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24th March 2018, 10:52
| #1 |
| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
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| A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up | SOLD This Valentine’s day, a BMW 330i GT M-Sport joined the Polo GT in my portico. It took exactly a month - from the idea of a new car getting planted in my mind on January 14th to the car arriving home on February 14th.  Note: Click on the picture to open the full resolution picture What I like:
What I don’t like:
I would like to thank (a very long list indeed  ):
Reference Threads: I went through several threads to know about the various BMW models I considered. Below are these threads. What do you replace a Bimmer with... BMW 3 GT Sport Line Initial Ownership Review My BMW 530i BMW 320d and 328i - Official Review BMW Silently Launches 330i... The ULTIMAT3 - F30 328i My Preworshipped BMW 328i BMW 530D M-Sport F10 - My Preworshipped Beast My Preworshipped Moster - BMW 530D M-Sport 2017 Skoda Octavia VRS The intent of this thread is to provide as much details as possible on the 330i GT, the new features like iDrive, HUD, adaptive LED headlights etc., and a comparison with cars that one would consider in this segment, so that users who are in the same boat as I was would be benefited. Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 21:56. |
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24th March 2018, 11:54
| #2 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
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24th March 2018, 12:11
| #3 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 3,493
Thanked: 23,595 Times
| A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M Sport Comes Home Car Selection: It all started on January 14th, on the festival of “Bogi”. In Tamilnadu, we have this belief that letting go of old things on the day of Bogi makes way for new things. My wife jokingly asked me what I was going to do with the Jetta as it was getting old. Little did she know that I would take this seriously and would end up with a BMW within a month. Somehow, that joke planted a seed in my mind that I need a new car. There was absolutely no logic in this thought (and I still can’t give any sensible, rational or logical explanation), as the Jetta was running great and everytime I drove it on long drives I still was grinning from ear to ear like a child. For some weird reason, this thought just got stuck in my mind – "I need a new car!" Ever since the VRS was launched last year, and after reading Nikhil’s ownership report, I had already made up my mind that this will be my upgrade to the Jetta by the end of 2018. So, when I thought that I needed a new car, VRS was the first candidate. But just to do due deligence, I decided to do things in a systematic way, and put this requirement list.
At this time, I also remembered having read about BMW launching the 330i in India. BMW Silently launches 330i... I could only list two cars with the requirements I had listed – the Octavia VRS and BMW 330i. Though my heart was already on the BMW, I still had many questions on BMW’s practicality like RFTs, handling vs. ride comfort, maintenance and service etc. So, I created a thread to get opinion on the choice and if I was overlooking any other options. Details can be found in the below thread. I will call this thread the "What car" thread throughout this review. Replacement for my VW Jetta... To save you the trouble of reading through the 170+ posts in this thread, let me provide a summary here. Other cars considered: I had also considered the Mercedes C class, Audi A4 and the Jaguar XE. As the A4 comes with the 1.4Tsi engine (seriously Audi??), I dropped it off the list. At 180bhp, Mercedes petrol was not as powerful as I wanted. I did test drive the C220D and I liked the ride quality of the C. Had I been open to diesel, then I could have gone with C250D eyes closed. I heard lots of good feedback about the XE being the best in terms of handling, but I also got lots of negative feedback about the service quality, the long waiting periods (sometimes even a couple of months). So, dropped the XE as well off the list. This elimination process was over in just two days, with me not even doing a TD of two of the cars. Following are the various other options that I explored based on various inputs in the "What car" thread. Keep the Jetta for a few years and get the G20 3 series: I did not choose this option as the G20 launch even internationally was still a speculation and expected in the late 2019. That could make it early 2020 for the car to arrive in India. I was not in a mind to wait that long. This was the highest voted option in the “What car” thread, and I must say I went against popular opinion here  A used 530D: Though I was never looking for a used car or a diesel car, I decided to explore this option as well after seeing GTO's and Tanveer’s threads on their pre-owned 530D’s and for the monster the 530D is. I came across two major problems. Almost all the 530D’s were on sale in Chennai. This will require me to travel to Chennai every time I needed to check out a car. With my tight work schedule, this was a major problem. I was very clear in my mind to get a car with maximum warranty, or at least an active warranty so that I may purchase the maximum extended warranty. Of the 5 cars I found in one week, none of them had active warranty, and one of them did not even have an active insurance. One thing I learnt from this exercise was that to land a good car in the used car market, I needed two things, time and patience, both of which I did not have. So, I had to drop the idea of a used 530D. The G30 530i: BHPians Androdev and SantoshBhat highly recommended me to check the G30 5 series as it is based on a totally new platform and would be a proper upgrade to the Jetta compared to the 3 series. So, I took a test drive of the 520d. I must say I was very much impressed by the 5 series. The dynamic suspensions in sport mode made the car feel a lot smaller in the curves and the car handled like a charm. The interiors were fantastic, the seats very comfortable, and it had a very usable boot space with the space saver neatly tucked in the boot. It even came with some gimmicks like gesture control for the iDrive where I just do a clockwise or anticlockwise turn of my finger in front of the screen to adjust the volume, swipe motion for changing tracks etc. And above all, I must say, the 5 series had that exclusive look and road presence which the 3 series will not be able to match! The only issue I had with the 5 series was the very low ground clearance. It is not that I am averse to low GC. My Polo GT has low GC. But the 5 series that I drove was scraping even regular sized speed breakers. And it was also scraping the ramp in my portico. I drive a lot in 2 lane roads where the road conditions are pretty poor and also with stretches where roads almost do not exist (especially the Sathyamangalam to Chamrajnagar stretch which has become a nightmare now). The 5 series would be a champion on highways and good roads but will have to be babied a lot on bad roads. Of course, I am not saying that you cannot take the 5 series on bad roads at all. If driven carefully, the 5 series can be driven on very bad roads. It’s just that I was not mentally prepared to baby the car for the next 7 years. Also, I got feedback from other members like GTO and Monsoon.84 (who owns the G30 530i, his ownership can be found here) that the car does not scrape speed breakers like I experienced, and it may be a one-off case with the test drive car. But I was not willing to take a risk here. If not for this issue, I may have ended up with a 530i instead of the 330i GT. There were also other reasons like the budget which was almost 10 lakhs more than my stretchable limit, and the 530i came only in the Sportline trim which missed the adaptive LED headlights. 330i GT: In the beginning of the “What car” thread itself, Suhaas and Prathiik suggested the 330i GT. BHPians Asta_la_vista and Dr.AD had also suggested me the 3 GT, saying that the GT would be the best practical car as I had to think of my family. But in the beginning, I had not considered the GT for two reasons. The first was the budget. The 330i GT was 5 Lakhs more than the 330i Sedan. When I had gone for a test drive of the 3 series, as they did not have the 3 series TD car, the SA asked me to try the 3 GT. I had done a very short TD of the GT at that time. Though I loved everything about the car, one thing I did not like was the car was feeling bouncy on undulating roads at highway speeds (100 to 120kph). Compared to that, my Jetta was a lot more stable on those roads. Later when I started looking beyond just the engine, and handling dynamics of the regular 330i and started looking at other details like boot space, leg room etc., that my family would consider important I started realizing that the 330i though would be an upgrade (to me only) in terms of power and handling, my family would see it as a downgrade because of the comfort levels, lack of boot space (which is very important on those long vacations) etc. Also, after checking the space and comfort levels in the 5 series, 3 GT started making sense. Except for the bouncy ride due to the soft suspension and the increased budget, the 3 GT was superior in all things practical. 330i vs. 330i GT vs. 530i After analyzing the pros and cons of the 330i, 330i GT and 530i, I was left with more confusion than clarity. Each of these cars had strong points that I desired and weaknesses that I did not like – and the greedy me wanted a car with all of the strong points – the ride and handling of the 330i, the gadgets and practicality of the 330i GT and the comfort levels of the 530i. Of course, that is not possible. So, I dusted the excel file I had used earlier during the Jetta purchase to make a objective comparison of all the three cars. I have shared this in the “What car” thread but will share it here as well for the sake of convenience. I have this template, where I list down all the features of the cars being compared under various categories. Then I rate the cars on a scale of 0-10 for each category. Then I give a weight to each category depending on what I value more – like comfort over handling, safety over creature comforts etc. From the weight and the rating, I calculate the final score and go for the car that scores most. Following pictures show the comparison.       The GT scored higher in this comparison, with a very poor score in the handling department. I thought this way. It is possible to fix the handling of the 330i GT by upgrading the suspensions. But it would not be possible to change the practicality features like boot space, adaptive LED headlights etc., in the 330i. So, the 330i GT made more sense than the other two, and I decided to go ahead with the GT. Summary: For someone who is in the same situation as mine – choosing between a 330i, 330i GT or 530i (or a 320d vs. 320d GT vs. 520d), following is what I feel based on your preferences.
Last edited by Aditya : 27th March 2018 at 06:54. Reason: As requested |
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24th March 2018, 15:50
| #4 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
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| Booking, Delivery and De-Chroming Booking and Delivery Experience: I contacted the dealer at Coimbatore and asked what deal they can offer on the 330i GT. The SA told me the best he could do was about 1.5L. That would make the on road 59.5L, way out of my budget. At this time, Akshay1234 gave me the contact details of the SA at Infinity Motors, Mumbai. It turned that they had a July 2017 manufactured 330i GT M Sport in stock and the SA offered me a very good deal of almost 6L on ex-showroom price. He also agreed to ship the car in a closed container to Coimbatore free of cost. I decided to take this offer though there was this small inconvenience of getting the car registered in Coimbatore by myself. When the SA at Coimbatore called me to follow up, I said I am getting the car from Mumbai as I could not stretch my budget. The next day morning, the SA and his manager came to my place with a matching offer with an OTR about 75K more than what I was getting from Mumbai (about 7.5L off the OTR). The manager also promised me that he would completely support me in sourcing and installing the M Sport suspensions from BMW Europe without affecting any warranty. So, I paid the booking amount on the same day, the February 5th, released the full payment on February 8th and fixed up the delivery day to be the 14th February, the Valentine’s day! Though dealer has a branch in Coimbatore, their point of delivery is Chennai. They get the temp registration done at Chennai and have their driver drive the car from Chennai to Coimbatore. Because of this process, I did not do the regular PDI (did this for the Jetta and the Polo GT Tsi) that I do before releasing the full payment. This being BMW, I just trusted that they will take care of everything without me having to worry about anything. Just before releasing the full payment, I made sure they sent me the VIN number of the car, and I looked into the BMW VIN decoder and verified that the car was July 2017 manufactured with all the options (Estoril blue exterior, Cognac interior, M Sport package, Adaptive LED headlights, Digital Instrument Cluster etc). Some of my friends told me to take the delivery from Chennai and drive the car myself, to avoid the driver mishandling the car. The sales manager promised me that they have lots of checks and balances like the fuel consumption for the trip, the distance etc., to prevent drivers from misusing the car. Again, I decided to trust BMW to do the right thing here and asked them to go ahead with the regular procedure. I had a small doubt that due to all the process of temp registration and driving the car from Chennai, they may slip on their promise of delivering the car on 14th February. I must say Kun Exclusive (the dealers) managed the delivery like clock work. They completed all the temp registration formalities and brought the car to the showroom on February 13th evening. And on February 14th morning, I and my wife took delivery of the car as planned. I am extremely satisfied with the delivery process and the responsiveness of the dealer till now. Hope the good experience continues the next 6 to 7 years. Insurance, Extended Warranty and BSI This being a BMW, I did not take any chance with insurance and warranty. I have taken the insurance from the dealer itself so that claims if any would be smooth, and have also opted for BMW Secure which includes road side assistance, full cover for tires alloys etc. I am yet to read all the details of this cover, but this is the highest package, so everything should be there. One of the principles I strictly follow with German cars is to get the maximum extended warranty no matter what the cost of the warranty is. The adaptive LED headlights could alone cost a couple of lakhs if a replacement is required outside the standard 2 year warranty. So I have taken a 6 year extended warranty at the cost of 2.9 Lakhs. This should give me peace of mind for the next 6 years against any manufacturing defects. I would highly recommend anyone buying a BMW to get extended warranty for the period you plan to keep the car. As my running will be limited to 10,000 to 12,000 kilometers per year, I have not taken any BSI package. Planning to pay for services as they occur. A few pictures of the delivery below. The car ready for delivery.  A staff performing the rituals.  Customary picture with the SA and his manager.  The initial Odo reading. Just about right for a drive from Chennai to Coimbatore.  The car ready to be driven home. Man, I hate those aluminium finish around the windows and the chrome lining on the front grille. First order of business is to get these wrapped gloss black.   After the customary visit to the temple, the new (330i) GT joins the existing (Polo) GT in the portico.  De-Chroming: During the weekend, took the car to 3M to get the aluminium and chrome garnishes to black. A comparision picture of the GT M Sport sold in Europe which is all black and the Indian GT that has aluminium finish.  Front grille removed.  Front grille wrapped in black. The technician did a fantastic job in wrapping without any seams.  The grille after the black wrap.  The side view after the black wrap.  With all the chrome gone, the car looks perfect now. Many friends have been telling me to make the wheels black as well. Will think about this later once I get the suspensions sorted out. Also, the full grille is available in gloss black with BMW, but it cost 11.6K, whereas the wrap cost 3.8K. It's now time for that photo-shoot. Last edited by Rudra Sen : 15th April 2019 at 14:07. Reason: typo corrected |
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24th March 2018, 20:54
| #5 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
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| Exteriors Exteriors: When it comes to looks, the GT seems to be quite the controversial car that gets totally mixed opinions. In many of the online forums that I read through, many just hate the looks of the GT, many love the looks, and many feel that the 3 GT looks far better than the 5 GT which was the worst looking car BMW ever made and so on. Even here in TBHP, I have seen mixed opinion on the looks – quoting GTO from another thread “The Octavia vRS looks hot! The 3-Series GT looks u-g-l-y IMHO” Maybe I am attracted to controvesial things (like I was attracted to the Octavia 1.8Tsi four years back), or maybe “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, I just love the looks of the 3 GT, especially in the M-Sport guise! Have a look at the pictures and decide for yourself if you love or hate the looks of the 3 GT. The wheelbase of the 3GT is 110mm more than the regular 3 series and just 55mm less than the 5 series. And the total length of the 3GT is close to 200mm longer than the 3 series and 100mm shorter than the 5. So, it looks quite long compared to the 3 series. Also, the ground clearance is an SUVish 165mm compared to 158mm in the 5 series and 157mm in the 3 series. However, the longer wheel base and total length mask this increase in ground clearance. Add the M sport body kit, the stance of the car looks almost same as the regular 3 series. Once I get the M-Sport suspension upgrade which will drop the car by another 10mm, the stance should be still more aggressive and should look close to the 5 series. The side view: In spite of the SUV’is ground clearance, the stance still looks sleek and low slung mainly due to the longer wheelbase and the overall length. The crease that runs from the front fender through the doors all the way to the tail light, the crease at the bottom of the front and rear doors also enhance this long and sleek look. Also, after I got the aluminium finish for the window frames changed to gloss black, the car seems to look much more sporty. The 18" M Sport alloys add to this sporty look and nicely fill the wheel wells.   The front three quarter view: The car looks quite aggressive in this view thanks to the M-Sport body kit and the prominent crease that runs all the way to the tail light.  The front look. Again, the M-Sport body kit provides that menacing look.  The rear three quarter views. I think this is where the car looks a little out of proportion (that fat look) due to the raised rear, and the coupe like curvature on the notch-back boot.   The aggressive bonnet.  The adaptive LED headlights with LED indicators. More on the headlights in a later section.  Fog lights are LED too. They also act as static cornering lights. I did not find the fog lights to be that effective though because of the white color temperature. I think fog lights are best with lower color temperature. But maybe BMW made them LEDs to match with the color temperature of the headlights.  The rear with full LED tail lights. The rear looks a little boxy due to the increased height and the notch-back boot. Plan to fix this with the M Sport suspensions that would drop it by 10mm.  The panel gaps are tight and uniform throughout the car, as one would expect from a car from this segment.   The doors are heavy, feel solid and close with an assuring thud. In the Jetta, the front doors used to be heavy with the rear doors feeling light. But in the BMW, both the front and rear doors have the same solid feel. The front doors open wide in three stages and the rear doors open in two stages. The rear doors have child locks. Once the center locking is enabled, to open the door from inside, operate the open lever once to unlock, and operate again to open the door. Front door gets a bottle holder, but can hold only slim bottles. Most of the regular wider bottles will not sit in the holder.  Rear door has a door pocket, but it is too narrow to hold any bottles. Maybe a 1/2 liter bottle (I haven't checked though).  The shark fin antenna.  Body colored ORVMS with turn indicators. The driver side ORVM has auto-dimming feature while the passenger side ORVM is not. The ORVMs do not auto fold on lock but can be folded by long pressing the lock key in the remote.  The rear view camera is situated above the number plate, between the number plate lights.  The panaromic sunroof. One feature I love about the 3GT is the panaromic sunroof. 4 years back, one of the features that I had loved in the Octavia 1.8Tsi (the primary reason though was the 1.8Tsi engine and the DSG and multilink suspension) was the sunroof. But I ended up with the Jetta which did not have one. The sunroof covers almost all the roof and provides a fantastic roomy feeling when the inner cover is kept open. The glass has very good heat insulation that even in the middle of the day, I don’t feel direct heat from the sun. The interior feels bright and roomy when the inner layer is kept open.   The front half of the glass slides inside and a wind deflector come up in the front. But I would mostly not use it this way.  Another feature that gives the GT a special look is the frame-less windows. Most of my friends have mentioned about these frame-less windows looking awesome on the GT. The windows roll down an inch when the door is opened and when the door is closed, they roll up completely. The SA mentioned that this feature is there so that the glass does not hit the window lining when the door is closed. I have another theory that this is done to relieve air pressure when the door is closed, but I am not sure though. A few pictures of the frame-less windows.    The dynamic rear spoiler automatically opens when the speed crosses 105kph (65mph) and retracts when the speed drops below 65kph (40mph). The spoiler remains closed and inconspicous at city speeds. The spoiler can also be manually controlled using a button in the driver’s window control console. The spoiler closed.  The spoiler opened.  The powered tail gate. The tail gate can be opened either using the remote key fob, or using the tailgate open button situated in the driver’s footwell. The height of the tail gate opening can be set through iDrive. The maximum opening.  The minimum opening.  The tailgate close button.  A nice to have feature would have been the automatic tailgate opening by waving the leg below the rear bumper. "the_skyliner" has posted lots of GIF animations explaining various features like sunroof, powered tail gate, windows rolling down and up etc. in the below post in his ownership thread. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post4286978 Last edited by Aditya : 27th March 2018 at 07:04. Reason: As requested |
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24th March 2018, 23:11
| #6 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
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| Exteriors Exteriors Continued... A week after I took delivery of the car, the Coimbatore TBHP gang went for a small breakfast drive to Anaikkatty near Coimbatore. We took this opportunity to also do a nice photo shoot. BHPian krishsreedharan brought his gear and took some awesome pictures of the GT. We found a nice location below a banyan tree which provided a mix of light and shadow. A few pictures below.          Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 10:32. |
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25th March 2018, 09:56
| #7 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
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Thanked: 23,595 Times
| Interiors Interiors Get into the car, and the interiors ooze class and quality. Nothing feels out of place or like an afterthought. The aluminium trim that runs through the center console and doors, the dark faux wooden trims placed in the center of the dash and around the gear selector, the soft touch finish on the dash, the cognac leather lining on the door pads, and the all black dash, floor and ceiling provide a sporty, classy and premium look all at once. I am glad that I decided to get the BMW to experience this quality. My first preference was an all black interior including the seats, but that combination was not available. The Cognac brown interiors come a close second in terms of sporty look.    The view of the cockpit from passenger side.  The view of the cockpit from drivers side.  The waterfall center console starts with the 8.8” Touch Screen iDrive display and flows through the AC Vents, the CD drive, Automatic Climate Control, cup holders, gear selector and iDrive control, hand brake and ends with the arm rest. The console is slightly turned towards the driver providing that easy access.  The gear selector in piano black finish with aluminium trim with aluminium trim covering the base looks just fantastic. Unlike regular gear selectors where you move the selector to various positions, this selector is just a toggle switch with two positions on the top and two positions on the bottom. The selector always returns back to its center position after selecting the mode. From “Park” mode, two clicks to the top gets you to “Reverse” and two clicks to the bottoms gets you to “Drive”. From drive, one click to top gets you to “Neutral” and one click to bottom gets you back to “Drive”. From park you also need to press the mode select switch on the side to move to “Reverse” or “Drive”. If mode select is not pressed, you get a chime and a notification on the instrument cluster. From “Drive” push it left and you get to sports mode. If you use the gear lever in tiptronic mode or the paddle shifters, the gearbox enters manual mode. Press the “P” button from any mode and the car goes into park mode. Another cool feature is if you press “P” from manual mode, the car goes to “Park” mode and the gear selector automatically returns back to its center position.  The mode select, the park assist and DSC Off switch. The mode select switch is used to select various drive modes – Eco Pro, Comfort, Sport and Sport+. Pressing the park assist switch turns on the optical parking assist in the iDrive screen. Pressing the DSC Off switch turns off Dynamic Stability Control.  The M Sport steering wheel is a delight to hold. It is leather wrapped providing good grip and comes with thumb contours to hold the wheel at the 3’o and 9’o clock positions. The horn pad is quite far and a little hard and has to be pressed with the palm rather than the thumb. The wheel comes with extended paddle shifts which are very responsive, and look proper sporty.  The steering gets tilt and reach adjustments. The lever to adjust tilt and reach is situated behind the steering wheel.  On the right side you get the volume up and down buttons, telephone call button and the voice command button. There is also a mode select switch to select between various media sources. The rotary switch is used to scroll through options (media list and call register) in the Heads Up Display.  On the left side you get the cruise control and limit buttons. Pressing the cruise control button arms cruise control, and pressing the RES button sets the cruise control to the current speed. The rotary switch can be used to increase or decrease the cruise speed. The cruise control speed is displayed on the Heads Up Display, and you do not have to take your eyes off the road to check the cruise control speed setting. The LIM is the limit swtich. Pressing this switch sets the speed limit to current speed. Once set the car does not go beyond this set speed. This is very helpful in city where you can set the max speed limit so that you do not drift off to a higher speed (the car masks speed very well). Again the rotar switch can be used to increase or decrease the speed limit.  The left stalk has high beam and indicator controls. The button marked BC is to scroll through the data displayed on the botton of the instrument cluster like odometer, trip meter, average fuel consumption etc. The button marked A is to enable the automatic high beam assist. More on this later.  The right stalk has the wiper control. Slide it one position up and this is the auto position. In this position, the wiper is automatically turned on when rain is sensed, and the speed is automatically adjusted as per the amount of rainfall.  The headlight control switch. The first position is automatic. In this position, the headlight is automatically turned on and off as per the ambient light. The second position is headlight off, the third position is parking lights and fourth position is manual headlight on. On the left side you get the front and rear fog lamps. On the right side the rotary knob controls the brightness of the instrument cluster and backlighting.  The center armrest has sliding control, but no height adjustment. The arm rest is leather wrapped and is quite comfortable.  The GT has manual hand brake covered in leather.  Both driver and passenger get sports seats with electric adjustments and adjustable bolster support. One big miss is the adjustable lumbar support, which my wife hates.  The manually extendable under thight support for the driver and passenger seats.  The seats have contrast stitching that gives a classy look.  The driver seat has 2 memory function. Press SET and then press 1 or 2 to remember the seat and ORVM positions. To recall just press 1 or 2 and the seat and the ORVMS automatically adjust to the stored position.  All three rear seats get 3-point seat belts.  The rear bench gets an armrest with cup holders.  The seat belts do not have height adjustment. Even though the Jetta had height adjustable seat belts, I had never used the height adjustment. So, I really don’t miss this in the GT.  Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 21:48. |
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25th March 2018, 10:05
| #8 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 3,493
Thanked: 23,595 Times
| re: A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home - EDIT: 100,000 kilometers up | SOLD Interiors Continued... The control panel on the driver door has ORVM adjust, window control and spoiler control. All windows are one touch up and down.  The engine start/stop switch is located behind the steering wheel. It is a little difficult to reach (maybe because this is the first car I get to use this feature). The auto off is on by default. Whenever the car comes to a full stop, the engine is switched off. The engine turns on automatically when you release the foot from the brake. This is quite annoying in start/stop traffic situations and can be turned off using the button above the start/stop button. And the car does not remember the selection. I have made it a habit to press this button as soon as I turn on the car. Still when EcoPro mode is selected, the auto stop gets enabled again. Annoying indeed!  The automatic climate control is dual zone. The front two zones have temperature control, whereas the rear gets AC vents with hot/cold air adjusting knob. The ACC also has buttons to control re-circulation, de-fogging, individual air flow sources for driver and passenger, blower control etc.  When it comes to only the driver and passenger, using the full auto mode with temperature control is good enough. The system controls both the air temperature and blower speed according to the set temperature. When the difference in set temperature is small compared to the actual temperature, the blower speed also reduces to a minimum. In this situation, the rear passengers usually do not get enough temperature control. To get enough air flow in the rear vents, I have to use the manual blower speed control. The central AC vents have a manual temperature adjust and flow control. The air vent controls feel quite solid and look very good with the aluminium trims.  The side AC vents have flow control.  The rear air vents have flow adjust, and manual temperature control. The rear air vents also have a 12V socket for any accessories.  Both driver and passenger get vanity mirrors with lights. Slide the mirror open and the light turns on. Passenger side vanity mirror, keeps wife happy!  Yay. Driver side vanity mirror as well, keeps me happy  The driver footwell has organ type accelerator pedal, and a comfortable dead pedal to rest the left foot. I found the spacing of the pedals almost same as the Jetta and very comfortable.  On the right side of the drive side footwell, there is the bonnet release lever (which has to be pulled twice to open the bonnet), the OBD port and the boot open button.  The IRVM has a narrow field of vision.  The ORVM has very good field of vision. A small part of the right side has a wider angle of vision. This makes the mirror totally free of blind spot. By the time an object disappears from the mirror, it is already in our peripheral vision. I could not get a picture in a wide road.  Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 21:41. |
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25th March 2018, 13:03
| #9 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
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| Storage and Space Storage and Space The rear seats have fantastic leg room. This picture is with the passenger seat fully slid back.  The deep transmission tunnel: The rear is only for two passengers.  The rear seats get an armrest with cup holders.  The front arm rest can be raised to reveal a storage compartment.  You can place a cell phone in this compartment. There is also an USB port which can be used to charge a cell phone and also in case of iPhone or iPod, can be used to browse through music library using iDrive. I believe systems with CarPlay also work with the phone connected to this port.  The driver and passenger doors get a bottle holder where you can place a sleek bottle.  The rear door pockets are too small to keep anything significant.  Just behind the gear lever, there are a couple of cup holders with a 12V socket. The car comes with a smoker’s package with a lighter and ash-tray. I have removed both these. The position of the cup holders makes it quite difficult to place and retrieve any cups.   Pockets in the backside of the Driver and Passenger seats.  The boot is very big in the 3 GT and makes it a very practical car. Without the space saver tire, the boot space is 520 liters. The space saver eats into this boot space. But still with some intelligent placement, a couple of suitcases and a few airbags can be placed. The boot space can be further extended by folding the rear seats. The rear seats fold in a 40-20-40 split providing lot of flexibility in extending the boot space depending on number of passengers in the rear. With the rear seat completely folded, you get more than 1000 liters of boot space. A few pictures of the boot space with various configurations of the rear seat. Boot space with the space saver in boot.  Boot space with the space saver removed.  Boot with back seats completely folded and with space saver.  Boot with back seats completely folded and without space saver.  Boot with 40% rear seat folded.  Boot with 60% rear seat folded.  Boot packed with one large suitcase, one medium suitcase, two airbags and one laptop bag and with space saver with still some room left for a bag or two. If the parcel tray is removed, this will free up a little more vertical space.  Boot with rear seats folded and my road bike placed inside.  Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 21:43. |
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25th March 2018, 13:14
| #10 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 3,493
Thanked: 23,595 Times
| iDrive and Audio iDrive and Audio iDrive: To describe the complete operation of the iDrive, I will need a dedicated thread. So, I will give a brief overview of what information can be accessed in the iDrive and just post lots of pictures of various configurations in the iDrive. The iDrive has a home screen with a total of 6 widgets. Only three widgets are displayed in the screen, and this can be configured
The iDrive comes with a 22.3cm display with touch screen and a scroll wheel. Though the iDrive screen is a touch screen, reaching and touching the screen is not that easy. Also, this results in lots of fingerprint impressions on the screen which will have to be cleaned often to keep the screen clean. So, I prefer the scroll wheel which also has text recognition on its surface. To search anything in the media library, or telephone contacts or navigation, just draw characters on the surface of the scroll wheel. Even for character recognition, you have to draw using your left hand. Right handed users need to be ambidextrous to do this, or you need to be left handed. The iDrive wheel. The wheel is like a joy stick and rotary encoder. The wheel can be tilted up/down or left/write to change pages, or rotated to select between options and pressed to select an option.  Now a few pictures of the iDrive screen. The home screen. Three widgets are displayed at a time. I have configured the home screen to show vehicle status, communication and media.  Reverse camera and optical parking. When reverse gear is engaged, the reverse camera is turned on and the screen shows the video with dynamic guide lines. The red lines are the maximum turn radius and the green line tracks the car's body width. Apart from the guide lines, warning rectangles appear on the guideline in green, yellow and red when obstacles are detected. The left part of the screen shows the park distance control which shows obstacles.  When the park assist switch near the gear lever is pressed when parking the car in forward, the park distance control is displayed.  Ambient light selection. Ambient light can be selected between classic which is reddish which matches the upholstery and sport which is whitish.  Character recognition. Just draw the characters on the iDrive wheel and the shortlist of items will be displayed on the right side - for media, contacts and navigation.   Doors and key settings. Can be used to select how the doors get locked, lock/unlock confirmation through indicators etc.  Drive mode configuration. All drive modes have such configurations. Below is the sports mode configuration where we can configure if only the engine map is changed or only steering response is changed or both. This screen shows the suspensions as part of chassis control, but the GT does not have dynamic suspensions. Just to be sure, I am going to double check this before ordering the M Sport suspensions.  Efficient dynamics display. This shows the fuel efficiency in one minute blocks for the past 8 minutes.  Configuring the Heads Up Display. The position, brightness and available information can be configured.  Exterior lighting control. Can be used to configure how many flashes of indicator for one touch turn indicator, enable/disable DRL, coming home light duration etc.  Navigation functions. Navigation is a quite complex system where you can enter address, route type (fastest, shortest etc). However, for India, I found the system to be quite limited, as it expects the address in a particular format, and also plots routes that could be quite long. For example, when I tried to plot a route from Coimbatore to Madurai, it plotted a 400km route, which was 175km longer than the regular route. In Europe, they have a web application where you can configure your own routing and download this information to the iDrive using a thumb drive. But this is not yet available in India. Only when this feature is available, navigation will be useful.   Service schedule information is displayed in this screen. BMW has conditional service where the system keeps track of various parameters like driving style, oil level etc., and prompts for various services.  This screen can be used to show any fault codes. Hope I never see any fault in the next 7 years  Sport display. Shows the power and torque numbers.  Tailgate height adjustment.  Tire pressure indicator. When you start driving, the pressure values appear near each tire after a minute.  Trip computer.  There is a complete user manual in the iDrive. You can browse through this manual or use the character recognition to draw characters and search.  BMW Assistance. Numbers for road side assistance and the technical support team from the dealership have been programmed in this section. In case you need any assistance, just select the number and the system will make the call through the paired cell phone. Again, I hope I never have to access this screen.  Audio System: The audio system that comes with the GT is called the HiFi Audio system. This comes with 9 speakers (2 in front doors, 2 in rear doors, 2 in the A pillars, one behind the iDrive screen and two sub woofers below the seats). Though the music system is much better in sound quality compared to the RCD510 and 6 speaker setup in the Jetta, it still is not good enough for a 50+ lakh car. It does not even have a graphic equalizer, but just two controls Treble and Bass in the iDrive. Because of this it is really difficult to get a good depth in music. I have to really struggle to get the best out of the system, like use a player app in the phone that has graphic equalizer, or stream high quality audio etc. The CD drive is situated just above the climate control module. Buttons 1 to 8 are short cut keys. You can assign them to favorite screens like efficient dynamics, navigation etc., or favorite radio stations. I haven't used these buttons much yet.  The USB port under the arm rest can also be used to connect a thumb drive with media. The iDrive has a 20GB built in hard drive. The content from the thumb drive can be downloaded to the hard drive.  The sub-woofer below the driver seat. There is one below the passenger seat as well.  The speaker behind the iDrive screen.  The speaker on the A Pillar. There is another in the other A pillar. The speakers in the doors can be seen in the pictures of the doors in previous posts.  A few pictures of iDrive screens to control the audio system. The Treble-Bass adjustment. Even the RCD510 in my Jetta had Treble, Bass and Mid controls. A graphic equalizer would have been ideal.  Selecting the media source.  Media that is being played.  If you are an audiophile, a speaker upgrade will be a must. There is a speaker setup from BavSound which is a direct drop-in replacement, but this set up costs about 1100$. As I am anyway not an audiophile, I have decided to enjoy the system as it is. Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 21:54. |
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25th March 2018, 13:16
| #11 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 3,493
Thanked: 23,595 Times
| Heads Up Display and Digital Instrument Cluster Heads Up Display and Digital Instrument Cluster Heads Up Display: Another cool feature in the GT is the Heads Up Display or HUD in short. The HUD is only available in the petrol M Sport. During normal operation, the HUD displays just the speed. I find this very helpful. I can keep track of the speed without having to take my eyes off the road. The speed display is white in day time and turns orange (just like the instrument cluster) in night.  The HUD also displays warning messages like door open alerts, seat belt warning etc.  Press the phone button on the right side of the steering wheel, and the recent call register shows up on the HUD. You can select a number using the scroll wheel and press the scroll wheel to make the call.  Press the mode button on the right side of the steering wheel, and the media source can be selected between CD, bluetooth, media library, FM and AM.  While a song is playing, operate the scroll wheel to bring up the list of songs on HUD. Navigate through the list using the wheel and click to play. The scroll wheel also compensates for the lack of Next and Previous buttons on the steering. Scroll down once and click to play next song and scroll up once and click to play previous song.  While radio is playing, operate the scroll wheel to bring up the list of stations. Navigate using the wheel and click to select station.  Press the limit button and the speed limiter shows on the HUD. Use the scroll wheel on the left side of the steering wheel to set the speed limit.  The HUD also shows the cruise control active status and the cruise control speed. The scroll wheel can be used to increase or decrease the cruise control speed. As cruise control would not engage in the stationery car, I could not take a picture of cruise control on the HUD. Instrument Cluster: The instrument cluster in the 3 GT is the all digital instrument cluster. When everything is powered down, it is just a black screen with two large circular projections for the main dials and two small projections for the fuel and temperature gauges.  Turn on the car and the cluster comes alive. The cluster changes character depending on the drive mode selected. By default, it comes on in comfort mode. In this mode, the instrument cluster is similar to the classic analog cluster with the speed dial on the left and RPM dial on the right.  When the headlights turn on in the evening, the cluster changes to orange mimicking like the regular analog instrument cluster.  At the bottom of the instrument cluster information like odometer, trip meter, average fuel consumption etc. can be viewed. The information can be scrolled using the BC switch in the left steering wheel stalk. Use the drive mode select switch near the gear lever, and the right side of the instrument cluster briefly displays the mode being selected.  After a couple of seconds, the full instrument cluster changes as per the mode selected. Pictures of various modes shown below. EcoPro mode. In this mode, the cluster turns into a cool blue. The left dial shows the speed. Speed marking is only there upto 120km. The right side does not show RPM but shows power and regenerative braking. When the car accelerates, the needle shows how much power is being put to the wheels by the drive train. During braking, the needle moves left indicating charge being dumped into the battery. The bottom of the cluster displays how many kilometers of range has been added by using EcoPro mode.  Sports mode. In this mode, the cluster turns into an angry red color. The right-side dial shows the active gear in the center, and a partial needle shows the RPM. The left-side dial shows the speed in digital.  Sports+ mode. Everything is same as Sports mode, but you can see the dynamic traction control off icon lighting up.  The center part of the display is usually empty and is used only to show notifications and navigation instructions. Door open warning shown in the center.  Navigation instruction shown in the center.  Overall this is a very cool feature in the 3 GT. When I was thinking about the 330i, one thing I wished the car had was this digital cluster. I am glad that I ended up with the GT. Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 15:56. |
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25th March 2018, 13:21
| #12 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 3,493
Thanked: 23,595 Times
| Lighting - Exterior and Interior Lighting - Exterior and Interior The 330i GT comes with adaptive LED headlights with high beam assist. To describe the headlights in one word, they are just FANTASTIC! Of the various cars I had driven, I felt the Jetta had the best headlights with the BiXenons with AFS (of course the Octavia would have been better). The headlights in the BMW are better than the Jetta. The headlights have active cornering function where they track steering movement. Turn steering right and they turn right, turn the steering left and they turn left – no matter where the car is pointed, the lights are pointed just ahead of the car. Also, the lights have a very wide pattern thus making visibility of pedestrians, two-wheeler and cyclists very good. The fog lights work as static cornering lights, but they are totally ineffective. The tail lights are full LED tail lights that have excellent visibility both day and night.    High Beam Assist: Press the automatic high beam assist button on the left stalk and the high beam assist is enabled. The camera on the windshield detects traffic both oncoming and vehicles in front, and adjusts the high beam pattern so that the lights do not glare other drivers on the road. When the speed crosses 40kph, the high beam automatically turns on. If there is an oncoming vehicle detected on the opposite direction, the right side high beam bends right so that the pattern tracks the oncoming vehicle without blinding the driver. When the oncoming vehicle passes the high beam turns back lighting up the front. Similarly, if the system detects a car in front, the high beams open up creating a black spot for the car in front so that the light does not glare the driver on his IRVM, but still lighting up both the sides. If you either overtake the car, or if the car speeds up outside the range of the high beam, the beams turn back to the front. This works really well in country roads with sparse traffic. However, in roads with lots of traffic, the system just gets confused and keeps shifting everywhere. So, in heavy traffic situations, I prefer using the high beams in manual mode and dip them when there is oncoming traffic. The camera that is used to perform high beam assist.  Here is a cool video that explains the high beam assist function. And it works exactly as advertised! The DRLs at night.  Puddle lights on all the door handles light up the road when approaching the car after unlocking. Similarly, puddle lights are also present in the inside of the doors which light up the road when opening the door from inside.  Projector that projects the BMW logo when the driver and passenger door is opened. This accessory replaces the puddle light on the driver and passenger door. The dealer provided this free of cost. Looks very cool. There are other templates like M logo, X logo etc. in the package.  The interior is very well lit up with LED reading lights in both the front and the rear. Front reading lights. This assembly also has the panaromic sun roof control switch. The switches are backlit in the night.  Front lit up in the night.  Rear reading lights.  Rear lit up in the night.  The boot has several LED lights and is very well lit.  The central console back lit in red in the night.   The interiors have ambient lighting which can be set to either orange tint that matches the leather color (called classic on the iDrive setting), or white (called sport on the iDrive setting). Classic setting.  Sport setting.  Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 22:02. |
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25th March 2018, 13:23
| #13 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 3,493
Thanked: 23,595 Times
| Engine, Gearbox, NVH, FE and Ride & Handling Engine, Gearbox, NVH, FE and Ride & Handling Engine and Gearbox Open the bonnet, and everything inside is neatly laid out and covered. One of the cleanest engine bays I have seen. The bonnet gets sound insulation.   The main reason why I bought the car is this – a 2.0-liter TwinPower turbo engine that churns out 252bhp of power and 350Nm of torque from as low as 1450 RPM all the way till 4800 RPM which covers the low and mid range. Be it pottering around the city in bumper to bumper traffic, or pull strongly beyond 100kph without breaking sweat, this engine got you covered.  This engine is mated to an 8 speed ZF sport gearbox. After driving the DSG in the Jetta and the Polo GT, I had always believed the DSG is the champion when it comes to shift speed. This ZF8 gearbox changed that opinion. Though technically DSG is still the fastest shifting gearbox, in practice, I find the ZF8 to be as quick as the DSG. As you accelerate from 0 to high way speeds, I can hardly feel the gear shifts, it is that smooth and fast. The ZF8 being a torque converter, provides a very smooth drive at city speeds, compared to the DSG which is a little rough at low speeds because it is just an automated manual gearbox with clutch plates. One disadvantage of the DSG I experience with the Polo GT (a little less in the Jetta) is the hesitation to downshift. This makes it difficult to time overtaking maneuvers. By the time the gearbox decides to downshift and makes the torque available for the overtaking, many times the opportunity is gone. In the DSG it takes about a second for the push to be felt after flooring the pedal. But in the ZF8 this is very fast. Just tap the throttle and you can feel the downshift and the push immediately. As the instrument cluster does not show which gear is active, it is not possible to actually see how many gears get dropped, but I feel the TC drops even two or three gears at a time if required. one thing the DSG excels is the rev matching it does in the manual mode while using tiptronic or the paddles, and the DSG farts when it upshifts. That is total fun. I don’t want to get into a DSG vs. ZF discussion, both these are fantastic gear boxes, and I am just glad that I have one car with the DSG and another with the ZF8 Braking: Initially, I had a feeling that the brakes were a bit spongy. But once the brakes settled in, braking is very good. The pedals require a little bit more pressure when compared to the Jetta, but the brakes are very powerful and have very good bite. I also have a feeling (but this could just be placebo as well) that the brakes are much sharper in the Sports mode than the EcoPro and Comfort modes. NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness): While inside the cabin, start the car and all you feel is the very slight shudder of the starting motor, and then silence. I can figure out the engine is running only by seeing the RPM on the instrument cluster. In the EcoPro mode, where the RPM is also not displayed on the instrument cluster, I just can’t figure out if the engine is running. I think this is more to do with the fantastic sound insulation in the cabin than the engine refinement. When outside or with windows rolled, the engine can be very clearly heard. One of my friends even asked me if this was a diesel The car feels just solid, no rattles or vibrations, as one would expect from this car. I have read many reviews about BMWs remaining as tight and vibration and rattle free as day one, even after many years. I hope this car also remains rattle free for the complete period of ownership. I usually change the OE tires (which are mostly hard and noisy) to performance tires straight out of the showroom (did this for the Jetta and Polo GT). For the BMW as well, I was in a dilemma whether to retain the RFTs or go tubeless. I had read lots of reviews that RFTs are very harsh and have lots of noise as well. There was another view that the RFTs are best in terms of safety, as you can just keep driving even when there is a puncture. I erred on the side of safety and decided to keep the RFTs. The RFTs have very low take back price as well. It could be because of the soft suspension setup, or RFTs have evolved, or because of this particular Conti Sport Contact RFTs that have a good balance towards comfort, I find the RFTs to be very comfortable, and not harsh at all. On good roads, there is hardly any noise and the car just glides over as if on a carpet. Only on very bad patches rough roads can I hear road noise. I am happy that I decided to stick to RFTs. Will see how the comfort or noise levels change as the tire gets some mileage – maybe after 10000 or 15000 kilometers. Drive Modes: There are four drive modes – Eco Pro, Comfort, Sport and Sport+. The engine map, gear box response and steering wheel are configured differently for each drive mode. EcoPro is tuned for maximum efficiency. I always use this in the city, and I feel that this is the best mode for traffic. There is no sudden surge of power and everything is very smooth. Having said that, when I want to overtake a slow-moving vehicle like an auto, the car provides ample power to do a quick overtake. The steering wheel is very light and provides for easy maneuvering. Comfort mode is the balanced mode and I would say this is similar to the D mode in most automatic cars. In this mode the steering is light at low speeds and weighs up nicely as the speed increases. But it is still a little light at high speeds. The engine stays in the 1000 to 1500 RPM range. I use this mode mostly while cruising at highway speeds or in two carriage roads with very minimal traffic. Sports mode is where the fun is. Put the car into sports mode, and immediately the engine note changes (a different map), the steering gets very tight, and the car just shoots forward on even the lightest tap on the accelerator. While driving in curvy roads, this mode provides the most fun with its power delivery and accurate steering response. Sports+ mode is similar to Sports mode, but with DSC (dynamic stability control) turned off. I have not tried this mode, but I have read in BMW forums that turning off DSC disables some safety features like stability control, corner braking etc and makes the car more tail happy. I don’t plan to test this mode unless I can get the car on a track (which I don't think is going to happen any soon)! But I could try this for the launch control. Steering Feel: One thing the sales manager confirmed (when we were looking for M Sport suspensions) is that the steering control unit for the M Sport variant is different from the luxury and sport line variants. That is one consolation that the M Sport variant gets at least a sporty steering setup. The steering is electric, and lacks feedback. But it is very accurate and responsive. At higher speeds, the steering weighs up nicely giving lots of control. In Sports mode, the weight is even more significant. I haven’t driven many performance cars to provide any comparision, but I feel the steering is much better than the Jetta. Fuel Economy: Inside city, when I drive in EcoPro mode, I get anywhere from 9 to 11kpl under heavy to moderate traffic. In city speeds of 50kph to 55kph, with very minimum traffic, I have seen an FE of 17kpl. I did a couple of long drives. One was a 215km drive to Mysore and another was a 150km drive on the Bangalore highway. In both these drives, I got a FE of 9.8kpl. In the Mysore drive, this was mainly due to the totally broken roads between Hasanur and Chamrajnagar, and in the highway drive, it was because I was pushing the car experimenting with sports mode. If driven sedately at cruising speeds of 90kph to 110kph, I am sure the car would return FE in the range of 12 to 14kpl, not bad at all for a 252 bhp engine. Ride and Handling: I have driven the car about 1800 kilometers at the time of writing this review and have driven the car in city, on the highway, 2 lane state roads and very curvy mountain and forest roads (in the Dimbham ghats). I must say the comfort levels of the car at city speeds and in rough patches, speed breakers etc is just SUPERB. The car just glides over these patches and there is hardly any roughness felt in the cabin. On the winding hill roads in Dimbham ghats I tried the car in sports mode. Though there is a little body roll in the curves, the roll is quite predictable and after a couple of curves, I could easily judge the body roll. And the RWD more than compensates for the roll. The car is just eager to make fast turns. So, except for that little roll, the fun factor of the RWD and the sports mode is just awesome. The only problem I have with the car is at highway speeds on undulating roads, the car just behaves like a boat. Forget unmentionable speeds, even at speeds like 110 to 120 kph, there is too much bounce in the rear which gives that floating feeling (which gets worse as the speed increases). Both my wife and younger daughter have complained about motion sickness. In fact, my wife says she prefers the Jetta (which is no longer with me) on the highways. That being said, the handling is a little better than the diesel GT I test drove. I think this could be because of two reasons: The M Sport comes with a staggered wheel setup with 255 section tires in the rear and 225 section tires in the front. Initially, the pressure in the tires was 37psi. I have since dropped the pressure to 33psi, the handling has improved a little. So in summary, I need a stiffer suspension to solve this bouncy ride at highway speeds. I have already identified the parts for the M Sport suspension upgrade including the springs, struts and stabilizers, and the BMW dealer has promised that they will source them and install them for me. I will update the thread with this upgrade when I get to do this. Launch Control: Another interesting feature in the BMW is the launch control. I have not tried this yet as the car is still in run-in period. But the SA demonstrated this feature in the 320d GT test drive car, and believe me it was FUN. Launch control is quite simple. Disable traction control, put the gear lever in sports mode, keep the brake pedal depressed with the left foot, and completely press the accelerator pedal. A checkered flag will appear on the instrument cluster with a message "ready to launch". Let go the brake and experience the launch. With the diesel car itself I found the engine note to be super sporty and the car to be very stable on launch. I can only imagine this on the 30i engine. Last edited by benbsb29 : 26th March 2018 at 08:44. Reason: Extra smiley removed as per RP. |
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25th March 2018, 13:32
| #14 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 3,493
Thanked: 23,595 Times
| Small Yet Significant Things and Conclusion Small Yet Significant Things The hazard triangle is neatly tucked in a compartment in the inside of the tailgate. Twist the two knobs and the compartment opens up revealing the hazard triangle.   The boot floor can be opened up to reveal extra storage space under the floor. Could be very useful to store tool boxes jacks and emergency kits like puncture kit, jump start kit etc.   The boot has a charging port. This can be used to connect a portable tire inflator. There are also a couple of hooks that can be used to hang bags.  The first aid kit and the tow hook are neatly concealed in a compartment in the left side of the boot.  There is a button just below the C pillar that can be used to adjust the inclination of the rear seats. As the seats at their maximum incline are already a little straight, this adjustment is just a waste in my opinion.  The seat belt reminder works only for the driver, not for the passenger (unlike VAG cars where both the driver and passenger get seat belt warning).  The boot has elastic bands to hold things like a portable tire inflator, and a small detailing kit. Also notice the anchor hooks on rails. These are used to hold the spare wheel in place.   Bluetooth mics present above driver and passenger. Provides a clean call quality.  BHPian Krish_Sreedharan busy shooting the GT for the “Exteriors” section.  To make the review useful to the reader, I had prepared this list of pictures. As I was writing the review, found the need for a few more pictures which I took after preparing a second list.  The BMW air freshener. The dealer provided this as a free accessory. Looks cool indeed.  Kagu 3D Mats: Replaced the mats with Kagu mats. The rubber mats the dealer had provided had the biege lining which was looking odd, and also the rubber surface was a little slippery (could be due to the worn soles in my shoes as well). The Kagu mats are a perfect fit and the all black mats look fantastic. A few pictures of the mat. Thank you "driv3r" for sourcing the mat from Chennai and "H14" for bringing it to Coimbatore The driver side mat. It has perfect cut for the organ type accelerator pedal and properly covers the dead pedal.  Passenger side mat.  Rear mats.  Conclusion I went against majority opinion and got this GT. Except for the bounciness at highway speeds, I am extremely satisfied with the car. Once I get the suspensions changed to M Sport suspension, I expect the car to become a dream car that is sporty and practical at the same time. Thanks for reading through such a long thread. I have tried to include as much information as possible. I wanted to shoot a couple of videos like the automatic headlights etc., but could not, due to lack of time. Will plan to do this sometime later when I get time. I will update the thread with my experience with the car and also a couple of upgrades that I am planning shortly – the M Sport suspensions and Dashcam. That’s all folks, I have for now. Last edited by graaja : 25th March 2018 at 22:14. |
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25th March 2018, 23:45
| #15 |
| Team-BHP Support  | |
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