[ex-innova-guy]

I too quite liked the colour on this 2024 BMW X3M40i and the blackened bits look lovely. The dual tone alloys also look really good but the kidney grill not so much.

[mobike008]

I was in India in December.

I ensured I didn't make the same mistake that I did during my earlier visit to India of not ordering the team-BHP stickers on time.

I finally got around to christening the beast.

A few pictures from earlier this week.

[mobike008]

Last weekend, yet another impromptu plan was made to hunt for some snow.

As usual, it was me, Ashu and BHPian Crackhead embarked on a half day trip to Stevens Pass.

We saw the WSDOT website and excited to see that the Pass got relentless snow and it was a winter world out there. Plan was to spend an hour or two in the bitter cold outside (It was sunny but, -7 C or thereabouts) explore and walk in snow.

Return drive enjoy a nice Mexican lunch and head back home by 4:00pm so the afternoon siesta remains intact.

A few pictures from earlier this week (MLK Day-15th January, 2023)


We saw this and decided to check it out in person. This is 50 miles or 1-hour from home.



Snow Adventurers.



The rides..







Beautiful. Huh?



My coffee store. I come here just to enjoy a coffee amidst snow capped mountains.





Snow covered train tracks.



Waiting for the train to come....LOL!



Some fun in the " snow"...



A few pictures of this scenic route.

























My ride that excels in any conditions- Snow, Rain or Dry.







Lovely Mexican Lunch...

[mobike008]

When you own a BMW (especially an M-Performance version), I noted that it turns you into a kid.

Your life revolves around it quite a bit and you are constantly thinking what next with the car. I go through this phase on a regular basis. lol!

My current BWM shoes which are now 2+ years old are showing sign of wear.

So what do I do?

I replaced them with a couple more (Black & White-to go with different attire).

After all, you need to look the part.

[mobike008]

3- Years Ownership Review after completing 32,500 Miles (52,000 kms)

Blau Rakete came home in January 2021 and it was a brand new leased car and my intentions were to enjoy it for 3-years and return it. But, during the course of these 3-years of ownership which as you may noted was absolutely flawless there was a bonding that developed that made me hard to let go of it after the lease completion period.

So, I went ahead and bought it.

Fun Fact : If I sell this beast now, I can make a cool profit of $10K.

Not a single car that I owned in the past made me grin like the Blau Rakete.

Even after 3-years, every single time I am behind the wheel of this car, I feel like a small kid in a candy store as the pleasure this car gives is indescribable.

Hence, I decided my time with this beast is not over yet. Now it’s time to make it even more fun by doing some basic mods which will happen over the course of this year.

This post is just a refresh of Day 1, check if anything significant has changed over the 3-years ownership and also after living with it for so long, time to “Hit Refresh” on my thoughts of “What I liked “and “What can be improved”.

Touchwood, there has been not a single issue with the car mechanically, cosmetically nor with tires till date so it’s obvious that the list of Pro’s are going to be longer than the Con’s.

X3M40i’s flaws are rather insignificant as listed below.

BMW X3 M40i (3-Year Update- Pros):

1. 6- Cylinder Engine that screams gloriously to 7000 rpm that makes you forget everything about this nasty world.

2. Having driven this in treacherous conditions on stock OEM tires, I’m beyond surprised and impressed with it’s grip as never a moment of slip, skid even when
taking cornering at good speeds in the mountains on icy or rainy roads. Reminds me of a mountain goat clinging on to slippery mountain ledges. LOL!!

3. I perform well at work when I hear the cold start sound in enclosed spaces (in my garage). It’s a sound to die for. Days that I don’t hear the B58 sound, I
seem to lag at work related tasks.

4. ZF gearbox never misses a gear and most importantly, never lets you even guess when it’s changing to a higher or lower gear. Brilliant piece of engineering.

5. Well, it’s a traffic signal race magnet. Every other BMW wants to race with me at the signal. I find it childish but, I do indulge “always”

6. Even after completing 3 years with minimum to zero TLC, its interiors don’t look dated.

7. 32,500 Miles ( 52,000 kms) later, there is not a single rattle in the car. Absolutely and deathly silent inside the cabin. Love the build quality.

8. Even till date, the brakes have awesome bite and can get this beast to a stop from crazy speeds to a standstill in a jiffy. These are stock brakes on stock pads
and rotors.

9. Ride quality is firm but, not unpleasant thanks to excellent road conditions.

10. This never ceases to surprise me, Despite my hard style of driving, tires are still stock after clocking 52,000 kms. This may surprise you even further. They
have never been rotated nor have any alignment done till date.

11. Convenience features (Keyless Entry, Flawless connection to CarPlay, HUD is an amazing feature,

12. Excellent Boot Space (No Spare Wheel so it gives even more space and depth below) and with seats folded, we carried 10 feet X 6 feet carpets, mattresses
back home.

13. Biggest icing on the cake, I have spent $0 on its maintenance till date ever since I got this beast out of the showroom 3-years ago.


BMW X3 M40i (3-Year Update- What can be improved) :

I had to really scratch my head to come up with below list of CONS as they are so insignificant, considering they are so minor :

1. Couple of buttons next to the shift selector doesn’t feel new. When pressed, it feels aging.

2. Music system quality sucks. BMW needs to really need to up their game here.

3. Not a fan of the steel rims (19”) that came with the car. It was my mistake when configuring. I would have loved a 20” and black design wheels.

4. While this car is touted as a 5-seater, but, only 4 large sized adults will be super comfortable from a width and leg space perspective.

5. Wish BMW had made more distinctive changes to this car as it looks similar to X3 30i except the rear badge and exhaust tips. Makes it a proper sleeper.

6. B58 is like Jekyll & Hyde- It returns an amazing mileage of 26-27 miles/gallon which is roughly 10kmpl to terrible low of 18 miles to a gallon ( 6kmpl) so the
range is pretty wide depending on which mode (Ecopro or Sports+) you drive on. Heck, I didn't buy this car to drive on Eco-Pro so I don't care much about
the FE while I like to track it religiously.

As an ode to this amazing car, I picked out a few pictures over the last 3-years (Mind you, it was difficult as I click too many pics of the car which is a bad habit of mine) and it has traversed nearly 1/3rd of America which is quite a feat and still perform flawlessly which tells a huge story about it's reliability.

Some of the states I have driven it are :

1. Baltimore (Where I picked up the car)
2. Michigan (Were we used to live)
3. Pennsylvania
4. Ohio
5. New York State
6. Massachusetts
7. Rhode Island
8. New Hampshire
9. Illinois
10. Tennesse
11. Kentucky
12. Indianapolis, Indiana
13. Washington (Where we currently live)
14. Oregon
15. California


My ~ 1000 Horsepower Garage.



Photoshoot with an M340i in Detroit, Michigan.



Cascade Mountains, Washington.



One of my favorite Picture- Detroit, Michigan with General Motors HQ in background.



Photoshoot with a Jaguar XF- Michigan, USA



Somewhere in Rainy Washington, USA.



University of Ann Arbor, Michigan.



Drive along the Pacific Ocean- US101, Oregon, USA.



When new in Michigan, USA.



Artist Point, Cascade Mountains, Washington.



Anacortes, Washington.



Smoky Mountains, Tennessee.



Beautiful Fall in Microsoft Campus. Redmond, Washington.





Mt. Rainier Drive in Washington.



Space Needle, Seattle, Washington.



The famous " Cannon Beach, Oregon, USA".



Redwood Forests, California.





The beautiful rolling green hills of BIG SUR, California.





Outside a friend home in Michigan.



Bimmer Brothers- Snoqualmie Pass Mountains, Washington.



Outside home in Michigan.

[sumobom4]

Lovely! Congratulations on finally owning the car! I always love to read your updates on Blau Raukete as I’m able to live vicariously through you, having had to give mine up coz of visa issues in 2020. The M40i is a proper beast and I feel it’s just enough to make you feel good without being ludicrous!

If you don’t mind my asking, what was the residual they set on the car for the lease, as that would be the price that you would pay for it after the lease is up. If it’s 55% like mine was, that is a steal for a 3 yr old 30k miles car, considering used car prices today!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by sumobom4

Lovely! Congratulations on finally owning the car! I always love to read your updates on Blau Raukete as I’m able to live vicariously through you, having had to give mine up coz of visa issues in 2020. The M40i is a proper beast and I feel it’s just enough to make you feel good without being ludicrous!

Thank you. I can imagine how hard it must been to give up this car. Do you still miss it? Any pictures of your car from your time with it?

The most enjoyable ICE car that I owned till date. Period !!

Originally Posted by sumobom4

If you don’t mind my asking, what was the residual they set on the car for the lease, as that would be the price that you would pay for it after the lease is up. If it’s 55% like mine was, that is a steal for a 3 yr old 30k miles car, considering used car prices today!

If you read my initial ownership thread, I had employed a BMW agent to get me a deal. She got me a deal that for anybody would be hard to refuse. Hence, I flew to Washington D.C to pick up this car.

I negotiated a fabulous residual value of 52% which is what I paid to buy the car and it's a fully loaded car so you can do the math. Like I mentioned, if I flip this car, I can pocket a cool 10 grand due to the high demand for this car in preowned market.

But, Nope. I am not a sane person to take such sane decisions.

Besides that, my car payments were ridiculously low (If you buy a new X3M40i, you would look at paying nearly double). Interests rates are hitting the roof here, you know.

[sumobom4]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thank you. I can imagine how hard it must been to give up this car. Do you still miss it? Any pictures of your car from your time with it?

The most enjoyable ICE car that I owned till date. Period !!

It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do! I still dream of it sometimes!

Originally Posted by mobike008

I negotiated a fabulous residual value of 52% which is what I paid to buy the car and it's a fully loaded car so you can do the math. Like I mentioned, if I flip this car, I can pocket a cool 10 grand due to the high demand for this car in preowned market.

That is a fantastic deal! Congratulations on scoring it!

As requested, here are some pics of my time with my car. Hope you don't mind my hijacking your thread!

Here's the pic at the time of delivery; I took delivery from an Atlanta showroom and drove her down to Tampa.


At a rest stop on the way from Atlanta to Tampa.


Here are some pics of the interiors:










I loved the matte wood trim. Made you always feel that you had real wood in the car; none of the fake stuff. Smelt like wood as well!





I loved the puddle lamps!



Some exterior shots:







Here's the B58 - beast of an engine. I have never driven anything as silky smooth as this inline 6!



And finally, here's a parting shot of our family fleet the day we had to part from them!

[shiv11bhargava]

Love your X3 M40i to bits and pieces. What a stunning vehicle! Wishing you thousands of miles full of memories and smiles. Such a stunner!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by sumobom4

As requested, here are some pics of my time with my car. Hope you don't mind my hijacking your thread!

Here's the B58 - beast of an engine. I have never driven anything as silky smooth as this inline 6!

Thanks for sharing. That's a lovely configuration of the car. I loved your wheel design and with same wheels on 20", it would be a killer looking car and would look different from an X3 30i.

Yeah, Anyone who drives a B58 will become an instant fan. There is no two-ways about it. I would say there is no other engine like it in this price range. PERIOD !!

Originally Posted by shiv11bhargava

Love your X3 M40i to bits and pieces. What a stunning vehicle! Wishing you thousands of miles full of memories and smiles. Such a stunner!

Thank you for your kind words and wishes. Glad you liked it.

[mobike008]

BMW X3M40- Tire Replacement- Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4- Installation & Brief Impressions.

I have been thinking of a tire change for a few months now but, I kept postponing as the tires were performing well and rear tires still had a tread depth of 5-Points (Tires come with 10-Points when new and you change tires when it goes down to 4-points).

As you all know, I haven't spent a single dime on this beauty ever since I got her home. When she crossed the 3-year mark last month, I decided that it needs some new shoes to celebrate this occasion.

I was clear that choice will be between only these 2 tires.

1. Michelin Pilot Sport AS 4
2. Continental DSW06

Both tires are almost neck-to-neck with respect to their performance and it took me almost 6-months to decide that Michelins are a better choice (purely from online reviews and feedbacks on BMW forums).

Next thing, I was scouting for deals and found a great deal with "Discount Tire" and decided to club a few large ticket items purchase and installation of these tires along with some lovely food truck food in Portland, Oregon which is a "Sales Tax" free state.

Saved $200 bucks vs. getting them installed in Seattle.

Last Saturday (Feb 3rd, 2023), a friend and I drove to Portland, Oregon and got the tires installed.

Appointment was at 2:00pm and were were out at 2:45pm.

What I get from Discount Tire :

1. Free Air.
2. Free Puncture Repair for life of tires.
3. Free Balancing for life of tires.

Then we enjoyed some lovely grub and drinks and shopped heartily at Apple Store and Best Buy (Details on the Apple threads on the forum) and saved upwards of $1000 in taxes and headed back home by 9:00pm.

Having driven the car with new tires for 200 miles, below is a brief impression of the same.

After driving it for 200 miles (Return Drive from Portland to Seattle), Here is my brief feedback about these tires :

Immediate Feel : The tire noise which was high with Pirelli as they were at the fag end of their life completely disappeared. Cabin has now become even more silent (minus the previous tire noise).

Performance : It feels slightly mushy/soft compared to the Pirelli’s doesn’t feel too glued to the road. For the first 100 miles, I took it slow to understand the tire better and was driving mostly in Eco-Pro. Once the 100 miles completed, I slotted in Comfort and Sports + and pushed the car. It was rainy, cold and wet conditions and they felt superb in those conditions. I also understand from several reviews, it handles even better in light snow and cold conditions.

Steering Wheel : Well, this is a bit confusing. Immediate feel was the steering didn’t feel tight as I am used to. There was little more play than usual. I haven’t driven the car since I came back last Saturday (Wifey loves the BMW and she usually takes it on a spin daily). I need to monitor this aspect also and re-visit this parameter as this is super important that steering has to feel taut and you know where you are going when changing directions.

NVH & Ride Quality : As mentioned above, the NVH dropped significantly. Pirellis when they were new also weren’t this silent. There is an eerie silence quality to this tire. The ride quality has improved tremendously. I mean when the car goes over the freeway joints and lane markers, it jarring feel does not transport back in the car. You know, the 19” wheels help quite a bit here as they are the most comfortable compared to folks having their X3M40i’s shod with 20”, 21” or even 22”s which are the worst for ride quality.

Fuel Efficiency : This might be a placebo effect. I felt that I got a terrific FE for this trip. Overall, trip efficiency was 28mpg which I don’t remember when I got last as for long trips the car returns a 24mpg to 26mpg at the most. Since my every tankful is monitored and calculated, I will certainly monitor the FE and see if there is any major change in efficiency. I think it’s best for the tires to settle down for 1K-2K miles before coming to any conclusion.

Initial Impressions & Conclusions : Michelin Pilot Sport AS 4 are one of the most respected performance tires based on the several reviews that I read online and they have been installed in every possible performance cars like Tesla Performance, BMW M Cars, Audi Performance cars and many more and all of them always give raving reviews about it. Hope to have a good stint with these tires for next 20K-30k miles.

Cold, Sunny and Beautiful Weather while going. It was rainy on return.





Delicious tread pattern.





Most comfortable sized wheel and rims on this beast.



Folks working on the car. Please ignore the dirty car. lol!











Love these exhaust tips.





Post 45 mins, it was all ready to enjoy the new experience.

[mobike008]

Another weekend, another snowy day-drive.

This time after reaching the location, we wanted to hike in snow. Obviously, we were not prepared with the right gear (Snow Shoeing).

What is Snow Shoeing? It's a foot gear that helps in displacing pressure to a larger surface area so your feet does not sink into the deep snow that we were hiking in.

BHPian Crackhead and some other friends joined for this outing.

Finding a parking was a hassle and we had to pay $25 for a day pass (A little preparation would have got it for 6-months for slighter higher amount). Jeez !!

We paid the online parking, wrote down the details on a piece of paper and stuck it to the dashboard and off we went.

It was a 1-mile hike to a frozen lake and believe you me, we all fell down at least 20-25 times each way as the snow was super deep ( 2 feet to someplace even 3-feet). Despite placing our feet precariously, our feet would sink deep inside.

It was super fun as well as stressful for that entire 2-mile round trip hike.

Besides the point, it was snowing lightly so our clothes got quite wet.

We had a fabulous time at the frozen lake which was choc-a-block with outdoor enthusiasts. After spending an hour or so at the lake, we made our way back to the car.

Post that awesome snow hike, we visited our favorite "Mallu Restaurant" in the area for a fabulous "Mallu Lunch" of Coconut Prawns, Iddi Appam, Kerala Portia and lots of delicious veg and non veg dishes amongst us.

Nothing to say about the BMW, it continues to take these snowy and icy roads in it's stride and performs flawlessly.

Yet another exciting wekeend with my partner in crime- Blau Rakete.


Approaching the Parking spot for our SNOW HIKE.

https://youtu.be/F1dxa0Zqer4

Finally approaching the frozen lake after a 1-mile hike in deep snow. Surreal isn't it?

https://youtu.be/BaOHdMlV_j0

[mobike008]

Nothing much to add. Life is good with the "Beast".

Got a nice wash for her earlier this week. Now I decided to get washes at least once in 2-months. They deserve that much.

Don't you think?

[B58lover]

Hii mobike008, hope you are in good health. What a lovely thread.

I have a question. Could you tell me the tire size you are running for front and back on those 19-inch rims? Also, did you upsize the tires, or running the stock setup?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by B58lover

Hii mobike008, hope you are in good health. What a lovely thread.

Thanks. It's the longest and most updated B58 thread on the forum.

Originally Posted by B58lover

I have a question. Could you tell me the tire size you are running for front and back on those 19-inch rims? Also, did you upsize the tires, or running the stock setup?

When I ordered my car new, I got it with smallest wheel size (for comfort) which was Pirelli RFT's- 245/50/R19

After completing ~ 33,000 miles, I recently changed my tires to the same size

Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 (Non-RFT's) with same size- 245/50/R19 all-around.

Btw, I am curious to know the background of your Team-BHP handle. Why B58? What is your affinity or relationship with a B58? And,why do you love this engine so much?