[amitoj]

Awesome report there! The waiting must have been a killer!!

It was great to meet you at Tulley Nashua when you took delivery of the car. And thanks for letting me take it for a spin as well!! You let someone whom you are meeting for the first time drive your brand new car! I doubt i would have been able to do that had i been in your place.

I am sure you will enjoy many miles in this machine!

EDIT: Now let us get the east coast meet idea up and running again!

[Redline Shooter]

Originally Posted by Fraz33r

Ok there is a bit of logistics involved in here.

1) Have you made a deposit on the car? Is the money already paid? If not you can cancel the order. Depending on state to state, Deposits are refundable and you will definitely have to fight for it.

2) Talk to the CA. If he is ready and will be able to give the ED pricing then great! Remember he will not be excited to make an ED happen in the current scenario WHY?

Yes he has made a down payment of 2k$ or something.I will have to check with my brother if he plans to to cancel his order and go for the ED service.But anyways thanks for the information, I will keep you posted on that.

[karan561]

Hey Fraz33r,

Many congratulations on your 328i, im sure you would be having loads of fun with the turbo 4 banger

Had a few Questions;

1) Didn't you get any models/lines packages like sport line / modern line etc ?
2) Is there a sport + mode ?

Originally Posted by Fraz33r

The first thing I notice about my car is Black Kidney Grills; By default the Car comes with Chrome'd grill and black grill comes under additional options. Somehow my car got configured with the Black Grills. (Generally custom installations like this happen in the BMW Prep center in the US) He gave me the option of reverting it back to the Chrome, I was in dual mind but eventually decided to keep it.

^ Very lucky to get the black grilles as default, even the M models dont get them pre-installed

PS - Very innovative thread, quite informative.

[AdiSinghV12]

Big Congrats on the ride! The F30 is surely a beautiful machine. Wish you tons of happy miles ahead.

Could you please point out the differences the "14MY cars has other than the touch iDrive.

[mr.sinha]

Fraz33r,
First of all, congratulations on becoming the owner of one of the best things on 4 wheels in the world. This was a very interesting ownership report. The car tracking shots through the different sea ports were superb, something which we usually don't see too much of.

Years ago, I was fortunate to have owned a 1998 328i RWD as well, and I drove her for close to 3 years in heavy snowfall states in Colorado and New Jersey. Of course, nothing beats caution when driving on snow and ice, but the traction control always did a superb job.

I can exactly relate to when you say that the car really hugs the road even on some of the vicious curves that I used to drive on in the Colorado Rockies.

Enjoy your car, and have LOTS of fun-filled drives for many years.

Above all, have faith in her, she won't fail you.

[Fraz33r]

Originally Posted by karan561

1) Didn't you get any models/lines packages like sport line / modern line etc ?
2) Is there a sport + mode ?

2014 models have got rid of the Modern Line; The sport line for $2500 is just a cosmetic update to the Car to feel like a sport line.

The actual upgrade comes with the MSport package with bigger wheels, Calipers and the carbon fiber trims. Not to forget the Estoril Blue Color.

There is no Sport+ Mode(It comes with DHP) in my Car. One regret I have is, I did not get the DHP (Dynamic Handling Package) as an added option which consist of Adaptive M Suspension and Variable Sport Steering. But the Sport for me right now takes care of the Ultimate Drive Experience.

Originally Posted by AdiSinghV12

Could you please point out the differences the "14MY cars has other than the touch iDrive.

Yes, There are minor changes. The Nav system has been upgraded and removes a ton of glitches from the previous year models. The Aluminium trim is no longer available and is replaced by the Dark Burl trim as default.

If you know order just the Nav and not the tech package, you still get the Enhanced USB and Bluetooth by default. Specs wise nothing has changed and I would say these are just minor bugs being weeded out.

The biggest change has been the Oil Change interval has been reduced from 15kMiles to 10k miles. Not sure if BMW found some issues with the Turbo for such a long interval.

Originally Posted by mr.sinha

Of course, nothing beats caution when driving on snow and ice, but the traction control always did a superb job.

...Above all, have faith in her, she won't fail you.

Those are some comforting words and I am soon going to update a 1000 mile run as an Initial Ownership report.

[VLOCT]

Superb report, Frazr.

The car looks like a million bucks. The Bangle design gets better every year. Have a great time with the car. Many fun miles ahead.

Cheers.

[rajushank84]

Nice car, congrats!

So did you get a comfortline or sportline or noline?

[Fraz33r]

So finally after crunching certain number of miles( i.e. out of the break-in period here is the Intitial Ownership Report )

Current Miles: 1300 Days passed : 30 approx.

Did not have an oppurtunity to take it out for a very long trip, but here are the initial impressions:

Sport Mode: AMAHZING! Love the feel of power induced in this mode. The Engine note changes and can be clearly heard inside the cabin . I mostly switch off my radio/ bring it on low to enjoy the sound of it. Someone commented in a review before : when you have this (i.e. handling, feel et all) Who needs to check twitter feed, Facebook emails inside this car.

The steering wheel stiffens up ( Cannot say that it would stiffen up to the E90 level, but yes it does stiffen up quite a bit as compared to the COMFORT and the ECO-PRO mode )


COMFORT mode is my daily drive in and around the town. One day of the week I take it to my volleyball game which has nice twisties in the 25-30 MPH range. I havent seen active cops on that road since 2 years and is my playground for the SPORT mode!

ECO-PRO Mode : Had one chance to engage it on the highway and hated it. It turns into soft car (unlike any BMW ) and is all over the place. Steering is too light to enjoy any kind of drive on the German.

I mostly engage COMFORT;SPORT for my twisties and ECO-PRO Never in that order.

Things I like :

1) HUD : Absolutely stunning display, I haven't seen my speedometer since then. I just take a look when I need to fill in Gas is nearing empty. The Navigation directions on the HUD are a killer, describes the Lane departure as well.
2) Tried the cruise control and was really simple to use. I normally never use the cruise, but the functionality provided was really great and nice to use.This is the first time I liked and used cruise control extensively.
3) The inline-4 is a gem of an engine and feels more like a 6. Thanks to the Turbo!
4) On the twisties, one of my friend noticed that my Fog lights (which are normally off) were switching on and off i.e Once i am on the curve turning left, the left fog light tuns on and same with the right side. I did not know about this and haven't seen it in action myself. But if it is true then kudos to BMW.
5) The touch sensor is right on the money and very easy to use. I should say the whole iDrive system is 4/5. I am going to take this car to the city (NYC) and that is where this Nav will have to prove itself.

After praising a lot about the car, Here are some niggles observations that i feel would make this car complete:

1) The Tech package and the buttons on steering wheel leave a lot to be desired in terms of functionality. I cannot switch modes i.e Radio to USB device et all.
2) If I am at low speeds say 10 to 12 mph speeds and leave the foot of the gas, the car jerks a bit . I think it is switching gears and slight jerking motion isn't ideal.
3) Automatic start and Stop. : I have disabled that functionality and almost never use it.
4) The HUD has issues with polarized sun glasses which is widely known in the bimmer community.







Unfortunately, there is a possibility that my car could be a part of BMW recall (Loss of Braking), which was stalled during the Government shutdown as NHTSA was closed. Hopefully, it will be gaining traction now and will hear something from BMW on the same. Its due to lack of oil supply to the brake vacuum pump from the intake camshaft and BMW is probably going to add a ring in/around the camshaft to make sure the oil supply is uniterrupted. It also effects only a certain number of car and from a certain manufacturer who is responsible to provide the vacuum pump assembly.


Took my Friend's Audi S4 and 328i for Photo shoot in our area to add the Fall theme to it. Here are some of the pictures taken, Enjoy!




My friend taking it for spin.

[sandeep108]

Thanks for the lovely fall pictures. The S4 is also a great car.

[rajushank84]

Great report and lovely pics!

I agree with all your observations. My F30 is around 4000 miles now. It felt great on my trip to LA last week. Great combination of 50-50 weight, tight chassis, punchy turbo, quick-shifting 8-speed tranny and killer looks. The achilles heel was the suspension (body roll) IMHO and I "fixed" it with the M Performance suspension. Next is probably a wheel/tire upgrade I don't know when. (am on stock 17"s now).

As for the steering, I miss the E90 steering less and less. It doesn't feel as great as E90 steering at low speeds, but as speed increases I like the F30's steering very much (in fact the steering feels less twitchy at higher speeds than the E90's).

Actually I love the N20 even more than the N52. Thanks to the turbo, it feels a lot closer to my previous car's (335i) N54 engine.

I have to say the S4 is the beast here, though . A sleeper. Love that car.

[Fraz33r]

Originally Posted by rajushank84

My F30 is around 4000 miles now....

BTW, Where is your Ownership report? Did you get the news of the recall? any updates on that front do let me know.

[behaln]

o man , great car & it looks cool in the black kidney grill , good decision to keep them on , really detailed write up and the way you tracked your car.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Fraz33r

4) The HUD has issues with polarized sun glasses which is widely known in the bimmer community.

Isn't there a way to fix this, by adjusting the angle or something from iDrive HUD settings?

[Fraz33r]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Isn't there a way to fix this, by adjusting the angle or something from iDrive HUD settings?

Akshay, BMW has acknowledged this in their user Manual starting 2014, not sure if they included it in 2012,13's . The HUD settings are only for lowering/moving up and tilting( in terms of rotation) the HUD.

The main issue comes from the projection alignment and I think with all the modern cars with HUD this will be an issue. Some people claimed that Ray-Ban added a new line of sunglasses to counteract this projection issue by tilting the angle to be not exactly at 90 degree but still retaining the polarization aspect.

Again this all hearsay, and cannot confirm.