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1 year with my BMW X5 30d: An unfortunate incident & 1st service update

15th February 2024, 14:09 by Ananth Iyer

The only thing chargeable was the wheel alignment which costed 4000 plus GST. Honestly, that felt like a total rip-off.

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One Year Update

December 8th marks one year since I took delivery of this beautiful driving machine. Until now the car has covered 10,500 kms, one accident, and a spectacular 2500 km road trip.

The Unfortunate Incident

In June, I had been on a weekend getaway to Mahabaleshwar. On my way back, around Khed Shivapur toll plaza it was pouring down quite heavily. While descending the bridge before the toll plaza I saw some water logged and reduced my speed. A Mahindra Pickup carrying a heavy load could not brake on time and rear-ended me.

The car was sent to Navnit Motors Thane a couple of days later. I made an insurance claim and got the car repaired. The repair took one week as promised by the SA and the fit and finish and the quality of repainting done was spot on. Overall I was quite impressed by the Service Center.

Parts repaired / replaced:

Rear Bumper and lower cosmetic attachments
Rear taillight
Rear left reflector fitment
Lower split tailgate denting and painting
Loading sill

Next came the PPF replacement. Spoke to Mr. Amol Chitre; he said that the PPF on a repainted panel should be replaced after one month. I was fine with it since I was traveling to The Netherlands for 20 days and the car would be in my garage. I did not have to worry about driving the car without PPF and having the rear bumper scratched in Mumbai traffic.

The replacement PPF cost was about 26k.

First Service

As per the iDrive, the service message popped up in October. At the time, the car had covered about 6500 kms. Service was covered by BSI+ and the following things were carried out at Navnit Motors Thane Workshop:

Oil was changed
Oil filter replaced
Air Filter cleaned
AC filter cleaned
Wheel alignment was done

The only thing chargeable was the wheel alignment which costed 4000 plus GST. Honestly, that felt like a total rip-off.

Road trip to Coorg

During Diwali, we decided to take a trip to Coorg. We left Mumbai at 5:00 AM on 11th November and hit some traffic at the Lonavala Ghat on the Mumbai Pune Expressway.

Little did we know that wasn’t the only patch of traffic we were gonna hit. After crossing Pune, the NH48 is undergoing widening hence traffic was limited to one and a half lanes of traffic, and 2-wheelers took most of the outer lane. A major cause of traffic was broken-down cars, seemed like everyone was out for an annual holiday without running a basic check on their vehicles. There was steady traffic up to the Maharashtra Border. After a late lunch around 3:30 PM in Peth, we crossed into Karnataka around 5:00 PM. The original plan was to reach Apoorva Resorts Davangere, but the ETA was 9:30 PM. We decided to call it a day around 7:00 PM at Hubbali and stayed at the Fortune Park near the Hubbali Airport.

Clear roads after entering Karnataka

Day 1 driving summary

The following day, after a good night’s rest we hit the breakfast table and were on the road by 9:30 AM. Once we were on the Highway, we were greeted by splendid 6-lane highways. I must appreciate the Karnataka part of the NH48; 6 broad lanes and very well-marked highways. The 3.0 6-cylinder diesel finally got to stretch her legs and boy did she enjoy it. We were covering kilometers effortlessly. Google Maps showed a right turn after Davangare but I was unsure of it as it was a single-lane highway. I read on the forum that the road via Tumakuru is better. We decided to proceed ahead on the NH48. It was time to refuel the car around Sira. I started looking for COCO pumps and came across Shell but it was on the other side of the highway. Finally decided to fuel up at BPCL COCO Sira. The diesel price was 88.80/- compared to 92.62/- in Mumbai at that time. The car covered 850 kms on one tank.

Spotted a M340i at the Hotel. Loved the 0340 plates

Beautiful Highways

BPCL COCO Sira

As we were nearing Tumakuru, I took a close look at the route. It was taking us through Tumakuru and joining us on the Bangalore Mysore Expressway. I decided it would be nice to drive the whole stretch from Bangalore to Mysore on the Expressway and the difference in ETA was not much. Just ahead of Tumakuru we had lunch at De Mandrin Restro Cafe, it is within the campus of Sri Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences. It is a nice restaurant with clean washrooms, would recommend it to anyone traveling on the route with a family.

After a nice lunch we headed on towards the outskirts of Bangalore and took the diversion onto the NICE road. Traffic was a bit slow since the road was under construction. Once we joined the Expressway, it truly is an engineering marvel. Distance from Bangalore to Mysore was covered in no time. We reached Mysore in time for some coffee, found a nice place on the Mysore ring road and headed towards Virajpet. We reached our Resort at around 7:00 PM, which included a couple of stops to pick up some stuff in Virajpet.