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Old 25th January 2019, 13:16   #121
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

I am now slowly trying out the Sport mode on some small sections of my commute. It still does not show the actual gear number that's currently engaged. It just shows "D". Am I missing something?
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Old 25th January 2019, 13:24   #122
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by anandpadhye View Post
I am now slowly trying out the Sport mode on some small sections of my commute. It still does not show the actual gear number that's currently engaged. It just shows "D". Am I missing something?
If you push the gear lever to the left, that is the actual sports mode for the gear box and you will see S1, S2 etc. the car will be much more aggressive than just selecting the sports mode with the mode selector.
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Old 25th January 2019, 14:31   #123
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by graaja View Post
If you push the gear lever to the left, that is the actual sports mode for the gear box and you will see S1, S2 etc. the car will be much more aggressive than just selecting the sports mode with the mode selector.
Ah! Strange! On the iDrive, in "Configure Sport Mode", I see everything is checked so intuitively I thought just selecting Sport would change everything! Let me try tonight.

BTW, the steering has momentary numbness at the center position. I think the variable sport steering is to blame. I was hoping this numbness would go away in Sport mode, but I didn't!
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Old 25th January 2019, 15:10   #124
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by anandpadhye View Post
Ah! Strange! On the iDrive, in "Configure Sport Mode", I see everything is checked so intuitively I thought just selecting Sport would change everything! Let me try tonight.
So, there are actually three combinations:
  • Set the mode switch to sports mode. You can hear the engine note changing and the power delivery and gear shifts become aggressive.
  • Set to sports mode using mode selector switch, and push the gear lever to the left. The gear shifts become more aggressive and on every gear shift you can actually feel a brief push.
  • Set to sports mode using mode selector switch, push the gear lever to the left, and use paddle shifts. This is the beast mode.

Lets call these Sports, Sportser and Sportsest modes

You can have the same three combinations in Comfort and Sports+ modes as well.
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Old 25th January 2019, 16:30   #125
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by graaja View Post
So, there are actually three combinations:

Lets call these Sports, Sportser and Sportsest modes

You can have the same three combinations in Comfort and Sports+ modes as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anandpadhye View Post
Ah! Strange! On the iDrive, in "Configure Sport Mode", I see everything is checked so intuitively I thought just selecting Sport would change everything! Let me try tonight.

BTW, the steering has momentary numbness at the center position. I think the variable sport steering is to blame. I was hoping this numbness would go away in Sport mode, but I didn't!
It can get confusing. Sports mode in the drive mode has two options

Drivetrain :

With this option ticked, in sports mode you get faster throttle response as the engine moves to a more aggressive map and shift points are moved up a bit. The car reacts a bit lazily in comfort mode to throttle inputs. In sports it livens up and you get immediate responses.

Chassis :

With this ticked, if you have adaptive suspension, the suspension tightens up for better handling and the steering becomes heavier. (In my X3 I feel the steering feels a bit artificially weighted in sports mode. I prefer the normal mode for the steering, but I don't have individual configuration option in my car). I don't know if it does anything to the brakes?

The gear lever has it's own sports mode which is activated by tapping it to the left. Now you get delayed upshifts and aggressive downshifts on braking. Also the shift times are faster. You will experience a mild kick when accelerating flat out at every upshift too.

The real beast mode is every thing turned to sports and the drive select mode in sports +. In this mode dynamic traction (DTC) mode is activated and the electronic nannies wake up a bit late. So it allows for a bit of wheel spin and tail slide before allowing ESP to cut power. Car feels liveliest in this mode. With gear lever pushed to the left, if you tug at the paddles, you go into manual mode. The current gear is displayed only when the gear lever is in sports mode.

All this is based on what I have seen in my X3 and the NOT the 330i . I believe the logic must be uniform across all BMWs.

Last edited by suhaas307 : 27th January 2019 at 20:58. Reason: Minor formatting
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Old 27th January 2019, 20:53   #126
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

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Originally Posted by graaja View Post
An Impromptu Meet at Salem
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
Wow - how did I ever miss this post. All my favourite kind of vehicles from BMWs to ADV bikes in one frame. Love it!!
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Old 31st January 2019, 23:16   #127
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Any updates on your insurance?

Also wanted to ask if you got a FASTAG sticker with your car and whether you were able to activate it ?
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Old 1st February 2019, 18:21   #128
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by bottle View Post
Also wanted to ask if you got a FASTAG sticker with your car and whether you were able to activate it ?
Yes. My car came with PayTM fastag. It was activated within two days of taking delivery of the car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bottle View Post
Any updates on your insurance?
Update on Insurance:

After inputs from SanthoshBhat, Turbanator, the_skyliner, I checked various other insurance companies and their offers. Below is the list of offers I got.

ICICI Lombard - 1.15L for IDV of 40L, zero dep + consumables + engine and gearbox + return to invoice. Without return to invoice, they quoted 1.05L

HDFC Ergo - 71K for IDV of 40L, zero dep + consumables + engine and gearbox protection. However, they did not have a cashless tie up with the local Coimbatore dealer.

Thanks to Turbanator, I got the following quote from New India Assurance - 66K for IDV of 39L, zero dep + engine protector. They did not have consumables cover.

Thanks to TBHPian Arjun_Reddy, got the following quote from Royal Sundaram - 81K for zero dep + engine protector + consumables + return to invoice + RSA

Got a quote of about 1L from Bajaj Allianz for IDV of 40L, zero dep + consumables + engine protect + return to invoice

With the above options, I thought of going with Royal Sundaram. When I communicated this to the dealer, he offered me another quote from Bharati Axa. This was 86K for zero dep + consumables + engine protect + RSA + return to invoice. Without return to invoice it was 80K. Thought I would get the maximum options at least for the first year of renewal.

Between Royal Sundaram and Bharati Axa, it was a difference of 5K. And as it was direct from the dealer, they will take care of all claim formalities. So, decided to go with this option.

Road Trip to Goa:

In the first week of January, I went on a road trip to Goa to participate in a 70.3 Triathlon event. It was a 2000km trip. The car performed superbly on all types of roads - be it 4 lane highway with smooth tarmac, or winding ghat roads or totally broken non-existent roads! This was the first time I carried my bike on the roof on such a long drive. Got some decent fuel economy figures in spite of the bike on the roof introducing significant drag.

The statistics on the first day from Coimbatore to Davanagere. Did not take a picture for the Davanagere to Goa on 2nd day. But it was 350 kilometers in 7 hours with a FE of 12.5.
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-day-1-stat.jpg

The statistics on the last day from Goa to Coimbatore.
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-ride-stats.jpg

A few pictures of the car from the trip.

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-dsc09238.jpg

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-dsc09249.jpg

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-img_e8967.jpg

I have also put together a travelogue on this trip in the below link.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...elly-fish.html (Fitness Vacation to Goa – A road trip, a triathlon and rendezvous with jelly fish)

Oil Change Service Reminder:

Before I left to Goa, I had a service reminder of some 3500 kilometer. Now, the reminder is at 700km. Will take the car for the 2nd service next week. Ignore all those Christmas lights. The service reminder comes up only when the car is started and goes away when all the warnings go away.

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-service.jpg

And at last before closing this post; I present you the BMW 330i Goods Transport (GT) M Sport
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-goods-transport.jpg

16 batteries from my solar power plant had run dry due to a lapse in getting a service and the dealer was taking too much time to arrange distilled water. So, got 144 liters of distilled water from the petrol station. The look the petrol station guys gave me... it was a sight to see

The car was fully loaded with 144 liters of water, 2 adults and 2 kids. And absolutely no bottoming out. I am glad I went for the GT - the most practical car.
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Old 1st February 2019, 21:23   #129
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

You might want to check how distilled that water is. My reading around a few places tells me, what you usually get is not distilled water at all.

I have been advised to buy distilled water from a place where medical labs procure it to maintain my own batteries as well as radiatior top ups.
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Old 1st February 2019, 21:34   #130
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Liner View Post
You might want to check how distilled that water is. My reading around a few places tells me, what you usually get is not distilled water at all.

I have been advised to buy distilled water from a place where medical labs procure it to maintain my own batteries as well as radiatior top ups.
Thank you for the heads up. I will do a TDS measurement before using the water.
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Old 5th February 2019, 18:10   #131
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

My Laura had heat resistant windshield, I think the 330i doesn't. I really feel the heat on my face and hands! What a miss!!
Does GT have it?

Last edited by Gannu_1 : 5th February 2019 at 19:07. Reason: Typo.
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Old 5th February 2019, 19:04   #132
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by anandpadhye View Post
My Laura had heat resistant windshield, I think the 330i doesn't. I really feel the heat on my face and hands! What a miss!!
Does GT have it?
I don’t think so. But I am used to non heat resistant wind shields.

Maybe you can get a heat resistant film done for the windshield from 3M.

Last edited by aah78 : 5th February 2019 at 19:41. Reason: Typo fixed in quote.
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Old 13th February 2019, 21:55   #133
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

2nd Oil Service Update:

As I had mentioned a couple of posts before, the car had started showing oil service requirement. Set up an appointment and took the car to the BMW showroom. The odometer was around 19,200 kilometers. Though the service interval shows as 12,000km/1 year after a service, the CBS (condition based service) system usually keeps reducing faster than the actual kilometers driven. This time, it came up in about 10,000 kilometers. They changed the oil, oil filters and air filter. As the car is under BSI+, and as I did not go for the wheel alignment and balancing (which is not covereddi under BSI)I did not have to pay anything.

As the showroom is about 40km from home, stayed back in the showroom and drove back in the evening.

The actual oil service was completed by 3:00PM. However, as my iDrive required a reflash of the software, the car was ready only by 6:00 in the evening.

iDrive Software Update:

I had reported earlier that the iDrive was behaving erratically. The display would randomly jump between various screens with no input on the touch screen or on the iDrive wheel. The car even made a random phone call to my wife! A few days before the service, the local media collection vanished from the media list. They ran some diagnostics and found that there was an issue with the iDrive's software. This required the car to be plugged into the BMW server and reflash the software. This was a very slow process and took close to two hours. The service manager said sometimes, this can even take longer depending on server connectivity, size of the software, speed of internet connection etc.

After the software update, the missing medial library is back. I don't know if the random screen jumping is solved (as it was very rare to occur even before), but I have a feeling it is resolved.

Update on CarPlay:

One of the features I am trying to get enabled in the car is CarPlay. However BMW does not have an official support to enable CarPlay in my car though the iDrive hardware supports CarPlay, and it is a matter of enabling some flags and option codes.

I have been following the CarPlay thread (Enabled! Apple CarPlay in my BMW 5-Series (G30). EDIT: Dealers now offering the upgrade) and after discussions with TBHPian abhi182, I was planning to code it myself and even got the coding cable and the Wifi antenna. But as the car is under 6 year warranty, and as some other members had reported warranty issues when custom modifications are done in coding, I had refrained from doing this and was trying to get this done by the dealer. But the dealer could not do anything as BMW does not allow this.

During the visit to the workshop, I had a lengthy discussion with the service manager if we can enable CarPlay outside the BMW's servers. He said it is possible to do this, but it is quite risky. As long as there is no need for any software updates that need the car to be plugged into BMW's servers, they have control and they can support. However, once the car gets hooked up to the BMW server (like it had to for the iDrive issue), the workshop guys have no control on the process. Everything is automatic. The car logs so many details like tire pressure, if the bonnet was open, usage patterns etc. I am sure it will definitely log any change in coding. If the servers catch some modification, then warranty support becomes a pain.

Again, as long as there is no need for the car to be connected to the BMW server for any software update or for any trouble shooting that may require warranty replacements, a coding change will not be a problem.

Of course, BMW is quite customer friendly, and may still honor warranty, but still this is a hassle. Personally, I don't think CarPlay is worth this hassle. I need CarPlay only for Google Maps. So, I am glad that I did not tinker with the coding

It is quite possible BMW may offer CarPlay upgrade in the future. I will consider it at that time. Till then I will use my phone for navigation.

Paint Protection Treatment:

The next day after service, took the car to 3M Car Care in RS Puram for paint protection treatment. Since my Jetta, I have been going to this branch for all my cars. Extremely satisfied with the quality of work and the customer friendliness here. A few pictures to close this update.

Alloys being cleaned.
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-wheels-cleaned.jpg

Foam bath.
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-foam.jpg

Masked and ready.
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-masked.jpg

Treatment in progress.
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-rubbing-compound.jpg
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-rubbing.jpg

The car sports a superb wet look which brings out the glossiness of the paint.
A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-wet-look-1.jpg

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-wet-look-2.jpg

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-wet-look-3.jpg

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up-full-car.jpg

Last edited by graaja : 13th February 2019 at 21:57.
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Old 13th February 2019, 23:12   #134
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Quote:
Originally Posted by graaja View Post
I was planning to code it myself and even got the coding cable and the Wifi antenna. But as the car is under 6 year warranty, and as some other members had reported warranty issues when custom modifications are done in coding, I had refrained from doing this and was trying to get this done by the dealer. But the dealer could not do anything as BMW does not allow this.

During the visit to the workshop, I had a lengthy discussion with the service manager if we can enable CarPlay outside the BMW's servers. He said it is possible to do this, but it is quite risky. As long as there is no need for any software updates that need the car to be plugged into BMW's servers, they have control and they can support. However, once the car gets hooked up to the BMW server (like it had to for the iDrive issue), the workshop guys have no control on the process. Everything is automatic. The car logs so many details like tire pressure, if the bonnet was open, usage patterns etc. I am sure it will definitely log any change in coding. If the servers catch some modification, then warranty support becomes a pain.

Again, as long as there is no need for the car to be connected to the BMW server for any software update or for any trouble shooting that may require warranty replacements, a coding change will not be a problem.

Of course, BMW is quite customer friendly, and may still honor warranty, but still this is a hassle. Personally, I don't think CarPlay is worth this hassle. I need CarPlay only for Google Maps. So, I am glad that I did not tinker with the coding
You can code the car with no worries with regards to warranty by be careful when you changes the parameters cause one wrong value could brick the car.

BMW will not void your warranty because of coding unless the system gets bricked which is quite rare if you know what you are doing.

Lot of us have done it and even maps have been updated.
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Old 15th February 2019, 02:03   #135
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re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up

Considering to paint your alloy black will go extremely well with the car color in case you wish to do some exterior mods, black gloss paint on those beautiful looking alloys will amplify the looks even further. I must say a very nice log here.
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