5wks, 4k Miles - reflections on on the //M

[harrisch]

So I picked up my car on may 4th, 2015.... it currently sits in the driveway with just a tick under 4000 miles.... needless to say I've been enjoying the hell out of this car... now that its fully broken in and the weather has been clear I've taken it all over the place... I figured I'd post a review of the little things I've noticed about the car so far.

1. It's super comfortable on long distance drives - those 4000 miles were over a 5 week period of time where I went on a 4 day motorcycle trip over one weekend, and was rock climbing for several days another weekend where the car just sat. When the seats are adjusted properly its very comfortable, i found myself playing with the lumbar and thoracic bolster and side bolster settings a bit til i got them perfect, and depending on how long the stint was and how much i found myself slouching i did end up adjusting 2 settings and setting them both to memory for myself. The thigh bolster can be a bit annoying, but on long highway stints I put cruise on and rest that part of my leg by bending my knee more. Furthermore its quiet and the soundsystem is great at any volume

2. The car is super versatile - I use this car as a daily driver and a tourer (and of course a canyon carver) part of all the miles I put on this car involved a very spur of the moment drive from Upstate, NY to Boston because my cousin and his wife had a baby. Not only was the car super comfortable for both me and my mom for the whole ride, which we did with one stop for fuel, but it was super easy and roomie enough for both parents and the baby with their baby seat and a whole bunch of supplies in the trunk when we were taking the newborn home (crazy uncle harrisch is gonna make sure he's car guy, especially when he hears what he came home from the hospital in lol) i did have to drive the car very very very slowly on that drive i was literally scared of hurting the kid with the power

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(crazy uncle harrisch is gonna make sure he's car guy, especially when he hears what he came home from the hospital in lol)

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3. If you drive it conservatively, its not a gas guzzler, but it would be nice to have a couple more gallons for range - in my previous car, an IS250 that was overweight and underpowered, i could get around of 450 miles out of a tank if I drove reasonably. The M3 can get close to 400 (I also couldnt help but drive fast but it would be nice to have a slightly larger than 14 gallon tank. That said, I was averaging in the mid to high 20's cruising around the :cough: speedlimit :cough: - lets just say doc and marty picked a decent number for time travel

4. The cruise control works AWESOME - especially paired with the HUD, i love the way you can one tap the steering wheel button for small adjustments, and it has a second click like the auto windows for 5mph jumps.... with the amount of torque this motor has you really can drive it long distances without needing your feet at all.... which was how I alleviated the thigh bolster issue mentioned above.

5. The HUD is nice, and the BMW remote app works well for GPS albeit with a slight delay - it was very convenient to just look up destinations on my iPhone and then send them to my car.... i then drove without any voice guidance and with the HUD placement had no issues getting anywhere. This included a trip from boston to nyc and back during friday rush hour including some reroutings for traffic and construction.... its also very nice to change radio stations and see who's calling without having to take your eyes off the road - very happy with how this all works

My polarized sunglasses did block out a lot of the HUD but I found that by just rotating my head a little bit I could see the HUD fine, especially on full brightness...

6. It definitely garners attention... those fender flares, fat rear tires, and i have the exhaust valves locked open - any person who would want to speed will want to speed more around your car.... cops notice it, kids wave, but it is kind of an asshole magnet - i had a guy in a nissan murano tailgate me for almost 20 miles -- id sometimes slow down and let him by but then hed get in front of me and go slower than i was before so id get frustrated and blow by and 5mins later hed be on my ass again.....

every STI or EVO will want to race you.... im a pretty young guy in a fast car i assume they think i always want to drive fast.... and thats pretty annoying.

I also had a guy in a 997 Carrera 4 literally cut me off and brake check me - which brings me to my next point

7. The car is fast as F*** - that porsche cut me off, i downshifted from 6-3, heard him downshift also but passed him like it was no problem..... the look on his face was quite priceless. Also had a guy in a "pussymagnet" yellow camaro ss get up my ass on my way home today.... left him behind fairly easily, especially when we took the same highway off ramp (270 degree cambered turn, and i didnt slow down while he had to brake quite aggressively)

8. The wet traction of the MPSS is incredible - on my way back from the Boston nyc boston trip i hit some WICKED storms near syracuse and the car didnt even bat an eye.... not a even a hint or threat of hydroplaning at 80 in what seemed to be pools of water.... the brakes were always confident, the steering was solid , i was seriously very very impressed with how well these tires grip the road.

sorry for the vertical video - my mom made this for me while we were driving.... funny enough TLC - waterfalls was on the satellite radio channel i was on literally as it started pouring on us

[u2b]https://youtu.be/c3YgS-gwka4[/u2b]

heres a picture after i drove through the storm in the video above

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9. Haters gonna hate but im very glad i got the sunroof - for future roof mounting of snowboards/bikes etc as well as just cruising around town at low speeds with the open air feels above you... its awesome in the summer

10. Very very happy i got the 6mt - the clutch is awesome, the shifter is positive and notchy - i have only missed one shift to date and it was on a very aggressive first to second shift where the shifter just fought me a little bit.... it continues to get smoother as i drive it and i wouldnt take this car any other way.

A couple things ive noticed that im not as happy about...these are all very minor though

not a huge deal but you need to press the auto wiper on function everytime it starts raining - i wouldve thought that detecting when it starting raining would be part of the automatic feature of the wipers

another issue with the wipers - cant fold them up with the hood down - not an issue for me yet but in the winter this will be annoying.

it would be nice to have a default audio volume to start - i dont always remember to turn it down when i roll up somewhere so it can surprise me - but this is a lesson im learning quickly.... especially coz the audio system doesnt turn off when you switch off the car it does so when you lock it later

Spotify integration was not working when i first got the car - it is mostly fixed now, but if i get a call while listening to spotify i have to unplug and replug in the phone for it to start working again, and this can be annoying as it defaults back to whatever media is on your phone in the meantime, and you have to reopen the spotify app on the phone and wait for the bmw logo to appear until you can select it again.


All in all - this is my first BMW let alone my first //M and i am so far extremely happy with the car.... every time i park it i look back at it several times like a helicopter parent - its gorgeous, it sounds nasty, it has grip for days and torque for months..... every person ive taken out for a ride in it has said something along the lines of "i didnt know that was possible" "ive never been in a car that put my stomach in the back seat like that" "slow down, slow down, holy shit how are we stopped already..." i could go on but you get the point.... and with that i leave you with some pictures post wash and wax today

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heres one with no processing:

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ps - i took my front plate off for the detail and havent put it back on yet coz the car just looks so mean without it - im gonna get those skene bracket mounts painted black so they are less visible and will reapply some 3m tape as they have a tendency to rotate when not attached to the plate.

[RowanBuds]

Originally Posted by harrisch

.

First - congrats on the car. and a for the mileage too.

Going to hit some of your point #'s for input:

2. Tell the gas capacity gripe to the E9x V8 guys.. it's adequate I think, but I was burning fuel by the truckload in Europe. We'll see what my thoughts are after re-delivery.

4. Totally agree - one of my observations as well re: the incremental speed adjustment.

7. Power is just

8. Once again I had the same impression. I dealt with a lot of rain on the ED and the tires were superb. The brakes confidence inspiring. Altogether a great package, dry or wet. BUT this leads me to the point that I'll now only buy the MPSS for this car - not cheap, but don't skimp on the only part that actually touches the road, amirite?

9. To each his own - make sure you're happy with your car and nobody can take that from you. Good on you.

UNHAPPY LIST:

Wipers - I felt the same, again, regarding the "auto" setting. Stupid me for thinking they would automatically work if the auto setting was engaged. Look in the ipad app owners manual. There is a procedure to get the wipers to stop vertically in their range of motion. From this stop point the wipers can be folded away from the windshield without worrying about the hood.


Car looks great, good choices on the spec. Love the 18's on most colors! And totally prefer the car w/o front plate too - I'm going to end up making recurring donations to NJ Police Depts I think due to it.

Enjoy the car, as you sure have in your first 4K!

Volume retention - Coding can fix this for you.

[wazzza]

I think there is a setting in I drive that lets you reverse the polarity of the HUD so you can see with your glasses on as well.

[Doctor///M]

Awesome! Glad you're enjoying the car to the fullest. Time to take it on the track!!

[dkhm3]

nice write up and wonderful looking car! didn't know about the remote app so thanks for mentioning it!

this won't be your last bmw... I tried to leave for audi, and mb.. but just keep coming back

[TonySCV]

Great write-up!

For the wipers, either right after you shut the car off (or turn the car on, then off again - you don't have to start the engine) push up on the windshield wiper stalk for about 3-5 seconds. The wipers will do one sweep then they will stop in the full vertical position. You can then lift them up off the windshield easily then. Put them down before turning the car back on. When you turn the car back on, push down on the stalk and they'll return to the lowered position.

[OneRib]

Nice write up.

Also a comment on the wipers for the reason I suspect they don't stay on automatic rain sensing and require pushing the button every time it rains. It's to protect BMW from owners who forget and go through auto car washes. Imagine the number of damaged wipers and wiper motors from owners who forget this feature is on. Also potential damage during freezing rain. You turn the car on to heat the windshield and the wipers frozen to the windshield strip the gears or motor when they try and wipe.

I like it the way it is.

[Duder]

Originally Posted by utsavized

I think there is a setting in I drive that lets you reverse the polarity of the HUD so you can see with your glasses on as well.

really??? where???

[Cooltones]

Great Write Up!
Glad to hear that you've had a fun experience with your M.
Here's to many, many more months/years of F-U-N!

[RowanBuds]

Originally Posted by utsavized

I think there is a setting in I drive that lets you reverse the polarity of the HUD so you can see with your glasses on as well.

Please tell me how to do this if you can find it.

[/// M sa]

Originally Posted by RowanBuds

Please tell me how to do this if you can find it.

It doesn't exist

[wazzza]

Originally Posted by RowanBuds

Please tell me how to do this if you can find it.

Sorry, looks like I got confused with an article about reversing speaker polarity Apologize for the false hope.

[SamS]

Originally Posted by RowanBuds

Please tell me how to do this if you can find it.

You can just buy sunglasses with horizontal polarity, instead of vertical polarity. Then you'll see the HUD, perfectly.

OP, nice write up and pics! Car looks mean.

[omgwtfbbqm4]

Originally Posted by harrisch

it would be nice to have a default audio volume to start - i dont always remember to turn it down when i roll up somewhere so it can surprise me - but this is a lesson im learning quickly.... especially coz the audio system doesnt turn off when you switch off the car it does so when you lock it later

Pretty sure this can be coded.

[harrisch]

Originally Posted by RowanBuds

Enjoy the car, as you sure have in your first 4K!

Volume retention - Coding can fix this for you.

thanks for the comments - i was gonna go with 19s but with the potholes in my area decided to stick with 18s and im glad i did ive only been driving a couple days without my front plates and ive def been more careful to not be speeding as a result - i dont think theyll pull me over just for the plates in my area at least... and if they do i have a somewhat decent excuse racked up..... especially if my car is as clean as it is now all the time haha

its kind hard NOT to enjoy the car haha - it literally makes me smile everytime i get into it like - i cant believe this is mine.... ive done a bit of reading about coding but have a mac and im pretty sure you need a windows laptop to do the obd coding yourself - ive gotta do more research in my area to see if theres someone that can do the coding but so far i have only found people that will do tunes not coding.... maybe at some point ill drive my car to NYC as i know there are several shops there that will do some coding.

Originally Posted by Doctor///M

Awesome! Glad you're enjoying the car to the fullest. Time to take it on the track!!

Agreed - i live not too far from watkins glen so after my intern year is complete i will be joining the bmw cca and hopefully getting some actual track time in also!

Originally Posted by TonySCV

Great write-up!

For the wipers, either right after you shut the car off (or turn the car on, then off again - you don't have to start the engine) push up on the windshield wiper stalk for about 3-5 seconds. The wipers will do one sweep then they will stop in the full vertical position. You can then lift them up off the windshield easily then. Put them down before turning the car back on. When you turn the car back on, push down on the stalk and they'll return to the lowered position.

Thanks for that.... weve been getting some pretty wicked storming around this area with flash flood warnings today.... ill play with holding the stalk up next time i drive the car just to get a feel for it.

Originally Posted by OneRib

Nice write up.

Also a comment on the wipers for the reason I suspect they don't stay on automatic rain sensing and require pushing the button every time it rains. It's to protect BMW from owners who forget and go through auto car washes. Imagine the number of damaged wipers and wiper motors from owners who forget this feature is on. Also potential damage during freezing rain. You turn the car on to heat the windshield and the wipers frozen to the windshield strip the gears or motor when they try and wipe.

I like it the way it is.

ahh that definitely makes sense - i personally only use laser washes/hand wash when i can because i dont like the idea of stuff rubbing up against the car, but when i think about winter time that makes even more sense... good thought

Originally Posted by SamS

You can just buy sunglasses with horizontal polarity, instead of vertical polarity. Then you'll see the HUD, perfectly.

OP, nice write up and pics! Car looks mean.

Yeah, this isnt a huge issue coz i can generally still see the HUD and its dim and i really like the sunglasses i have - but i may end up just getting another pair specifically for driving and keep the raybans i have with me separately to wear outside the car.

Originally Posted by omgwtfbbqm4

Pretty sure this can be coded.

I have a lot of things i want to get coded - volume retention is being added to the list

[Needsdecaf]

Great write up!


Now go rotate your HUD counter clockwise a few tics

[yaymitch]

Love your car!! Awesome taste and great write up as well!!

[SPACEMANRICK]

Thanks so much for the review, it is one of the best review that I have read describing how it is to just drive it on regular roads in regular daily situations

[harrisch]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Great write up!


Now go rotate your HUD counter clockwise a few tics

hmm interesting, i know someone mentioned the polarization... i suppose if i were to rotate the hud itself it might actuall reflect off the glass at a slightly different angle and work better with my sunglasses - good thought! will post back after i try it