The Compensator

Thank you very much. :) Took me 1,5 hours to write it. :fp: Well, I think that this is somehow typical for modern BMWs. The cabin plastics may be good, but the build is not. I agree with you that the car suffer from big bumps and bangs to the suspension parts and the body which results in creaking and rattling after several months and years of dailying it. I have never sat in an Audi, so can't tell but in tests their interiors are always praised in terms of feel and build quality. I really love the new A3-A8 interiors, they look amazing. Minimalistic and modern. Runflats totally ruin the comfort. The OE Potenzas we have had since the car was bought need to go next year and we will be changing them for standard tires (and hopefully to 18" wheels). I bet it will be as good as the F30. Suspension in older Bimmers of pre-RFT era used to be firm, yet refined and very well dampened - the right balance between soft and hard settings. Imagine that they have just installed much harder and heavier tires on to those cars. Bang, boom, rattle, eff you Munich. With people complaining about the crashy ride, BMW was forced to soften the suspension over the years. They got more comfortable, but when cornering the cars are too soft and floaty (that's exactly what my dad said about a 116i he has driven). Rattles, creaks. We have got a lot of them. Panorama roof, front seats, windows, plastics in the trunk and armrest. Oh, and plastic coating on the steering is peeling off. Surprisingly, the rattling (expect front seats) got better this year and I don't know why. :oook: There are so many options to choose from. The difference between a car without any adaptive poop and a car with adaptive drive and variable steering is like day and night. A 3 Series or a 5 Series with passive M suspension and non-RFT tires might be the best compromise... If you want to see how well BMW makes interiors, try the X1. It's horrible.

I'm downloading it right now.

Yup, those are awesome.

My sister and her boyfriend have loaned a 320d xDrive (M package, adaptive dampers and steering, 19" runflats) for a few months and as we were celebrating my birthday last Sunday they came here of course. I was pretty curious how does the new F30 compare to our E91 LCI. I only had a 15 minute ride in it in the passenger seat (don't have a license) through the town, so I can't tell you how does the car behave on the limit, but what I can tell you is that it is definitely more comfortable than our E91 w/ M Sport suspension and 17" RFT tires. The ride is still firm, which is good as it is a BMW, but when the wheels hit one of the billion potholes on the Czech roads you don't hear and feel any huge bangs to the car at all. Obviously you feel the pothole, the car 'sinks' a little bit, but it is like 60 % more refined and softer in the good way. This stands for the comfort setting and normal commuting in the city. I heard some owners saying that it is too soft in comfort setting and too harsh in sport and sport+ modes... I suspect that if we install some nice and light 18" wheels and non-RFT tires and better shocks it will be as comfortable as the F30 on 19's but better in corners etc.. What I also liked about the new F30 was the engine. As you probably know I'm not a fan of the N47 diesel engine in our car due to the noise. However, it feels (and sounds) that BMW has improved the motor over the years because the new 3er was less noisy on idle. The ZF8HP slushbox felt pretty damn good, but that is widely known across the owners and journalists. I've had the chance to be in a 5 Series Touring (1500 km trip) and in an X1 that had that 8 speed gearbox. Moving to the interior: As it was equipped with the M Sport package, it had those amazing sport seats covered in Alcantara/cloth combination. We have those in the E91 too, I love them, but, and this surprised me, they were wider! I have no clue why they widened them, maybe ze Germans are fatter and fatter? They still are awesome though, a must-have option. The F30 has a longer wheelbase and this allowed to have a bigger space in the rear. I set the driver's seat to my likings and moved to the rear seat. I didn't measure it, but I felt I don't need more space. Not much less, not more. I'm 186,5 cm tall. The E91 is smaller inside (and outside), however it is still good. Journalists complaining about the space, shut up. It does not need to be any larger. If I was stupid and someone told me the F30 was actually a 5 Series, and next to it there was an E90, I'd trust him. Overall, the interior and dashboard was nice. Still not sure about the standing iDrive screen, I prefer the old layout that everyone seems to hate except me. The cluster instrument with optional extended displays (standard for Navigation Professional) looked awesome. Finally, BMW decided put an oil temperature gauge after years of people complaing about the lack of it (it is funny that six cylinder E9x models had it, also pre-LCI 130i but not the LCI models...) More on the interior below. So, above there are basically things I liked. Is there anything I did not like? Yes, yes and yes. 1) Exhaust tailpipe. The single pipe one that 316's, 318's and 320's have looks completely out, cheap and doesn't suit the car at all. Needs at least the 328/330 tailpipe, or M Performance or aftermarket. 2) Wipers. Not that they weren't doing what they are supposed to do, but the wiper arms are half the thinner. Ridiculous cost-cutting at its best. 3) Interior. As I said above, the cabin felt nicely done, the quality of the plastic fitment seemed to be a little bit better than in the E91. Though some not so premium plastics remain. There were two thing that caught my eye: the armrest no longer has a button that opens it (you have to literally pluck it) and the boot carpet... Maybe the sedans have some sort of cheaper boot carpet than wagons, but it's much much worse than in our Touring. I need to check out the F31's trunk next time I'm at BMW. Cost-cutting again. 4) Old 3 Series' had two little plastic pieces with a grill on both sides in the engine bay which pick dirt and leaves and other garbage that falls on the car. I always take them and clean them when cleaning the car. The F30 does not have those, instead of them there is... nothing. 4) The last thing, not that bad however, is the lack of rubber trim on the upper side of the windscreen. Right above the windscreen there is nothing and finally few millimetres there is roof ridge. A lot of bugs were right there and I think it's going to be hit by grit. Not good for the paint. So the question is, what generation I prefer? Old or new? It's not an easy decision I have to say... If I had to decide right now, I'd stick to the old one. -- OLD IMAGE REMOVED (imageshack) -- -- OLD IMAGE REMOVED (imageshack) -- I hope you enjoyed this horribly long essay full of grammar mistakes. I don't know why I decided to write such a long post. P.S.: If everything goes well, we'll have an opportunity to try an F31 335i in late August.

Guy has balls. And no ears anymore.

I've read the article and watched the vid. This moron is so funny that it makes me sad. "I've been to many countries like Tenessee or Carolina and a lot of people there enjoy cars. I guess it's traditional or something". Hmmm, I prefer buying new eyebrows than cars. The effff. :fp3: :fp3:

To be honest, I post something and run away. :run:

Work Meisters.

NO to your PS skills and NO for the wheels but hey, it's your car... :cheeky:

Installed the free camera mod and a few cars. I know, my graphics sucks.

Ah, I see. Took me a while to read through 40 pages.

Is Pink one of the few members that has created a welcome thread and is actually still active? Nice thread bump, Ryan. You know we don't like this here. :evil:

'Tis close.

Hiyoooo! Happy Birthday, lovely Dutchman! I wish you all the best!! :cheers:

Keep the vert as a summer car and the V8 as an all-round ride. ;)

So clean. :drool:

I'd like to own this type of shop. I think this is the type of service/shop that is missing in the Czech Republic. There is no even a distributor for most of the parts that are on the cars in the photo above. My car shop and service would be called "The Apu's Fahrzeug Service".

Haha, that's true old Nokias are unbreakable. I've had in my life two 5510's (dat antenna), 3410, 6310, 6230i and I regret not getting a 6220 classic. I don't know why I decided to not get it. I even gave the money to my sister to buy it in Prague. That has unfortunately never happened and after several months the 6230i has stopped working so I had to get a new phone immediately - SE C510. I don't know what happened, but after two years it just died. Fortunately, last winter sister upgraded to a Lumia 900 so she was able to give me her old E66. That's what I have now and I'm absolutely loving it. It's got everything that today's mobile phones have - wifi, not-working GPS, Opera Mini, Quickoffice, zip manager, Sports Tracker and that wireless printing thing. The only problem is that there's no battery life at all and the camera isn't the best out there. It's not that I wouldn't like to have one of those fancy smartphones, parents don't want to me to buy one and I'll never have the money for it until I start working in few years. P.S.: Dad had a 6310i for 7 years with the original battery and it's still working properly. He has a 6500c now.

What car are the physics made for? M135i F20/F21, 135i E82 or 1 Series M Coupe E82? "135i M Coupe" does not exist.

:fp:.

:wise:

Ok. Good thing is me and my mom think that the E82 looks bad in Space Grey. Bad thing is my dad loves the color. So we just need to convince him into something better. :p