[graaja]

Originally Posted by Varun_HexaGuy

The GT is being put to good use, sir! Keep it coming.

The bike atop the GT looks swell (a Scott Solace 10 if I'm not mistaken) and you have quite a garage which I wish would be mine someday (I seriously hope this happens to me)!

The GT is a better package than the 3 for sure. Invest in the M-Sport suspension, it'll be a complete package and the inline-4, two-litre petrol is a roadburner as well. The space is just too much and this is the car which Peaces out with head and heart.

Wishing you many more miles and happy smiles with the Bimmer!

Varun

Thank you Varun

Yes. The bike is a Scott Solace 10.

Yes. If you have a family with kids and can have only one car to satisfy the enthusiast and the family, GT makes a better choice than the 3. But suspension upgrade is a must though.

[graaja]

This being a long weekend due to Pooja holidays, visited a friend's farm for a photoshoot of the GT. The pictures were shot by a friend Sudarshan, a college kid with some awesome photography skills.

Note: Click on the image to view the full size picture.















That is Sudarshan busy shooting the GT.


I tried my hand as well.

[Arjun Reddy]

Looks awesome Ganesh. Maybe a few shots without the roof bars would have been superb.

Any reason you have not gone for the M colours on the kidney grill? Since the grill is blacked out ,might just look perfect.

Paint the brake callipers as well.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Looks awesome Ganesh. Maybe a few shots without the roof bars would have been superb.

Any reason you have not gone for the M colours on the kidney grill? Since the grill is blacked out ,might just look perfect.

Paint the brake callipers as well.

Thank you Arjun

I use the roof rack quite often to transport my bike for my workouts and events. Removing the rack and assembling is not that easy and easily takes 30 minutes to remove and 30 minutes to fix back. So, I have let it remain permanently on the car. I feel it adds some character to the car.

I want to have a subtle look on the car - almost like a sleeper. That is why I have not gone for painting the wheels or the M Grill.

[graaja]

An Impromptu Meet at Salem

A few TBHP friends from Bangalore decided to do an impromptu meet last weekend at Salem. RSUDARSANAN and Dr.AD from Bangalore and me from Coimbatore drove to Salem on Saturday evening and stayed overnight at Radisson. KarthikK and deepfreak15 were planning ride their bikes Sunday morning and join us for breakfast. It was great to meet CrazyDriver who also rode with KarkthikK and joined us for breakfast.

The Radisson (Picture Credit: RSUDARSANAN)


Meeting RSUDARSANAN and Dr.AD for dinner. The discussions ran till midnight and covered a plethora of topics from BMWs, VWs, past TBHP meets, of our lives in general to health and fitness.


Catching up with the bikers over breakfast. Again the discussions ran from bikes to cars to health and fitness and diet. From left, deepfreak15, CrazyDriver, KarthikK, yours truly, RSUDARSANAN, Dr.AD (Picture Credit: RSUDARSANAN)


Post breakfast, it was time for a quick photoshoot.

The lineup: from left, deepfreak's Duke 390, KarthikK's Ninja 1000, Crazy Driver's Versys 650, my 330i GT, Dr.AD's 320d and RSUDARSANAN's 320D


The owners with their vehicles.


The bikers.


The three 3's.


While returning from Salem, I was cruising between 90 to 95 most of the time (never exceeded 100). The traffic was moderate and as I was cruising at a comfortable speed, there was no need for braking and acceleration except when there were slow moving lorries. Surprised to see such numbers for a 150km drive. This was from Salem to outskirts of Coimbatore.


Final figures after more than an hour of heavy city traffic.


Not bad for a 250bhp petrol engine, eh?

Overall, a fantastic weekend!

There was one problem to report. On both the Coimbatore to Salem and Salem to Coimbatore drives, the iDrive started behaving erratically. Without any input from the touch screen or the iDrive wheel, the screen would randomly switch. It even made a random phone call. The screen switching was so erratic, I had to try multiple times to switch off the screen (the screen would switch even before I selected the "switch off display" in the Options menu).

https://youtu.be/x3En0NxkMkM

I have sent this video to BMW service. The service manager asked me to bring the car to the showroom. As I am driving to Goa this Thursday, I told I will bring the car after the Goa drive. The car also gives a "3500km to service" notification. The Goa drive would be about 2000km. Will also get the service done after returning from Goa.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by graaja

There was one problem to report.the iDrive started behaving erratically. Without any input from the touch screen or the iDrive wheel, the screen would randomly switch

By any chance, have you connected a new Mobile device or are there any special characters in the name of your device like . or -

Can you try disconnecting blue-tooth device and check if the problem continues? If it goes off, perhaps change the name of device and connect it back after deleting old one.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

By any chance, have you connected a new Mobile device or are there any special characters in the name of your device like . or -

Can you try disconnecting blue-tooth device and check if the problem continues? If it goes off, perhaps change the name of device and connect it back after deleting old one.

Thank you for the pointers.

Next time the problem happens, I will try to turn off bluetooth in my cell phone and see if the problem goes away. Have you observed this problem in any of your BMW's and was it related to Bluetooth?

I haven't connected any new mobile devices in months, but my iPhone did have a special character in its name. It was "Ganesh Raja's iPhone". Now, I have renamed it to "GRAAJA_iPhone". I did not have to remove the device and reconnect. The car automatically detected the name change. Will observe and report.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by graaja

. Have you observed this problem in any of your BMW's and was it related to Bluetooth?

Now, I have renamed it to "GRAAJA_iPhone". I did not have to remove the device and reconnect. The car automatically detected the name change. Will observe and report.

I think Yes, don't remember exactly when, but the screen will switch "Off" and then turn "On" on its own. Remove "_" as well and better delete the old phone and pair as a new.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I think Yes, don't remember exactly when, but the screen will switch "Off" and then turn "On" on its own. Remove "_" as well and better delete the old phone and pair as a new.

I renamed the phone without the “_”, deleted it from iDrive and have paired it again. Will observe if the problem repeats.

Thanks a lot once again

[anandpadhye]

In the GTI, I get 3 trip computers by default:
1. Since starting (this one resets after engine is switched off for more than 2 hours)
2. Since refueling (this resets upon opening the fuel lid)
3. Long term (this resets after 99 hours of driving)

Do we have these in the 3 series? I can't find them!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

In the GTI, I get 3 trip computers by default:
1. Since starting (this one resets after engine is switched off for more than 2 hours)
2. Since refueling (this resets upon opening the fuel lid)
3. Long term (this resets after 99 hours of driving)

Do we have these in the 3 series? I can't find them!

Apologies for the delay in responding to your post. I was on a road trip to Goa for the 70.3 Triathlon and returned back only today morning.

In the 3GT (guess this should apply for the 3 series as well), there are only two trip computers. One is called the Trip Computer which can be set to auto reset (I think it is 3 hours), and the other is the Onboard Computer which accumulates average FE and average speed till it is manually reset. The Onboard Computer does not show the total distance on the iDrive. There is also a Trip distance that is shown in the instrument cluster which I use to log total distance of a complete trip.

This is not as intuitive as the two trip computers I had in the Jetta. But I have learned to live with this.

[anandpadhye]

Great. Hope you had a good event. Will look up on strava to see how you did

Yes, the trip computer on the 330i is just sad compared to what I am used to in the GTI!

Another issue I see is the high beam is not powerful. This came a shocker! From your and many other reviews, I thought BMW LEDs are excellent. Is there a way to adjust the beam? Mine are not adaptive but that should not matter - when high beam is manually turned ON, both mine and yours should be equal. GTI has full LED headlamps (both high and low) and I think they are brighter! This is a real downer!

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by graaja

This is not as intuitive as the two trip computers I had in the Jetta. But I have learned to live with this.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Yes, the trip computer on the 330i is just sad compared to what I am used to in the GTI!

VAG guys preferring the VAG system to the hyped iDrive systems. But really the VAG MID is really intuitive. Once you get used to it, it's hard to adjust to other cars. Even I find the information display in the GTI quite intuitive compared to the Bimmer. I usually set the trip computer to display on the split screen on my X3 which has the old version of iDrive. This resets after 4 hrs of inactivity. Apart from this, there is the traditional trip meter on the centre console which is displayed next to the odometer. So a total of 2 trip meters only.

One other thing I really hate in my X3 is the fact that it does not display the current gear in regular D mode unlike the VWs.

PS : Congrats on the 330i, Anand . Anlother explosive turbo petrol after the Laura TSI and the GTI! Would love to hear from you how the 330i fares against the GTI in the terms of the drive experience, especially the engine and gearbox!!

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

VAG guys preferring the VAG system to the hyped iDrive systems. But really the VAG MID is really intuitive. Once you get used to it, it's hard to adjust to other cars. Even I find the information display in the GTI quite intuitive compared to the Bimmer.

Yes, the trip meter in the 330i is mediocre. VW MID is way ahead!

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

PS : Congrats on the 330i, Anand . Anlother explosive turbo petrol after the Laura TSI and the GTI! Would love to hear from you how the 330i fares against the GTI in the terms of the drive experience, especially the engine and gearbox!!

Thanks Santosh!

Exchanged the Laura TSI for the 330i - main trigger was the clutch!
Yes, will share my detailed comparo of GTI and 330i. I have done just 100 km on the 330i but my brain is already busy constantly noting things :-)

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Another issue I see is the high beam is not powerful. This came a shocker! From your and many other reviews, I thought BMW LEDs are excellent. Is there a way to adjust the beam? Mine are not adaptive but that should not matter - when high beam is manually turned ON, both mine and yours should be equal. GTI has full LED headlamps (both high and low) and I think they are brighter! This is a real downer!

You are correct, I too have this doubt sometimes. The high beam flash is a disgrace for a BMW (its too slow, and low), and the person in front doesn't seem to notice it if you are close to the car ahead. But what I do find (and I might be totally wrong), above 100 when you keep the high beam on, the beam is quite good and more than sufficient.

In the non adaptive LEDs (like on the f30 lci), there is a single reflector, which apart from having a separate led for the high beam, the reflector itself changes angle about a quarter of a second after high beam is engaged. This is unlike the adaptive LEDs which have a different reflector itself, and a much more powerful high beam.