[Axe77]

Originally Posted by graaja

The 3GT goes to Hampi - Exploring Vijayanagar Architecture



Below are the trip statistics for the onward and return drive.

Onward.
Attachment 2228347

Reminds me of our trip to Hampi - had the pleasure of riding down in the Tiger.

Beautiful pics Graaja. A gorgeous car, stunning locale and an enthusiast with a phenomenal eye for composing brilliant pics. If and when we ever meet, I’m going to get you to take some pics of my car too!!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Reminds me of our trip to Hampi - had the pleasure of riding down in the Tiger.

Wow. That would have been a wonderful experience riding all the way from Mumbai to Hampi!

Originally Posted by Axe77

Beautiful pics Graaja. A gorgeous car, stunning locale and an enthusiast with a phenomenal eye for composing brilliant pics. If and when we ever meet, I’m going to get you to take some pics of my car too!!

Thank you for the kind words mate

Yes. Definitely. When we meet, we will definitely plan for a photoshoot of our GTs.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by graaja

Wow. That would have been a wonderful experience riding all the way from Mumbai to Hampi!

It was lovely. My first long ride on a bike. We were just two bikes. My friend on his Interceptor and me on the Triumph.

Couple of pics below in the beautiful Hampi surrounding. Maybe if Goa 70.3 happens in 2022 we might get to meet up. Races seem to be resuming.
.
.

[graaja]

6th Oil Service:



Last week the car was due for oil service. Fixed an appointment with the workshop and got the service completed. As usual, had a very good experience at the workshop.

The BSI conundrum:

As I have a very long road trip (about 10000km) coming up soon, I asked the workshop to check the condition of the rear brake pads (the front pads and discs were changed recently). The rear pads were 5mm against the replacement spec of 3mm and the discs are at 18.35mm against the replacement spec of 18.4mm.

The CBS shows 14000 kilometers for rear brake pad replacement. As CBS can sometimes over-estimate the life of the pads (once it went from 10000km to 2000km in a day), I asked the workshop if they can pro-actively replace the pads. They are not able to do this as the system does not allow them to replace the pads when CBS shows anything above 4000km.

Though the discs can be replaced per spec, the workshop manager told me it is better to replace the discs along with fresh pads. He also thoroughly inspected the pads and said they have even wear and can definitely last for 10000 km. As the rear pads lasted 35000kms last time, by the same projection, they should last till this road trip.

Though theoretically, there is nothing to be worried, there is this small nagging in the mind if the brake pad replacement will pop up during the road trip which can upset the drive plans. Had it not been for BSI, I would have replaced the pads for peace of mind.

I wrote to BMW to see if they would provide a waiver on CBS and replace the pads. But they responded that they will not be able to do this against their policy and I will have to pay for the pads.

This is one disadvantage I see in taking a BSI package though I still like the convenience it offers.

[graaja]

60,000 kilometers up

The car crossed 60,000 kilometers a couple of days back, in about 3 years and 10 months.


A few pictures from a road trip (will share details soon).

Inside a tea estate.











Sunrise on a highway.

[graaja]

9400km Road Trip to Northeast

Completed a 24 day, 9400km road trip to Northeast. It was a joy driving this car through 12 states on all types of roads. Smooth highways or completely broken roads, the car took both in its stride.

I have documented this road trip in my travelogue in the below link.

A Road Trip to Assam, Arunachal and Meghalaya in a BMW 330i GT

I had posted a few pictures from this road trip in the previous post. Below are a few more.

On smooth highways.


On completely broken roads.


In front of a monstery. PC: Dr.AD


With mountains in the background. PC: Dr.AD


With snow capped mountains in the background. PC: Dr.AD


At a water hole.


Amidst tall trees.

[graaja]

Wheel alignment and wash post the road trip

After completing the 24 day road trip, below is the oil service reminder. Will get the oil service done next week after the notification goes below 2000km.



Meanwhile, as the car had got quite dirty and as it was driven through many broken roads, decided to get it cleaned and a wheel alignment and balancing done at NextGen Coimbatore.

The dirty car that has accumulated dirt from 12 states!





Wheel alignment being done. There was a slight misalignment that was fixed.



Car being washed. From the amount of dirt that was removed from the car, the car should be at least 10 kilos lighter



As good as new.





The car got a couple of war scars from the road trip in the form of a scratch in the bumper and a stone chip on the paint on the bonnet. For a 4 year old car that has done close to 70000km, these are quite insignificant I believe.

That's all folks, I have for now.

Will post an update after the next oil service and maybe rear brake pads and disc replacement.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by graaja

As good as new.

Wow! The car looks great. Looks new indeed!

After seeing your car with all the cross-country dirt through last month (by the way, it looked fantastic even with all that dirt, or maybe because of that dirt), I almost did not recognize this shiny clean car now.

Your car is indeed an amazing machine. It handled pan-India drive like an SUV. It delivered the power of a fast sedan when roads were good, and then handled bad roads with aplomb when required. And as you said, even at close to 70,000km through all kinds of conditions, it is as good as new!

If there ever was a combination of performance, practicality and reliability, then this is it! Kudos to you and your car once again! Looking forward to seeing both of you in another drive soon!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

If there ever was a combination of performance, practicality and reliability, then this is it!

Thank you for the kind words Dr.AD.

I have to thank you for the ownership of this car. You were one of the very few who recommended to get this car instead of the 330i sedan during my car selection process. And I am really glad that I took your advice and got this car

[XDriver]

graaja, loved the 24 day road trip you did with Dr AD to the northeast ! 9400km is no joke is a BMW 330i GT and you guys came back with some amazing experiences, memories and images! I have the X1 M Sport X-Drive 20d in the same color which I really like. Looking forward to more of your trips in this beauty.

[graaja]

Did a photoshoot of the GT in sunset over the weekend. A few pictures.

Originally Posted by XDriver

graaja, loved the 24 day road trip you did with Dr AD to the northeast ! 9400km is no joke is a BMW 330i GT and you guys came back with some amazing experiences, memories and images! I have the X1 M Sport X-Drive 20d in the same color which I really like. Looking forward to more of your trips in this beauty.

Thank you for the kind words

[aseemsood]

Originally Posted by graaja

9400km Road Trip to Northeast

Completed a 24 day, 9400km road trip to Northeast. It was a joy driving ....

Amazing. You are doing justice to your blue beauty. So much to learn.
Thanks for sharing.

[graaja]

7th Oil Service, Rear Pads and Discs Change

A couple of weeks back, the oil service reminder started popping up on the iDrive. Fixed an appointment on 15th of February and took the car to BMW dealership for the oil change service. Oil change was carried out as usual and the car was given back after a good wash.

At this time, I asked them to also inspect the rear brake pads for wear. iDrive was showing 5000 km of life on the rear brake pads. They did a visual inspection and said the pads had a little more than 3mm of thickness left and were still above spec to replace under BSI.

On 16th I had a drive to Madurai which was a 450km round trip. 300km into the drive, the iDrive started showing 2700km life on the brake pads and when I completed the drive, it showed 2500km. So the brake pad life prediction on iDrive dropped 2500km on a 450km drive.

As I had another drive to Mysore on 18th and as this drive involved driving through hill roads of Dimbham, I took the car again on 17th February to the workshop and asked them to look at the pads and replace if necessary even though iDrive was showing 2500km of life.

Below pictures show the state of the pads.




At the workshop they removed the pads and it was found that the pads had worn out unevenly and at the edges of the outer pads, there was hardly any pad left. The inner side pads had good amount of thickness left. The sensor is fixed on the inner side.




They replaced the rear brake pads and the discs as well.

I have been extremely happy with the ownership of this car in the past 4 years, both with the car and with the service and support from the dealership and BMW.

The only thing that I am not happy about is inconsistent brake pad life prediction made by the iDrive and the strict adherence of BMW to iDrive prediction to change the pads. They have a very tight specification under which the pads may be changed outside iDrive. If the thickness of the pads is more by even a few hundredths of an mm, they do not change the pads. This results in frequent visits to the service center which takes me a full day. If they could have a slight relaxation in specs, they could have changed the pads and discs on the day of oil change itself and saved me another full day at the workshop.

[graaja]

A Weekend Drive to Ranganathittu

Went for a weekend drive to Ranganathittu near Mysore with other TBHP friends from Bangalore. Have written a travelogue on this trip. Link to the travelogue below.

Weekend drive to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary and Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel

A few pictures of the GT and the other cars from this drive.

[graaja]

Doorpad replaced under warranty

Forgot an important update that happened during the oil service.

The rubber lining on the driver side door pad had become gooey and had started developing cracks. This is a very common problem with BMWs. I have seen this problem reported by other members and that BMW usually does not cover this part under warranty.

Looks like BMW has changed its warranty policy on this part. I had shown this issue during the 6th oil service and the SA said he will raise a warranty claim and keep the replacement ready. During the last oil service (the 7th) he said BMW had approved the warranty replacement and he has received the part, and they changed it during the service. Below pictures are the cracked part before replacement and the new replaced part.

The cracked part.


The replaced part.