Is swapping the LWB suspension with that of the regular 3-series a good idea?

BHPian Arunsedanlover recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi, does anyone know what is the difference in suspension between the regular 3 series and the LWB? Is it the shocks or the springs or both? Is swapping the LWB suspension with the regular one for a better driving experience a good idea? Thinking of going with either Bilstein B4 or B6 if it's gonna be worth the swap.

Here's what BHPian jfk1975 had to say about the matter:

What exactly do you mean by "difference in suspension"?

• Suspension is not just shocks and springs. As a vehicle subsystem, the suspension includes the suspension architecture, springs, dampers/shocks, stabilizer (anti-roll) bar, bushings, bump stops, structural components (control arms and so on), etc.
• The suspension architecture between standard and long wheelbase versions is the same. McPherson front and Multi-link rear.
• Exact numbers would be something that only OEMs (BMW in this case) would know/have. Unless they've officially published the data, you will just see some numbers floating around in tuner forums, which are unlikely to be accurate, but close enough.

Given that suspension goes beyond just springs and dampers, it is unlikely that you are really looking at a suspension change. The question you need to be able to answer for yourself first is - What is it that you are trying to improve from the stock setup? Bilstein, in general, is a great upgrade from most OEM dampers. But reflect a bit on what you really want out of the component swap.

Here's what BHPian Arunsedanlover replied:

Thanks for the elaborate reply. I just need it to ride like a regular 3 series. Don’t want it to be softly sprung. And reduce body roll. What are my options?

Here's what BHPian jfk1975 replied:

If you want to reduce body roll, the most common way to get there is by just swapping out the antiroll (stabilizer/sway bar) for a thicker one, with the caveat that you will compromise a bit on ride quality. You can, of course, get there through other means too, but the primary component that solely exists for controlling roll is that one (ergo, the name). Happy motoring.

Here's what BHPian itwasntme had to say about the matter:

Forgot your wheel setup but one more way is to drive an LCI Li/Ld with the 18" setup on identical roads and see how it feels. The staggered 18" may make a world of difference.

Bilsteins is usually stunning but has its set of compromises starting from warranty violation. From what I can gather, you're a family man and not a corner carver. Bilsteins may make the ride too stiff on a practical basis.

Here's what BHPian d3mon had to say about the matter:

330Li is not sold in too many parts of the world, so finding suspension upgrade options may be hard. As itwasntme said, it will also make your ride worse, and may not even end up delivering what you are looking for.

To what extent is the sloppy handling bothering you? And how much money are you willing to spend to fix it?

If the answer is not too much to both, enjoy the cushy ride and live with the handling compromise.

If the answer is quite a lot - trade in your car with an M340i or a 530i. The inflated prices in the used car market will mean that you'll likely lose less money than you're thinking.

Both of them will deliver fantastic highway manners at speed. The 5 comes with adaptive dampers - it's like having a 330Li like soft dampers one minute, and M340i like stiff dampers the next, depending on your mood and the driving conditions. It's truly a no-compromise solution to your problem at hand.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

My plan is to get a German car and budget a few lakhs for complete restoration and a lakh a year for maintenance.

BHPian 2000rpm recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This is a query from a conflicted heart.

I am an auto-enthusiast and love to change cars every 2-3 years. Because of the financial aspect, I stick to used cars.

Running per month - 500 kms

The Cars I have owned till now are

• 1997 Zen Jelly Bean
• Fiat Palio Sport
• Honda Civic Manual
• 1st gen Swift
• 2003 Zen Tiger
• 4th Gen City CV CVT
• 2011 Polo 1.6 Petrol (Current car)

However, my car is not a utility for me, I take pride in the ownership of my cars.

Now basis my pattern, my Polo has been with me for about 4 years and I have the "keeda" (urge) to change my car! My car is in pristine condition and you wont be able to guess the age of the car. Against popular opinion, I think the 1.6 is definitely a hot hatch and can give the current generation of hot hatches a run for their money.

My requirements currently are simple:

• Automatic (for myself)
• SUV (for mom)
• Panaromic Sunroof (for partner)
• Preferred Budget (10-12 Lakhs) - possible to extend

I have been looking at the used car segment and the following options have been checked

• Used Creta - Doesnt make sense to buy in the used car market
• New Harrier - A used Tata is not something I wanna risk. I love the car design and meets all the criteria, but spending 25 lakhs for 500 kms per month is just poor financial acumen
• Used Compass - I like the car but I just prefer to know that the company will exist in 5 years. But I am open to a good Compass at the right price
• Wild card Entries - I have been seeing a few BMW X1s from the first batch and am really liking the deals on used cars.

My Questions:

• Is a German Luxury Segment of age 10 years even worth considering?
• Which options should I consider with my budget except the X1?

For the X1

• What are the things I should look at when evaluating an old X1? What are the most notorious problems with the X1?
• Petrol or Diesel?
• Which Gearbox did the X1 Automatic have? Is the Gearbox reliable?

Should I drop the German car plan? Is it too Naive??

My plan is to get a German car and budget a few lakhs for complete restoration and a lakh a year for maintenance? Am I underestimating the maintenance of such cars?

Here's what BHPian androdev had to say on the matter:

Compass and Tucson will be good options that will offer premium build quality comparable to the luxury brands.

If you want to go the luxury brand route, you will have to settle for the sedans (like a 3 series) as SUVs tend to be very expensive to buy. Since your usage is low (500KM per month), you can probably get away with a luxury brand as well. We are talking about 24K km during four years of ownership, I would say worth taking a chance. If you buy a car with 40-50K km on the Odo, you might be able to drive it till 80-90K km without any major issues especially if you pick models with good reliability track record.

Here's what BHPian lamborghini had to say on the matter:

Honestly the first generation X1 is the most fun to drive X1 available thanks to the hydraulic steering + RWD.

The gearbox is a torque converter and is fairly reliable.

Avoid the petrol, look for the diesel : it's a hoot!

Most notorious problems will be availability of parts, deteriorating rubber components, finding a clean example with panoramic sunroof (most X1's available are the base trim), and of course wear and tear issues from suspension to work out iDrive.

Maintenance could be a bit on the higher side than 1L/year depending on how it is maintained - combing through the previous service history should give you an idea + you will need to find a competent independent mechanic who can arrange for parts as well.

Similarly, 2L for a restoration too could be on the higher side : tyres, suspension itself will cost around 2L given you'd be getting a higher trim for the panoramic sunroof; and the costs of other wear and tear bits will exceed it.

If you are ok with significant downtime in exchange for pleasure to drive - it could be a good bet.

Alternately, I would look at stretching the budget and finding a well maintained second gen X1 which is a lot more comfortable for the family, easier to drive, and parts would be more easily available.

The Q3 TDi is a good option too - parts being shared with other VAGs would be easier to source and the resale isn't as good as the X1.

Lastly, there is the Jeep Compass but a diesel automatic would be expensive, especially if you want a sunroof; and the 1.4TSi with the DCT is probably best avoided.

Wild card entry : There is a toureg on tbhp classifieds, maybe worth checking out though you would really have to stretch the budget for it + it's maintenance; A Jetta may be a decent option as well even though it is a sedan - but the ingress is fairly decent for elders (I've seen some elders struggling to get into a higher car like the Creta for instance); and a newer example of something like a Rapid 1.0 AT.

Here's what BHPian IshaanIan had to say on the matter:

The first gen X1 is based on the E90 3 series and that car drives brilliantly the steering feel is on point so although I do not have much personal experience owning these cars, it is definitely worth looking into. IF the X1 turns out to be a not so wise choice (although I feel it makes for a sensible one IMO), then why not consider the 4th gen Honda CR-V? Should be an easy decision.

Here's what BHPian OffRoadFun had to say on the matter:

German cars of 10+ years are definitely worth considering. Consider pre-owned X1/X3/Q3/Q5/GLA if you have a budget of a few lakhs on "renovation". If you are mentally prepared for 1L/year on maintenance, you will most likely be happy unless you got a lemon. Remember two extra benefits of used cars: You will pay less on RTO tax if you buy out of state and insurance cost will also be much lesser.

Here is what I would suggest, unless you find a good deal in MH:

1. Look for above mentioned cars online, most of 10+ year old SUVs will be below 10L before negotiation

2. Shortlist and make a visit to NCR (Ashok Vihar) where many are discarded due to pollution norms. Ideally look for 60-80k km driven ones

3. Keep aside some 3L for any repairs, mechanical parts change etc.

My own Q5 is 12 year old now, running absolutely fine. In my neighborhood itself I know of at least 4 first generation Audi Q5s and a few X3s being driven regularly, running absolutely fine.

Make sure you have a reliable FNG and you have some time to spend at FNG though once in a while.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

He is a proud owner of the BMW 3 series 320d sport line 2015 model he wants to upgrade to a new car.

BHPian mfarhan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently my friend decided to get a new luxury car he has a budget of 65 lakhs however he can increase the budget by 2-3 lakhs. He is a proud owner of the BMW 3 series 320d sport line 2015 model he wants to upgrade to a new car. He wants to lease the car for a term of 5 years then pay the full amount.

So what is he looking out for-

• A good engine (only Petrol)
• Comfort
• Roomy rear seats
• Fun to drive
• luxury
• Reliability
• A good Finance structure

The cars he has on his mind-

• BMW 3 series
• Mercedes-Benz C-Class
• Mercedes-Benz GLA
• Toyota-Innova (no idea why)
• Kia EV6 -GT line rear wheel drive
• Audi A4
• Audi Q3 Sportback

The cars he is not considering-

• Mercedes- Benz A class (He is 6'1)
• Mercedes-Benz GLB ( design not up to his liking)
• BMW 2 series (Same reason as the A Class)
• BMW X1(very poor engine)
• Toyota Fortuner (He does not think It is worth 55 Lakhs. Sorry to all the Fortuner fans I personally think it is a marvelous car.)
• Audi Q3
• Mini Cooper
• Volvo (Poor infotainment system and screen)

He is planning on booking this car by May 2023 so suggestions before that would be very helpful for him.

Thank you everyone for reading this thread.

Here's what BHPian iliketurtles had to say on the matter:

Your friend’s requirements have 330Li written all over it. It’s a roomy car that’s reasonably fun to drive, and given his ownership experience with the 320d, he will now be fully familiar with the ups and downs of owning a BMW. That car will be a true upgrade for him in every sense, be it space, power, features, interiors, or otherwise.

The other car I’d recommend he look at is the A6. I personally don’t prefer Audi’s (I drive myself around, and find their steering too numb for my taste), but the fact is it’s a class above the 3 series, and the interiors will largely feel like it. It deserves to be on his shortlist.

The Kia EV6 is a wonderful car, but it loses out to the 330Li in two key ways; badge value and interiors (I think BMWs new curved display is fantastic). Not that the Kia’s infotainment is bad, it’s just second-best to BMWs. Can he live with the loss of the badge? If he can, it’s a fun car to drive with lots of room. As a left field choice, he can even see the Ioniq 5. It’s nearly identical to the Kia (same platform, sister companies), but it’s down on the Kia by about 100 BHP. Looks the bomb though, and very roomy and practical.

I would not consider the C class because while it has the best interiors of any car mentioned here (IMO), the decision to cram all its controls into the tablet up front along with its high price make it a no-go for me.

Those would be my choices then. Good luck to your friend, and happy shopping!

Here's what BHPian navin had to say on the matter:

I am not sure about the "Fun to Drive" and "Finance Structure" but I would add the Camry to this list. My family has both the 2012 version and the 2019 (hybrid) version. As of 2023, the average cost of maintenance (including tyres and battery) has been 40,000/year for the 2012 version and about 13,000/year for the 2019 version.

Disclaimer: we are almost always chauffeured, so backseat comfort and reliability are our primary concerns. On the occasions that I have had to drive the Camry, it has offered more than enough "oomph" for in-city driving even at 6 am (aka low traffic conditions). Then again I am "officially" a senior citizen so spirited drives aren't safe.

I found the C Class to be cramped in the back. For that matter, I find the 2019 Camry to be more cramped than the 2012 version. No idea why.

Are the 330Li or the A6 roomier than the C class or Camry? I usually like to sit cross-legged in the back seat with my laptop, paperwork and files occupying the middle seat.

The electric cars (EV6 / Ioniq5) have a rather odd seating arrangement where the knees are pushed a bit higher because of the battery. Besides, since I keep my cars for 10+ years, I don't want to worry about having to change batteries after 5-7 years.

Here's what BHPian shancz had to say on the matter:

Voted for the 3 series.

Always have and will be a BMW fanboy, until they decide to move away from the front engine rear wheel drive approach

Lucky enough to get a chance to drive one for a couple of days and unlucky enough to not be able to afford one

But the dream of the twisties and the first love lives on.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

I showed my family the BMW range at the dealer showcase in our town. I am very certain that I want a BMW sedan only and will not consider other options.

BHPian ashish2135 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello everyone!

I am so grateful to be posting here finally. We are a family of 7 including my grandmother. Our current garage consists of (2017) Hyundai Creta diesel, (2017) Hyundai Verna petrol, (2018) Maruti Suzuki Baleno petrol and (2021) Tata Safari.

The Creta is the daily driver for my father and me as the seating position is best for him and I love the torque of the diesel engine. My wife usually drives the Baleno for her office commute which is 2 kms daily at max. Safari is used by my brother and me mostly as it is an automatic. Verna is the spare car at home which is used by my mother as per requirement. My parents both hate the high seating position in SUVs. We usually do not keep our cars for long and change within 3-5 years but not necessarily upgrade.

Our annual usage is 5-6k kms at max and mostly within city as everything is within the 5-6km range. Our highway usage increased after getting the Safari but only marginally.

I am the only car nut in the family. For everyone else, any car would do as long as it gets them from point A to point B. It has taken years of cajoling to finally convince my family to get our first German luxury car. Being an enthusiast and a sedan guy myself, I showed my family the BMW range at the dealer showcase in our town. I am very certain that I want a BMW sedan only and will not consider other options.

We test drove the 330Li and the 620d. My elder brother liked the 6 Series better and said that we could consider the 530i as well. I feel that we should stick to the 330Li only even though the 530i would be my dream machine! A little more pushing and we could also start looking at the 530d but I don’t want to get too greedy!

My reasons for sticking with 330Li are:

• Given that it is our first luxury car I do not want to get a more complexed and powerful machine with higher maintenance costs in the future.
• Our low usage doesn’t really justify the stretch to a higher segment vehicle.
• I do not want to unnecessarily increase the budget though the difference is not much.
• 330Li is 70% the same car as a 530i.

I would like the thoughts and inputs of other BHPians on this conundrum.

Here's what BHPian NarediAni7518 had to say on the matter:

The 530i has much better interior quality in comparison to a 330Li. Also, the 530i is a much mature car, it’s more premium and is definitely worth an upgrade. The 530i is not a complex machine by any chance, and the power figures are lesser for the 530i as compared to a 330Li. And the maintenance costs also won’t change much. Remember one thing, the 5-Series is one of the best cars in the world one can get, go ahead with the 5 as it’s your first luxury car, make it a special one.

Here's what BHPian 316kmph had to say on the matter:

Dear Ashish2135,

You will not go wrong with either cars, both are great choices. While like NarediAni7518 mentioned, the 5 series is more premium car, and that too for not much more money, it's at the end of it's life cycle. Whereas the 3 just got it's mid life facelift (LCI) and will be around for a while. The LCI brings in the latest of gadgets, tech and styling. The 3, now is only available as a long wheelbase implying the legroom at the rear is not only class leading, but also more than the 5 possibly. I don't think the will be much between two in terms of ownership costs, but there might be some deals on the 5.

So, it boils down to what you want.

Pick the 3 series for space, latest model and tech, fun to drive (definitely not in same league as the regular wheelbase 3) without much of a compromise, except that you pay next segment money (you get an ES or A6 for similar money).

Pick the 5-Series for a more premium experience (mature ride, refinement, better materials) but an outgoing model, might miss out on a couple of the latest gizmos.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Although I enjoyed driving my 2020 Thar around the city, long distance trips are a bit of a pain in the Thar.

BHPian 84.monsoon recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Since selling my G30 530i early last year, I have periodically had somewhat severe "BMW withdrawal" symptoms - Although I enjoyed driving my 2020 Thar around the city, long distance trips are a bit of a pain in the Thar. After an 8 hour drive to the hills, I would end up feeling like the whole world was still shaking for a few more hours at the destination.

My usage was very low for nearly two years due to COVID and this was one of the reasons I sold the 530i. However, every now and then I would long for a fast drive out of the city, nothing like it to shake off the urban overhang and the monotony of the day to day office commutes and weekend errands! With travel picking up again, opportunities to drive (instead of taking the train or flight) on those long weekend trips came up more often. Made the decision to add back a fast petrol sedan or SUV to the garage.

At first I thought of investing less and getting a used German car. Used car prices were super high throughout 2022 and I could never find a relatively new, low mileage example of a BMW or Audi that was in pristine condition, yet priced sensibly. Came close to buying a very low mileage new-gen X3 petrol late last year, but got cold feet at the last minute as I suspected it was showroom test drive car. Toyed with with the idea of acquiring a Toyota strong hybrid like the Hyryder/Innova Hycross (even booked them) as I think these are really good balance between the EV future and the ICE present, but the driving enthusiast in me could not quite be convinced.

I then started to think about the lease scheme my employer has through ORIX, that would save me a bunch of tax if I went that route. This opened up the budget a bit, as it would save nearly 20% post tax on a 3 year lease as compared to bank financing with no upfront locking of capital.

It was then that I was browsing the M340i thread (am a frequent visitor as I have drooled over this car ever since its launch in 2021.) Somehow the kinky headlights of the G20 never quite appealed to me and when the news of the LCI M340i being launched was posted by fellow-BHPian @Krishnadevjs, I started researching the G20 LCI. Really liked the cleaner shaped headlights and the fact that the M340i now had a mild hybrid system giving it some additional boost and saving some fuel as well!

My heart was set on this car, although it would be well over the amount of money I wanted to spend on the new addition to the garage, as I definitely plan to keep the Thar as well. Took the plunge and booked the car in early December with the Chennai dealer, who initially thought the launch would be in January and deliveries in February. The launch and delivery happened a lot faster than I thought. - the launch just happened with no advance warning during the BMW Joytown Delhi Fest on December 10th, just a few days after I booked the car. In early January, I was told to expect the delivery around January 24th but the car arrived on the 17th itself! It was a Jan 5th 2023 manufactured car.

The lease process was going on the back-foot and I accelerated that, but there are just too many players between my employer, the leasing company, the dealership and RTO and I am finally expecting delivery tomorrow (Feb 2). Since today (Feb 1) is an auspicious day, I went to the dealership to take "Puja" delivery, drive over the customary lemons and take pictures of the car. Kun BMW have been super supportive with everything so far and I look forward to bringing this Cheetah home tomorrow! Here are a few photos of the car from today's visit.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

I am no expert on painting, but I do expect that a premium brand like BMW should deliver a proper car without defects.

BHPian anothercar recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Folks, this is a short story on what happened on a brand new BMW 3 series LI, carbon black bought from bird automotive last month.

As can be seen the car was delivered in first week of November. We purchased two actually. An X1 and the 3 series.

On third day from purchase, when the car was cleaned by waterless cleaner, (which I used on my earlier BMW as well as Skoda Superb), I noticed a bird dropping like mark on the bonnet while I was sitting inside and the field of view was at a particular angle. I got down and checked but couldn't see anything. Then, when the car was parked in night under a white LED light, I noticed that there are several bird dropping like marks on the bonnet. (15-20 large ones and then small drops about 20-30 in number)

I called the sales guy and he promptly organised a visit at their sector 14 body shop.

The technician initially commented that this cannot be removed, but on pressing by sales guy, took the car to sanding. Sanding! I was worried that clear coat will be damaged but they assured it won't be. The car was hence sanded down, I waited for 2-3 hours and voila all marks gone. Though there were swirls from the sanding paper, I was still ok to let it go and drove home.

In 4-5 days time, the same (same I insist) marks appeared again on bonnet. And now there was one on side and few on the boot as well! This is when I realised that this car has been parked uncovered before sale and bird shit must have been lying on it for at least 15-20 days. The reason for this conclusion/thought was that when they clean it, it goes away. but reappears from under the surface again in a few days. This time, there was reluctance from BMW to attend the issue and despite my assuring them that there is no bird shit issue at my end, they asked for 10,500/- to buff entire car. However, they offered that they will Buff one side panel for free.
Well, I called sales guy, and readily an approval was organised for free buffing.

I picked car back and thoroughly inspected, no shit marks. finally I thanked them and thought this is over. Well, how wrong was i. another 7 days, and the marks are back. Like a skin disease from under the surface. I knew at this point of time, that now I am screwed. Left with no evidence against them. Well, I went to them again. They again claimed that I should park my car somewhere where there is no bird shit issue. I told them that yes it is so.
Meanwhile, the body shop manager said that he will have to repaint the car as the issue is not resolving with superficial treatment.

I finally went to the sales guys again asking for a replacement. I even told them that please replace the car and I will also pool in, despite no fault of mine.

Well, now the tactics are being shown. One sales guy says speak to other, they haven't still told me what is the disposal value of this car. Their service ends there.

I am no expert on painting. I do expect that a premium brand like BMW is able to deliver a proper car without defects. Having 30-40 bird dropping marks on car is not what business ethics should represent. I guess its very close to their name. Bird automotive's bird shit.

I am now certain that they were aware at their body shop of this issue, despite of this they sold the car to me.

Nevertheless, I have a call with someone senior who has already refused to sales guys that its customer issue, not ours.

• Now, whats the course of action? If the marks become more prominent, the car will have to be repainted. In a year, 6 months or 2, I do not know.

• Shall I dispose it off immediately? Use it for a year and then dispose?

• Is there a way to redo clear coat?

In any case, I have accepted that I am going to lose money since bird automotive smartly buffed it and passed it on to me.

But the larger question is, how on earth a customer should go and take a vehicle delivery? When dealers are capable of doing such frauds?

In 2016 I bought a creta and after two days realised that car had a damage on roof top. I took the car back to dealer, and they replaced it same day! That's Hyundai! Yes, they did replace. Insurance was cancelled, and what not. I had a new car the next day!

I am shocked at how they conned me, despite of having a sharp eye for mechanicals and paint work, I couldn't see the scam.

Has anyone faced a similar issue?

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Take it to a professional detailer in your city. See what they can do to solve your problem. Look up good providers in the Team-BHP Directory.

Relax, buddy. Trust me, there are larger problems with new cars. Plus, there is a chance that in another 6 months, your car could suffer more prominent damage in your own parking spot. Fix such damage, no point discussing a full repaint or replacement because of a relatively small matter.

No offence, but I frankly feel you are making a bigger deal of this than it deserves to be. Again, no offence meant at all. Just giving honest advice as a virtual friend.

Go to the best detailer in Gurgaon and have him solve your problem. Since you are so particular about finishes, look up Team-BHP threads on PPF & Ceramic Coating. Last & most important, once done, go for a long drive and enjoy that 3-Series on the open road.

Here's what BHPian iamahunter had to say on the matter:

What do you expected from "Bird" Automobile.

No matter how I try to justify, its dealer fault. It hurts to have shit on a brand new car.

But, honestly buddy there is no point in going back to the dealer on this. Nor is the shit worth taking so much headache. Its a car, it runs on the road there will be some marks and scratches here and there.

If it does bother a lot, find a good reliable detailer and get the work done.

Here's what BHPian el_lobo_6061 had to say on the matter:

Feel sorry for you since its a brand new car.

Having owned a VW in Pearl Metallic Black and BMW in Sparkling Brown shade; I can see your view.

First thing first:

• Bird Poop are very acidic in nature.

• The more time they spend on car paint; the more they etch into the paint eating into clear coat.

• Rule is to have it removed as soon as it lands on paint.

• Else a permanent mark will be there.

What you can do is find a really good detailer who knows his work. Not any run of the mill with a rotary polisher in hand.

You would need to do following:

• Wash the car

• Clay it

• Compound the paint

After these 3 steps you will get to know how much bird poop marks are removed and how much you will have to live with.

Later polish and wax for a nice shine.

Your BMW Dealer might have parked your car under a tree at a stockyard resulting in this problem.

Try the above solution. Not worth repainting or asking for replacement. You would only trouble your peace of mind.

Lastly black car still looks best once polished/waxed/coated. You have a great car. Drive it around a mountain post detailing it to put this event behind.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

After all, what is love without pain? It is the latter that gives meaning to the former.

BHPian iliketurtles recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Ever played a game of Whack-A-Mole?

For the uninitiated, the premise of the game is very simple; as the player, you are given a large, black mallet. You are the god of small things, and have the power to whack moles as they pop up from one of five or more holes from within the bowels of a cabinet. You gain points for whacking each random mole as they appear. The faster, the better, as with (almost) all good things in life.

Why do I say this? It’s quite simple. I hypothesise that owning a decade old BMW is akin to playing a game of Whack-A-Mole at the arcade. Except, sometimes you’re the God wielding the hammer, and sometimes you’re the mole with the wrath of an angry god rained down on you.

No sooner than you fix one issue, than another crops up. Be it a cranky oxygen sensor…

…or the car deciding to become an art aficionado and treat me to a permanent art display at all times…

I offer you Exhibit A: the white screen of death

…Or the car pining for me because it was in a workshop for a few weeks, and looking out for me by asking me to recharge my batteries. Thanks car, but I just got back from a vacation.

What’s that, I hear you ask? Why was she in the workshop for a month? Excellent question. As always, allow me to go off on a tangent before arriving at the point.

Luck is a four-letter word, just one letter removed from some other, rather dismal four-letter words. Such as yuck, suck, and so on. You can fill in the picture.

And when you’re down on it, you’re just absolutely out of it. Fate (that fickle mistress) decided to commence the annual ritual of me being dealt a rotten hand during Diwali night’s teen patti party early this year, giving me a head-start on my misery as Diwali started with a bang.

One fine day, a rickshaw barrelling out of a lane decided that the car was so pretty, it deserved to be snogged, right in the rear left three-quarter, with some scratches left for posterity after its passionate love-making came to an end. Of course, our paramour ran away before he could be caught red-handed.

And then, barely had I recovered from this, when a biker weaving his way through traffic (why is it almost always a biker?) snagged a footstand or kickstand or something sticking out of his bike in the front bumper, dislodging it as he went off on his merry way. To say my festive mood was foul would be a bit of an understatement.

I didn’t lose any money during the annual teen patti party though, so, yay?

Even with zero depreciation insurance, the insurance company (Royal Sundaram, whom I shall never give any business to henceforth) found some way or the other to finagle their way out of taking on responsibility for making me whole, and insisted I pay for 50% of charges for a new bumper.

With Navnit BMW almost wholly unsupportive (despite having taken the policy from them) in this matter, I’ll be damned if I gave them the business if I had to pay at any rate. That Navnit took their own sweet time giving the car back is a pain point I will gloss over, much like how Royal Sundaram glossed over taking on any kind of responsibility for holding up their end of the bargain. What good is a zero dep policy where you have to pay 50%, anyways?

And so it came to pass that I got her fixed up outside, at my trusty workshop (Redline Autohaus is a godsend), and was told to simply drive her hard to charge up the battery, which had worn down from being at a standstill for so long. An Italian tune-up, if you will. I haven’t done enough of that in recent years, so I didn’t need a second invitation.

Is she a 100% right now? No.

The screen is on order (OEM, none of those Android versions please).

Memories of the rickshaw wala still resonate, via a clamp or so on the exhaust that is loose at the rear left.

And I got the battery charging notification once or twice in the interim, but not for a few weeks now. And I’m on fixing these niggles. Truly.

But all those concerns melt away when I get to drive her (like, properly drive her, like she’s meant to be). At the wheel, I feel like the Whack-A-Mole God out for a drive, with the power to put the hammer down and dismiss mere mortals as you fly by in a blur. Bystanders often ask; Is it a crimson bird? Is it a low-flying plane? No, it’s a BMW that has been idiotically lowered too far for our roads. But mein gott, does she look great as she flies by. And even beyond that, she just feels dynamite when pushed hard, with dynamics on point that don’t betray its decade old vintage one bit. Those lowering springs do make their presence felt in extremis.

After all, what is love without pain? It is the latter that gives meaning to the former, and it is what we all crave at the end of the day. Love, that is, not pain. Unless you’re a masochist, in which case the opposite is true. No judgment, love takes on all forms. Including a flaming red, low riding German bahn-stormer that needs a lot of pre-emptive TLC to play its part. But you’ll hear no complaints from me, for love conquers all.

Until next time then.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

The Dutch are famous to be non-nonsense people who go straight to the matter and get stuff done in the most efficient way possible. And my delivery experience was the most Dutch thing ever.

BHPian G20Rider recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My 3 main intentions:

• Share my observations on the transport system in the Netherlands.
• Explain the buying experience of a used car in Netherlands.
• An initial ownership review of the car itself and driving experience in a country famous for bikes.

The car in question is a BMW 3 series G20 2021 make. Its a fairly familiar model now with lots of excellent reviews available, hence I will limit the review of the car to my perspective of buying and owning it in this particular country.

Background:

We, a family which includes my 3.5 year old girl, has been living in Singapore for the past 7+ years.

We started getting that infamous 7 year itch to have something new, made worse by strict long Covid restrictions on travel in Singapore. Start of 2022, we decided to make that big move and in mid 2022, we moved to the Netherlands.

One of the first order of business after getting here was to get a car, both a want as well as need.

Do you need a car? Isn’t it the country of bicycles? Doesn't it have a great public transport system?

Yes, The Netherlands has a decent public transport system. How good is it? that really depends on your perspective. Compared with North America, the public transport is top class. It’s efficient, fast and covers almost all of the country well. But when compared to developed Asian countries like Singapore, South Korea or Japan, the public transport is expensive, not perfectly reliable and sometimes inconvenient.

The domestic intercity traffic is served by the NS, the Dutch national rail company. It works like a country wide metro network due to the frequency of trains. In most busy intercity routes there will be a train every 30mins or so. And you can’t reserve a seat, just tap in with your transit card and go in, just like a metro.

Usually there are two classes, Normal (2+2 seating) and Business (2+1). NS app allows one to upgrade your ticket to Business on the fly (within 15mins of start of journey), great feature.

NS trains are modern, sleek and generally well maintained. They usually does 160KMPH. Their fleet is a mix of double and single decker ones. It’s comparable to the current fleet of Train18 being rolled out in India. I've been keenly following the developments around train18 and hope to see a lot more of such trains in the IR network.

Few rolling stocks of NS.

The cute Koplopers:

A typical double decker intercity. Great views from the upper deck:

New generation intercity, this one can do upto 200KMPH:

And being in the centre of western Europe, Netherlands is well served with high speed international trains like German DB, French Thalys and now resurgent sleeper services. Currently the OBB Nightjet connects Netherlands with Switzerland as well as Austria. Not to forget Eurostar which connects Europe with UK via the channel tunnel. This makes waiting at a rail station in big cities like Amsterdam a treat for train nuts like me. Its like an international airport with different types of trains arriving and departing from different countries.

Intracity transport is taken care by a mix of tram, buses (including a large number of hybrid as well as electric ones), metros and most importantly bicycles. And all of them are seamlessly interconnected. Even tier 2 cities has well developed public transport system with an amazing cycling network. You are only considered integrated into Dutch society if you can ride a bicycle in freezing winter balancing two kids braving icy winds at 60kmph while eating your sandwich.

A tram in Amsterdam:

What is impressive is, although the trams and buses in each city is operated by a different company, there is a unified payment method using a transit card which works across all of them across country.

One another important factor to consider in car ownership is the urban design philosophy being followed here.

The Dutch urban design is quite different from a car centric design that is more popular in the US or some parts of Asia where you really need a car. Density in cities is quite high and even rural areas tend to cluster houses together. Due to that most of your day to day needs will be met within a few kms radius of your home. And there will always be multiple options to reach from point A to point B within a city. Within those, driving a car will almost always be the slowest, expensive and most inconvenient option. Taking a cycle is usually the fastest and cheapest followed by metro, tram and bus.

I highly recommend the Youtube channel notjustbikes for a perspective of European urban planning from the point of view of someone from a car-centric society.

Another similar channel is Kerleem.

From my personal experience, you can manage without owning a car if below 3 conditions are met:

• You are travelling alone - if travelling as a group, costs can quickly add up. For example an 80km Amsterdam to Rotterdam trip will cost around 15€ per head one way. So a family going up and down will be around 60€. Driving the same route up and down will cost around 24€.
• it actually works. ie no cancellations - NS is hit with labour shortages and last minute cancellations are very common. You can be waiting on the platform waiting for the train to arrive in next 15mins and suddenly it’s cancelled. You can be in an intercity train travelling and suddenly the train is terminated at an earlier station.
• You live and primarily travel within the city - you don’t need a car, period.

For me, all of above 3 conditions were not met. I mostly travel with family, I faced cancelled trains a lot and I usually travel intercity. Ohh and most important, I wanted a car. So even if all 3 conditions were met, I would have bought a car anyway.

Ok so what car?

I thoroughly enjoy the process of buying things that I love (cars, bikes, any tech gadgets etc). I spend hours pouring over internet comparing models, watching reviews etc.

So naturally I started my research long back before I started packing my bags.

This even caused slight alarm to my wife since there was a housing crisis raging in this country yet I was busy finding the right car.

First few words on the Dutch car market.

Dutch (and Europeans in general) loves their hatch backs. From a popularity point of view it’s Hatch backs > Station wagons > CSUVs > Sedan > SUV > Trucks. It has to do with small city roads and super tight parking lots that is common is Europe. A few American trucks on road (RAM 1500 seems relatively popular) really does (literally) stands out.

And the Dutch market is shifting decisively to electric cars, partly because cars are taxed based on CO2 emissions and also because lot of people has solar panels installed on the roof. So combining both gives you a low capital as well as operating costs for e-vehicles.

Additionally parking spots in cities usually entails waiting months on a waiting list. Electric cars get preference there too. Go to any manufactures website and you will have to dig deep to even find gasoline powered cars.

I choose to got with a pure ICE engine based on below factors:

• Thanks to work from home arrangement, I choose to live in a green suburb of Rotterdam (although my office is in Amsterdam) and parking was not a problem here.
• I live in an apartment, so no benefits of solar panels for me.
• From the looks of it, this is the last decade of ICE engine (EU will phase out ICE engines by 2035) and these engines we get today is the pinnacle of ICE, simply because companies have stopped investing in them.
• My primary use is for intercity use, and intend to use the car to explore large parts of Europe. And electric cars are simply not yet ready for such touring purpose unless you want to plan your vacation around your car.

The contenders were:

BMW 3 Series G20:

My first choice, always wanted one, don’t ask why, but could never afford it in Singapore where it costs ~ $250K. So this was the benchmark and all others were compared to it.

Pros:

• A real wheel drive low slung sedan. I’m a fan of such body type. And the reputation of being a drivers car. G20 has got good reviews in that department.
• I love the overall styling in and out. Fortunately BMW has not yet installed the huge bugs bunny grill. I especially love the sharp rear. Interior quality is vastly improved compared to F30. Modern, simple and good quality. Although the digital cockpit is no where near nice as Audi’s implementation
• Right size - not too big or small. I considered some bigger cars (Octavia, Kodiaq) as well as smaller cars (Audi A3 Sportback). Big ones made me feel like a chauffeur and small ones would have been too uncomfortable to get my 3 year old girl in and out of the baby seat. But I do feel it’s a bit big for the super tight parking lots of Europe and sometimes envy the ease with which the popular Fiat 500s parks in and out.
• Relatively good reliability record of the B48 series engine. It’s a 2L turbo charged petrol engine available in various state of tunes and has great reviews. I personally found it super smooth and refined.
• Availability - 3 series is popular here which meant more options in used car market as well better resale value (I intend to keep it long and hence not a big consideration for me).

Cons:

• High powered version (330i) carried a big premium due to the tax structure here. This also meant lesser choice’s and deals in used car market for such models. Combined with crazy price’s of used cars in 2022, my choice was essentially between a high mileage, older 330i or low mileage, newer 318i/320i.
• Hard suspension: Definitely one of the hardest suspension I’ve been in. It’s common in Netherlands to have brick paved roads near residential areas and you can really feel the hard edge. Not uncomfortable, but different from what I’ve been used to in Japanese and Korean makes.
• Digital cockpit: I don’t mind the style and it has grown on me, but really lack customisation. This leads to massive waste of the 10” screen space.

Volvo XC40:

This was a car that was a polar opposite to the G20. Comfortable, luxurious, not sporty. Honestly this entered into my list just because of how it look.

Pros:

• Perfect size, packaging and smart stance. Driving position is high and SUVish. One of the best looking compact SUV for me.
• Similar to exterior, interiors quality is amazing and loved the design. The portrait orientated infotainment screen looks more practical too.

Cons:

• Underwhelming driving experience : Soft Suspension tuned for comfort. Engine’s didn’t feel as refined or eager too. Fact that hybrids has 3 cylinders didn’t help. Basically a relaxed cruiser. A deal breaker.
• Quite expensive, both new and used. It’s popular and prices of used ones were hazardously close to new ones. Volvo has positioned their vehicles at the premium side. Another deal breaker.

Skoda Karoq:

Pros:

• Loved the 2022 styling. While subtle, design changes on 2022 facelift made it much more handsome. Very clean lines, boxy and smart and understated. This design will age well.
• The 1.5L TSI engine with 150PS of power combined with DSG on a not so heavy compact SUV provides for a strong driving experience. Suspension is tuned well too.
• Value for money proposition with new ones starting at ~35k euros (XC40 starts from 45k).

Cons:

• I didn’t like the pre 2022 version’s styling and that ruled out used options. New ones had a waiting time of 8+ months and I was not ready for the wait. The deal breaker.
• Underwhelming interior design, feels outdated especially in comparison to above mentioned vehicles. Not a deal breaker.

Audi A3 2018-2020 versions:

Pros:

• Sharp and tight with clean straight lines. Small size suited for the cities here. Audi digital cockpit is excellent. This was seriously considered but bad experience from Audi dealers was the deal breaker.
• Prices: A3 is very popular in Netherlands and there were lots of used options available at good prices. The sportsback body style was especially popular. To be honest the good prices on used A3 were its biggest attraction.
• Power: The 1.5L TSI engine with 150PS of power combined with DSG on a small sedan provides for a strong driving experience. Suspension is neutral.

Cons:

• Official Audi Dealership experience: Bad! Once appointment for a test drive was not honoured. In another instance, a car vertical report found a record of accident that happened in poland for one of A3 I was looking at. Dealership intially denied it and on pushing accepted an "incident" but declined to give me any more details. Lost trust in the brand and the deal breaker.
• Cramped interiors, a tight fit for people at the back. A child seat will make it worse. After being used to Honda City and Suzuki Ciaz, it felt like a downgrade space wise.
• Pre 2021 models interiors design was from the 2012 and it showed. Dashboard design was super boring and the small pop up screen was not looking so great in 2022.
• Just another Volkswagen? It’s basically a Golf underneath with better interiors. Why not just get a Golf then? Thankfully used A3 prices were attractive enough.

Few other cars which were in the back of my mind but was not seriously considered:

• Teslas - Im not a fan of Teslas. I’ve been in them few times (Lot of Tesla taxis around Amsterdam airport) and the interior is bare-bones basic. Its as if current interiors has been designed by keeping in mind the future fantasy were all cars are self driven and people just summon the next available car.
• Audi A5 sportsback - the drop dead gorgeous look. Unfortunately in Netherlands this model is not so popular for reasons unknown to me and hence used ones were either high mileage (100k+ kms) or very high priced. New ones were out of my budget.
• BMW 1 Series - Prices were good and good deals on private lease. I liked the looks, and even has a BMW badge but a Mini for all practical purposes.
• Mazda CX-5 - I had driven Mazda 3 extensively in Singapore and had positive memories. Unfortunately Mazda 6 is not sold here, 3 is too familiar and small. So flirted around the idea of CX-5. Never really loved the bulbous rear end and there was this desire to try a European car after driving Japanese for ever.
• Skoda Kodiaq- Pricing was tempting, but a 7 seater suv made no sense for my use case. Same for Octavia, selling point was the huge space and boot, both I didn’t need.
• Other continental manufactures - VW, Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, Seat etc. Lots of options, but none appealed to me.

After evaluating my options, decision was made to go with the G20. And next up was choice of:

New or used - BMW has a “premium selection” used cars. Basically used BMWs sold by official BMW dealers after checks and backed by 2 year BMW guarantee. I decided to go with the premium selection for the peace of mind. It was 2022, the worst possible year to buy cars, hence there were no sweet deals, just decent ones and bad ones. Still I was able to land a 15 month old G20 for 70% price of a new one. Not bad.

Body style - I was surprised to see that wagon/estate style very popular in Europe. And the preference of wider population do have an impact on individual tastes. After seeing all these good looking wagons driving around, I started seriously considering them. European market has some very desirable wagons on sale. For example the super hot Audi RS6 (way beyond my budget) or the smart looking 3 series touring. I finally decided I don’t need the huge boot and stuck with the sedan.

Choice of engine - Due to the way cars are taxed in Netherlands, the 330i is expensive. This also meant there were limited options of such models in used market. With my budget, choice was between a high mileage older 330i or a low mileage younger 320i/318i. I intend to keep the car for long, so I decided to go with a low mileage (Max 50k kms, post 2019 models). While 330i performance is next level, I couldn’t feel any significant performance difference between the 318i and 320i from my test drives, so I decided to choose based on the best deal.

The buying process:

Pretty straightforward. Go through the BMW premium selection website with all filters of age, mileage and max price enabled. But finding that perfect car which meets all the requirements while fitting inside my budget was harder than I thought. There was always one or two sticking points. Finally it all boiled down to two.

One was a grey 2019 model 320i run for ~50K kms. Another was a blue 2021 model 318i used for 25k kms. The 320i had some additional accessories. By virtue of being almost new, 318i was slightly more expensive. It was a difficult decision.

Anyway to make it easier, I soon got a message that 320i is reserved by another buyer and honestly I was relieved that choice is now clear. The blue 318i it is.

I travelled to the BMW dealership which was in another city 45km away. A short PDI and test drive followed. Car looked and felt perfect, almost as good as new.

I checked the history of car via the RDW (RTO equivalent) as well as purchased a car vertical inspection report and everything checked out. The BMW dealer was also very helpful and provided me with a full service history with details. Also being a 2021 model, car still had 2 years of factory warranty left along with 3 years of APK validity.

Checked for any discounts and my sales person (lets call him Mr M henceforth) came back with some.

So everything was done, I signed the sales agreement and was promised delivery the next week.

A note about APK, in the Netherlands, you need to do this test (similar to the fitness tests we have for commercial vehicles in India) on regular schedule. For a new petrol car it is 4 years after the purchase and then every year.

A special mention about the experience with the BMW dealer (Renova Netherlands). Mr M was very mature, honest and helpful in all his communications. He even picked me and dropped me back to the nearest rail way station every time I visited the dealership for test drives and delivery. Interestingly he himself drove a 5 series electric and was using it as his personal vehicle.

Also a note on car vertical, I found their inspection reports to be very thorough and useful. They are able to pull out a fairly comprehensive history of the car, any workshops visits along with estimated repair costs and also nature of usage such as if it was used as taxi etc and also a mileage history. Best part is it seems to be able to pull data from all over Europe. It cost around 35€ but well worth it considering what’s at stake.

Delivery day experience:

The Dutch are famous to be non-nonsense people who go straight to the matter and get stuff done in the most efficient way possible. And my delivery experience was the most Dutch thing ever.

Delivery was fixed to be on a Friday between 2 to 4PM. My previous experience with new car deliveries were all in India and every single time delivery was delayed by hours. With that in my mind, I took a half day off from work and set off to the dealership which was around 50kms away from my home at around 12pm. Wife was working so I went alone and expected to be back by 6pm.

The timeline went as below:

• 01:10PM - Reached the railway station near to dealership
• 01:15PM - picked up by Mr M
• 01.25PM - Arrived at dealership, Mr M has all the papers ready. I go through everything, sign at a bunch of places and I swipe my debit card at the card machine. Biggest purchase I made with card by a huge margin. The car is mine.
• 01.45PM - Mr M drives me to the nearest RDW (equivalent to RTO in India). Place is practically empty. We go in, Mr M shows my license, residency proof, the unique 9 digit registration code and immediately the car is registered in my name.
• 02.15PM - We arrive back at the dealership, the car is driven by Mr M to the exit gate. Mr M spends the next 15mins explaining me about the car, iDrive etc. At that moment I discover the car does not come with reverse camera, but only has sensors. I had assumed a simple rear camera will be a standard feature in a car occupied with front cameras to read traffic signs, emergency breaking and lane assist. Consoled myself saying even if I had noticed I would have gone ahead with the car anyway.
• 02.45PM - Mr M wishes me all the best and leaves and I’m in the car myself. All done in less than 1.5 hours with no fuss.

A note on the 9 digit registration code. It is confidential and you need it to register a car and has to be provided to the buyer by seller after payment is made. Every time a car is registered, a new 9 digit code is generated and sent to the new owner by post.

Another note on driving license. One is allowed to drive for 6 months with his/her foreign DL upon arrival in Netherlands. You need a local Dutch license after that. Those holding certain visa is allowed to exchange a foreign issued DL irrespective of the country of issue, and this allowed me to exchange my Indian DL to Dutch one.

Few pictures of the car:

Exterior:

Interior:

At night:

2 litre B48 series engine:

A typical parking lot, notice the small hatches which is uber popular. Fiat 500s are very popular here:

Driving experience:

Once I took the delivery, I was as excited as I was nervous. Fact was I’ve never driven in a right hand driving environment other than the short test drives I had. Now I was faced with a 50km drive back home by myself.

I had been pouring through Dutch driving rules and regulations the previous few days. Armed with confidence from those lessons and waze, I start my drive back home.

The drive was mostly on expressways so I didn’t have to deal with the complicated city road of Netherlands. I was misjudging the width of the car and was driving too close to the right hand side. I was made aware of this by lane assist which vibrates and tugs the steering back to keep me in lane when it detects that I was drifting out of my lane. That happened multiple times during my drive home and it spooked me first few times it happened.

Car masks the speed so well and the 8 speed ZF transmission is unbelievably smooth that I was constantly going above the 100 kmph speed limit. Cruise control is your friend here.

Now I’ve done around 3k kms in last couple of months. 30% city and 60% expressway.

Performance is more than adequate for my driving style, car accelerates pretty well to triple digit speeds. Although turbocharged, there is no distinct surge in power at any point, it’s just a clean linear build up. At the same time there is no explosive performance of a 330i. While 330i does 0 to 100kmph in 5.5s, 318i takes around ~8.5s

iDrive:

It’s there, but I rarely use the interface other than for some basic settings of the car, mainly because the wireless Apple CarPlay is just so intuitive.

I tried the inbuilt navigation and it’s fine, but no where as good as navigation apps like Waze. I do like the feature where a list of petrol stations with price is displayed when fuel level falls low. Useful since price of petrol vary pump to pump:

Apple Car Play:

This is good. It’s wireless, seamless and easy to use. Moment you enter the car, it’s connected and ready to go.

Im a big fan of Waze for navigation, especially due to its ability to suggest the exact lane to keep in big interchanges. Then there is Spotify, YouTube music etc which also gets integrated via car play.
IMHO, car manufacturers should stop spending effort into building and maintaining their own in car entertainment software. They simply cannot match the technology capabilities of Apple/Google.

What I feel is once wireless CarPlay / Auto becomes standard, most people are simply going to use it.

One disadvantage when using navigation from Car Play is that the map doesn’t get shown in the digital cockpit. That’s reserved for the inbuilt navigation system. And thanks to lack of configuration options, I’m forced to look at a huge blank section in the middle of the instrument cluster screen while driving. Could have been better.

Map shown in middle section when using built in navigation:

The empty middle section when using any other navigation:

Sound and speakers:

Car is equipped with BMW Hifi system. It comes with additional tweeters, woofer and amplifier compared to base system. I found it to be very good and meets my requirements. Good mid range with crisp audio without any distortion at higher volumes. Won’t be doing any upgrade.

BMW Connected professional:

This is a subscription based service, and Ive a couple of years left before needing to renew. It basically keeps an online link to the car via an embedded sim and enable remote services like USB Map Update, Real Time Traffic Information, BMW Online, Personal Assistant Service and On-Street Parking Information etc. But for me the most useful is the my bmw app, which lets me keep an eye on the status of the car.

Auto hold function:

This is a neat feature. Once enabled, a firm press on the brake pedal engage the park brake. and when car detects accelerator input, it disengages the park brake. Very useful as I can simply pull up to a traffic light, press the brake pedal fully and take my feet off. and when its green, just drive away.

Driving in Netherlands:

Netherlands has a world class road network system which is toll free! This country has the world highest density of roads and expressways. Driving is easy on expressways and motorways, but long drives can be boring due to monotonous natural scenery as well as speed limit of 100kmph on roads that are capable of much more. The limit used to be 130kmph until very recently, but was reduced to limit emissions.

A map of expressways and their numbers, one can see how dense the network is:

On Dutch urban roads, you as a car driver is basically last in the pecking order. Bicycles, pedestrians, trams, buses etc all get the higher priority than a car. Hence driving in urban areas can be quite stressful. Priority is defined by white triangle markings on roads (commonly called shark teeth). So if the teeth is pointing at you, you yield. They are also complemented by road signs designating a road as priority.

Shark teeth marking on road:

I find turning right as well as exiting round-abouts to be challenging since you need to mindfulness of bicycle/e scooters/ mopeds etc going straight at good speeds. I find it very difficult to get a clear view of the bike lanes to my right while turning especially with a co-passenger blocking your view out.

A typical round about with cycling lanes and pedestrian crossing:

Some road signs can also be confusing. For example below shows means U turn prohibited, but many foreigners are used to seeing a crossed out U and assume it to be U turn allowed:

Another interesting rule is vehicles coming from right has priority. That means even if you are going straight (on a non-priority road), you need to yield to a car merging to your road from right. and there are priority uncontrolled junctions which are 4 or 3 way junctions which do not have traffic lights or priority markings. Throw in some tram lines too and I dread encountering them especially at busy times.

And evidently, its not just me who is confused with uncontrolled junctions, check this reddit thread and comments below is a good example.

Combined with the fact that parking in cities is very limited and expensive, I try and avoid driving into the city and try and use “Park n Ride” facilities where you park your car in a metro station in the outskirts of a city and take a metro for rest of journey.

Kitna deti hai:

A very relevant question with prices per liter of petrol touching 2+ Euros. I use the app Fuelly to track and the average is 13.2KMPL over the last 2.5K kms. Not bad:

Costs of owning a car:

Having a car really shrinks this country down due to the small size (Netherlands is almost the same size as Kerala) and its excellent highway network. No place is more that few hours of drive away and this allows you to explore the whole country over the weekends. But all this convenience comes at a cost, especially for ICE cars, which I will break down below:

• Purchase tax- VAT at 21% plus another tax called BPM, which is based on the particulate matter emissions of the car. For a new G20, BPM alone comes to around 7,000 Euros. In comparison a fully electric car will pay 0BPM!.
• Insurance - This is a major expense especially for someone like me with no insurance history (no claim bonus). I currently pay around 130 Euros per month. This will come down over time, esp if there are no claims.
• Road tax - its calculated based on parameters such a weight, fuel, emissions etc. For G20, it costs me 77 Euros per month.
• Fuel - Petrol and diesel is taxed heavily and 1L of petrol costs around 2 Euros. Fuel efficiency I get now is around 13KMPL which translates to around 0.154 Euros a month. With an average running of 1000km per month, thats around 150 Euros per month.
• Parking - Free for me, but wildly varies. One friend living in Amsterdam pays 150 Euros per month for parking, since he has no on street parking option.

So overall, one is looking at 350 Euros per month as just operating costs. If EMI is involved, total monthly expense can easily touch 1000 Euros per month. And one can easily see how buying an electric car combined with solar roofs makes lots of financial sense here. I expect these costs to slowly increase over time as government tries to make fossil fuel less appealing and push an all electric future.

Accessorizing added or planned:

Dash cam - Viofo A129 plus Duo Dual WiFi:

Ordered it from Amazon for 180 Euros and did a basic installation myself. It consists of two modules, one each for front and back. So the wiring has to be done from the front unit to all the way back to rear windshield which was easy since the included cable was long. its powered from one of the USB-C ports.

Video quality at day and night is quite good and I'm quite satisfied overall, although the screen could have been a bit bigger. It also includes a park mode where camera continuously runs when the car is parked, but the footage is only written when there it detects an impact. But that requires the camera to be hardwired which I intends to do later.

Baby mirror:

A very simple mirror attached to the top left corner of the windshield, super useful to hold conversation with my chatty 3.5 year old girl without turning back.

Black front grille (yet to be bought):

I do not like the current chrome one and feels a black grill will fit better. Installing it seems an easy enough DIY and plan to install one after winter.

Thanks for reading.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

It rained so heavily that the parking at the resort got flooded and I was contemplating moving the car onto the road.

BHPian megazoid recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Mugshot

We did a drive around Uttarakhand during the hellish downpour that the state received in early October. Had absolutely no idea of the difficulties we would have because of the inclement weather but in the end, it turned out to be an enjoyable drive with some worrying moments thrown in every day on account of road conditions.

We drove from Bangalore to Ghaziabad as the initial leg and then started the Uttarakhand loop from Ghaziabad a few days later. We were hoping that a lowered Bimmer on 18-inch wheels could make it without incident. In the end, we did manage the trip losing just a mud flap in the battle at the Kashipur railway crossing.

Somewhere inside the Binsar forest

We started the trip from Ghaziabad and made our way to Ramnagar which was our first halt and a fairly easy drive. The weather made it a wee bit adventurous. It was raining nonstop and the roads had a lot of standing water making the drive slow. Visibility was also a big concern. All went well till Moradabad. The road from Moradabad to Ramnagar did not exist and I had a lot of heart-in-the-mouth moments negotiating craters in a car with minuscule clearance.

To make things worse, the traffic around me was not in the mood to slow down for the bad sections and literally boxed me into situations that were less than ideal but with some grit and wide-open eyes, we made it to Ramnagar without losing any part of the car. The Kashipur railway crossing was mayhem and we survived that one with a nice underbelly rub on a speed hump. All the training received negotiating Bangalore potholes and speed breakers came in handy and I passed the test with flying colors only to be stumped near the Garjiya Devi temple water crossing.

It was a furious stream and the force had brought along all sorts of large rocks onto the road which itself was broken. With lots of drama and lean angles that made people take pictures of our struggles, we got through that one. The place of stay was near and we reached there without further incident. Spent a few days at Corbett and the weather decided to keep us entertained by obliterating the sun and making everything around overflow with the heavy downpour. It was so bad that the parking at the resort got flooded and I was contemplating moving the car onto the road.

Mercifully, things didn't get worse until our checkout and drive to Almora. Well, we checked out in style but could go no further as the water crossing we had passed on our forward journey had transformed into a fast-flowing river and the water crossing up ahead that we had to cross had halted buses and trucks. Taking on these in the bimmer was a no contest. We did a recce to see if we could attempt any of the water crossings and all along the road I heard people saying out loud, ”yeh tho gaya. Yeh gaadi nahi jaayegi."

Mystery trails

The car we drove had no chance of making it through those places. So, the two of us decided to book ourselves another place at Corbett bang in between the two water crossings and wait for the waters to subside. That evening we walked to Kosi to see the river and were taken aback seeing the trees being uprooted on the further bank by the force of the gushing waters and our own resort lost its metal railing and the boundary wall to the gushing waters. At this rate, in a few years, the Kosi will surely reclaim a lot of real estate of Ramnagar.

Bends are friends

Anyway, the weather cleared the next day and we continued our delayed journey to Nainital. The drive was beautiful and the scenery post rains were stunning. The roads were damaged in places due to landslides and water crossings but otherwise, it was a splendid drive. Made our way towards Almora and I must admit that the drive from Kenchi Dham towards Almora has been one of the most difficult I have had with the lowered car. Landslides, water crossings, culverts, stones, slush, narrow roads all came at us one after the other. It was a test of patience. I lost my cool at places and paid the price by taking a few under-body hits, then got back my wits and took extra care and this cycle kept repeating. In the end, we managed to reach Kasar Devi without breaking down. It was a very time-consuming and tiring drive even though the distances weren't much.

One of the many stops we had to make

Blue skies tell a different story from what we endured

Kasar Himalayan holiday home was nice and cosy and had great views of the Himalayas. Went for a long walk to get some blood flowing into the posterior, which was levitating most of the time trying to save the car from getting hit on the bad sections. Grabbed a good sunset and had a tasty meal on our return.

Kasar devi temple

A view from the Kasar Devi temple looking down at Almora

The next day’s drive was through the Binsar forest and it was mega fun. The roads were brilliant and narrow and the pine trees cast long shadows on the roads as we blitzed around the landscape. The journey to Kausani was a great drive and we had a blast. We had chosen to do the longer route via Bageshwar and it was good fun all the way. Progress was slow on account of the many photo stops and "wow, wah, do you see that!" moments. We finally trooped into the Sun and Snow Inn at Kausani and were the only guests in the hotel which made the biting cold look worse but the relaxed staff was a bonus and we were pampered with some good hospitality.

Quiet and forgotten pathways

Went to the Gandhi Anashakti Ashram and joined the evening prayers and enjoyed the views of the Trishul and other peaks that were clearly visible that evening. Weather was clear but there was no guarantee that it would remain that way considering our experiences from the last few days.

Local maxima view of the peaks

We kept inquiring about road conditions with the locals as google wasn't a very reliable option but what was considered "alright" was mighty difficult for a lowered car. We had to reach Ranikhet on the next leg and the road from Kausani to Someshwar was in shambles with a lot of culvert construction work. I was just hoping that we could somehow make it to Someshwar post which the locals assured me the roads were like butter. I had to stop at every bad patch get out of the car, clear the rocks, stop oncoming traffic and then slowly make my way across. It was tiring but we sailed through to Someshwar post where the roads were great but narrow. We cut loose and made up some time only to be slowed down by spectacular scenery every few kilometers. Nevertheless, the drive was fun.

One for the occasion

Ranikhet was fabulous and we loved the place with its tall deodhar and pine forests and the old-world charm. Chevron Rosemount was a great stay and gave us a stunning view of the mountain ranges. We hiked to the Jhula Devi temple and indulged in some shopping at the market during the evening. Rani jheel was a nice place to take a walk and is in close proximity to Chevron Rosemount.

Chevron Rosemount

The next leg of the journey was Pangot, near Nainital. This was another great drive from Ranikhet and this time we were in for a birding treat. We had booked "Jungle Lore" at Pangot and the place didn't disappoint. Lots of species are present here and many enthusiasts make the trip to photograph and observe these avian delights. We did some off-road excursions to get a closer look at the peaks in the car and treated ourselves to some splendid views.

A glorious sunset

Lot many famous peaks in that mountain range

We were very sure we wanted to take a different route on our return to Ghaziabad and avoid the Ramnagar Moradabad section at any cost. We did that by taking the Thakurdwar Amroha detour and joining the Delhi highway without incident.

Alpine white car peaking at snow-white peaks

The car held fine until the railway crossing at Kashipur which saw some really obtuse driving from fellow road users and in the ensuing melee, I had to do a kamikaze move to save the car from being hit and lost my poor mud flap to one of India’s best-designed moonscapes. The last highway section went without incident and we brought our little journey to a conclusion.

Companions

Goodbye to the peaks!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

During wheel alignment when installing new tyres, the tyre shop guy mentioned that the front suspension lower arm bush has a slight play.

BHPian VineetG recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi,

My F30 320D had covered 45000 kms and it was time for new tyres. The OEM Bridgestone RFTs still had some tread left and were good for another 5000kms, but I wanted to ditch them for Non RFTs. Went for regular tubeless Continental Continental Contisport Contact5. The ride has totally transformed from the rock hard RFTs to gliding over bad roads with minimal shocks and noise.

During last service, the Service advisor at BMW mentioned that a couple of alloys were bent and out of shape. I could feel slight vibrations at high speed.

Before getting new tyres, I got my alloy rims straightened. Read about my Rim straightening and tyre change experience here.

During wheel alignment when installing new tyres, the tyre shop guy mentioned that the front suspension lower arm bush has a slight play.

Went to BMW Bird Motors Gurgaon. They checked the suspension and found that the bushes were within spec. However, they still went ahead and replaced them. Also noticed that one of the front struts was leaking. Both front struts were replaced. All work was done under warranty with no hassles. No fuss about having non rfts.

Since it was time for service, I asked them to do the service. Also, the rear cigarette lighter 12V socket was not working. Found out it was a fuse and changed it (Cost 65 Rupees).

Under service, oil & oil filter, AC micro filter, engine air filter, diesel fuel filter were changed. Car was washed.

Everything covered under BSI package.

The rear brake pads are still showing 5000 kms left. So, should be changing them at around 50K kms. The front ones lasted 34K Kms and were changed at an FNG earlier.

When my brother came from USA sometime back, I asked him to carry Textar brake pads. So I have the rear set lying with me.

Overall, experience has been great. But was a bit surprised that the front strut leaked so early. But good that it happened during warranty.

Full marks to BMW and Bird Motors Gurgaon for handling all issues promptly to my satisfaction.

Also, pampered my car with full paint correction (removing swirls, mild scratches etc.) Also, full interior cleaning along with leather seats and door panels. What a transformation it made. Looks brand new inside out. Got it done at 5C car care in Gurgaon. Pricey, but one of the best.

Currently, car is returning 15kmpl in city.

Hope to keep it till it completes 10 years in NCR.

Regards,

Vineet.

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