[AnInternetUser]

The ML is just too big and I am not sure I want to attract that kind of attention. The X3 that way is quite obscure. Besides I was already on a stretched budget. The ML 350 would have easily costed 8 to 10 Lakhs more.

My God! Didn't know the ML was that expensive :O Judging by the sheer price gap, I would have taken the BMW, too! Would love to see updates after you have spent some time with the car. I hope we see a long term ownership review Congrats again.

[zombiedriver]

Congratulations on the new car. It truly is an engineering genius when you compare it with its direct rivals in the driving department. And I think for your requirements there is definitely not a better choice of car in the Indian car market.

Regarding your purchase experience with Navnit, Nothing new.. It has always been like that and be prepared to have an equally bad after sales experience too. Only plus point being if you raise a complaint directly to BMW India they are quick to respond.

Happy Motoring!!

[kkkkkaran]

Originally Posted by AnInternetUser

My God! Didn't know the ML was that expensive :O Judging by the sheer price gap, I would have taken the BMW, too! Would love to see updates after you have spent some time with the car. I hope we see a long term ownership review Congrats again.

The ML/GLE is a segment and size bigger than the X3. It is the GLC which would compete against the X3.

Santosh sir, wishing you many many happy miles with the beauty.

[deetjohn]

Congratulations once again Santosh. It's quite a brilliant machine. Glad you got one of best engines Bavaria makes, they are celebrating a 100 years in automotive excellence in 2016.

And a stellar review too, thanks for sharing with us. Answered all my questions. Now I know why you ditched the excellent 530.

I love the understated all black cabin more than the exterior of the X3. Love those seats. Leather + fabric makes it just perfect for high humidity regions.

HUD not working with polarised sunglasses is a big bummer, I cannot drive without them at all.

Is there an option to retain white lighting at night too? I am not a fan of amber lighting.

Have fun and wish you a lot of safe happy miles ahead.

[Guna]

Congrats Santoshbhat on such dream buy! I am curious to know how it fares when you take it to Sirsi and engage in some mild off/soft-roading

[avira_tk]

Congrats on getting a great engine in a practical package. You should complete the look by getting the steering wheel that Akshay has on his ride. It should be plug and play.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Thanks man! I can't believe that within 3 weeks of speaking with you, the car was home. It was a stressful 2 week period I tell you. And this car was in stock with them in Bangalore it seems. The sales guys insist this wasn't brought here from Navnit Mumbai.

The spec sheet on the website says iDrive with 25.9 cm screen. Will check with a ruler and update. Its really a lottery with features on these cars. Dealerships are clueless on what is coming with car and what is not. I was hoping the spec sheet on the website was accurate!

It was definitely from Mumbai, since the car standing in the showroom here disappeared just a few days before you got delivery.

I think that might be a mistake, because its definitely the same 8.8" screen. The screen itself seems to be newer, showing better blacks and also a bit more clear.

BTW forgot to mention. As for the hud with your polarized sunglasses, there is a setting called angle or something. Try adjusting that and the hud may be visible then.

[Lakshman1645]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Engine and Gear box performance :

Attachment 1475691

I don’t know whether by ‘Sport’ they mean AT with paddles or the GB shift patterns are also different. !

The 'Sport' term means you have Launch Control

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Lakshman1645

The 'Sport' term means you have Launch Control

The sport term means a lot more. Launch control is just one of the added functions of sport automatic transmission. Also nowadays, paddles only seem to come in vehicles with sport automatic.

[The Dude]

Beautiful machine you got the sir! Kudos to you for getting the M-Sport variant. An uncle of mine bought the lowest variant saying it was VFM and he didn't need the extra power.

Anyways, Many many congratulations on the car and I am wishing you and you're family thousands and thousands of happy and safe miles.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by kkkkkaran

The ML/GLE is a segment and size bigger than the X3. It is the GLC which would compete against the X3.

Santosh sir, wishing you many many happy miles with the beauty.

The ML 250 actually used to overlap with the X3 30d in price. The ML 350 of course is more expensive.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Congratulations once again Santosh. It's quite a brilliant machine. Glad you got one of best engines Bavaria makes, they are celebrating a 100 years in automotive excellence in 2016.

And a stellar review too, thanks for sharing with us. Answered all my questions. Now I know why you ditched the excellent 530.

I love the understated all black cabin more than the exterior of the X3. Love those seats. Leather + fabric makes it just perfect for high humidity regions.

Thanks Deepak!

I am slowly falling in love with the interiors too. I played a DVD for first time today, a concert DVD with DTS encoded sound. Sat in the back with remote in hand (removed the remote from the plastic casing today). That Harmon Kardon system is something! I got down to counting the speakers and counted 15 of them. Wonder where that last one is, or wait, that could be BMW overstating the features again.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

HUD not working with polarised sunglasses is a big bummer, I cannot drive without them at all.

Is there an option to retain white lighting at night too? I am not a fan of amber lighting.

Looks like Akshay has a solution for this, will try and update. With polarized glasses on, the HUD images are faintly visible. Maybe adjusting the angle will help.

Yes its possible to configure the cluster backlighting via iDrive. Its more like dark orange, bordering on red and looks classy along with the mood lighting. Its independent of the headlight which turns on even during twilight. The amber lighting for the instruments comes on when its much darker.

Originally Posted by Guna

Congrats Santoshbhat on such dream buy! I am curious to know how it fares when you take it to Sirsi and engage in some mild off/soft-roading

Thanks. The road to Sirsi is quite good now . So the X3 won't be tested there. But yeah, in India the roads are always a lottery.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I think that might be a mistake, because its definitely the same 8.8" screen. The screen itself seems to be newer, showing better blacks and also a bit more clear.

BTW forgot to mention. As for the hud with your polarized sunglasses, there is a setting called angle or something. Try adjusting that and the hud may be visible then.

You are right. Measured the screen diagonally and its something like 9 inches. So that's another overstated feature like the electric tail gate.

I adjusted the HUD for my height. Will try it again with sunglasses on.

Originally Posted by Lakshman1645

The 'Sport' term means you have Launch Control

Originally Posted by akshay1234

The sport term means a lot more. Launch control is just one of the added functions of sport automatic transmission. Also nowadays, paddles only seem to come in vehicles with sport automatic.

Since paddles only come with sport ATs, I thought that's what they meant.

Launch control : I think this feature shaved off a few tenths of a second from the 0-100 kph figure compared to the earlier 30d. Its now 5.9 secs to a 100 . There's a specific procedure to activate it where a chequered flag appears on the cluster. I don't think I'll be using it too often, but will try it once after run in.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

You are right. Measured the screen diagonally and its something like 9 inches. So that's another overstated feature like the electric tail gate.

I adjusted the HUD for my height. Will try it again with sunglasses on.

Since paddles only come with sport ATs, I thought that's what they meant.

Launch control : I think this feature shaved off a few tenths of a second from the 0-100 kph figure compared to the earlier 30d. Its now 5.9 secs to a 100 . There's a specific procedure to activate it where a chequered flag appears on the cluster. I don't think I'll be using it too often, but will try it once after run in.

Haha stop complaining I'd happily give up the electric tailgate in my car for all the extra features in yours Besides its irritating always having to tell security guards at all places besides 5 stars to use the button to close the tail gate.

As for the HK system, the speaker on the dash is a midbass and a tweeter, so it counts as 2.

Launch control is something. I have coded it to work on mine, and used it once or twice. The X3 doing a sub 6 second dash to a 100kmph is something to behold.

[slackyboy]

Congratulations Santhosh. The X30d is an amazing vehicle. Thanks for the fabulous review. You have been very thorough in your explanation of almost all aspects of the Bimmer! Happy motoring!

[sumeet007]

Congratulations on your excellent choice of acquiring the best of X3, the M sport 3 litre version!

Only constraint for higher sales of this desirable beast is the fairly steep price and negligible discounts unlike other models of BMW like the 3 and 5 series which go for significant discounts even now ( after the price revision in Jan).
Only significant contender was the GLE 250 4 Matic, price wise, but not a driver's car like the 30d.
Looking forward to your updates on driving experience.

[quickdraw]

Congratulations, I've also loved the X3 30d ever since getting to know Akshay, and definitely would love to have it as my next car in a few years.

BMW does silly things, the tailgate operation with the leg is a part of comfort access, my car being a CBU has it and I only discovered they take it off for India. I have no idea why would they do that. It doesn't have a big impact in terms of warranty claims or things they would need to keep in stock. I understand for the adaptive suspension but things like these baffle me to no end.

You should also know that a lot of BMW's come with the useless LIM switch instead of Cruise Control. Hopefully some coding can get things to your liking, you should definitely check that out.

Wanted to ask you how it feels to drive, have you noticed the traction control light coming on under hard acceleration? Also try driving it in comfort mode with the gearbox in sport, much more fun in traffic.