[AtheK]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Fellow bhp-ian Julyone_modi and I visited the BMW Mumbai showroom on Saturday morning. I was eager to check out the S1000R and in particular, the R1200RS. There was one other potential customer who had come in before us who looked liked he had ridden in on a Versys. After being greeted by the receptionist who arranged for cold water, we waited for the sales person to talk to us. For half an hour the sales person shuttled between his phone and the other potential customer but he never gave us a "Hello, I'll be with you shortly" or even bother with any sort of basic acknowledgement.


Finally, after looking at the bikes ourselves and realizing that we had just wasted 30 minutes, we walked out of the showroom. Even then not one person from the showroom came up to us and asked us if we got what we wanted or if anyone could help us. Jeez, is basic customer service too much to ask for, BMW?

Not a good example, hope things improve.

At my end what i do is i avoid going to these showrooms in first two weeks of launch window, they are too crowded with less potential customers and more of people who are their to spend sometime on the weekend.

Go a couple of weeks later and the near empty showroom will have all the sales persons hovering around you.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Not a good example, hope things improve.

At my end what i do is i avoid going to these showrooms in first two weeks of launch window, they are too crowded with less potential customers and more of people who are their to spend sometime on the weekend.

Go a couple of weeks later and the near empty showroom will have all the sales persons hovering around you.

Honestly even I was expecting the showroom to be crowded given that it had just opened and was pleasantly surprised when we saw that there was only 1 other potential customer. Even with that count of just 1, this is the treatment that we got.


In comparison, we then visited the new Kawasaki showroom and the Ducati one as well. We had top notch experiences at both those places. BMW sure have a lot to learn if they want to make a mark in the Indian market.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Honestly even I was expecting the showroom to be crowded given that it had just opened and was pleasantly surprised when we saw that there was only 1 other potential customer. Even with that count of just 1, this is the treatment that we got.


In comparison, we then visited the new Kawasaki showroom and the Ducati one as well. We had top notch experiences at both those places. BMW sure have a lot to learn if they want to make a mark in the Indian market.

Ah i totally missed the part that there was only one, apologies for that. Wow, then i must say this is downright unacceptable, do they have only one sales advisor?

[MartinVirage]

Had been to the Pune Showroom - Bavaria Motors recently. Frankly, though not a potential customer I don't go to showrooms without my set of research, but just out of curiosity wanted to see the facility. I would say the setup looks pretty upmarket. I like the way the bikes are presented and the lighting, and unlike the other showrooms, bikes are placed on the ground level and not on platforms - So basically you can actually appreciate the design and not the decoration/presentation.The facility is big, two floors and has almost all the entire range of bikes on display and decent variety of merchandise and helmets.

Some quick pictures - Quality is not that great.







PS: If anyone needs the Pune price-list let me know but i guess its pretty similar to the ones posted before. A big shout out to the guys running the showroom to have given me excellent info about the machines.

[AbelAFC]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

In comparison, we then visited the new Kawasaki showroom and the Ducati one as well. We had top notch experiences at both those places. BMW sure have a lot to learn if they want to make a mark in the Indian market.

I'm guessing this would be more of a dealer-specific problem, rather than a manufacturer issue? I don't know, I'm just speculating here. From my experience, the dealer principal makes a huge difference in these cases, especially when it comes to the bigger boys in the market.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Watching reviews of the s1000xr is definitely not helping matters - AT ALL!

160 bhp. Holy mother of christ.

That is just one sweet motorcycle. I think anyone who got a Ducati multistrada in the past few months must be kicking themselves to sleep every night.

Might that include the motorcycle editor from overdrive?

I rode through California last year on this one, it's an amazing amazing machine. I think it was the ride of my lifetime but there are certainly issues. It's too big, it carries its weight around very well and is a dream in corners but if you are not tall it will be a handful to ride in city. I am 5'9" and ended up stalling and dropping it on a gradient. Also, inline 4 power is too peaky. I was able to keep up with my friend on the RSV4 and even impressed a cop who pulled me over, the fellow even called the rental company and praised my riding skills (the owner told me when I was returning the bike). The autoblipper and suspension is to die for, I cannot wait to get these on other bikes. I am working on a thread for a detailed report on it will share soon. Here are some pictures from the trip.

[gautam99]

https://adventuremotorcycle.com/news...0-gs-spy-shots

So hopefully this will come to India via Thailand at a good price point as it's above the 800 cc import threshold...

[Haroon]

Originally Posted by gautam99

https://adventuremotorcycle.com/news...0-gs-spy-shots

So hopefully this will come to India via Thailand at a good price point as it's above the 800 cc import threshold...

Wow. From the pics those seem to be having the Tubeless spoke wheels unlike the earlier model's tube type wheels. Will be interesting to see the price

[neil.jericho]

I had signed up on the BMW website for a test ride of the S1000R and I was contacted by the central call centre a couple of days later and then by the Bangalore showroom a week and a half after that. There was quite a bit of confusion on the road tax and registration component but after some back and forth the showroom folks confirmed that it consisted of the road tax (18%), cess (11%) and 'registration charges' of Rs 14,000.


Now they did their level best to convince me that this 'registration charge' is categorically not the same as handling charges or logistics charges and that these are actual charges incurred by them in getting the vehicle registered. To me, its the same illegal charges by another name. The justification given is that other showrooms in the city also charge the same registration fees! Names that were dropped include Harley Davidson (shares the same owners as the BMW showroom), Ducati and MV Augusta. A cursory glance at what is supposed to be the price list from the new Kawasaki showroom in Bangalore also seems to indicate the inclusion of these fees. Its high time the Karnataka RTO clamps down on this nonsense.


Other than this, the experience with the dealership (over the phone admittedly) has been good so far. Ive been since contacted by a CRM manager and another gentleman from the sales team. Test rides are starting next week for those who are interested. If I remember correctly, they mentioned some deliveries are happening this week as well.

Originally Posted by AtheK

Ah i totally missed the part that there was only one, apologies for that. Wow, then i must say this is downright unacceptable, do they have only one sales advisor?

There was only one that we saw in the showroom that day, not sure if that's still the case.

Originally Posted by AbelAFC

I'm guessing this would be more of a dealer-specific problem, rather than a manufacturer issue? I don't know, I'm just speculating here. From my experience, the dealer principal makes a huge difference in these cases, especially when it comes to the bigger boys in the market.

Fair point.

[Red Liner]

The kawasaki registration charges differ show room to showroom. When i booked mine, at ktm banashankari, there were no such charges in their quote. However, the estimate from mekhri circle was up by 5k. No prizes for guessing where i got the bike from.

You can absolutely get this taken off the quotation. Might be a bit of a struggle, but i wonder for guys who have the money to put down 20 big ones for bikes like these are hardly going to twitch an eyebrow for 0.7% of the purchase price, principles notwithstanding.

And therein lies the problem in our country, kuch bhi chalega bhai.

[mobike008]

A friend told me that a BMW SX1000R 1st service costed INR 38,000/- for his friend

If that's correct information then looks like prospective BMW buyers need to ensure deep pockets for it's maintenance.

Curious to know if there is a standard service cost list published by BMW for their entire range of bikes?

[pramods]

Originally Posted by mobike008

A friend told me that a BMW SX1000R 1st service costed INR 38,000/- for his friend

..

I am assuming this was done at his place rather in service center, the cost might be inclusive of the technician travel and other consumable.

Attached my 2 service bill form Nov16 (long before the official BMW Motorrad launch)


You can see the labor, part and deputation charges.

-Pramod

[Haroon]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Other than this, the experience with the dealership (over the phone admittedly) has been good so far. Ive been since contacted by a CRM manager and another gentleman from the sales team. Test rides are starting next week for those who are interested. If I remember correctly, they mentioned some deliveries are happening this week as well.

Since you are anyway going there, would be helpful if you could kindly ask for the approximate service costs (labor & parts). Typically BMW 1st service is at 1000kms and then every 10k kms (10, 20, 30.....).

Originally Posted by mobike008

A friend told me that a BMW SX1000R 1st service costed INR 38,000/- for his friend

Curious to know if there is a standard service cost list published by BMW for their entire range of bikes?

The bill is shocking indeed esp for the 1st service since that service is at 1000kms and thats just change of oil/filer so cant run up such a huge bill. So are you sure if its the 1k or 10k kms service?


I see in Pramods invoice Rs 2000 just for diagnosis & reset of the service reminder which is basically the press of a button on the BMW diagnostic tool. But otherwise labor charges are almost on par with international service charges of BMW. And we have the additional Service Tax also!!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Haroon

The bill is shocking indeed esp for the 1st service since that service is at 1000kms and thats just change of oil/filer so cant run up such a huge bill. So are you sure if its the 1k or 10k kms service?

It was a SX1000R and for the 1st service. Will find out the reason for such high cost and confirm back

My friend here who told me this owns a Bonnie, Speed Tripple and an RSV4 was looking to add a BMW to his stable and was aghast at these maintenance costs

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by Haroon

Since you are anyway going there, would be helpful if you could kindly ask for the approximate service costs (labor & parts). Typically BMW 1st service is at 1000kms and then every 10k kms (10, 20, 30.....).

Since I didnt hear back from the BMW Bangalore showroom on the test rides, I dropped into their showroom over the weekend. The key points to the best of my recollection are
- The white / blue colour combination for the S1000R and the S1000RR will take 4 months whereas deliveries of other colours will take less than half that time
- Currently they dont have any base versions of the S1000R and S1000RR
- There was some issue in getting the TC issued so test rides havent started yet. Right now they are expecting it to start by the end of the month.
- The question of service costs seemed to catch the service adviser a little off guard. He got the gentleman who was the head of service to answer my queries though.
- As per the service head, the intervals are 1st service - 1000 kms and then every 10K kms as you mentioned.
- BMW recommends Shell fully synthetic oil for the S1000R and the S1000RR (maybe even for the others but I dont recall 100%)
- The service centre is on the 3rd floor of the same building, its right next door to the HD showroom

Before we could get into the key activities for each service (what needs to be replaced / checked / inspected / adjusted), the service head was called away by someone and asked me to wait. I was then told that he
1. was on a call with a BMW team and would be back in a couple of minutes
2. had gone to do PDI for a bike to be delivered (in the middle of the conversation with me ?!) and hence it would take time for him to get back.

I left my contact details and asked for the price breakup of the S1000R and the S1000RR to be emailed to me (due to the showroom policy of not physically handing out pricing details) as well as a call back to understand the potential service costs. I was guaranteed by the sales adviser that both would be taken care of by Monday i.e. yesterday. Unfortunately neither has happened .

Originally Posted by Red Liner

You can absolutely get this taken off the quotation. Might be a bit of a struggle, but i wonder for guys who have the money to put down 20 big ones for bikes like these are hardly going to twitch an eyebrow for 0.7% of the purchase price, principles notwithstanding.

And therein lies the problem in our country, kuch bhi chalega bhai.

I agree, the Karnataka RTO really needs to do its job. Unfortunately most people sit back thinking that it happens to everyone, this is the corruption in the state, there's nothing that can be done etc.

Here's a link to how the Kerala RTO clamped down https://www.motorbeam.com/2016/01/ge...dling-charges/