[AFineMan]

Greetings All

Drove up to the White Mountain range to day to visit one of my mentors from YEARS ago. it had been a while since I've seen him and it was a great excuse to take a long drive, OOHH and did I mention he owns one of the mountains and lives atop it. Well this post is about the car not my eclectic friend (Too bad, because he is a unique person who has had an interesting life).

We are all having a LOVE fest with our new cars and I too am in this group yet, there are some things I did notice.

Road noise, it is greater than I would like, this may be a result of the stock run flat tires, I find this a tad annoying.

I'll try my best to explain the next thing, hope it makes sense. Wind shield, water seems to stick to it, It was snowing on the ride home, as we got to lower elevations it turned to rain. As I followed behind other cars the spray was hitting the wind shield and seemed to just stick there obscuring my view. I had to put the wiper on high speed for what (in other cars) would of been low speed or even delayed wipers. a coating of Rain X will fix this, I just find this odd.

MPG, I was in ECO Pro for the ride with the cruse control set to 70 and only got in the low 20s, as the car breaks in this may change but I did notice this.

All that aside it was a great ride, I put 5 hours of music on a USB stick and it worked great. Wife slept like a baby (I don't take her out for a cruse, I take her out for a nap). Seats were comfortable, temp control was great, and except for the road noise the car was very quiet. Blind spots are not that bad, Wife is already planning a drive to FL next Xmas holiday.

There is 1 thing I REALLY don't like No dip sticks to check oil levels (motor oil or transmission oil), I change my own oil and do that frequently and to be honest it gives me the Heebie-jeebies thinking about changing oil and not being able to verify the level .

And to close 1 picture as we drove through Franconia Notch

Have FUN all

AFM

[ellincali]

Originally Posted by AFineMan

Yep the above link is of the wife driving for the first time.

You got to love the facial expressions

Fahrvergnügen!!

[ellincali]

AFM--you haven't mentioned blind spots with the top up. Are they as you expected? Better/worse? Since you've had other convertibles maybe you're accustomed to them. Other than renting convertibles on vacation, this will be my first and it seems to be a point mentioned by others, but I get the impression they are comparing them to the coupe, not to other soft top convertibles.

[AFineMan]

elincali

First off, hope your father is doing well

Blind spots are not that bad, the only spot that I really noticed is when you look over you right shoulder. The area between the rear window and the rear passenger window is a dead spot, but in comparison to my other convertibles this is not bad.

This being a 4 seater puts that dead spot further back than it would be on a 2 seater. I took special note yesterday while on the long drive to see if any cars on my right or left could go unseen mirrors/looking over shoulder. I could always see every car via the mirrors and I always do the over the shoulder look before changing lanes (taught this as a teenager).

So @ 350 miles of experience I can say the blind spots are not that bad.

AFM

[steve@codemybimmer]

Wow congrats!

Mine on the assembly line now and I'm expecting it to arrive in early May. Since you took the xDrive model, are you planning to drive this all year long? I sure am.

[AFineMan]

Aritaurus

Yes, this will be my year round daily driver. The last year I had my Z3 I drove the entire year (Super mild winter with very little snow) and really enjoyed it. So I knew my next convertible had the able to handle the snow, that's how I ended up here.

AFM

[blitzjb]

Beautiful.. Mine is waiting to get on a boat.

[ellincali]

Originally Posted by AFineMan

elincali

First off, hope your father is doing well

Blind spots are not that bad, the only spot that I really noticed is when you look over you right shoulder. The area between the rear window and the rear passenger window is a dead spot, but in comparison to my other convertibles this is not bad.

This being a 4 seater puts that dead spot further back than it would be on a 2 seater. I took special note yesterday while on the long drive to see if any cars on my right or left could go unseen mirrors/looking over shoulder. I could always see every car via the mirrors and I always do the over the shoulder look before changing lanes (taught this as a teenager).

So @ 350 miles of experience I can say the blind spots are not that bad.

AFM

Thanks for the kind words about my Dad.

Really good to hear about the blind spots--it was probably my biggest concern about a convertible because this will be my year-round car, too, so the top won't be down ALL of the time.

I never rely solely on my mirrors, either--or even on my backup camera, for that matter. Old habits die hard.

I'm looking forward to experiencing all this firsthand this weekend, hopefully.

[AFineMan]

I can confirm this does works, a wireless OBD reader and a vintage tablet in my car.

The OBD reader is about $15 from Amazon and the tablet (to buy today)~$20 (you don't need a fast on but it should be bright with a good picture).

I just started to play with this, there are many different themes (gauge style and color). the 7 inch tablet I'll be placing above the cup holders (nice spot for it, I can also use the 12 volt receptacle behind it to power the tablet).

The thread that gives more detail/options on doing this http://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1083154

To close a few pictures, AFM

[Kiwi]

Why even need this information as a convertible is for fun cruising driving. The whole idea for owning a convertible is have the roof open, radio off and enjoy the out doors.

[Supernaut]

Sounds like a cool and meaningful road trip. Great color combo on the car and roof, BTW!

[AFineMan]

Kiwi


You are 110% correct, you don’t buy a convertible in the color combos I picked and equipped the way I did with the plan of heading off to the track. This car is meant for the beaches and mountains of the north east via the back roads with the top down. Nor do you buy this car with the expectation of doing any hyper mile-ing .

I just came across the Wi-Fi OBD reader for $15 and already had the older tablet in a draw and figured, for $15 I can see if it works on the 2015 F22 (I do have other cars that I can use this on) and it does. During my wait (the painful 3 months) I bought a bunch of stuff to play with once the car arrived, this was one of the first things I played with and I got a chuckle that it actually worked.

The post was more for those who ordered a more track orientated car than I did and to show a low cost option of getting this data.

AFM

[AFineMan]

Greeting All

Well it has been 1 week of ownership (532 MILES), there are things I love about the car and there are thingsI would change. I don't want to nit pick, so I won't.

Where this is a summary of my reasoning for buying this car and the journey let me start out with a little story.

8/14 I had to drive to Beverly Ma. via 128 (a road) for business reasons, I was driving my 2006 Gray Market Smart Car (a 4-2 brought in from Europe). Once I hit 128 north I had flash backs of me and my wife driving to Gloucester Ma in the Z and how much we enjoyed the ride with the top down.

At that moment I realised we needed another convertible, at that time I thought the 3 series (with the hard top convertible) was the car I wanted .

We hit 3 dealers (that weekend) Tully BMW in Manchester NH, BMW of Stratham of NH and Herb Chambers BMW of Boston Ma. We drove Lots of cars and in the end was bummed (nothing excited us). we gave up (at that time).

The thought of another BMW convertible was gnawing at me so I started to do some serious research (this was when I realised, the 3 series is no longer a convertible, the 4 series was too much for us, so I had to look at the new 2 series).

I came to decide what ever I buy had to be the daily driver and also had to be a convertible capable of handling a NH winter. I was between the Audi (AWD) or the NEW 2 series convertible X drive , being a BMW guy, the 2 series was my selection.

So I decided in December it was time (after months of comparing these cars, going back and forth) so I hit the web. I configured the 2er the way I wanted and hit the "GET QUOTE" for the above 3 dealers.

Tully was the ONLY dealer who actually came back with a true quote , the other 2 responded with dialogue (I wanted a quote, not to chat) This was why I ended up buying from Tully (if I ask for a quote, give me a quote).

What I didn't know at that time was the 2vert with X-drive was new and I would have to order it and wait, so I did.

Once I placed the order, I started posting here (so I won't repeat).

To summarize the ordering process, singed the paperwork 12/13 got production # 1/3, went into production 1/27. finished production 2/5, got to port 2/11, got on the ship 2/18, got to port (NY) 3/8, got to dealer 3/12, go to me 3,13.

So yes I took the car on Friday the 13th in the 3rd month, exactly 3 month after I ordered it on 12 /13, I played the 3 variant in various lottos, NO LUCK.

I don't want to go so I will post my installation of me Dash Cam on the appropriate thread.

Fun Driving All



AFM

[Alpine F31]

Originally Posted by AFineMan

So yes I took the car on Friday the 13th in the 3rd month, exactly 3 month after I ordered it on 12 /13, I played the 3 variant in various lottos, NO LUCK.

Classic! This is a great story to tell your grandkids. Congrats on the new car.

[AFineMan]

Greetings all

I know the picture I am posting is blasphemy(2 week old vert with road crap on it), but I chose this to be my daily driver, so the sooner I get it craped up the better .

Besides the picture I've posted a video (this video is moments after I took the picture). the video did NOT convert well (60% better on my computer, with greater detail), but it gives you the idea that the winter bitch is not done with NH just yet.

OOHH the cam died 2 hours after this video, it was returned and fried my SD card. So I won't be recommending this camera (not that I have).

Regardless, the video kind a shows how awesome this ride was (look to the left and right of the video), sorry for the lower quality.

The link

AFM

[AFineMan]

Greetings All

Today marks the 4 year anniversary (almost to the hour)of me picking up this car, it has been my daily driver in all weather conditions and has never failed me.

Only 1 person has ever used the rear seat, it was me when letting friends drive, not very comfortable for a full grown man, but I didn't expect to have to use the rear seating anyways. The white interior is just as clean as the day I bought it, it is really easy to keep clean. The car has 1 little bit of damage, a 1/4 dia hole in the front bumper (while parking a long lag bolt was sticking out of a post, this punched a hole just below the grill). the top is still in new condition.

Replaced the run flat tires @ 19K, they not very good, lots of road noise and rough ride. since replacing the tires it has been a dream (more so) to drive. Had only 1 thing needing fixing during the warranty period, the light sockets for the tail lights had what BMW called a "Thermal Event" so they changed all the light sockets.

The heated seats and wheel are used daily during the winters and are GREAT .

So to summarize (I could make this a book but I'll refrain) this is a GREAT car for me and my daily driving needs. I love being able to have the top go down as I'm driving down my driveway. I have over 33K on the clock and 4 year average MPG is 28.

And finally the one thing that really surprised me was the first time I put it in Sport Mode and stomped on it, the noise coming out of the blast gate when changing gears was a surprise yet cool sounding at the same time. OH and the shocker was, no dip stick for the oil.


Happy driving All

AFM