[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by BeMyWings

My most sincere apologies Doc, I should have obtained permission before posting the video. I have deleted the video, regret the error.

Thank you very much, and no need to apologize! I totally appreciate your intentions and the efforts. Thanks again for your understanding.

In fact, I really liked your video idea and the video you created. Such videos can definitely be made, but we have to make sure we follow the right copyright protocols and address any privacy concerns.

Also, thanks for appreciating the thread. It is nice to have members who take time to read my thread. Thanks for that.

[robincsamuel]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Weekend Drive to Chikmagalur

Thanks for this post. We planned a trip after seeing your post and executed it last week. The same route, same resort and the same coffee shop


My attempt to take a photo, inspired by the pictures you shared.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

Thanks for this post. We planned a trip after seeing your post and executed it last week. The same route, same resort and the same coffee shop

My attempt to take a photo, inspired by the pictures you shared.

Oh Wow! Beautiful photo! You have found the exact same spot where I took a photo. And your car looks great there. Thanks for sharing!

Hope you had a good trip too.

[Dr.AD]

Drive on Countryside Roads, with Friends

The reason there has been no update in this thread was that I haven't driven the car much in last month or so. For a change, the attention was other cars and drives. For example, I did a drive to Arunachal Pradesh with my friend and BHPian graaja, described here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...w-330i-gt.html (Bangalore to Arunachal Pradesh in a BMW 330i GT). However, that drive was in his BMW 330i GT, and not in my car.

After returning from the Arunachal Drive, I did a small drive in my 320d to Krishnagiri (TN) last week (with some BHPian friends, and also got to meet a couple of new friends. Nice to meet you guys!). However, that ended up becoming just a highway drive through heavy truck traffic, and there was nothing much to report here.

Finally, yesterday, on the Republic Day holiday, I got a chance to push the car a bit and do a proper drive on some scenic countryside roads, along with my BHPian friends. Thanks to our friend and BHPian megazoid for planning this drive, and for taking us on some really enjoyable two-lane countryside roads. His knowledge of roads and driving circuits is just amazing, and we always trust him to come up with some new and exciting driving circuit each time. Today was no exception. He came up with this plan and the rest of us just followed his car through what turned out to be a memorable drive. The cars got some much needed exercise too, as we enjoyed pushing our cars through the sweeping corners of these scenic two-lane roads.

The driving group this time was our usual gang: I in my Red 320d, robimahanta in his Sunset Orange BMW M340i, zebo in his Red Octavia vRS, and megazoid and his better half, Shivali, in their White BMW 330i. We had a lovely set of sedans which were all good handlers, and this circuit was the best circuit to enjoy the handling of the cars.

The cars lined up at one of the scenic spots on the drive:



The star attraction, the mighty M340i (I got chances to listen to the exhaust note of this inline 6 engine a few times in the day, and oh boy, it was better than any music):



Food stops are always an integral part of any drive (megazoid says "food stops are the punctuation marks in a good drive", and I agree 100%). Our cars parked at Tribal Cafe for a breakfast:



The Two Shades of Red:



After breakfast, we continued driving on the circuit that was chosen by megazoid, and soon we found ourselves of a lovely track like this:



The four cars parked on the side of the road looked nice, and also happy with the kind of roads they got to run on:



The three Bimmers in the pack:



Another masterstroke by megazoid! He knew some incredibly pretty temple somewhere, and he drove us to this spot:



After some reshuffling, we parked the cars under a majestic looking old peepal tree, and the overall scene looked like this:



From another angle, it looked like the cars were praying in front of the temple (I am sure my car was praying for more such drives in the future, and maybe a good set of tyres on the next change):



The two Reds again:



The mighty Orange looked stunning wherever she was parked:



megazoid looking at the 340i and wondering if this would indeed be the right choice as his next car:



Another view of the four sedans parked under that majestic tree:



The White 330i posing with a lovely stance! I was smitten by how beautiful this car looked:



And finally, the happy faces. Left to Right: robimahanta, megazoid, Shivali, and zebo (I was behind the camera):


It was a lovely drive and a great day we had on the Republic Day! Hoping that this turns out to be just the first of many more exciting drives this year, and looking forward to the next drive now. Thanks to all my friends on this drive for making this a special drive. See you guys soon on the next drive!

[androdev]

Always a pleasure to read your travel updates. Restrict your group to sedans only, will ruin the photos otherwise :-) the temple and the peepal tree scene is gorgeous and i don't think it can be captured in a photo - you guys are lucky to have all the ingredients needed for such a lovely drive!

[iliketurtles]

Every time I read your updates, it gladdens the heart to see a tribe of sedans enjoying these cars as they are meant to be enjoyed. Makes me wish we had more such roads near Bombay!

Off the top of my head, that's more than 1000 BHP in one frame! Warms the heart when you think about it.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

The White 330i posing with a lovely stance! I was smitten by how beautiful this car looked...

Has the 330i been lowered? If so, I'm glad I've found the one other idiot in India who's brave enough to do so.

[Moontan]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Has the 328i been lowered? If so, I'm glad I've found the one other idiot in India who's brave enough to do so.

Not just lowered, it's also running smaller rims. 17inchers from the look of it. Methinks it's not a 328i but another variant.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Has the 328i been lowered? If so, I'm glad I've found the one other idiot in India who's brave enough to do so.

Originally Posted by Moontan

Not just lowered, it's also running smaller rims. 17inchers from the look of it. Methinks it's not a 328i but another variant.

It's not a 328i but a very rare 330i sportline LCI. Usually all the 330i F30's were M sport trims but one variant was Sportline at launch.

This had 17 inch rims and was missing the M bits but fully loaded otherwise.

Also this white 330i is lowered with Bilstein B12.

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by Moontan

Not just lowered, it's also running smaller rims. 17inchers from the look of it. Methinks it's not a 328i but another variant.

Aye, good catch, as seen from the fatter tyre profile. Makes things that little more practical.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

It's not a 328i but a very rare 330i sportline LCI. Usually all the 330i F30's were M sport trims but one variant was Sportline at launch.

This had 17 inch rims and was missing the M bits but fully loaded otherwise.

Also this white 330i is lowered with Bilstein B12.

Gotcha, thanks. I remember driving the B12s on a friend's 328i, it was bone-chatteringly firm. Proper enthusiast choice, that.

[Moontan]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

This had 17 inch rims and was missing the M bits but fully loaded otherwise.

Interesting. When you say fully loaded, did it come with HUD, reverse cam, large iDrive display, etc.? From what I know only the 328i got HUD among the F30s in India.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Moontan

Interesting. When you say fully loaded, did it come with HUD, reverse cam, large iDrive display, etc.? From what I know only the 328i got HUD among the F30s in India.

It didnt have HUD but got the larger idrive, the reverse camera and the sport seats.

Just the steering was non M sport and the alloys were 17 inchers. It also didn't get the M sport front and rear bumpers.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by androdev

Always a pleasure to read your travel updates. Restrict your group to sedans only, will ruin the photos otherwise :-) the temple and the peepal tree scene is gorgeous and i don't think it can be captured in a photo - you guys are lucky to have all the ingredients needed for such a lovely drive!

Thank you very much androdev! Actually a couple of guys in this same sedan group have body-on-frame SUVs too. But we keep them away from the photographs. Just kidding

Yes, we are indeed lucky to have a group of like-minded friends who enjoy driving. The thing that brings the group together is the driving passion. The cars we drive are just the excuses. All of us just love driving and that passion comes out through these day drives, or the weekend drives, or sometimes on a rare occasion, even a 2-week drive like the Arunachal drive. I am really lucky to have such nice set of friends!

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Every time I read your updates, it gladdens the heart to see a tribe of sedans enjoying these cars as they are meant to be enjoyed. Makes me wish we had more such roads near Bombay!

Thank you very much, iliketurtles! Your red steed is always an inspiration too. Someday I hope we can get our cars together in one frame.

You are right about the roads. We in South India are lucky to have some amazing roads (in terms of surface quality, scenic qualities as well in terms of the corners and the twisty nature they offer to enjoy a sedan) and I am glad we have a friends who make full use of these.

Off the top of my head, that's more than 1000 BHP in one frame! Warms the heart when you think about it.

True! I did not think like this before but now that you mentioned it, it feels great!

Has the 330i been lowered? If so, I'm glad I've found the one other idiot in India who's brave enough to do so.

As others have already answered, yes, it is lowered! megazoid is a hard-core racing guy. He knows how to drive a car (he is one of the best drivers I have seen), and also knows exactly what he needs from each car and what specs they must have. No OEM has been able to make him happy with their stock setup. Every car he owns has been "altered" to suit him the best, and this one is no exception. This is one of the best F30s I have seen. And of course, the other best one would be your Red F30, but unfortunately I have not seen that in person yet.

Originally Posted by Moontan

Methinks it's not a 328i but another variant.

Thanks for pointing it out. It is indeed not a 328i, but 330i as Vid6639 mentioned. It was a "brain fade" from my side when I typed it as 328i. I had requested mods to correct it and thankfully they have corrected it now.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

It's not a 328i but a very rare 330i sportline LCI. Usually all the 330i F30's were M sport trims but one variant was Sportline at launch.

Thanks Vid6639 for clarifying it. Again, it was just a typo from my side (a brain fade actually) that I mentioned it has 328i. Thanks to mods for correcting it.

This had 17 inch rims and was missing the M bits but fully loaded otherwise.

True. It came with the same 17" rims that the 320d SportsLine had. Therefore, I feel happy that I have at least the same rims as his modified 330i

[megazoid]

Nice meet AD. Had a great time meeting the regular gang and toiling hard on those good roads. The white car sits low but handles great and the happiness quotient has gone up a few notches.

[robimahanta]

Nice crisp report AD. It was indeed a fantastic drive away from all the Republic Day highway convoys. Thanks to Megazoid for figuring out the perfect route for the sedans. Some pictures from my phone. No picture can do justice to that Peepal tree location.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Drive on Countryside Roads, with Friends

Always great reading updates on your thread & other motoring enthusiast in your group.

Do share the route map, so other mortals can also have a go at it in their cars & SAV's.

That Peepal tree is HUGE! Makes up for a great photograph.

Lastly the 330i should loose the mud flaps. No Bimmer should ever have these. Spoils the look of the car. Trust me. Just my 2p. All respect to respective owners.