[nil98]

So I bit the bullet last Sunday and bought into a G81 M3 Touring as I approach retirement this maybe my last chance to drive something this special. But that meant I have to chip in my beloved 340i with all the mods that made it something quite special (though a complete b*stard to insure). I shall miss her badly. In the end it was the APR on the finance that made the deal work. Incredible what a difference it makes to your monthly payments.

The G81 is something special I’ve done 120 miles in it today - a proper wolf in wolf’s clothing. She wasn’t to my spec, the dealer had it sitting in the showroom but the external colour was my first choice tho the black leather isn’t. It also kept me well away from the options list!

First impressions
- insurance not too bad - some change out of a grand. Cheaper than the (modified) 340i. No tracker but needs to be garaged at home
- iDrive8 is confusing but very sexy - jury’s out
- gear level left to right instead of backwards and forwards. That’ll take some getting used to
- definately has road presence loads of looks and respect on the motorway
- black interior sooo boring but hey ho a small compromise to make
- fuel economy lower than anticipated (I mainly drove like miss daisy and still only got 27th. Guess u don’t buy these for the economy and hope it will get better when she loosens up
- BMW app/profile seriously impressive ping the barcode and all / most of my settings came across from the 340
- HUD doesn’t seem configurable. Nav symbols quite small and half the screen wasted with fancy logo /design
- Nav screen doesn’t appear to do split screen (if it does I’ve not found it yet) and I miss the direction symbols
- Spotify integration better
- Radio saved list much better
- the 8 programmable buttons have gone!
- having moaned the auto headlight dipping was going to be a chargeable xtra, it suddenly burst into life this evening. Maybe my 340 subscription followed me to the new car?

I splashed out and had front half ppf’d with the self heal really good job - On Track Detailing - near Reading if anyone was wants a recommendation. Incredible attention to detail, dealer so impressed they are posting it on their web site.

Went for a tracker in the end. And had to squeeze her into a lockable garage as an insurance requirement made a bigger difference than tracker to the premium so will be spending the weekend clearing out the crap from my garage!

Fun day all in all.

As BMW didn’t want most of the mods I will be selling my ACS springs from the g21 once the dealer has switched them back to standard. Similarly ACS spacers and longer nuts available plus a set of 19 inch 791 with usable winter tyres. Ping me if interested - I will post officially in the appropriate forum section later.