Picked up my new (to me) 2018MY 440i MPPSK with 6k miles on the clock this morning, and thought I'd share my initial thoughts on the car.
Firstly, although I wasn't 100% sure about the colour (Melbourne Red), it's grown on me, and I think it looks fantastic, definitely stands out as there's not too many on the roads that colour. I'm also planning on getting it detailed, and I think it will come up really well after that.
Setting up the online services and BMW app was pretty painless and quick - once I'd entered the VIN, the car started to transfer its data to my phone, all sorted in less than 30 minutes, and being able to control certain functions from my phone seems quite useful.
Most importantly though, the driving experience - wow!!!
This really is two cars in one - drive it sedately in Comfort mode, and it's quiet, smooth, and very easy to drive. But when you put the power down, it's indecently fast (possibly even quicker than the M240i I test drove recently).
I played around with the driving modes: Eco isn't as bad as I expected, and still gives enough power to make decent progress; Comfort is great, plenty of power when you need it, but the engine settles down when you ease off. Sport/Sport + is really where the fun is though, as the MPPSK exhaust valve opens and you get all sorts of crazy noises from the back, as well as a sharper throttle response.
I didn't expect the car to have adaptive suspension (it wasn't on the car spec), but playing with the iDrive menus, Sport gave me the option to put either the drivetrain, chassis, or both into Sport mode, so this seems to suggest the car maybe does have it? I did experiment between Comfort and Sport, but couldn't feel much difference in the suspension between the two...
Power builds very smoothly and strongly from 1500 rpm, but once you get to around 4k there's a ferocious surge, and the car bullets forward, changing up rapidly at around 7k, ready for the next sprint. It's massively addictive, especially with the splendid noise from the exhaust - but finding a long enough stretch of road to really exploit the car was a bit of a challenge!
I was also pretty impressed with the handling - I didn't expect it to be the last word in roadholding, but it goes round corners fast and fairly flat, and (at least in the dry) with very little drama. The ride is also much smoother/better than I expected, especially with the stock Bridgestone Potenza RFTs fitted. The steering is nicely weighted, although I couldn't feel much feedback from the wheels.
Seats and the rest of the interior are all fine, typical BMW, functional but not flashy. The upgraded HK system also seems fine (haven't tested it out fully yet), although the surround sound mode sounded awful!
So after Day 1, I'm really delighted with the car - it's really comfortable, super fast, and great fun to drive, especially when you flick it into Sport mode... I'm very excited about spending more time getting to know it better!