Brought home a BMW M340i LCI: Impressions after 2 months of driving

The gearbox is truly a mind reader and rewards you with immediate downshifts when you slam the accelerator even in comfort mode.

BHPian mrinmoy_s recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

According to my parents and my elder sister, my first full sentence as an infant was "Maa Gajii (Gari) asche" which can be translated from Bengali to English as "Mom Car is coming"! After that, life happened but the enthusiasm for cars remained in the deepest core of my heart only to be rekindled when I received my driving license at 26 years of age in 2011.

Budget constraints and lack of awareness made me buy a Hyundai Eon as my first car. The pride in the eyes of my Sister who virtually raised me and the congratulatory phone calls from my parents made me realize how most Indian families feel when they achieve this milestone of their lives. While the Eon is not a car that I am going to recommend to any of my friends or families today, I will remain emotionally attached to it for introducing me to that sense of freedom which only a driving enthusiast can feel.

Within two years of getting the Eon, I had an itch to upgrade and thanks to a couple of friends whom I hold responsible for spoiling me , I ended up buying a Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI! Well, that was my entry into the world of driver's cars. That explosive torque and tank like build quality made me fall in love with Skoda cars. Thankfully I did not face much trouble from the infamous Skoda A.S.S and had an overall peaceful ownership.

Fast forward to mid 2019 and the Rapid was inching towards the end of its warrantied life and the itch for more resumed. By then, the horizon of my driving experience spanned across almost all cars in 10-50 Lakhs range in the Indian market. My Rapid, my experience of having driven many other cars and countless hours on Team BHP had ensured I grew up to be a car lover who does not belong to the "kitna deti hai" group. I also realised I am not crazy for features or looks and they were just good-to-have aspects for me. This meant as an upgrade from the Rapid and with a budget of <30L, I had no other choice but to get the Octavia! That brought me to my third car - the Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSI (L&K). The following few years were pure joy with this beauty of a car. It was truly a gem and I completely agree with GTO's comment saying "the Octavia made the A4, the C and the regular 3 series almost pointless".

With almost 50k km on the ODO of the Octy and that insatiable itch in me, I started dreaming about a proper sports sedan and not one with just sporty intent. But this time, I wanted the real deal but couldn't afford the full blown AMGs, Ms or RSs! So we took test drives of the A35 AMG, the M340i and the S5 Sportsback and it took no time to know deep in my heart that I wanted the Bimmer. But the decision wasn't easy. The budget, the factor of being less comfortable than the Octy and the overall dilemma of whether or not it would be the right car for an average middle class family like ours - ensured that almost a year went by before the plunge could be taken. In the last week of December'23, I just casually called the number of Navnit Malad who had arranged the TD for me and asked about any year end discounts. To my pleasant surprise, they said they can work out a good deal as they had 2-3 unsold cars.

Thanks to my wife for financially supporting this craziness, that same evening, we sat across the table at the dealership and booked the Tanzanite Blue M340i Shadow edition at a price that was kind of a steal. Back in the bed at home, as the clock struck midnight hour, the realisation hit and the phase of anxious impatience began.

With down payment and loan approval done, armed with the TBHP check list, I went to the dealership to undertake PDI three days after NYE.

Here are some snaps of my first view of the beast!

Meanwhile, I had to let go of my Octy. After 49000 km of absolute joy, it was a painful goodbye for sure.

After an excruciating wait for another 5 days, on 9th Jan, we took delivery of the Blue beauty. A couple of snaps from delivery days

After a nervous drive to the parking lot at my society, it was still sinking in. Went through the owner's manual to find out about running-in and realised that I have to take her slow for the first 2000km and by slow they mean <160kmph!! (and less than 4.5k rpm). I thought that shouldn't be a problem but believe me it was damn difficult to not open her up. Took her for a "sedate" drive to Nashik the following weekend but that was enough to realise the potential of this car. The Kasara ghat drive was exhilarating and after crossing it, I actually stopped and gave the wheel to my wife just to absorb the feeling.

The pause to catch my breath:

 After returning from Nashik, the car was given for a full PPF. Thanks to fellow BHPian Krishnadev's post, I went to Optimum Dealerz at Chembur for the job and as recommended, Amolji did a fantastic job and delivered the car back in 6 days.

Here are some pictures after the PPF:

Almost two months down the line, here are my observations about the car. I shall refrain from going into a detailed review as the car has already been extensively reviewed by fellow BHPians who are far better writers than me.

Likes:

The engine - had heard a lot of positives about the B58 before and now I know how true they were. Despite not going anywhere close to the full potential of this powerhouse, I can emphatically state that this engine is a marvelous piece of engineering. The power band is wide and the engine obliges every demand of your right foot no matter which rpm you are at. The twin scroll turbo spools with almost an imperceptible lag even in Comfort mode. The Eco-Pro mode is the only one in which you need effort to build sudden speeds. In sports and sports plus mode, the 6 cylinder pot sounds effortlessly beautiful - something that can't be said about the 4 cylinder equivalents from the Mercedes stable.

The gearbox - not sure which one to credit more; the engine or the out-of-the-world ZF 8 speed Steptronic Sports transmission when it comes to the sublime driving experience that the M340i offers. The gearbox is truly a mind reader and rewards you with immediate downshifts when you slam the accelerator even in comfort mode. The upshifts are seamless as you rise in the revv range. Even after coming from the DQ200 of the Octavia, this gearbox feels miles ahead especially in the business of downshifts and that is saying something! I can't fathom the magic BMW and ZF have put in it to make a TC unit perform like this. While I haven't experienced the PDKs of Porsches and am sure those are in a different league, I can say that even Mercedes' DCT in the A35 AMG is no match to this unit. I am happy that unlike in the case of my Octavia, I don't have to worry about reliability of this unit.

The Sports Plus mode - listing this as a separate point as this lunatic mode needs a special mention. The sports plus mode sharpens the throttle response to an extent that one literally gets pushed into the seat. And the steering stiffens up beautifully taking the already superb handling to a notch above. And the aural pleasure of the engine with those pops & bangs, albeit largely fed into the speakers, is something that I really cherish in this mode.

The handling - The car handles like a dream. I was accelerating at those corners where I would have pressed the brake on my Octy. High speed lane changes are super nimble and on a lighter note, could have easily bullied the autowalas on Mumbai roads had the roads been smooth. The Xdrive, while providing leech like grip, does leave slight room for playfulness in terms of allowing momentary slides.

MyBMW App - now this may not be specific to the M340i but I feel I must mention it. While there have been many good things written about the iDrive system, the app also deserves a mention. It offers a good amount of information with seamless connectivity with the car. I can monitor the car's lock/unlock status, tyre pressures, location etc; can remotely start ventilation or set a time for the same (super useful when the car is hot after parked under direct sunlight); can even take remote 3D pictures from anywhere in the world. When I left my car for PPF, everyday I was checking the surrounding of the car parked at the detailer's.

Here are some screenshots:

Dislikes:

The Tires - Honestly, much more than the harsh ride quality, what I dislike are the stock 19" runflats. They feel fragile and always keep you on tenterhooks due to fear of getting side wall damage on the pathetic roads of Mumbai. I read so much about the potential damage and the hassles fellow M340i owners have had to go through that my average speed inside city has been significantly lower than my Octy days. While I am getting used to it and am yet to face a damage, it surely is frustrating. Will be changing the shoes to tubeless for sure once the Secure package is over in a year. I am told that while even the 19" tubeless might be as prone to sidewall damage as the stock run-flats, the ride quality would be better and the replacement costs are going to be significantly lower.

The rear seats & boot-space - now this is a complaint that I knew my family would have much before buying the car. My sister finds the rear seats claustrophobic with the experience worsened by constant vertical movement due to harsh ride quality. My sister-in-law complains how she could move house in the Octy but can barely fit more than two suitcases in the boot of the M340i.

The rear seats - not the best place to be in

The tiny boot - height is highly restricted due to the spare tire

First encounter with service center - this is an important point. My car had a slight squeaking noise in the steering from the day of delivery day. It was only at a particular angle and felt like something was touching something else. With some research on bimmerpost and physical inspection, I could identify the reason as the heat shield on the steering rack rubbing against another adjacent heat shield.

The representative picture is appended below (the red starred portion was rubbing against the yellow starred one while turning towards right)

Decided to take the car to the service centre post running-in for an oil change and getting this steering noise issue resolved. Fixed up an appointment through the MyBMW App with Navnit Andheri (E) for 0930 hrs on a Saturday morning. Coming from Skoda A.S.S, I was eager to have a pleasant and professional experience from BMW. But the overall experience was underwhelming,. Despite reaching at sharp 0930 hrs, I had to wait well beyond 1000 hrs for someone to attend to me. Showed the steering noise issue and left the car with them with an assurance of having it sorted and having the oil changed by 1500 hrs. At 1430 hrs when I called them to check if the car was ready, I was told they were not changing the oil as the technical team had strongly recommended that it was not required post running-in. In the morning, I had told them that I knew as per CBS, my oil change wasn't due and I was ready to pay from my pocket but they decided not to change it and didn't even bother to inform me until I called. After I reached the service center, had to wait for another 25-30 mins to get the car back. While the steering noise was addressed, they didn't show it on the job card, neither I got any communication about the same getting repaired. I got an email about my car being taken in the morning but never got one after getting the car back. Honestly, overall it wasn't a confidence inspiring experience and probably I will go to some other service center when I take the car for first service.

Does not show which gear I am in - Now this might be a minor thing but I don't like the fact that the instrumentation cluster does not show which gear I am in unless the gear is manually put into sports mode (by toggling the gear rocker switch). When that is not done, it just shows "D" even if one puts the car in Sports Plus mode. I liked how it used to be D1/D2/.../D7 (or S1/S2/.../S7) in my Octy. Here is a picture of it even when the car is in "Sports Plus"

The Wireless Mobile Charging Pad - I find this to be the most useless thing on the car. The mobile not only gets heated and stops charging but also gets slow due to it making the CarPlay responses very laggy. In fact I find wireless CarPlay itself to be slightly laggy especially while changing the songs using steering buttons - the wired CarPlay used to be seamless in my Octy.

The basic but overpriced dashcam - BMW's Advanced Car Eye Pro 3.0 - I got this installed straight from the dealer before taking delivery of the car. Honestly, with a price tag of over INR 50k , it is just not worth the money. The integration is cumbersome, storage is abysmally low, there is no remote viewing of the footage and average video quality. One can get far better dashcams at half the price.

This brings me to the end of this post. Will keep updating as I gather more miles riding this beast. Here are some parting shots:

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