[saketa]

It all started with a dark grey ambassador. It was my dad’s first and favourite car in which I spent many years going to school looking longingly at the Esteem VXs/Tata Safaris and wondering if I would ever grow up to own one of those gorgeous machines . All this while sweating my A** off in the searing Hyderabad summers in a non AC amby. In hindsight though apart from building character the HM Ambassador was actually a pretty good car!
Anyway fast forward to 2010, I was finally given my first (used) car, a 2009 Zxi Maruti Swift. A lot has been said on this forum about lateral upgrades and put very eloquently by GTO but something about lateral upgrades just felt right long before I ever started browsing this forum. However, I was the only one at home that subscribed to this philosophy and went on to own three great cars all of which were astonishingly good bargains. Pre owned Japanese cars in my opinion continue to rule the roost especially if your running is low and you want bullet proof reliability and some enthusiastic performance. I finally upgraded to a used Accord followed by a swap for a Honda Civic thanks to a shift to Mumbai. I finally moved to New Delhi about 4 months back and the first thing I realised about this city was unlike (South) Mumbai, commuting on your own was a huge pain without a car. I decided to stick to my philosophy of lateral upgrading to a German but somehow most of the deals simply fell through. Either the cars were too suspect or the cost of maintaining or repairing a German car was putting me off from going for any car which was not covered by BSI or any kind of similar warranty. Unfortunately, those that were just did not seem like good bargains and in the end I decided to stick to a good quality Petrol car south of 30L OTR Delhi.

My eyes were now on the petrol Audi 1.8 with its 170bhp Engine and drop dead gorgeous looks seemed to be the car for me. It drove pretty well, the steering weighed up well as you drove faster and the suspension was soft and comfortable. The interiors were clearly class leading and in my opinion the exteriors made it the best looking of the lot. However I was not very impressed by the sales personnel at either showroom. They were polite and eager to help but either they did not know or were deliberately hiding all the goodies missing in the Base trim which was the only trim within my budget. The MMI was exceptionally ordinary, the lower profile Alloys did not help matters and the lack of the S line kit took away a lot from the car. In spite of all this when I saw the White A4 with Black interiors I was sold on it and gave in my booking amount.
However Audi’s indifferent attitude was a deal breaker. The sales manager politely told me the discount of 2L he was offering was only for the month of August and I would only be eligible for the scheme available in the month of delivery. Further, he then went on to explain how the interior and exterior combination will take a minimum of 4 months and a maximum of 6 months. I didn’t make my displeasure obvious so Audi Gurgaon assumed I would just shut up and take their offer because they seemed least interested in my demands for a second test drive etc once the cheque was handed over.
I had made up my mind that if their pre delivery service was going to be so indifferent, I can’t imagine what they are going to be like once the money changed hands. I looked at the Mercedes C200 as well which was an amazing car to drive and the 7G tronic gear box was sheer pleasure to use and the “Open roof- Jaw Drop” tagline was actually true. A white C200 with a panoramic roof looked like quite the showstopper but the Avante garde trim unfortunately went way out of my budget and the COMMAND interface was exceptionally ordinary. Added to that were horror stories of after sales service which pretty much every Mercedes owner gave me, T & T motors in particular received a lot of flak.

I test drove the ultimat3 but at 42Lakhs, the Highline was outrageously priced and the mid variant at 35.6L was once again out of my budget. The base trim was sort of possible but simply not worth the stretch (a 30L car without xenons or even LED rings!!). Finally I decided to go find out the deals still available on the E90 and carefully read each ownership review on this forum multiple times to make sure I don’t miss anything. After a week of negotiations and a 10 minute test drive I sealed the deal for a Deep Sea Blue E90 320d with Oyster and Black Interiors. Luckily head ruled over heart and the BMW Delhi (Deutsche Motoren) gave me a really good offer of 30.2L with BMW Secure.

So finally I did come down to the A4 Petrol (New) to the previous generation 320D Exclusive:
Some reasons which I think the A4 would be one up over my car -
1) Better ride
2) Class s leading interiors/ Exteriors
3) Auto start stop function
4) Not likely to replaced so soon.
But ultimately I did go in for the 320d because:
1) Audi’s indifferent attitude and vague delivery timelines
2) BMW was giving me a much better bargain
3) Far superior driving experience
4) E90 iDrive over the Base Audi MMI any day
5) BSI

Why I choose this version in spite of having the option of stretching 2 lakhs and buying the F30?
1) I wanted one of the last remnant pieces of Chris Bangle’s legacy
2) Base F30 was simply not a great buy at that price point.
3) 30.2 Lakhs OTR! Now come on

A lot has been said about the car on this forum so I’m going to make it really brief.

The engine
Now my friend/almost neighbour has a 3.0 v6 and this review might be biased considering I continue to swear by the Honda brand. Honestly, compared to the v6 linear and straight acceleration and the Honda engine’s ability to put a smile on your face and red line it every time. So I very slightly disappointed the first few times I drove this machine but once you take this car through a sharp turn is when it REALLY redeems itself and how. The 2.0 Litre 184BHP engine is acknowledged as one of the best engines around and on winding roads this car is simply breathtaking. Before selling this car I have made up my mind to organize flat bed trucks at every 200kms and take this car to Spiti/Lahaul at least if not further.
Its 0-100 claimed time is 7.6 seconds which I have not really checked till now but for a diesel engine there is negligible lack and in-city driveability is phenomenal. The torquey/turbo whoosh is finally growing on me!

Fuel Economy
Till now it’s giving me a mileage of 9.5- 10 continuously in bumper to bumper traffic. After putting petrol for 3 years in my Accord/Civic, diesel is definitely a godsend. I have not to fill up my tank twice and have spent 5000 and have done about 1100 kms. Compare this to my friend’s V6 and you get an idea of why and how petrol resale values are being decimated. He spends about 12000 Rs to do 1200 kms

The Gearbox
The gearbox is quite exceptional although the 7G tronic of the C200 was certainly smoother. However, I haven’t actually used the manual mode yet so can’t comment on it fully. Hopefully will get the chance to do so soon. The lag is pretty negligible when i downshift but if you pause and pay attention you will notice it.

The Suspension
Now everyone on this forum has been critical of the 320d’s suspension but to be honest I personally love it. My heart is in my mouth when I’m taking turns at similar speeds on the V6 and I’m pretty happy with the stiffness. As akshay said, it does definitely feel like a purer car to drive. Although bad roads do sometimes result in a pretty loud thud but luckily the roads of south Delhi are pretty fantastic so I’ve very rarely had an issue with it.

Features
The Exclusive Edition comes fully loaded and I can’t really think of any feature apart from the Auto Start/Stop function which is missing in this car. The iDrive has a pretty big screen, a 12GB hard disk and most importantly Navigation!! Exceptionally precise and a real boon to someone who is new to the city. It even reads out your emails/messages when you are on the go. Stuff sci fi movies are made of -
It also has dual climate control zones and the HiFi Sound system is par excellence. Once again it’s very rare that I found an OEM sound system (other than my accord) which was so clear. I’m not a big fan of super bass/amp kind of setups and the sound output is as close to perfect as it can get. In fact this was one of the biggest factors that edged this car over the A4. The sound output of the Base MMI does not even come close.


Steering
I have heard a few complaints on various forums about the change from to electrically assisted steering but I personally love it. The last thing I want is a race track experience on the way to my morning commute. A car which can balance the midnight run and office commute in my opinion make so much more sense at least for people like me who probably rip their cars once a week.

Interior
I initially wanted saddle brown but the contrast which the Oyster/Black combination gives to the Deep Sea Blue is fantastic. The leather feels really good but to be honest the A4 is in a league of its own when it comes to interior quality of leather, dials etc.

Conclusion
I might change the colour of LED rings to white and the horn is quite odd. The ride is slightly stiff but nothing you can’t live with but apart from that for a driver driven luxurious yet sporty sedan this continues to be THE car to own. I see the occasional f30 pass by but to be honest I think the E90 has its own charm and with the massive 7 L discount I got I have absolutely no regrets and enjoying every moment of my plunge from the used-Jap segment to New German segment. Will upload pics in the next post

A big thank you to Akshay1234, elantracrdi05, swopsk293 and everyone else for their inputs!

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[saketa]

[AdiSinghV12]

Let me be the first one to congratulate you on this awesome piece of machinery. Get a RaceChip or one of those removable tuning boxes which will increase the push and make the car more smoother relatively (though I prefer the remap, I won't really recommend it as it might void the warranty of the vehicle. Even though few people, including a couple of BHPians have remapped their BMWs well within the warranty period and the BMW folks have yet not found out and the warranty is perfectly intact.) & Thanks for the awesome set of pictures. Good luck in maintaining the interior, haha! Cheers!

[elantracrdi05]

Hey Saketa,
Many congratulations! Well, I have now driven for about 14k kms in the E90 and it just keeps getting better and better! I do not care too much about the F30 more because of the effective price differential of almost 10 lacs for an apple-to-apple, also because the only reason I would have picked the F30 was because of better power which of course is not the case.

The Saddle brown interiors - well, that was not available for me in the colour of my choice so I went with the Oyster-black combo as well. It has really grown on me and as I have stated in my ownership thread, I really need to be sure that no one munches inside the car and my hands are clean post any fast food meal!

The RaceChip - well, I could offer you a chance to catch up sometime next week and you can see the difference for yourself if you believe it is worth it - I personally do but then again, it is really a personal choice.

All the very best again! Welcome to the E90 Club

[rishi_kapoor]

Congratulations on your new drive, I am sure you will enjoy the acceleration. V6 Accord is a gem but acceleration (and overall package with braking and steering included) is won by E90 anytime.

I occasionally drive my wife's E90 exclusive and it puts a grin on my face. I did test drive F30 couple of times on similar stretch and I found handling to be much inferior as compared. At 30.5 it is indeed a steal.

Have a safe ride, enjoy!

One small piece of advice, get BMW original all weather mats, they are absolutely worth it.

Note from the Team-BHP Support: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the same thread.

[9thsphinx]

Congratulations on your new ride! The navy blue and beige interiors are definitely a good combination. BTW, did you inquire about the Corporate edition E90? With the F30 selling like hotcakes and a 7L discount on a top-end E90, I am sure the Corporate edition would make an excellent buy considering it would be even further discounted!

[Pancham]

Congrats!!! Please post some high resolution pictures.

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

Congratulations on your new ride! The navy blue and beige interiors are definitely a good combination. BTW, did you inquire about the Corporate edition E90? With the F30 selling like hotcakes and a 7L discount on a top-end E90, I am sure the Corporate edition would make an excellent buy considering it would be even further discounted!

CE has mostly been sold out.

[saketa]

Originally Posted by AdiSinghV12

Let me be the first one to congratulate you on this awesome piece of machinery. Get a RaceChip or one of those removable tuning boxes which will increase the push and make the car more smoother relatively (though I prefer the remap, I won't really recommend it as it might void the warranty of the vehicle. Even though few people, including a couple of BHPians have remapped their BMWs well within the warranty period and the BMW folks have yet not found out and the warranty is perfectly intact.) & Thanks for the awesome set of pictures. Good luck in maintaining the interior, haha! Cheers!

Thanks adisingh! Still hoping to save enough to first buy the BSI Ultimate. Hopefully will buy the Racechip then. Although my first upgrade is probably going to be body colored splitters, spoiler and get the LED rings changed to white. Any idea of what that might do to my warranty/BSI?

Originally Posted by elantracrdi05

Hey Saketa,
Many congratulations! Well, I have now driven for about 14k kms in the E90 and it just keeps getting better and better! I do not care too much about the F30 more because of the effective price differential of almost 10 lacs for an apple-to-apple, also because the only reason I would have picked the F30 was because of better power which of course is not the case.

The Saddle brown interiors - well, that was not available for me in the colour of my choice so I went with the Oyster-black combo as well. It has really grown on me and as I have stated in my ownership thread, I really need to be sure that no one munches inside the car and my hands are clean post any fast food meal!

The RaceChip - well, I could offer you a chance to catch up sometime next week and you can see the difference for yourself if you believe it is worth it - I personally do but then again, it is really a personal choice.

All the very best again! Welcome to the E90 Club

Definitely will meet up soon! Any idea how I can keep an eye out for teambhp meets? the facebook page or is it on this forum somewhere?

Originally Posted by rishi_kapoor

Congratulations on your new drive, I am sure you will enjoy the acceleration. V6 Accord is a gem but acceleration (and overall package with braking and steering included) is won by E90 anytime.

I occasionally drive my wife's E90 exclusive and it puts a grin on my face. I did test drive F30 couple of times on similar stretch and I found handling to be much inferior as compared. At 30.5 it is indeed a steal.

Have a safe ride, enjoy!

One small piece of advice, get BMW original all weather mats, they are absolutely worth it.

Note from the Team-BHP Support: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the same thread.

Thanks a lot! Yes the mats the dealer gave me were of terrible quality. Will get them changed when i take it to Deutsche Motoren this weekend.

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

Congratulations on your new ride! The navy blue and beige interiors are definitely a good combination. BTW, did you inquire about the Corporate edition E90? With the F30 selling like hotcakes and a 7L discount on a top-end E90, I am sure the Corporate edition would make an excellent buy considering it would be even further discounted!

Honestly I never really found the Corporate edition a great bargain even at its discounted price. I feel that you were paying merely for the badge/engine. I do think at this price point comfort/features should be an important consideration and the Corp ed did not impress me. Also the features on the Highline depreciate much faster so from what i heard the discounts were not really mouth watering when one compared them to the discounts available on the Highline.

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by saketa

Thanks adisingh! Still hoping to save enough to first buy the BSI Ultimate. Hopefully will buy the Racechip then. Although my first upgrade is probably going to be body colored splitters, spoiler and get the LED rings changed to white. Any idea of what that might do to my warranty/BSI

You're welcome! Adding splitters/spoliers won't effect the warranty though not sure about the LED rings. & just just one suggestion, get the Hamann front-lip spoiler instead of the splitters... Personally speaking, they never appealed to me as much as the front lip... You can check the pic of the same on the autopsyche page on FB or a better option is drop by at their Gurgaon Workshop. If you do say Hi to Arush paaji on my behalf. Haha! Cheers!

[elantracrdi05]

Originally Posted by saketa

Definitely will meet up soon! Any idea how I can keep an eye out for teambhp meets? the facebook page or is it on this forum somewhere?

Thanks a lot! Yes the mats the dealer gave me were of terrible quality. Will get them changed when i take it to Deutsche Motoren this weekend.

Well Rishi and I chat occassionally and have met up when we installed the Racechip. PM me your number and we could set something up!

Also, the BMW mats for the E90 are super and not too expensive. I picked mine up for about 3,800 for the front two and another 1800 for the rear two (you have the option to buy separately). They will be available at Deutsche Motoren.

[ais]

I am looking to buy a used E90. Does it have selectable modes like the F30 (Eco-Sports) using a toggle switch or does it have only D-Sport manual using the gear selector?