[Axe77]

I just realised, its Feb 2023 and my odometer still hasn’t crossed the 62k kms mark. It had crossed 60k clicks as far back as end June 2022. The Meridian has clearly been taking the lions share of miles, specially since I had a driver for the better part of this period (I’m again without a driver - another story getting a decent hand in Mumbai) and I really just feel better making the Meridian the chauffeur driven car.

Off late the BMW has seen a bit more running since I’m again self driven mostly but even there it tends to be an even split since I tend to use both cars. Long drives are almost by default in the Jeep, specially since they’re often done by family members using a hired driver or our own driver (when we had one).

Key recent updates:

1. One headlight bulb went bust
One fine day one of my headlight bulbs had gone kaput. Got both bulbs changed (to ensure they look the same visually) from my usual go to FNG instead of BMW authorised.

2. Scraped a compound wall
This happened literally a few weeks later. I was on the phone distracted - a family member had suddenly been taken to the ICU and I was coordinating on call for picking up some relatives and rushing to the hospital. I was in a relative’s building and on a very tight turn scraped the front left rather badly. Had no choice but to repaint the entire bumper - again done at the same friendly FNG.

3. General annual service
While the car had gone for repainting I realised the service was also due. Its a fairly basic service so got that done also at the FNG since the car was already there.

All in all these must have collectively worked out significantly cheaper than if I had visited official BMW A.S.S. All of this is fairly basic work and honestly doesn’t really need an official BMW stamp as long as you have a reliable and trustworthy FNG (which fortunately, I do).

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Its a fairly basic service so got that done also at the FNG since the car was already there.

Which engine oil did your FNG use? I'm asking since your car has a DPF and the right engine oil which does not harm the DPF is not that easy to source. Ideally, your oil should be BMW LL12FE / LL04 compliant. Most FNGs just put some random synthetic engine oil which, forget being BMW approved, is not even meant for vehicles with DPFs. Key requirement is that of low SAPS engine oil. Failure to use low SAPS oil will result in premature DPF clogging & eventual failure.

[tc89]

Originally Posted by Axe77

I just realised, its Feb 2023 and my odometer still hasn’t crossed the 62k kms mark. It had crossed 60k clicks as far back as end June 2022. The Meridian has clearly been taking the lions share of miles, specially since I had a driver for the better part of this period (I’m again without a driver - another story getting a decent hand in Mumbai) and I really just feel better making the Meridian the chauffeur driven car.

Nice!! Could you please share some insights on your experience with this vehicle (if you have done that already, please share a link to that thread)?
If I may, I would be genuinely interested in knowing how have the engine, suspension and other mechanical parts held up, have they stood the test of time. Does the vehicle feel dynamic and fresh (considering the age factor of-course)
What issues (if any) have you faced and how easy was it to get them resolved?
I'm a car newbie and would love to learn from your insights.

Thanks.
Happy and Safe Travels.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Which engine oil did your FNG use? I'm asking since your car has a DPF and the right engine oil which does not harm the DPF is not that easy to source. Ideally, your oil should be BMW LL12FE / LL04 compliant.

Hey sorry I was out of the country and missed replying earlier. I double checked this with Redline Autohaus, which did the service. My understanding is he uses LL04 compliant oil.

Originally Posted by tc89

Nice!! Could you please share some insights on your experience with this vehicle (if you have done that already, please share a link to that thread)?

Thanks. This entire thread is just that buddy. You can start from page 1 which has the initial review and decision making at the time of purchase and from there on, I’ve chronicled most of my ownership experience, travels and what not.

Cheers.

[Axe77]

My last trip to Goa in the Jeep during the 12 - 15 Aug weekend reminded me that I’ve barely taken the 3GT out for some long drives. I had a 3 day trip coming up this weekend with Friday in Pune and Saturday / Sunday in Satara for the half marathon there.

Decided to take the 3 GT this time around. Total trip was a little under 600 kms from Friday to Sunday. Leaving some of the pics I took. Stayed at the rooms in Deccan Gymkhana club while in Pune - it has a lovely old world charm to it.

While in Satara, I got the chance to take a small scenic detour after collecting my race bib. The only other highlight of the trip was some local commuting within Pune on my foldie bike which sits in neatly behind my driver’s seat in the BMW and a fantastic mutton thali meal at the Pune Dehati.

Parked at the Deccan Gymkhana Club.




This ‘vivid warm’ edit seemed apt for the quaint and vintage looking gymkhana building at the back.


The mutton chops thali at Dehati, Pune


Some pics on an internal B highway around Satara.






Ignore the MID FE readout. With tank to tank method, the mileage was about 11 kmpl. That includes some 80 odd km in heavy city traffic (both in Mumbai as well as Pune).

[Axe77]

The 3GT crossed the 65,000 km mark earlier today. Literally nothing extraordinary to report except a random flat tyre I got last Monday. The car remains absolutely tight and I’m more than convinced that I’ll be holding on to her for a good 10-12 years even if it is doing duty more as a second car in these coming years. Of late, it’s been my steed of choice most of the time when I’m at the wheel with the Jeep being predominantly driver driven.

[Petrolhead1209]

Originally Posted by Divyendu Sharma

Hello Axe77 Congratulation for the new car!! It looks stunning in blue!
Regarding rear and side window blinds I think it will be very diffuclt to find an aftermarket solution because of frameless windows.I remeber someone telling me that for the same reason the 5GT rear windows are very darklly tinted

Any reviews on the forum for the 5 GT? I'm looking at picking one up.

[Axe77]

BMW 3GT | 8 years, 10 months and 69,500 kms

Its been far too long since I've posted an update and god knows there's plenty to report. The car crossed the 8 year mark in October 2023 and has undergone its fair share of major maintenance as well as minor issues in the period from December to June.

December 2023 | major maintenance: INR 1.65 lakh (BMW Infinity)

For the first time in the eight years I've owned the car, I had an incident while on a road trip where it left me stranded. This was literally just a few weeks of my buying the GLC and we had planned a Christmas getaway to Anand Sarovar resort at Bhandardara.

Somewhere before Kasara ghat I got the message displayed below. I pulled the car up to a nearby dhaba, parked it under a shed in their parking and called up my local BMW SA. We guessed it was something to do with the pulley and drive belt. Its unfortunate this did not get identified in the last service I did as something that might need replacement but anyway, be that as it may, it had decided to give up at the most inopportune moment.

Called Infinity BMW and they organised a tow vehicle on a paid basis. We had an hour’s journey left and could fortunately complete that in a hired Ertiga that we managed to get from the local village. The same cab also dropped us back to Bombay a few days later.

I used the opportunity to tick off the following while the car was at Infinity. Including the towing charges back to Bombay, my total bill came to around 1.65 lakh.

- Towing (Kasara to Infinity workshop, Turbhe)
- Rear Brakes changed
- Annual Service
- Damper Pulley and drive belt replacement.

The general odometer reading during the December trip when the issue cropped up along with the actual error message that the MID threw up.

Coming to May and June 2024, I had two more back to back jobs that came up, which I now decided to get done with Akshay at Redline Autohaus. The car needed its front suspension (front shocks) replaced which was evident since a few months now. I had also planned to get my gearbox oil changed since the car had crossed 65,000 kms / 8 years. There's enough and more discussion around this despite BMW calling these 'sealed for life' - check out GTO’s 530d thread as well for discussions on this. In addition to the above two planned jobs, there were two additional issues that cropped up in close succession. One was the left door lock that stopped working. The other was the roof liner of the car which had started coming down and had to be fixed (unfortunately I missed taking a picture of the roof lining that was peeling out).

May - June 2024 Redline Autohaus | INR 95k
- Suspension work; front shocks
- Gearbox oil change
- Door lock (left front) not working.
- Roof liner coming out.

All in all the car's taken up a tidy sum of money over the course of this year but a lot of this was understandable wear and tear replacement for an 8 year car, some like gearbox oil was good order maintenance. As of now, I'm still inclined to keep this right up to the 11 - 12 year mark at least and mix up my usage between the GLC and 3GT. Beyond that period I’ll take a call as it comes. Have not thought that far forward yet.

With the suspension work done in particular, the car still feels like a 4 - 5 year old car, nothing worse, and that itself is a huge upside to owning a well engineered BMW.

Enough of the mechanical stuff. Leaving some parting shots from our stay at the Anand Sarovar resort at Bhandardara - would have loved to photograph the 3GT in these lovely surroundings but that was unfortunately not destined at least this time around.

[1.2GT3GT]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Including the towing charges back to Bombay, my total bill came to around 1.65 lakh.
- Towing (Kasara to Infinity workshop, Turbhe)
- Rear Brakes changed
- Annual Service
- Damper Pulley and drive belt replacement.

May - June 2024 Redline Autohaus | INR 95k
- Suspension work; front shocks
- Gearbox oil change
- Door lock (left front) not working.
- Roof liner coming out.

@Axe77, good that you were able to get your 3GT all set.

Would it be possible to provide a rough break up of the 1.65 lakh and the 95k across the line items mentioned above? Thank you.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by 1.2GT3GT

@Axe77, good that you were able to get your 3GT all set.

Would it be possible to provide a rough break up of the 1.65 lakh and the 95k across the line items mentioned above? Thank you.

Hi. Thank you very much.

I really dont have the split off hand and currently traveling through most of this week. I will try to dig this out when I’m back and respond.

Cheers.

[howler]

Originally Posted by Axe77

[center][b]BMW 3GT | 8 years, 10 months and 69,500 kms


With the suspension work done in particular, the car still feels like a 4 - 5 year old car, nothing worse, and that itself is a huge upside to owning a well engineered BMW.
r]

For a low run 8 year old ( <10k km per year) do you really feel the work done on the car is what you expect from a car with good - engineering? Honest question; since ‘lesser’ brands would do the same mileage without these maintenance issues provided they are taken care off. From your thread it does look like you take good car of your BMW and stick to the proper maintenance schedules.
I personally don’t think the German three are ‘well engineered’ anymore. Aspirational , great to drive and offering a perception of high quality/ luxury- probably yes.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by howler

For a low run 8 year old ( <10k km per year) do you really feel the work done on the car is what you expect from a car with good - engineering? Honest question; since ‘lesser’ brands would do the same mileage without these maintenance issues provided they are taken care off. From your thread it does look like you take good car of your BMW and stick to the proper maintenance schedules.
I personally don’t think the German three are ‘well engineered’ anymore. Aspirational , great to drive and offering a perception of high quality/ luxury- probably yes.

I do think the car still feels solidly built and I’m not sure if certain other brands with 8.5 - 9 years and 65 - 70k clicks under their belt would feel as well put together at this age mark. Whether these parts require change earlier than ‘lesser brands’ (as you put it), I’m not sure. People with ready perspective on this can comment. What I can say is that the car even at this age still feels pretty solid and is also reliable.

The timing belt issue should ideally have been identified and addressed in the prior scheduled service. I am told it is quite normal for cars of that age and SAs generally check and bring this up in preventive maintenance. Had this been done, it would not have caught me unawares in the way it did.

I guess each to their own to prioritize what they value and look forward to in their car. My Jeep was lovely in its own right. But it did not provide the same driving pleasure that either the 3GT or the GLC gives. In fact, the BMW always felt better put together as well than the Jeep. Similarly, I may still buy a Hycross or Camry in the foreseeable future but I’ll be pretty clear on what it delivers and what it doesn’t. If picked, it will be for some of the Toyota attributes for sure and knowing it lacks some things that the Germans provide in spades.

[Sumer]

Waa it just a transmission oil change or flush?