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My enthusiast garage: Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX and BMW M340i LCI

27th November 2024, 16:17 by Kanad Kalasur

There are times when I wonder how a BMW M2 or M3 or M4 may be……for these times, I fulfill that experience somewhat through my Ninja 1000SX.

BHPian Laks recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Surfing through the #3rilling 3s and riding the Green wave!

This is my first ever ownership review on Team-BHP and it’s a combined review of 2 incredible machines I have had the privilege of owning.

Over the last several years, irrespective of what’s going on in the world, Team-BHP has been the first thing I open to read every day followed by other less important things in life / world. Whilst I am WFH, my son takes a quick peep at my laptop screen and runs to my wife to say, “Ma, papa is on Team-BHP again”. Thanks to this great forum and the BHPians for the latest in automotive news, reviews and insights that has helped me and surely so many others in making the right choice, improving their petrol headedness and even striking good friendships.

My review relates to 2 machines that is quite popular in this forum and much has already been said about them. Therefore, although hard, I will try to keep it quite succinct and hope you enjoy reading it.

Coming from a very humble family, the only vehicle that my father acquired in his 40s through his limited sources was a new Kawasaki-Bajaj KB100 RTZ motorcycle. I would never miss a chance to ride pillion with him and I remember my eyes turning watery due to headwind from when he would go fast in the then open and free roads in Bangalore. This initial pillion rider experience brought me into the exciting world of motorcycling.

The excitement and the passion has since grown stronger and I went on to own a few different motorcycles – Hero Honda CD100, Hero Honda Karizma, Royal Enfield Bullet 350, Kawasaki Ninja 250R (my first performance motorcycle) in the striking ‘Lime Green’ colour.

I relocated to London for 5 years and during this time, I sadly owned no vehicles and travelled by trains except for the last year when I had had enough and very badly wanted to have a vehicle.

In 2017, I picked-up a pre-owned BMW 320d Sport (F30) in London and I surprised myself with my choice of colour – Melbourne Red. This was my first BMW / luxury car and I had no clue to what was in store for me later in my life. Although automatic transmission was available in plenty, I deliberately chose the manual transmission and thanks to my wife’s relatives who lived up north in the UK, I had a blast with the drives and became the darling husband who would create occasions to visit them very often.

That ownership was short-lived though, had to relocate back to India within a year of owning the car, the thought of importing the car haunted me a lot, but, finally sold it in the UK as everyone advised the process wasn’t smooth. Here is a pic of my car as I was sadly walking away after having just sold it.

Relocated to Gurugram in 2018, picked-up a base Hyundai i20 with manual transmission as the interest to return to the UK was high. It was not meant to be and when I realised I am going to be here in India, the desire of driving a BMW again kept luring me. The new G20 model of the 3 series just launched and it was love at first sight. In 2020, I got a good deal on a new BS4 320d Sport in Mediterranean Blue colour.

I was not quite happy that only automatic transmission was available in India as I learnt the customers in this luxury segment shunned manual transmission. My previous experience of automatic transmission implemented in the likes of Hyundai i10, etc was on my mind. Ever since I experienced the 8 speed steptronic ZF transmission, I have never missed manual transmission.

The BMW 2.0 litre diesel, especially after warming-up well was a hoot to drive and that ZF transmission only made things even better. Having tasted a modern 3 series and the reviews on Team-BHP on 330i made me greedy. COVID at that time and the lockdowns meant I had only clocked 6K KM and the ban on BS4 diesels in Delhi / NCR due to recurring air quality issues led me to sell my 320d in pristine condition without much loss.

A picture of this 320D.

In 2022, I picked-up a new 330i MSport in Portimao Blue colour and here is where my ‘surfing’ through the #3rilling 3s begin. I had fallen in love with the G20 model as it looked perfect from any angle, was just the right size for a small family, offered incredible performance and reliability. My wife reconciled to the fact that I have lost my mind as what came home was ‘exactly’ the same car that I had just sold, albeit in a different hue of blue, aggressive looking bumpers and a much potent engine, all of which she (or others) couldn’t appreciate.

While on the road, my biggest admirers were school kids in the last seat of the bus, one would spot my car, I could see his sleepy eyes suddenly brighten-up and within no time, half a dozen of his friends come running to the back of the bus to admire the car and wave at me – pure innocence! The driver ergonomics, the perfect placement of all the controls and the screen that is slightly tilted towards the driver tells you how this is designed to be a driver’s car – just couldn’t find any fault with it. Below is a picture of this 330i.

My surfing continued. 5.8 secs for a 0-100 kmph sprint was already pretty #3rilling, but, my eyes were always on the M340i with the award winning B58, 3.0 litre, 6 cylinder engine. I had not missed a single thread in Team-BHP about this car and its engine. Everything else about the G20 model I was already in love with.

I could have directly switched from the 320d to the M340i, but, I couldn’t easily stretch myself to it then, financially. My surfing was meant to happen, and in March of 2024, I sold my 330i MSport, which had clocked about 14K KM and was also in pristine condition, to a buyer from Odisha, clearing my only obstacle to acquiring the mighty M340i LCI.

My wife had seen so many YouTube videos along with me and had heard me utter the words B58, 6 cylinder, 3.0 litre, 4.4 secs to 100, etc that I would overhear her explain these things to her sister and parents who had learnt by then that I am surfing and imminently bringing home the 3rd 3 series which looked ‘exactly’ the same as the earlier 2 and once again in a shade of blue, called by BMW as Tanzanite Blue!

Everyone in my family have since offered special prayers to the Almighty so BMW doesn’t launch a M350i and my surfing is brought to an end. I think their prayers will be fruitful as I can complete my review of this beautiful car in just one sentence, “Its truly the only car that any enthusiast would ever want.”

Having surfed through 3 of the same car, I can vouch for the rock solid reliability at least in the initial years of ownership. For any who have doubted this car’s practicality, it took me recently to the beautiful Rohtang Pass. Some of the fellow M340i owners have since been inspired to take their cars to such places and I am myself looking forward to explore more beautiful destinations in this car. This brings me to the end of my tale of surfing but the #3rill continues.

You may wonder what’s with the “riding the Green wave” in my title. Remember, I started telling you about my love for motorcycles and drifted into cars. The 2nd incredible machine that I am lucky to own and enjoy is none other than the Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX. After having honed my riding skills organically with 100CC, 250CC, 650CC motorcycles, there came a time in 2021 when I felt I was ready to graduate to a proper big bike. A year’s worth of research helped me identify this beautiful machine which one reviewer has rightly termed as an “auto journos nightmare” – its very hard to find any fault with it. KarthikK, in his frequently updated travelogue thread, “Living an evolved dream” has demonstrated how this machine has stood by him over 35K KMs. As part of my review, I would like to briefly state what led me to choose this.

Upright riding position that lets you ride over long distances with no issues to your back.
Proven, reliable and buttery smooth in-line 4 cylinder engine
All the power you will ever need with 142 horses and intoxicating 111 Nm torque
Good amount of tech with 6 axis IMU from Bosch, TFT display, quick-shifter, riding modes, etc.
Sufficiently high seat for tall riders, I am 6 feet
Plush suspension with pre-load adjustment
Excellent engine heat management unlike others that may cook your legs / thighs
Proper pillion seat with rock solid grab handles
Superb build quality
Sleeper exhaust noise that doesn’t catch of the attention of cops; on hard acceleration on open highways, you can enjoy the jet engine like air intake howl
Excellent after-sales service and spare parts availability

The 2 unique things I have done with the bike are:

Added a SW-Motech made frame sliders and I might possibly be the only one who has chosen this for my Ninja 1000SX. From the pics, you can see they are not only strong but also blends seamlessly as if it were an integral design.

As a sports tourer, the only thing that it misses out on is in-built navigation that I have supplemented with a TomTom Rider 550 held by a SW-Motech made GPS mount. This links to the satellite even in the most remote of places where a smartphone may lose connectivity.

This Guru Nanak Jayanthi long weekend, I rode to Binsar in Uttarakhand and enjoyed a 900+ km ride reminiscing the beautiful view of the Himalayas.