aurangabad to Panchgani, the car in front brushed a two wheeler and I had to take evasive action to avoid them. My first thought was to thank god I have a dashcam in case anything had happened and I had to prove my case. 60K well spent for the peace of mind imho.

[Maverick_Tilu]

Thank you both. I am going to get this fitted on Saturday, spoke with my BMW person. Just curious, why BMW can’t use so many other cameras already on the car for this purpose as well?🤔

[beingbeyond]

Hi all,

Needed some advice in a situation I am currently stuck.

A couple months back I booked a demo car with BMW Kun Hosur Road branch. I gave the booking amount after getting written assurance from the sales rep that if any reason I need to opt out the entire money will be refunded.
When I went to do PDI I was aghast by the quality of work. They did not even clean the car, and all the promises made by sales rep was bogus.

I went ahead and requested for cancelllation. I still wanted to get a new vehicle, but neither the sales rep nor anyone spoke to me after that. I went ahead and bought a new car from another dealership.

Now despite multiple calls and WhatsApp messages the sales guys are not reverting to me. When I tried calling from alternate number they speak very foully without any respect.

What should I do now? I don’t want my 1.5 lac booking money to go waste.

I have all the proofs.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by beingbeyond

Now despite multiple calls and WhatsApp messages the sales guys are not reverting to me. When I tried calling from alternate number they speak very foully without any respect.

What should I do now? I don’t want my 1.5 lac booking money to go waste.

I have all the proofs.

You can mail BMW and give it a try. While dealer might withhold some amount, they in no way can hold back the entire booking amount. It is also better you visit the showroom and discuss in person as most dealers are disinterested and won't respond to calls once the amount is credited to their account.

[mudhasir]

Originally Posted by beingbeyond

Hi all,

Now despite multiple calls and WhatsApp messages the sales guys are not reverting to me. When I tried calling from alternate number they speak very foully without any respect.

What should I do now? I don’t want my 1.5 lac booking money to go waste.

I have all the proofs.

They shouldn't be doing that and booking amount is always 100% refundable. More than the negotiation on what % will be returned, the behavior sounds concerning. Can you please also drop a message on X (Twitter) tagging showroom handle and BMW handle? That will ideally get things going for you

[Aj_Agg]

BMW Connected Drive website is now working in India. Can see these three buy options. Have any one bought any ?

[sunilpthomas]

Originally Posted by Maverick_Tilu

I bought my M Sport Pro in July but didn’t install a dashcam at the time. Now, considering the road stories we hear and the attention BMWs tend to attract, I feel a dashcam is essential...

...Any experiences, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I got the BMW dashcam installed - it costed around 60k including installation. In the catalogue itself the price is quoted as 60k.

[Impulsivemedusa]

Originally Posted by Aj_Agg

BMW Connected Drive website is now working in India. Can see these three buy options. Have any one bought any ?

Interesting. Will you be able to buy adaptive suspension for 3GL LCI?

Also, this Dashcam option is robbery IMHO. It should have come as stock option with 360-degree cam

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Impulsivemedusa

Interesting. Will you be able to buy adaptive suspension for 3GL LCI?

Don’t think the India configs have this hardware pre-installed but what a terrible money grubbing exercise in any case.

I can just about contemplate paying for heated seats (BMW South Korea) or a Sirius or Onestar satellite radio subscription (US) but extending the analogy to adaptive suspension is simply untenable!

Reminds me of the hilarious Little Britain series. A little risqué in the typical Brit style but humour me :

https://youtu.be/x0YGZPycMEU?si=M4QBzrO0FlVDvkqC

https://youtu.be/1pw8m_NTJ_0?si=Dvd1Bn26XdKN-MS3