[johnnj]

I'll have had my new 40M 2 weeks this coming Saturday. It's blue with the black interior with blue stitching.

So far I love it. I'm coming from a 435 Gran Coupe with the M package and adaptive suspension.

The X3 has premium/executive and the adaptive suspension plus 20" rims. I REALLY didn't want the bigger rims because frankly the roads suck in NJ and I didn't really want to get another set of wheels/tires for the winter. The only ones around with adaptive in a color combo I'd be ok with had the bigger rims, though. I've been keenly following the 3rd party wheel thread on here and will likely get a set of 19s with the factory all season Bridgestones that look vaguely similar to the factory 20 rims.

This past weekend I was able for the first time to really let it stretch out when I went out to the Poconos to visit my mom. There's a windy back road I take that luckily no one was in front of me for the whole way. I was surprised at how well an SUV stuck to the road in cornering and going and down dips in the road. I loved how with spirited driving the burps and farts out back became crisp SNAPS.

This past weekend I also enlisted the able help of Almaretto for some option coding. Nothing fancy, just remove the disclaimer/welcome bongs and enable the variable/antiglare headlights. Also have long press tailgate and close tailgate from the key. Highly recommend his services!

Few things about that are annoying:
1. No lighter port in the passenger foot well. This was kind of a drag as all the BMW I can remember have had one and I've gotten used to powering my V1 off of it plus an HT ham radio I mount in the cup holder. Instead I ran an extension from the rear console to the (small) glove box and put a splitter and the other wiring in there.

2. You have to choose between having the odometer/trip meter and the gas consumption "fun" gauge. I don't see why I have to choose between them when there's plenty of screen real estate to fit the odometer/trip as an always on field. Just get rid of the M40 log! Seriously.. I don't need to be reminded what car I'm driving every time I look down at the instrument cluster.

3. I don't get the appeal of Apple Carplay. To me it keeps popping up when I don't want it and isn't there when I do want it. When it's connected to the phone the phone itself doesn't run right. I was trying to use Waze and it wouldn't accept any screen input and it seemed to be stuck in voice input mode or something. Then it seemed like every time I turned the car on it would start playing music from the Music app.

The Bluetooth audio interface also seemed MUCH slower than on my last car. Switching songs would take about 15 seconds between tracks. Instead I disabled Carplay and BT audio and converted all my ALAC files to FLAC and put them on a 256GB Sandisk flash drive of the type that's the size of a thumbnail. It's basically flush with the USB port on the console and plays everything fast, plus has the added advantage of not having the BT audio compression. Works even better than when I used to use an actual iPod for the transport.

Maybe Carplay will be better under iOS 12 but for now to me it's better turned off.

4. The steering wheel. While it's not a bad wheel and I can definitely live with it, my last 4 cars had the M package so had M wheel. This one is the first one I've ever had that has an "M" in the model number and the first of the 4 to have a normal wheel.

Here are some gratuitous pics of the same car we all have:

John

[Ragnarkov]

Every time I see a picture of it real world, it just looks so good (as opposed to marketing or review images).

And I love those rims. It's what I optioned with my 30i, and I couldn't be happier.

What's the shiny thing upper left of your dash?

Oh, and grats on the car. I think there are very few people who aren't happy with their purchase

[johnnj]

Originally Posted by Ragnarkov

Every time I see a picture of it real world, it just looks so good (as opposed to marketing or review images).

And I love those rims. It's what I optioned with my 30i, and I couldn't be happier.

What's the shiny thing upper left of your dash?

Oh, and grats on the car. I think there are very few people who aren't happy with their purchase

Thanks!

It's a blind spot mirror. http://www.autobahnmirror.com/
I've been using the same one since my first BMW in 2001. Just take it off and put a new adhesive disk on it. I'm so used to having it that whenever I drive a new one home I'm like rainman looking in the side view a million times at different angles before I change lanes.

[TxHornX3M40iGuy]

Originally Posted by johnnj

I'll have had my new 40M 2 weeks this coming Saturday. It's blue with the black interior with blue stitching.

So far I love it. I'm coming from a 435 Gran Coupe with the M package and adaptive suspension.

The X3 has premium/executive and the adaptive suspension plus 20" rims. I REALLY didn't want the bigger rims because frankly the roads suck in NJ and I didn't really want to get another set of wheels/tires for the winter. The only ones around with adaptive in a color combo I'd be ok with had the bigger rims, though. I've been keenly following the 3rd party wheel thread on here and will likely get a set of 19s with the factory all season Bridgestones that look vaguely similar to the factory 20 rims.

This past weekend I was able for the first time to really let it stretch out when I went out to the Poconos to visit my mom. There's a windy back road I take that luckily no one was in front of me for the whole way. I was surprised at how well an SUV stuck to the road in cornering and going and down dips in the road. I loved how with spirited driving the burps and farts out back became crisp SNAPS.

This past weekend I also enlisted the able help of Almaretto for some option coding. Nothing fancy, just remove the disclaimer/welcome bongs and enable the variable/antiglare headlights. Also have long press tailgate and close tailgate from the key. Highly recommend his services!

Few things about that are annoying:
1. No lighter port in the passenger foot well. This was kind of a drag as all the BMW I can remember have had one and I've gotten used to powering my V1 off of it plus an HT ham radio I mount in the cup holder. Instead I ran an extension from the rear console to the (small) glove box and put a splitter and the other wiring in there.

2. You have to choose between having the odometer/trip meter and the gas consumption "fun" gauge. I don't see why I have to choose between them when there's plenty of screen real estate to fit the odometer/trip as an always on field. Just get rid of the M40 log! Seriously.. I don't need to be reminded what car I'm driving every time I look down at the instrument cluster.

3. I don't get the appeal of Apple Carplay. To me it keeps popping up when I don't want it and isn't there when I do want it. When it's connected to the phone the phone itself doesn't run right. I was trying to use Waze and it wouldn't accept any screen input and it seemed to be stuck in voice input mode or something. Then it seemed like every time I turned the car on it would start playing music from the Music app.

The Bluetooth audio interface also seemed MUCH slower than on my last car. Switching songs would take about 15 seconds between tracks. Instead I disabled Carplay and BT audio and converted all my ALAC files to FLAC and put them on a 256GB Sandisk flash drive of the type that's the size of a thumbnail. It's basically flush with the USB port on the console and plays everything fast, plus has the added advantage of not having the BT audio compression. Works even better than when I used to use an actual iPod for the transport.

Maybe Carplay will be better under iOS 12 but for now to me it's better turned off.

4. The steering wheel. While it's not a bad wheel and I can definitely live with it, my last 4 cars had the M package so had M wheel. This one is the first one I've ever had that has an "M" in the model number and the first of the 4 to have a normal wheel.

Here are some gratuitous pics of the same car we all have:

John

Congrats! You let them drill the license plate frame into the front bumper? brave.

[johnnj]

Originally Posted by TxHornX3M40iGuy

Congrats! You let them drill the license plate frame into the front bumper? brave.

Nah, I did it myself so I could mount my EZpass tag. Would have been nice if they gave me the screws with the bracket, though.

[Ragnarkov]

Originally Posted by TxHornX3M40iGuy

Congrats! You let them drill the license plate frame into the front bumper? brave.

I'm amazed at how many dealers just do this without asking. I was fine with it, but I know many who aren't.

[DigiSage]

Originally Posted by TxHornX3M40iGuy

Congrats! You let them drill the license plate frame into the front bumper? brave.

I did too. I was initially worried, but turned out to be a non-issue, and one less thing to worry about a cop pulling me over for.

[johnnj]

Originally Posted by DigiSage

I did too. I was initially worried, but turned out to be a non-issue, and one less thing to worry about a cop pulling me over for.

Yeah, the tabs on the bracket only really let you put it in the right spot.
Evidently my dealer makes people sign a waiver to not put the front plate on because some jackass sued them because he got tickets without it and blamed them.

I usually have them put it on before I pick it up but for some reason they ignored that request this time. I didn't want to be waving around my external EZpass every time I went through a toll so I put it on myself before the plates came.

[tenflyer]

I have what is going to be a really stupid question. But my EZpass is mounted on my windshield, inside, at the top and to the right of the rear view mirror. Works like a charm. What are you mounting outside that is different?

[johnnj]

Originally Posted by tenflyer

I have what is going to be a really stupid question. But my EZpass is mounted on my windshield, inside, at the top and to the right of the rear view mirror. Works like a charm. What are you mounting outside that is different?

On the pic of the front of the car, do you see the black rectangular thing at the top of the license plate bracket? That's an external EZpass tag.

They make them for cars with the metal foil on the windshield which blocks RF, but I like using it because those little suction cup holders always fall off for me and and the 3M locking adhesive stuff is a bitch to get off.

[Jayf30]

Congrats!

So soon with the front plates! But I get it, some places are a lot more strict than others.

I've had mine for 3 weeks now and no front plates and dealer paper plate in the rear and I had a meter maid circling my car 3 or 4 times yesterday trying to cite me

I saw him radio for a tow truck so I hit unlock on the fob and went down there to move it and surprisingly he didn't give me any problems.

[carbon80]

Looking great! I keep going to change my mind about the blue which i have ordered to black. But it looks so nice in blue!!

I feel sorry for you American guys with tha steering wheel in fairness

[BMWGuySweden]

Originally Posted by carbon80

Looking great! I keep going to change my mind about the blue which i have ordered to black. But it looks so nice in blue!!

I feel sorry for you American guys with tha steering wheel in fairness

I feel sorry for us Europeans paying 50% more for the vehicle

[titomi]

Originally Posted by BMWGuySweden

I feel sorry for us Europeans paying 50% more for the vehicle

Exactly!

[carbon80]

Originally Posted by BMWGuySweden

I feel sorry for us Europeans paying 50% more for the vehicle

HAHAHA. OK, Fair point well made

[swestland85]

Originally Posted by BMWGuySweden

I feel sorry for us Europeans paying 50% more for the vehicle

I feel sorry for us from Holland, paying 65% more than Sweden, and 130% more than US
US M40i (base price) = 46.791 Euro = $54,500
Sweden M40i (base price) = 65.000 Euro = 645.000 SEK
Holland M40i (base price) = 108.000 Euro = $126,000

[Zembla]

Originally Posted by swestland85

I feel sorry for us from Holland, paying 65% more than Sweden, and 130% more than US
US M40i (base price) = 46.791 Euro = $54,500
Sweden M40i (base price) = 65.000 Euro = 645.000 SEK
Holland M40i (base price) = 108.000 Euro = $126,000

Very much this :S I'll drive a car with a cardboard steering wheel if it somehow puts me in the US price ranges. Or, for that matter, the US delivery times. I'm into week 19, still no car.

[carbon80]

Originally Posted by swestland85

I feel sorry for us from Holland, paying 65% more than Sweden, and 130% more than US
US M40i (base price) = 46.791 Euro = $54,500
Sweden M40i (base price) = 65.000 Euro = 645.000 SEK
Holland M40i (base price) = 108.000 Euro = $126,000

$108'000 WOW thats unbelieveble!

[ac328]

Does your car trigger the X band on your V1?

[johnnj]

Originally Posted by ac328

Does your car trigger the X band on your V1?

Nope, just laser. I turned it off on the V1.

[johnnj]

I can no unfortunately add this pic to the collection.

See tailgate gremlin thread....

Just got an estimate to fix it: $550.

[nogren]

Originally Posted by swestland85

I feel sorry for us from Holland, paying 65% more than Sweden, and 130% more than US
US M40i (base price) = 46.791 Euro = $54,500
Sweden M40i (base price) = 65.000 Euro = 645.000 SEK
Holland M40i (base price) = 108.000 Euro = $126,000

Have you compared the standard options between M40i on these different markets? It looks like it differs a bit .. But of course not covering the whole gap.

/n