[hans007]

I had the Audi virtual cockpit last and I'm totally fine with the inverted tachometer.

first off I rarely look at it and because it's inverted it takes up less screen space since it it were the other direction or the way Audi does it there's just empty space there that can't be used for anything else. I feel like it's totally justified if you don't wanna have dead space on the display, though I agree they should let people just have w classic mode if they want to turn all the other stuff off.

personally I like having the little fuel economy thing there, and the next street thing for the nav etc

[JDUNITNOW]

I have driven the newer BMW'S with Idrive 7 and missed the old analog at the beginning. I will say it did not take me long to get adapted to the new setup and I always like new technology. I worked at Enterprise for a short time to justify me purchasing a new car later this year and had a opportunity to drive about every make. All of them have digital displays and I can say with confidence, BMW is more intuitive and easy to adapt to. Enthusiasts can moan and complain all day on forums but at the end of the day, they will still sell more cars embracing new technologies. With 5G rolling out and technology constantly changing, it will all look the same soon enough. Either you hold on to your old flip phone or embrace it. Not trying to piss off anyone, just my opinion. Happy Driving 🚗

[Transfer]

Totally agree about the instrument cluster (and the rest of your assessment). I recently picked up an X3M and LOVE the gauges in comparison to our M340i. iDrive 7 is good if only a minor upgrade from ID6, but man I don't get the instrument display. Overall though, this is the best 3 series IMO and I would bet the new M3 is going to be absurdly amazing. If anyone doesn't like the size, that's what the 2er is for now.

[-EndOfAnEra-]

Originally Posted by NewM3driver

So with COVID I have only put 600 miles on the car in its first month.

This car feels (is) rock solid. They are always talking about making cars stiffer. This M340 *feels* SO much more taunt then my past E and F series M3's. Very impressive.

This car is FAST. I don't mean the obvious 0-60 fast. I mean you get the 95mph surprise while driving down the highway. It is quiet and smooth, and VERY difficult to keep anywhere near the speed limit. The M cars were loud and burly. You had to push them to make them go. You felt the speed. In the M340 the refinement masks the speed in an almost dangerous sort of way. 90 and 100 feels like 60 and 70. Yikes.

The instrument cluster is an EPIC FAIL. I mean what the hell were they thinking? It is illegible, counter intuitive and flat out a useless mess. The speedo has an orange line to begin with, and as it rises it begins as red and then turns orange seeming to disappear. WTF? The Tach is a complete shit show, climbing reverse and backwards. For all of time automobile gauges went clockwise. Who decided the tach should climb counterclockwise in this bizarre reverse elliptical shape? It is useless.

There is a beautiful nav screen in the center console. Another in the heads up display. Do we really need a third shitty grey and white version between the cheapest looking speedo and tach in the world?

The gas milage gauge is upside down. As milage goes up, the line goes down. 10 miles per gallon is on TOP, 20 miles below it and 90 miles per gallon when coasting is all the way at the bottom. What the fuck were they thinking? Seriously.

This instrument disaster is in all models... not just the 3. I can't imagine folks think this mess is OK in cars costing between 60 and 150 thousand dollars.

If I could pay to have the regular gauges fit into my car a would in a second.

Other than the instruments failure, the car is fabulous. I don't miss my boy racer M cars one bit.

Thanks again for your insights! I'm in the same boat where I've got less than 300 miles after almost a month.

Having driven F80s prior to this, how much stiffer is the F80 in comparison to the G20? I've been shocked just how much flatter the G20 is in corners compared to my old E90!

Totally agree with the sneaky speed feeling. I think it's one of my best reasons to drive in manual mode all the time, you can reign it in much easier!

Now the cluster, totally agree with you. I did however find a way to make it tolerable. Turn on reduced mode for the cluster, and put only RPM, speed, and the shift lights in the HUD. With this, the tach and speedo get very subtle white lines and a big speed display, but you're mainly reading speed in the HUD. Bonus is that the tach in the hud goes the right way. It takes a bit of time to get the feel because it is a small tach but overall it works well for me. If you ever need more data, flip the OBC button on the left stalk and it shows the full cluster briefly.

Eagerly awaiting BMW to fix its "mistake" and grant us a classic analog cluster but not holding my breath... not unless it costs sales to MB/Audi.

[EXE46]

The Cluster is here to stay, it's in all their new cars.

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by EXE46

The Cluster is here to stay, it's in all their new cars.

The cluster can stay but surely they could update it OTA (not going to happen but we can hope)

[M3Ninja2017]

Just picked up my car a few days ago and have about 150 Miles on it. I am coming from an F80 M3. Although the M3 was louder, had more power, and was more aggressive looking - I could honestly say I am happy of picking up this M340xi for my daily driver. The look is very clean, the car definitely is quick - and like the OP was stating in his opening thread - the car is smooth. Half of the time, I do not even notice I am at 100mph. I believe the F80 for me was more of a fun car to drive, but I am not upset of transitioning and saving money towards my next sports car.

[NewM3driver]

Originally Posted by M3Ninja2017

Just picked up my car a few days ago and have about 150 Miles on it. I am coming from an F80 M3. Although the M3 was louder, had more power, and was more aggressive looking - I could honestly say I am happy of picking up this M340xi for my daily driver. The look is very clean, the car definitely is quick - and like the OP was stating in his opening thread - the car is smooth. Half of the time, I do not even notice I am at 100mph. I believe the F80 for me was more of a fun car to drive, but I am not upset of transitioning and saving money towards my next sports car.

I too came from an F80 M3 competition pack car. I always felt like I had to PUSH that car to get it to go fast, and it felt like I was going fast at 80. It was loud and jerky. I had the 6 sp manual.

The new M340 is smooth and so much more refined. I can't believe how effortlessly it builds speed. The engine and ZF auto is an amazing combo. For me a much better daily driver.

I always was a huge fan of carbon black. I think tanzanite is my new favorite color. I keep wanting to wax it because it looks so deep and complex. Fabulous in the late afternoon shadows when clean.

[EXE46]

The smoothness and effortlessness for which it builds speed can also be considered an anomaly. Yes, the car is very good but with this you have a car that at 130 plus feels like 60. Even in comfort you bury foot and 130 plus comes on in seconds. After amassing almost 9K miles I wish the car exhibited a little more fanfare in sport plus mode. It sure could use a bit more of the M3 DNA in terms of rawness, at least in my RWD, standard suspension setup.

[Transfer]

Originally Posted by NewM3driver

I always was a huge fan of carbon black. I think tanzanite is my new favorite color. I keep wanting to wax it because it looks so deep and complex. Fabulous in the late afternoon shadows when clean.

Every time I go out to my garage I'm like wow this tanazanite is incredible. So glad I paid extra for it. Needs a lot of TLC to stay clean but worth it.

[TorontoGambler]

Originally Posted by Transfer

Every time I go out to my garage I'm like wow this tanazanite is incredible. So glad I paid extra for it. Needs a lot of TLC to stay clean but worth it.

Every time I read someone loving TB makes me reconsider Dravit. I’m 60/40 on Dravit with Cognac or Tartufo in either one, with all trine/wheels in black.

[mcjohnsonsg]

Originally Posted by TorontoGambler

Every time I read someone loving TB makes me reconsider Dravit. I’m 60/40 on Dravit with Cognac or Tartufo in either one, with all trine/wheels in black.

You can't go wrong with either. I have Dravit over Cognac and it is the best combo...for me. But I also see a Tanzanite in my neighborhood from time to time, and it looks amazing too. I would have been happy with either.

[ryivnx]

[IMG][/IMG]

My TB on cognac

[tturbolife]

I am not a huge fan of the digital cluster.

1.) The map view on it is essentially useless. I wish it let you zoom out or something.
2.) It is too bright at night, there should be a setting to adjust only the brightness of the screen. There is a setting to adjust the iDrive display brightness but the dimmer switch adjusts everything.

As far as the HUD, it is too low, even at the highest setting. I wish it was the same height as on my e63

[phayze]

Is that the m performance carbon fibre interior trim?

Originally Posted by ryivnx

[IMG][/IMG]

My TB on cognac

[Transfer]

Originally Posted by TorontoGambler

Every time I read someone loving TB makes me reconsider Dravit. I’m 60/40 on Dravit with Cognac or Tartufo in either one, with all trine/wheels in black.

I was between Dravit and TB and wife said she wanted TB so that sealed it but would have been happy with either. I do think Dravit would be better to hide scratches.

[NewM3driver]

Originally Posted by Transfer

Every time I go out to my garage I'm like wow this tanazanite is incredible. So glad I paid extra for it. Needs a lot of TLC to stay clean but worth it.

ADAMS finishing polish. ADAMS Patriot wax. The Patriot wax is an amazing product. It's 100 bucks a can and well worth it.

[NewM3driver]

Originally Posted by TorontoGambler

Every time I read someone loving TB makes me reconsider Dravit. I’m 60/40 on Dravit with Cognac or Tartufo in either one, with all trine/wheels in black.

The Tanzanite with the black wheels and Cognac is special. Lots of cars with grays similar to Dravit. Not many blues out there that look so liquid and rich in the shadows and them pop brilliantly in the sun showing off the car's lines beautifully.

Black wheels are key.

[DConceicao]

Originally Posted by NewM3driver

The instrument cluster is an EPIC FAIL. I mean what the hell were they thinking? It is illegible, counter intuitive and flat out a useless mess. The speedo has an orange line to begin with, and as it rises it begins as red and then turns orange seeming to disappear. WTF? The Tach is a complete shit show, climbing reverse and backwards. For all of time automobile gauges went clockwise. Who decided the tach should climb counterclockwise in this bizarre reverse elliptical shape? It is useless.

Unfortunately due to Covid my M340i is stuck in the port for more than 2 weeks now. I was lucky enough to have it build in the last days before the factory close however it’s taking Ages to get here (Europe).

Regarding the cluster still waiting to see the reaction on the daily use but it is not an absolute fail for me. Aston Martin has had the “opposite” instrument cluster going for ever... in an analogic format.

[NewM3driver]

Originally Posted by DConceicao

Unfortunately due to Covid my M340i is stuck in the port for more than 2 weeks now. I was lucky enough to have it build in the last days before the factory close however it’s taking Ages to get here (Europe).

Regarding the cluster still waiting to see the reaction on the daily use but it is not an absolute fail for me. Aston Martin has had the “opposite” instrument cluster going for ever... in an analogic format.

Just because Aston does something dumb does not mean BMW needs to follow. The BMW cluster is an illegible disaster.

[ryivnx]

Originally Posted by NewM3driver

Just because Aston does something dumb does not mean BMW needs to follow. The BMW cluster is an illegible disaster.

I was skeptical at first (I have a couple of M3s and and F series car).
I then "upgraded" M specific cluster to my M340 and it looks more legible.
I actually quite like it now

[socialpro1]

Originally Posted by ryivnx

I was skeptical at first (I have a couple of M3s and and F series car).
I then "upgraded" M specific cluster to my M340 and it looks more legible.
I actually quite like it now

Is that done through coding?