[Kafkaesque328]

Figured I'll just start this thread and keep it going instead of starting several random threads pertaining to my car. I did a similar thing at GolfMk6 re: my last GTI and it turned into a sort of car related yet off topic thread that gained quite a few subscribers and is now at 245 pages.

http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61721

SO, if some or you remember, I special ordered a 320 w/ZSP because I couldn't find them anywhere in SoCal on dealer lots as they are unicorn rare. I found out the other day estimated completion of my car was 1/28/14 and that it could take 30 days to ship and finally get to me in L.A. Meanwhile I was driving around a depressing Chevy Cruze rental since my GTI was sold in December. Then randomly, after inquiring about a 328i at BMW Irvine, the guy tells me "I actually have a black on black 320i sport package in stock".. I went down there, he had it, I got it. Got a better deal than the special order regardless of no holiday incentives..

2014 Black 320i w/Sport Package & Sunroof
Selling cost, $32,550
$1500 Drive off, 36months/10k p/year, $360 p/month i.e. dirt cheap

I wrote a really long review of the car on my thread on the GTI forums but it ended up being really long & this forum whacks it way too hard to the 335 to care that much about a 320 so I'll just try to summarize.

I think this car is superb and especially superb for the money. Remember I'm coming from the GTI so.. The 320 is worlds more refined and solid. My drive home from Irvine was 65 miles of highway and traffic wasn't bad so I got to really drive it. First off, the ZSP is a must. Handling is excellent and there is just no comparing that 50/50 weight distribution, m sport suspension and summer tires w/a FWD GTI on all seasons.

Perhaps the most hyped factor of the 320 is all the talk of it being underpowered. If you drive my exact car and feel it is underpowered, you are high. Comparing it to a 335 is silly and the 328 clearly has more power, but if you are coming from an E90 328, the 320 just feels quicker. Blame the max torque down low or the superior transmission but the car is quick. There were several times, especially due to how quiet it is that I looked down and realized I was doing 100 w/out knowing it. I'll prob still do the stage 1 BMS tune in a few months just because it's so cheap and easy to do so, but the 320 has plenty of power to enjoy and it pulls evenly and happily to redline. I drove a base 328 F30 while I was there to see what I was missing and I walked away unimpressed based on the price difference. For the money I would just by a lightly optioned 335. This 328 was luxury line or whatever. Felt bloated and heavy compared to the 320 and the power difference isn't truly felt until highway speeds. It obviously has more power but I wasn't blown away or anything. If you can get a 320 to close to 328 stock numbers with a $400 plug and play tune, I just don't see the point. Get a 335 instead. Honestly just for raw power, my Stage 1 GTI was way more fun than the 328.

Ride quality is excellent as is mileage. I averaged 35.5 over a 65 mile highway trip w/a fair amount of hard driving. The transmission is the best automatic I've ever driven and the only auto I could be happy with. Obviously not nearly as fun as the manual on open roads but it is so responsive and seamless w/such a useable manual mode, I love it. It goes w/the character of the car though.. The car is almost robotic in it's precision compared to what I'm used to, almost surgical.

Gripes:

It's almost too quiet. I'm used to a lot of feedback and unless you really wring it's neck, it's quiet. Like I said, there were times when I was on the freeway, would pass someone and look down and realize I was flying well over legal limits. Some kind of exhaust upgrade would be a godsend in terms of sound.

I can't stream bluetooth. Dear BMW, this is pure bullshit. My wife's Tiguan streams bluetooth audio. Pretty sure my rental Cruze does it too. Ridiculous. Luckily I have always found that unreliable and sonically inferior, so I'm fine to use the USB/aux cable and play music via phone and iPod. The base stereo is good. Better than my GTI premium 8 w/added sub, thats for sure.

Everyone on here knows about how nice the interiors are etc. so I won't go on any further. Anyway, very happy with this car. Excellent! Next up will be BMS Stage 1 in a few months. Heres a random picture taken at the dealer. More to come.

[flyguy27]

Grats! So no more wait for you. What is different options wise from the one you had on order? Are you gonna mount the front plate?

[KnowledgeMC]

Congratulations!

I'll keep an eye out for your car in La Crescenta!

If you see a 328i BSM Sport Line honking and waving, that'll be me! =)

[Kafkaesque328]

Originally Posted by flyguy27

Grats! So no more wait for you. What is different options wise from the one you had on order? Are you gonna mount the front plate?

I ordered heated seats as standalone option, all seasons/square setup and split fold down rear seats. Now that I got this I am SO glad I got the summer performance staggered setup and sunroof. Sunroof is a must in SoCal and my only gripe is no heated seats. Loved those on my gti. The sport seats in this car are insanely comfortable

[flyguy27]

No Heated seats in cali isn't a big set back so you made out.

[hmc]

I picked up my 320 last August from a dealer in San Diego. 6 speed, sports pkg, Xenon light, black grill, and metallic black paint. Someone must had cancelled his order ...

It's very close to what I would order, except for the lack of fold down seats. I wouldn't want to spend $550 for metallic paint either.

Like it very much. To me, manual transmission is a must...

[Kafkaesque328]

Used to be for me too, as I had to have my gti with a manual but I was so impressed with the 8 speed and kind of over the manual for a while after 20 years of driving them every day, I went this route. Love the 8 speed

[openwheelracing]

If you have a 2014 then you can check the trunk for the commbox. If it exists then you can code it to enable Bluetooth streaming

[puma1552]

Nice, congrats! Curious, did you get any kind of rebates/incentives? Figure sticker on your build is $36,025, so then if invoice is roughly 93% of that, that puts invoice at $33,500. Did you have another $1000 in incentives?

[hmc]

Originally Posted by Kafkaesque320

Used to be for me too, as I had to have my gti with a manual but I was so impressed with the 8 speed and kind of over the manual for a while after 20 years of driving them every day, I went this route. Love the 8 speed

Hope you will continue to like the auto.

Yes, it's much improved, but I test drove 3 different auto F30s: 320, 328, and 335 and always walked away telling myself I don't want auto.

I had chances to test drive 320 and 335 manuals, but not 328. I finally decided to pick up this 320. Considering I was driving a 6MT E60 550, this is a big change. Other than straight line (obviously), I like 320 more than 550. It's simply more tossable and hence more fun ...

Don't mean to trun this thread into "auto vs manual" by the way !

[QTC]

Awesome, glad to see you don't have to wait any longer.

The quietness is a double edged sword - very nice (and comfortable) at speed, but its sort of annoying when rowing through the gears (in my opinion).

[Kafkaesque328]

Originally Posted by hmc

Hope you will continue to like the auto.

Yes, it's much improved, but I test drove 3 different auto F30s: 320, 328, and 335 and always walked away telling myself I don't want auto.

I had chances to test drive 320 and 335 manuals, but not 328. I finally decided to pick up this 320. Considering I was driving a 6MT E60 550, this is a big change. Other than straight line (obviously), I like 320 more than 550. It's simply more tossable and hence more fun ...

Don't mean to trun this thread into "auto vs manual" by the way !

Yeah, Id rather not either. Manual or Auto, its a great car. The GTI was the same, can't pick a wrong transmission. Other cars, the automatic is a downside but this auto is brilliant. I love it. Ive learned that actually putting it in sport along with the sport drive setting makes it kind of insane and is really more ideal for straight line acceleration if you don't want to use manual mode. Keeping it in drive but selecting sport makes it behave more like the E90 DS mode. Manual is basically instantaneous.

My problem with the BMW manuals and with the manual I had in my GTI is the lack of feedback, the light clutch with long travel and the rev hang. It makes it annoying and a little jerky at times. The long clutch travel is annoying to me and so is the soft clutch. I used to have an 85 Mustang SVO w/a 5 speed and that thing was FUN. Serious feedback. I just think modern manual transmissions leave a lot to be desired. Contrarily, the 8 speed is just so smooth its ridiculous. You are always in the right gear with the convenience of an auto. I always hated autos because Id have to always correct it and it'd never be in the right gear, not to mention the feeling of slush. There is no slush in this box and for now I'm just into the technology behind the transmission too much to miss the 3rd pedal that much. I just came from this huge shopping complex in Burbank too and it took me about 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot, just inching along and I didn't miss the manual at all.

Stage 1 BMS is definitely in order though. The car is quick and the handling superb but I just can't help it. When its that easy and cheap to get more power, why not do it? Probably in Feb or March at latest Ill get the BMS stage 1 set up and be good to go.

Are there any exhaust options for this car that won't mess with my 02 sensors and throw codes? Is it the kind of thing where I'll have to run a spacer or something? Wouldn't mind a beefier exhaust note, just for sound really.

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by hmc

Like it very much. To me, manual transmission is a must...

A man after my own heart.

[Kafkaesque328]

Originally Posted by puma1552

Nice, congrats! Curious, did you get any kind of rebates/incentives? Figure sticker on your build is $36,025, so then if invoice is roughly 93% of that, that puts invoice at $33,500. Did you have another $1000 in incentives?

No, thats the odd thing. I got over four grand off of MSRP w/no current incentives going. Just proof that it doesn't really matter what time of year you buy a car and that those just get you in the door. I don't know though, my wife got her Tiguan under the Sign & Drive event and it really literally cost $0 out front to drive off in the car. Nuts ha? No 'drive offs'. Cheap as hell. And VW covers that first payment..

I dreamt I was driving the GTI last night. That was a fun car. So raw in comparison. Seems like to get a raw feeling BMW you have to get an M at this point. My car is like a really well executed sporty limo or something in comparison. The GTI was just pure grin inducing go karting, but as a daily driver, it got old. When I got to get the BMS Stage 1 tune, I want to look into some light exhaust modification. Hard call. I don't want to open a can of worms and set off any emissions related onboard diagnostic glitches or problems but Id love a little more sonic feedback from this thing. The feedback comes at WOT and thats it. They did do a nice job of making this little 4 sound sort of like the old I6. Sort of...

I must be retarded but I keep trying to upload an avatar pick and it keeps failing. I've done it a million times and consider myself pretty computer savvy but it will just not let me upload a picture. The toil and suffering, I tell you.

Originally Posted by openwheelracing

If you have a 2014 then you can check the trunk for the commbox. If it exists then you can code it to enable Bluetooth streaming

Nice, thanks Ill check. Hooked up the $900000 BMW usb/aux cable that costs 20 cents to make in china last night and played music through my phone etc. and it works flawlessly w/iDrive etc. so thats nice. I gotta look @ the manual and figure out how to make those buttons as presets to activate certain iDrive features so I don't have to be screwing around in iDrive. I also wish there were just some screen saver in iDrive or something so you aren't just looking at that lame menu the whole time. This is what no nav gets you

[focal]

if you need a BT audio stream, I use a product similar to this. Cheap and effective. obviously, direct USB key plug in is the highest audio quality.

http://www.amazon.com/BestDealUSA-Bl...ref=pd_sim_e_6

[puma1552]

Originally Posted by Kafkaesque320

I also wish there were just some screen saver in iDrive or something so you aren't just looking at that lame menu the whole time. This is what no nav gets you

Wait, so the screen doesn't display the song artist/album/title/playback time of your music like our Vdubs do and instead just sits there uselessly displaying a menu? That's absolutely retarded.

[QTC]

^It should - mine will display album art (if present) or the song/artist/album/playback - and my car doesn't have nav.

[Kafkaesque328]

So Ive had some time with the car now and it for sure does not display the artwork from either my iPod or iPhone. Bummer

Getting the BMS Stage 1 tomorrow. Can't wait. I am going to ask if a paddle shift retrofit is available on the 320 as well since I already have the M Sport wheel but something tells me it is not and that youd need a whole new wheel from a 328

[Sedan_Clan]

Lookin' good!

[TERAKO35]

Can't wait to hear your impression on the tune. Good luck tomorrow!

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by Kafkaesque320

Used to be for me too, as I had to have my gti with a manual but I was so impressed with the 8 speed and kind of over the manual for a while after 20 years of driving them every day, I went this route. Love the 8 speed

Due to HP and TQ I agree, thats the perfect tranny for that car . Just always shifting though. Nice car. let us know how that tune works.

[Kafkaesque328]

Originally Posted by 335BOY

Due to HP and TQ I agree, thats the perfect tranny for that car . Just always shifting though. Nice car. let us know how that tune works.

Will do, going today at 1.