[Pratik Chavan]

What a pleasure to catch up with fellow BHPians outside India.

Just wondering if BHPians in Europe have any meet ups planned already? If not, would be keen to get together and arrange one.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by CeePee

Wow! It will be interesting to have BHPians meet in various countries.

Since this forum has members worldwide, I am wondering how many BHPians are there in Qatar.

I have organized Team BHP meets in whichever location that I lived in.

So it's just a matter of starting a thread and cajoling folks to join. Lead and Initiative is the most important aspect. If you have that in you, please do start a new thread for Qatar and before you know it, you can have a nice meet in your location.

Originally Posted by Pratik Chavan

What a pleasure to catch up with fellow BHPians outside India.

Just wondering if BHPians in Europe have any meet ups planned already? If not, would be keen to get together and arrange one.

There were meets that happened in Netherlands and Germany. Please take the lead and propose a central location even if it's a different country as in Europe you can drive some and meet people. Best is to make it a weekend and overnight meet.

I have organized meets in Detroit where one BHPian crossed the border from Canada and drove in to Detroit. Please check the Detroit meet threads on forum for meet details and pictures.

Most of our Detroit meets had people drive as far as New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Chicago etc.

Originally Posted by abhi06dua

@mobike008 Great pictures. I'm also in the Seattle area and would love to join next local meet-up with my M340i. Also have another friend with his G80 M3 comp who would be happy to join.

This is too much of a coincidence. Until a year ago, I never heard of this car and over the last one year, I happened to meet so many people in US who own this car.

Wonderful to know you have the B-58 engine. Would love to swap notes with you soon. Please share your mobile number for a quick catch up.

Do share your car pictures here, would love to see the M340i.

Btw, not sure if you bumped into my ownership thread? if not, here it is :

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4990969


Here is an interesting story from this meet. As described in meet report, the return was spoilt due to the traffic jam we encountered in the mountains.

This has to be the shortest distance covered in US from my personal experience.

Check the time-stamp in both pictures.

6 miles covered in 2 hours. LOL!

Anyone has experience of covering lesser miles in a 2-hour time-span?

[abhi06dua]

Originally Posted by mobike008

This is too much of a coincidence. Until a year ago, I never heard of this car and over the last one year, I happened to meet so many people in US who own this car.

Wonderful to know you have the B-58 engine. Would love to swap notes with you soon. Please share your mobile number for a quick catch up.

B58 for the win! Definitely an amazing engine. Interestingly I had X3 M40i on order before I changed my mind and bought the M340i instead partly because the LCI was due in few months with full iDrive 7 capabilities. Both very amazing and capable cars though, thanks to same engine underneath.

I've read your ownership thread couple times now - mainly because it's shown up few times in team bhp newsletter and the small snippet always looks very interesting I love me a good ownership thread and your posts are very informative and fun to read.

Also sounds like you were stuck in a crazy traffic jam. I've never been stuck for hours, but I do encounter pretty heavy crawling traffic on 405 every now and then. I made sure to option Driving Assistant Professional on my M340i, which comes with Extended Traffic Jam Assist. It works really well and lets me sit back and relax (while still being attentive of course, otherwise the eye tracking turns off traffic assist) while it does all the work for me.

Sharing few shots of my M340i :











Hope to catch you around town and give a TBHP wave

[abhiram90]

Such a nice drive to Leavenworth. Special thanks to @mobike008 for setting this up. I am sure we will have more coming up as the spring and summer unfolds soon here in Seattle.

Looking forward to many of these...
Here are some of the captures from my lens.

See ya!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by abhi06dua

B58 FTW! Definitely an amazing engine. Interestingly I had X3 M40i on order before I changed my mind and bought the M340i instead partly because the LCI was due in few months with full iDrive 7 capabilities.

Interesting to know about the shift. What is this "Full iDrive 7 Capabilities"?.

My car has the ID7 already and it's a 2021 model.

Originally Posted by abhi06dua

Also sounds like you were stuck in a crazy traffic jam. I've never been stuck for hours, but I do encounter pretty heavy crawling traffic on 405 every now and then. I made sure to option Driving Assistant Professional on my M340i, which comes with Extended Traffic Jam Assist. It works really well and lets me sit back and relax (while still being attentive ofcourse, otherwise the eye tracking turns off traffic assist) while it does all the work for me

Woah! This sounds cool. Honestly, I never explored the BMW navigation much. Whatever little I used, I found it impressive from voice and HUD UI perspective but, find the on-screen mapping layout not intuitive.

Would be glad to know more tips and tricks on this system when we catch up.

Originally Posted by abhi06dua

Sharing few shots of my M340i :

Hope to catch you around town and give a TBHP wave

Wow. That bright blue looks so lovely. If you read my ownership thread, I had a close pal in Detroit who had the same car (we did a photo shoot as well together) and I have driven his M340i on number of occasions. He was a manic driver and had clocked 32,000 miles in less than 2 years.

Originally Posted by abhiram90

Such a nice drive to leavenworth. Special thanks to @mobike008 for setting this up. I am sure we will have more coming up as the spring and summer unfolds soon here in seattle.

Looking forward to many of these...
Here are some of the captures from my lens.

See ya!

Lovely snaps from the Nikon.

Looks like the Seattle chapter is growing big and that too fast.

I already think we should plan for next meet in end of March or early April. Weather is already getting better and we are getting lot more sun time.

What say?

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by mobike008

What is this "Full iDrive 7 Capabilities"?.
My car has the ID7 already and it's a 2021 model.

Here are details, yours should also have it as it came in 2018.

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/item/130-bmw-idrive-70

I never explored the BMW navigation much. Whatever little I used, I found it impressive from voice and HUD UI perspective but, find the on-screen mapping layout not intuitive.

There will be paid subscription for real time traffic. Works well in US & Europe. You can check with local dealer and subscribe.

Driving Assistant Pro, needs to be ordered while configuring though. I don’t think the cars without this feature have required hardware, but you can still check with the dealer.

[abhi06dua]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Interesting to know about the shift. What is this "Full iDrive 7 Capabilities"?.

My car has the ID7 already and it's a 2021 model.

There are two hardware versions supporting iDrive 7, namely SP15 and SP18. Think of it as iDrive 7 "Lite" vs iDrive 7 "Full". Pre-LCI models (MY21 and before for G01 and MY20 and before for G30) came with SP 15 iDrive 7, hence my reference to lack of full iDrive 7 capabilites. Here's a brief snippet from bimmerpost that goes into this in detail :

There are two types of vehicles the latest iDrive system is fitted to, SP15 and SP18. This refers to the underlying hardware in the vehicle.

SP18 vehicles have the full functionality required to access all available features in the new iDrive unit.

SP15 vehicles are missing the following features;

• Remote Software Upgrade
• Intelligent Functions – automate my habits, predictive preconditioning (learns your habits such as temperature settings and sets accordingly)
• In-Car Experiences – caring car (‘Hey BMW I am tired), experience modes (‘Hey BMW, relax me’)
• Voice Activated Climate Control (‘Hey BMW I am cold’)
• Digital Key
• Drive Recorder
• Comfort Access 2.0 (walking up to the car with key in pocket unlocks the car automatically. Walking away locks automatically).
• Extended Traffic Jam Assist with eye tracking capabilities

Originally Posted by mobike008

Woah! This sounds cool. Honestly, I never explored the BMW navigation much. Whatever little I used, I found it impressive from voice and HUD UI perspective but, find the on-screen mapping layout not intuitive.

Would be glad to know more tips and tricks on this system when we catch up.

Oh I was just referring to the Extended traffic jam assist that is part of Driving Assistant Professional package. It relies on it's own suite of cameras and sensors and not the navigation. Side note - fully agree on the on-screen mapping not being intuitive to use, I always use carplay.

Here's a great video demonstration of how this feature works. We can also try this during our next meetup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HiJ8nwFwSk

Originally Posted by mobike008

Wow. That bright blue looks so lovely. If you read my ownership thread, I had a close pal in Detroit who had the same car (we did a photo shoot as well together) and I have driven his M340i on number of occasions. He was a manic driver and had clocked 32,000 miles in less than 2 years.

Thanks! And wow, I'm coming up on 9 months and barely have 7k miles. Looks like I need to attend more meetups and do longer road trips

Originally Posted by mobike008

Looks like the Seattle chapter is growing big and that too fast.

I already think we should plan for next meet in end of March or early April. Weather is already getting better and we are getting lot more sun time.

What say?

I'm out of town on the weekend of 25-27th but literally any other weekend is fair game

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Here are details, yours should also have it as it came in 2018.

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/item/130-bmw-idrive-70

Sorry I think this article is incorrect. There's lot of generalizations across model years in that article which are not true. A google search on "sp15 vs sp18 hardware bimmerpost" will take you to the right articles for this. I also posted a snippet above detailing some of the differences.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by abhi06dua

Also sounds like you were stuck in a crazy traffic jam. I've never been stuck for hours, but I do encounter pretty heavy crawling traffic on 405 every now and then. I made sure to option Driving Assistant Professional on my M340i, which comes with Extended Traffic Jam Assist. It works really well and lets me sit back and relax (while still being attentive of course, otherwise the eye tracking turns off traffic assist) while it does all the work for me.

This is "Adaptive Cruise Control" BMW uses some real fancy words to describe a simple function. Our personalities seem to match.

I used to have it on my top of line Mazda CX-9 which did over 45K miles.

For long boring highway stretches, its a great stress reliever. But, I won't trust it in heavy traffic situations. Had a few close calls when a car cuts in between from a different lane.

Won't be needing this feature. In BMW, never used cruise control as I am constantly accelerating (when I see a gap) and decelerating (when traffic backs up).

[Ashir]

Fabulous pictures @mobike008 @abhiram90

It was a great coincidence I joined the first team-bhp meet in Seattle. A day before the meet, I was talking to BHPian friends from the Delhi group about the lack of team-bhp activity in the US. We (Delhi BHPians) have great trips and memories together, practically meeting every weekend. That is when a very active member @sinharishi told me about the Seattle meetup happening the next day!

Anyhow, the meetup was really good. Mobike008 has covered up the awesome day in detail. I am looking forward to such great trips in the future, and probably Seattle-San Francisco marathons as well

The last 3 hours of our trip were a little uncomfortable but the self-discipline, patience, and trust people have in the system did not make me (us?) tired. Well, also with the ADAS features these days the only tiring thing left in a traffic jam is just sitting in the car and letting it maneuver itself.

Here is the view through my lens:

Snoqualmie Pass, I-90







Blewett Pass, US-97





Leavenworth, US-2







Stevens Pass, US-2

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Ashir

It was a great coincidence I joined the first team-bhp meet in Seattle. A day before the meet, I was talking to BHPian friends from the Delhi group about the lack of team-bhp activity in the US. We (Delhi BHPians) have great trips and memories together, practically meeting every weekend. That is when a very active member @sinharishi told me about the Seattle meetup happening the next day!

Nice report and pictures Ashir. Well, now that the trend has started, let's keep the momentum on. I am already thinking of next drive meet.

Let's plan end of March if that works for all.

Who is Sinharishi and why hasn't he joined us?

Originally Posted by Ashir

Anyhow, the meetup was really good. Mobike008 has covered up the awesome day in detail. I am looking forward to such great trips in the future, and probably Seattle-San Francisco marathons as well

I have a better idea. We should do an overnighter (Saturday & Sunday) to Oregon. Drive by US 101 and stay overnight somewhere by the ocean and return the next day. We passed through some pretty places when we drove by that route in December.

Let us plan this trip in May/June.

Originally Posted by Ashir

The last 3 hours of our trip were a little uncomfortable but the self-discipline, patience, and trust people have in the system did not make me (us?) tired. Well, also with the ADAS features these days the only tiring thing left in a traffic jam is just sitting in the car and letting it maneuver itself

Haha! Good to know you have patience. That isn't one of my greatest virtue.

This is worst jam I got stuck in my life. 6 miles (~10kms) in 2 hours? Come on, I did a lot better in Bangalore.

[Ashir]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Nice report and pictures Ashir. Well, now that the trend has started, let's keep the momentum on. I am already thinking of the next drive meet.

Let's plan for the end of March if that works for all.

Who is Sinharishi and why hasn't he joined us?

Yes, I am down for the March trip. Maybe we can have a quick drive in the Cascades, or North towards Canada border, or maybe the islands! The i90 and US-2 are always crowded on weekend evenings.

sinharishi is not in Seattle. He's a friend back in Delhi.

Originally Posted by mobike008

I have a better idea. We should do an overnighter (Saturday & Sunday) to Oregon. Drive-by US 101 and stay overnight somewhere by the ocean and return the next day. We passed through some pretty places when we drove by that route in December.

Let us plan this trip in May/June.

Yes, that will be awesome!
Also, summers are really beautiful in the Rainier mountains region for day drives.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Haha! Good to know you have patience. That isn't one of my greatest virtue.

This is worst jam I got stuck in my life. 6 miles (~10kms) in 2 hours? Come on, I did a lot better in Bangalore.

Haha yeah, if nothing is in my control then I stop caring about it

[rvracer88]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Here are details, yours should also have it as it came in 2018.

I don't think that's true. Mine is a 2019 X3M40i and I think it runs ID6. If i remember right, backward compatibility was limited to 2020 X3M40i. Was really looking to have the Android Auto in mine as I only have Apple Car Play and I run Android ecosystem in my house.

Originally Posted by mobike008

never explored the BMW navigation much. Whatever little I used, I found it impressive from voice and HUD UI perspective but, find the on-screen mapping layout not intuitive.

I agree. But I never use the on-screen layout as the HUD UI pretty much gets the job done. However, real time traffic information and rerouting can sometimes surprise you. I have had instances where the routing was amazing and sometimes it was just too lazy to update on time. But overall, I have relied on car's navigation most of the time and did not have to switch to gmaps on phone.

Originally Posted by mobike008

I have a better idea. We should do an overnighter (Saturday & Sunday) to Oregon.

This should be fun. We could also drive on "strait of juan de fuca highway" all the way to Neah bay which I believe is the western most point of the US outside of AK and HI.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by abhi06dua

There are two hardware versions supporting iDrive 7, namely SP15 and SP18. Think of it as iDrive 7 "Lite" vs iDrive 7 "Full".

Originally Posted by abhiram90

Such a nice drive to Leavenworth.

Originally Posted by Ashir

Fabulous pictures @mobike008 @abhiram90

Originally Posted by rvracer88

I don't think that's true. Mine is a 2019 X3M40i and I think it runs ID6. If i remember right, backward compatibility was limited to 2020 X3M40i. Was really looking to have the Android Auto in mine as I only have Apple Car Play and I run Android ecosystem in my house.

Quoting to get attention.

Weather here in Seattle is becoming nice. How about we start thinking of a short drive plan late-march or early April?

Here are a couple of "Day-Drive Options" we can select to kick start the upcoming spring.

Couple of options below :

Longer Day Drive Option- Requires to take the ferry



Shorter Day Drive Option



How about March 26th or April 2nd?

[Ashir]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Quoting to get attention.

Weather here in Seattle is becoming nice. How about we start thinking of a short drive plan late-march or early April?

Here are a couple of "Day-Drive Options" we can select to kick start the upcoming spring.

...

How about March 26th or April 2nd?

Both of them are great drives. The longer Olympia loop has a lot of places we can visit - beaches, towns, and waterfalls (I think). The shorter one has the great sea bridge and then the lovely islands.

I am down for either drive on either of the dates, but I will prefer the long drive with the ferry on March 26th. It will be great if the drive is on Saturday this time, which gives us Sunday to relax.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Ashir

Both of them are great drives. The longer Olympia loop has a lot of places we can visit - beaches, towns, and waterfalls (I think). The shorter one has the great sea bridge and then the lovely islands.

I am down for either drive on either of the dates, but I will prefer the long drive with the ferry on March 26th. It will be great if the drive is on Saturday this time, which gives us Sunday to relax.

Great. I agree that this time around we should stick to Saturday so we can relax on Sunday.

My preference is shorter drive for this time as I plan to bring my mom along for this drive.

I'm ok with either dates that I proposed which are Saturdays, BTW.

Let's wait for others to chip in with their AYE's.