[bueller]

I found reading other people’s opinions on their cars extremely helpful in making decisions in purchasing my car. I figured I would offer my impressions after driving the car 1000 kms. Hopefully somebody will find a nugget of useful information in my ramblings, and I apologize in advance to anyone who feels I have wasted their time.

Why I ordered this car

For the past three years I've been driving a Volkswagen Touareg TDI as my everyday driver. I was going to replace the Touareg with a Golf R in the spring, while I enjoyed the Touareg, and have no complaints about the quality or reliability of the car, I wanted something that was a little more fun to drive.

As Volkswagen seems to be making announcements on a pretty regular basis that have done nothing to help the resale value of my car, or give me any reassurance as an owner, I figured I would cut my losses and unload the Touareg.

I have a few other cars that I drive occasionally, a 1 Series M Coupe, Porsche Boxster S, and I have a Porsche GT4 on order, I will be doing European delivery in May and I can't wait.

I have two large dogs and do two cross country trips a year. I need a daily car that is comfortable, able to transport dogs and is somewhat fun to drive.

Unfortunately, the car I really want is unavailable, that would be either a 3 or 5 series rear wheel drive wagon with a manual transmission and a six cylinder diesel engine.

What I Ordered

I ordered the car September 29th 2015

I debated between gas and diesel. I have enjoyed the torque and efficiency of diesel. I like going to the gas station 30% less and like that when at speed on the highway the engine is running 15 - 1800 RPM. If a manual were available, I would have gone gas, but as the only option for the F31 in North America is auto, I went with the diesel.

The acceleration characteristics of the diesel also does a lot to help me retain my driving privilege.

Here are the options I ordered;

Z52 M Sport Line
Z4D Premium Package Enhanced
Z4U Executive Package
Z7W M Performance Package
3AA Black Roof Rails
4WG Aluminum Hexagon Trim
522 Active Headlights
5DF Active Cruise Control
5DP Parking Assistant
6NS Smartphone Connectivity Package

I also ordered Black Kidney Grilles, roof racks and rubber floor mats. The dealer also agreed to swap the 442 wheels for me, on the lighter car, I like the lighter grey secondary color as opposed to the darker Orbit Grey, I also like that it makes the spokes look a little thicker, that way you don’t notice my tiny brakes as easily.

Picked up the car this past Saturday, so December 19th. I took the car for a tint and a clear bra, had all the windows done 30% and the entire hood, headlights, front bumper and rear bumper threshold (for dogs) covered in Suntek self healing film.

Design Impressions

I like the way the car looks on the outside, I am still getting used to the sideways question mark daylight running lights as opposed to the halos. Some have said the design looks dated, I don’t think it does, I feel it looks like a 3 series, which is a good thing!

The interior looks nice, I really like the matte blue highlight. I had mentioned in another thread that I was told that the aluminum trim was plastic, and I thought it was. It is not, it feels like metal, albeit very thin metal, and the pattern is no longer embossed, but printed, I would rather have the embossed, but it is not a big deal.

The leather dash would be great, but alas not available in North America.

Comfort

The seats are reasonably comfortable, they could be a little stiffer for my liking, I am still tweaking the position, I think a couple more adjustments and It will be good. I love the M wheel, it is exactly the right thickness and the buttons are all logical and work well to do a lot of things.

The dogs seem quite at home in the back

The ride quality is excellent in eco-pro and comfort on the highway, and I have not really pushed things yet, but I love the way the steering and ride changes in sport and sport+. For me this car is the perfect mix of sporty when I want it to be and comfortable at other times.

Performance

In the short time I have had the car, I have enjoyed the diesel engine. While I subscribe to following the break in procedures, I have not really pushed that hard, I have previewed the different characteristics of the motor in sport + and I am looking forward to getting through the break in.

Before I purchased the car, I drove a 2015 328d and a 2016 340i as they did not have a diesel with the M Performance Package to try out, so I had to create an amalgam of the two test drives to make my decision. While I did notice the steering on the 340i with VSS was better than the 15 without, I did not drive either car over 120 km/h.

I have found that above 120 km/h the steering has an unsettling dart-y feel to it. It does not seem to be able to remain centered and requires constant correction. While I have no problems with the steering at lower speeds, at higher, and some may say illegal speeds, the steering is somewhat disappointing. At more reasonable speeds, the feedback and I found the turn in is predictable and really good for an electric system.

I touched on the suspension in the comfort section, from a performance standpoint, when you activate the sport+ setting the car feels very sporty and five you all the feedback you could reasonable want without being too harsh.

Today while deciding at the last minute to take an exit to avoid stopped traffic ahead, I took an exit ramp at a speed not usually associated with station wagons. I was struck by the balance of the car, It felt awesome in the corner, I really can’t wait for the breaking to be over with.

I have felt that unlike many reviewers of the car, and a few other other forum members, I like the start stop feature. I don’t find it that rough really, and it is a reasonable tradeoff to not have to listen to the car idle while waiting for a light. The only thing I would change is that I would apply the stop and go profile to the main profile, what I mean is that in stop and go mode with the active cruise, there is a several second delay after a stop which give you the chance to resume without the engine shutting off, which is better than the standard behavior of stopping as soon as the speed reaches 0.

I also find that I have been enjoying the eco-pro mode, I might feel differently if I had the gas powered car, in the diesel, I sometimes see how far I can stretch a tank.

Electronics

iDrive really does make pretty much everything else on the market, save Tesla look sub standard in comparison. I have had several brand new rental cars in the past few weeks while waiting for my car. I had an Infiniti Q50, while this car confirms that diesel is a good thing for me on a daily driver, it really does have a lovely 3.7l V6, the electronics on the other hand are slow and antiquated looking. I also had a brand new Chevy Tahoe with CarPlay. I was initially disappointed that BMW is waiting until the 2017 model year to roll out CarPlay, after using it for a couple of days, I am no longer feeling as if I am missing something.

Not to spend too much time, the summary would be, Apple Maps for navigation… Not so good really, you can’t see the streets as the colors are all too similar, and most of the other functions limit you to Siri, maybe you have had better luck with her than I have.

Really with a long press on the voice command button you have access to all the best features of CarPlay, which I find to be reading and replying to messages, with more functionality, as CarPlay will not search the web, so something like “How late is the Home Depot near me open” will not work with CarPlay, it will with whatever voice command long press is called. The only thing that is missing is the Podcast CarPlay App, but then Stitcher is compatable with BMW Apps, and really a better Podcast app anyway.

The Active Cruise control is absolutely amazing. After using it for just a few days I am sure it is a feature I will never want to be without on longer drives. The way BMW has integrated this with traditional controls in a no nonsense straightforward way that Ze Germans are famous for! There is no beeping or intrusive behavior.

I enjoy cruise control, however when the inevitable ‘keeper of the speed’ camping in, where the rest of the world calls, the passing lane, you tap the brakes on approach, then hit resume after they are in your rear view. Eventually, I just give up and just manually control the speed. With the active cruise control, the car eases back as you approach people, then you can override it by hitting the accelerator. There is no cancel and resume, everything is smoother and far more relaxing an experience.

In town or in traffic, there is the stop and go mode, while not so quick off the line and it tends to brake a little later than I would when approaching traffic, I really love the feature and consider it money well spent.

The lane departure thing and blindspot stuff, whatever, it has not been a problem for me to look where I have been going in the past, I am too old to stop doing shoulder checks and rely on stuff like that. Safety systems are not a bad thing as long as it is no too intrusive or implemented in a way that is not annoying. I often wonder if construction workers hear all the beeping from stuff backing up, I am guessing you tune it out and it is pointless after a while. Getting back to the driver aids, they are well implemented and what can they hurt. The lane departure is a little late to recognize signaling, and sometimes senses lines at intersections when not changing lanes. I have turned it off.

The fender cameras are great, really handy entering a road from a blind approach. The top down camera view is too small to be helpful as I don't have the vision I once did, so maybe helpful for the more eagle eyed among us.

I ordered the parking thing, because - why not? Don’t think i will use it as I think it would be easier to just park yourself.

Niggles

I think some of these things can be dealt with via coding.

I would like the car to startup in the last setting selected, so park in sport mode, get in and sport mode it is.

I would like the mirrors to fold on lock, it is a good visual indicator, you can look back and be assured at a distance the car is locked.

I would like to have more control over things like steering or dampers, it is all tied to the modes, the control is not as granular as I would like, I know it’s not an M3 (dare to dream).

Sunroof controls are not so intuitive, it would be nice to have a separate button for the glass and the shade.

Features I miss from my last / other cars

Move seat back and wheel up to get in and out would be a great feature.

USB connector in the armrest is on the bottom of the armrest storage compartment. This is a poor design choice for several reasons, first, it points up so armrest will not close with a standard size thumb drive in the slot. Secondly, a connector that supplies power, gravity being what it is, would be better suited to a vertical surface than horizontal.

My VW would display exit services on the color screen between the tach and speedo, so driving along the freeway you could see how far to the next exit and what services were available there.

You could specify diesel gas stations in POI in the nav (also worked with exit services).

The traffic info was more clear in the VW and would prioritize traffic delays on your route if you had started guidance instead of just giving you a list of all the traffic issues in a radius of your location. You could also get more info on the traffic incidents.

Porsche PCM ties google search into the nav search POIs which is really helpful. (My car might be better once the online stuff has been enabled, my car was missing a code or something so it is not fully activated yet, I am not holding my breath on that one)

Wrap-up

Overall I am really enjoying the car.

I like the way it looks, I like the way it drives most of the time, and the steering issue might force me to preserve my drivers license for some motorcycle insanity.

While it is an expensive car, I do think that it is a very well equipped car for the price compared to other cars, but it is not a ‘best value’ selection. BMW used to have some cars that were considered good values, they are moving away from that, I find nothing wrong with that.

B.

[cncmastr]

Thank you for that review. I have a 2016 F31 on order, so this was a good summary of your impressions.

[335d Touring Xdrive]

Another thank you for the write up. I have a 335d Touring waiting for me at my dealer. Collecting it on the 1st of March when the new 16 reg plates are released. Looking forward to further updates as you pile the miles on.

[.BMW.]

Great review of a beautiful wagon!

[bueller]

Originally Posted by cncmastr

Thank you for that review. I have a 2016 F31 on order, so this was a good summary of your impressions.

What did you decide on?

Originally Posted by 335d Touring Xdrive

Another thank you for the write up. I have a 335d Touring waiting for me at my dealer. Collecting it on the 1st of March when the new 16 reg plates are released. Looking forward to further updates as you pile the miles on.

I have never understood the UK plate think. I have watched a number of UK car shows, the one I can think of it the Wheeler Dealer show, the one where they don't account for the value of their time in calculating a profit. In that show they say we got a great deal on a P-Reg Lotus Elan, and it needs new door cards, etc. I am guessing that plates there stay with the car, but what's up with that and why is it so important? Do you have too wait?

B.

[335d Touring Xdrive]

Every six months here in the UK a new plate is released which ties into the year it was registered. The new registration numbers are released in March and September. So March next year will be on a 16 plate, ie BM16BMW. Then in September it will change to ie BM66BMW. Currently we are on a 65 plate. Hope this makes sense. It started in 2010 with 10 plate then 60. 11 plate 61. 12 plate 62. 13 plate 63. And so on.
I chose to wait to register my vehicle on a 16 plate as I was supposed to take delivery in October, but it got delayed 3 or 4 times by the supply of the 335d engine and was told I wouldn't see it till end of Dec, in the meantime I found alternative transport as I had already sold my current vehicle, a Range Rover Sport, in anticipation of getting my BMW in October.

[bueller]

Originally Posted by 335d Touring Xdrive

Every six months here in the UK a new plate is released which ties into the year it was registered...

Got it... Thanks for the explanation.

B.

[cncmastr]

Originally Posted by bueller

What did you decide on?

I have never understood the UK plate think. I have watched a number of UK car shows, the one I can think of it the Wheeler Dealer show, the one where they don't account for the value of their time in calculating a profit. In that show they say we got a great deal on a P-Reg Lotus Elan, and it needs new door cards, etc. I am guessing that plates there stay with the car, but what's up with that and why is it so important? Do you have too wait?

B.

I don't want to crap on the OPs thread, I'll start a new build one shortly.

[swagon]

Great review, detailed & informative. Enjoy the car.

[spuntyb]

It's not a best value in the traditional sense, but when you look at the paltry number of wagons available to buy new right now, you realize, especially once you drive it, that it's the best wagon currently offered in North America. Could a 6 cylinder option help it? Yes. Could a manual RWD option help even more? Yes. But until tastes change, it's as good as it gets for a low slung hauler with a D pillar.

On a side note, re: your question about alarms, as an anesthesiologist, I can assure you that vigilance is more important than any bell, whistle or alarm. Nothing wrong with the safety plus stuff if you're into it or used to it, but even implemented well, it will not replace your own good judgment. I usually turn off all the alarms that I can when doing cases because it otherwise just becomes background noise. That is, if you've been driving without these aides all these years like me (I'm 40), you aren't missing out.

Cheers, and thanks for the write up!

[mike@x-ph.com]

Good read, thank you for the review

[CIWS]

Originally Posted by bueller

and I have a Porsche GT4 on order, I will be doing European delivery in May and I can't wait.

Several folks I know going to the GT4, some have them, some are waiting. Seems quite popular.