[Tameautumn]

Hi all,
not been on here for a while but wanted to express my thoughts regarding hitting 5000 / 6 months in my 540i G31.

It has literally been the best car I have ever owned.

Highlights:
Drive - so rapid and power when needed
Handling - with Dynamic suspension it just reacts beautifully
Looks - Msport Plus kit really makes it stand out
Features - Sunroof is a must to keep it airy inside and heated steering wheel has meant my wife has stolen the car regularly
Packs - Technology pack has been great with wireless charging, harmon Kardon sound and HUD
Practicality - what can't this car transport
PCP deal - 225 off and 0% APR - makes this a lot of car for the money


Lowlights:
Apple Carplay- integration is patchy to say the least
Economy - never was going to be great. but still getting sub 25 miles per gallon in UK .... hmmmm :
Cost - dreading next tax bill and insurance renewal
Danger - this thing can make you lose your license in a few seconds
App - doesn't seem to connect properly to auto warm up car ... maybe user error or software refresh needed?

What I would change
would have added automated drive kit and highest spec lighting ... but that is about it

Looking forward to what the next few years of ownership bring

Thanks Guys

[Zap-xpilot]

Congratulations on a great car - not many G31s around, welcome to the club!
Is yours an X-drive as well?

I agree with you on CarPlay, I tested it for 1 month on my 540i and ended up switching it off after a week. Clear regression in terms of functionality, the waze app was not nearly as good as using it on my phone.

Problems with warming up the car - are you sure you have the auxiliary heater (webasto) in your car? Mine has it and it has never failed to warm up - providing you have more than 10 litres of fuel in the car?

Without it the app just starts the interior fan...

[AP]

Congrats ,yes it is a cracking car.
Agree about danger as regards speeding as it is very refined and hides the speed far too well!

Worth reading the manual as there are lots of nuggets of info in there but obviously ask here if you have any questions as plenty of us here only too keen to help.

Pics?

[clee1982]

Nice to see the few wagon on here, not available in the US oh well. Regarding to car play, I thought the integration was actually pretty good, though I don't listen to music or anything so...

The only thing I wish they improve is if you use google map the turn by turn still pop up on the HUD

[BMWFamilyMan]

I can second OPs issues with the auxiliary heater and the app. The app in it's whole is a big dissapointment for me, and it's clear our beloved brand is not much of a SW development company.

My success rate heating the car using the app is around 50%. Totaly worthless I'm sorry to say.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by BMWFamilyMan

I can second OPs issues with the auxiliary heater and the app. The app in it's whole is a big dissapointment for me, and it's clear our beloved brand is not much of a SW development company.

My success rate heating the car using the app is around 50%. Totaly worthless I'm sorry to say.

Interesting. I have the opposite challenge. Turning on the AC in the summer after my 530e has been sitting in the sun at a golf course for five hours (yes...the 530e heats and cools remotely by running them off the hybrid battery). Mine has always worked (my only problem is at one golf course that is so remote that my cell phone doesn't have a signal).

[350doc]

U.K. G31s don’t come with Webastos preinstalled. In G31s, only hybrid can be pre-heated remotely in the U.K.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by 350doc

U.K. G31s don’t come with Webastos preinstalled. In G31s, only hybrid can be pre-heated remotely in the U.K.

I know. I was just reporting that my remote app has worked flawlessly on preconditioning the car (AC in my case).

[Tameautumn]

Originally Posted by Zap-xpilot

Congratulations on a great car - not many G31s around, welcome to the club!
Is yours an X-drive as well?

I agree with you on CarPlay, I tested it for 1 month on my 540i and ended up switching it off after a week. Clear regression in terms of functionality, the waze app was not nearly as good as using it on my phone.

Problems with warming up the car - are you sure you have the auxiliary heater (webasto) in your car? Mine has it and it has never failed to warm up - providing you have more than 10 litres of fuel in the car?

Without it the app just starts the interior fan...

yep x-drive

Menu seems to imply auxiliary heating and dealer stated it did to me, but I could be wrong

[530iDriver]

This threads needs pics and lots of them.

[BMWFamilyMan]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

Interesting. I have the opposite challenge. Turning on the AC in the summer after my 530e has been sitting in the sun at a golf course for five hours (yes...the 530e heats and cools remotely by running them off the hybrid battery). Mine has always worked (my only problem is at one golf course that is so remote that my cell phone doesn't have a signal).

The car’s ability to cool or heat is excellent I would say. But getting the app to send the command to do so is unacceptably slow and on top of that fails half the time. I’m on iOS, and looking at the negative reviews on App Store makes you wonder if BMW even cares.

[babaikram]

Originally Posted by BMWFamilyMan

The car’s ability to cool or heat is excellent I would say. But getting the app to send the command to do so is unacceptably slow and on top of that fails half the time. I’m on iOS, and looking at the negative reviews on App Store makes you wonder if BMW even cares.

One thing the display key does much better

[VirtualGuitars]

Here is the Remote Control Parking retrofit from BimmerTech which includes the display key. It's only $100 more than the key itself. You do have to have comfort access, surround view, and parking assistant for it to work. Remote programming is required, but is included in the price. I'm thinking about pulling the trigger even though I don't need it!

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/shop/bmw...rking-retrofit

[BMWFamilyMan]

Originally Posted by babaikram

One thing the display key does much better

But has the drawback of using radio so with a range of a couple of hundred yards it’s only useful when parked at home.