[NorCalAthlete]

THE WAIT:

Status	Date	# Days
Order Received	1-5-21	14
Scheduled For Production	1-19-21	7
Production Begins	1-26-21	7
Exterior Body Assembly Begins	2-2-21	1
In Paint Booth	2-3-2021	1
Entering Assembly Line	2-4-21	1
Assembly In Progress	2-4-21	1
Quality Check	2-4-21	1
Final Assembly	2-8-21	2
Ready For Transport	2-8-21	1
Awaiting Carrier Assignment	2-8-21	1
Dispatched From Factory	2-9-21	2
At The Port	2-11-21	6
In Transit	2-17-21	29
At The Port	3-18-21	6
In Transit	3-24-21	3
At The Dealership	3-26-21	1
Vehicle Delivered	3-26-21	1

So, right off the bat, sorry but I don't have good pics up yet. PPF + Ceramic are scheduled but the guy didn't have an opening for a couple more weeks still. I'll put up a couple though for you guys because the Tanzanite is an absolutely gorgeous color and worth every penny.

The Build:
- Basically everything except for the brakes and executive package w/ laser lights.

Tanzanite Blue
Cognac interior
Carbon Fiber + Alcantara trim added as a port option
Extended Shadowline
797 style bi-color wheels w/ performance non-runflats (which also got me the extra cooling + high perf tire package)

Yadda yadda you guys know the options and can play around with the builds and that part's not going to be to everyone's liking anyway, but feel free to ask if you have questions on anything.

What you're all really here for probably is the driving, the feel, the touch. And I'll start off by saying this - I don't care what you're coming from, I doubt you'll regret buying one of these. I've had a shit-eating grin from the first time I sat in it. I'm grinning right now as I type this. I feel like Bob from those stupid Viagra commercials.



First impressions:
Tanzanite blue is an amazing color. I've seen it previously on a VERY few cars here and there and it stuck in my brain, naggling at me until I just HAD to pull the trigger on it and order it. This color was basically the primary reason I ordered one instead of buying off a dealer lot - nobody had anything in Tanzanite, and the couple who did didn't have the Cognac interior to go with it. The color combo is fantastic, though I think the Cognac could actually be a bit darker and still look good. It's a lighter brown than you'd think when it's in the sun. But back to the Tanzanite...in the shadows, it's damn near black. In the sun, it sparkles brilliantly in a deep blue hue. The slightest tinge of purple hints throughout during the transition from sun to shade. Combine that with the Shadowline and wowzers - this thing is gorgeous. Enough so to the point where I'm trying to come up with a name for the car, and I've never named any of my cars.

I once heard the saying (maybe on this board, I don't remember) "If you don't look back at your car and smile every time you park it, you picked the wrong car." Maybe it's just the honeymoon phase but...let me see if I can do it justice here: I've owned 500 hp cars before (Camaro) and driven 1,200+ hp cars before (TransAm). I've owned pickup trucks and SUVs, and ridden many a motorcycle. If the Camaro was a Diesel jeans model who did photoshoots for Roxy on the side, she'd have piercings and tattoos in all the right (and wrong) places and leave you panting for breath while begging for more. The M440 is the stunner you met at a New Year's masquerade who turns out to be just as fun but far more refined, used to all the finer things in life as she's a trust fund daughter of a multi millionaire. This is the one you marry. Suffice to say, it's been less than a week and I'm in love.

Moving to the interior, the touch and feel of each surface / touchpoint are great - firm in the right places, soft in the right places, supple and squishy in the right places. One nitpick - there's a bit of an odd mix in gloss vs flat for certain controls that have me questioning the choices. For those of you with an M340 / 440 currently, just take a minute to glance around at all your controls next time you're sitting in your car. Steering wheel controls vs drive modes vs audio settings vs climate etc. I count at least 4, maybe 5 different surface materials and styles there. I think if they eliminated the 2-3 items that are in gloss black and either gave them the machined metal look / feel of the climate control or the flat plastic of the drive modes it would work better overall and be more uniform.

edit - one comment on Cognac - love the color but I also saw the black w/ blue stitching interior in person and it would be my 2nd choice easily. If you're going with a full M4 though, Silverstone / Black would get my vote and it would be a tossup between that or Kyalami Orange / Black. Couldn't go wrong with any of those + Tanzanite.

Putting things in and out of the backseat is a bit tight, but that's to be expected in a coupe. I don't plan on keeping anything in the backseat so not really a big deal - it's just there to look pretty when the seats aren't folded down for a paddleboard, golf clubs, bike, snowboard, etc. And on that note, folding the seats down is pretty easy, though a note of caution for taller drivers - with the seats down you can't push the seat back to max or recline it as much. My friend's 6'4" and ran into that issue immediately but was still able to get comfortable just fine in the front seat.

Audio - I did order the HK audio upgrade. The bass is a bit light, but perfectly acceptable when it (not the overall audio just the bass) is cranked up nearly to max. Some songs I used to test audio response (yes, I sat there for a while just listening to music at the dealership while waiting for finance to clear the wire transfer...):
Two Feet - I Feel Like I'm Drowning

Marian Hill - One Time

Earl - All That Glitters

Shaed - Trampoline

Barns Courtney - Glitter & Gold

Godsmack - I Stand Alone

Slipknot - Nero Forte

Phantom Of the Opera - Lindsey Stirling

Phantom Of the Opera - Overture

Phantom Of the Opera - Masquerade

Phantom Of the Opera - The Music of the Night

Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes

Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Chill Mix)

Mostly V-shaped on the equalizer got it to my liking, though I'm still experimenting with the whole Logic 7 Surround stuff.

Other infotainment - I configured the screen pages to show music in the top left, route preview below that, and the nav map on the right half. Eco-pro settings didn't really show a whole lot that I wanted to see in the box, didn't care about the contact info, other stuff, etc. 2nd page has the sport settings displays + map, but I haven't played around with that much yet. The infotainment was pretty easy to figure out, but the navigation between certain menus was a bit unintuitive. Also, I'm mildly annoyed that it keeps making my phone blast me with popup messages to activate wifi + siri to use Carplay. Even when I just want bluetooth audio. I've had Siri disabled for years and have no particular inclination to start using her now. Similarly I've had unlimited everything as a plan for years - no particular inclination to start using wifi now. Might have to though if I can't figure out how to kill these annoying "activate wifi to use wireless carplay" messages.

Moving on to...the driving experience.

Disclaimer : I've had it in comfort or eco mode only so far. I've had it for 3 days and put 400 miles on it but that was all freeway and a bit of city.

In comfort or eco mode, 1 word describes the driving : s m o o t h. This car doesn't care if you're coasting through a 25 mph turn doing 50, you hardly feel like it. [Allegedly] cruising at 90 on the freeway? Feels like you're doing 30 and the only indication of your speed is when you see the highway patrol pulling someone else over on the other side and you glance down and notice it. To be fair, around here that's just called keeping with traffic - when you've got 30 other cars around you doing 90 and the slow lane is doing 75-80, you just keep up regardless of what the sign says. Though I did get a kick out of the fact that it notifies you of the current speed limit in both the HUD and digital display, and flashes your current speed in orange / red when you start going over by more than 5 mph.

I didn't feel the steering was particularly lacking, though I wasn't railing on it. One thing I did immediately turn down was the responsiveness from the lane-keeping nanny aids - felt far too grabby at times. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, if you start drifting too close to a lane line the car will automatically steer you back to the center of your line. Problem is, if you drift to one side because there's a twatwaffle on your other side who can't stay in their lane, the car still tries to steer you back to the center of your lane rather firmly until you turn it down. I haven't disabled it completely (yet) but cranked it down to minimum almost immediately after the first time that happened with a pickup truck next to me.

Acceleration - hoo boy. Even in comfort mode it's quick. Keeping in mind the aforementioned average speeds in the bay area, I had no problems merging onto the freeways - even in areas that have dangerously short on / off ramps that cross each other, meaning traffic getting off the freeway is diving in front of you and jamming on their brakes to make the exit, while you're braking for them but then flooring it to hit the gap before the next one. Again, I'm still babying it for the break-in period, but can't wait to hit about 1,000 miles and toggle that sport+ mode on...which should probably be next weekend.

Probable route for a first "fun" drive

Don't worry, I'll take plenty of pics from that one...maybe even see if I can rig up my phone or pull video from Drive Recorder.

Next up, braking - one thing I've always tried to take note of / keep a close eye on is braking feel in cars. I'm no expert racer by any means but with a few hundred thousand miles under my belt driving everything from tanks to streetbikes to a very wide variety of cars, I'd say I have a better feel than most. I haven't had to panic brake in this car yet, but I've had no problems adapting to braking feel for smooth and steady stops from any speed so far. The same cannot be said for all the cars I've driven (a particularly bad culprit would be the Toyota 4Runner, that thing has absolutely garbage feel for braking it's all or nothing and nearly no room in between for hard-but-smooth or soft-and-steady). No fade, steady and smooth and as responsive as you are. Although, the automatic braking when backing up or approaching obstacles and whatnot was another feature I immediately disabled / cranked to minimum before it ever came into play. Not a huge fan of those aids. Overall, I like the brakes so far.

Visibility : gonna mention this though most are already aware I'm sure. You will have little to no visibility looking over your shoulder to the driver's side. Significant blind spot. For this reason I cranked up the warnings from the blind spot monitoring to max. In California, lane-splitting by motorcyclists is legal. I've been riding for close to 25 years now and lost count long ago of the number of times I've been splitting and someone dives in front of me and doesn't see me. That particular aid is one that I do use, and have a feeling will likely be the next mandatory safety feature now that backup cameras have become mandatory. Visibility to the rear and passenger side are great though and I have no complaints about to the front / sides.

On a different aspect of visibility - man, this car has been getting a lot of looks. I've watched neighbors slow to a crawl to stop and take a pic or just gawk, I've gotten texts from neighbors complimenting me on the color, I've sent 2 neighbors to my sales guy at BMW because they want to sell their Mercedes and pick up a BMW now. I went to run some errands and a dude in oncoming traffic almost hit a pedestrian because he was watching my car and not his lane. I just hope it doesn't draw quite the same attention from the boys in blue :laughing:.

Will post some more thoughts (and PICS) later, time to get back to work...

edit - crap, how do I stop the youtube videos from embedding? Just meant to post them as links.

edit - got it.

edit - 100% of random stop + talk to people around the car has resulted in "that grill is SICK!" and lots of [positive] attention and reactions to it. Polar opposite of most of this forum's reactions. I keep waiting with bated breath ready to defend the controversial looks....and it's all positive. If I do mention it's seen as controversial, I get "what?! How? It looks great!" I've had someone say it looks like a Bentley, others say it looks mean. I'll take it.

[NorCalAthlete]

Reserving post #2 for pics - PPF + ceramic coating coming April 11-17th.

edit - I have no idea why the pics are upside down, they're the correct orientation on my phone. Though that reminds me of another song in my Pandora mix...

[RigaTony1982]

Looks awesome. Congrats!

[bap340i]

Great car and great write up. Cognac is a versatile interior color, no regrets on my car.

[diablo2112]

Great writeup, thanks! Gorgeous!

[TiMSport]

Very nice writeup, sounds like you made the right choice. Props for liking Motorcycle "As The Rush Comes"!

Definitely sounds like your car is getting a lot of attention and hopefully only in a GOOD way, lol.

Tanzanite and Cognac look great! Glad you approve of the black Vernasca with blue stitching as your choice #2. Personally that's my favorite.

BTW, fixed the orientation of the first 4 pics for you.

QUESTION: Did you opt for the CF trunk lid spoiler? I can't tell in the photo. It looks like the regular gloss black one.

[BklynNYBMW]

NorCal. The car is SPECTACULAR. Great color combination. Enjoy it bud and drive safe
__________________________________________________ __________________
2017 X6 5.0 MSport, Carbon Black Metallic w/ black leather. All options except vented seats and B/O sound system. AKA the Tumbler
2018 340i MSport Xdrive sedan. Glacier Silver w/Oyster. All options except active cruise control and window shades. AKA Airstream
*Picking up at the dealer 04/30: 2021 M340i xdrive. Tanzanite Blue with W/Oyster with Red Calipers. All options except Adaptive M suspension, Driver Assistance Professional Package, Cooling and High Performance Tire package. No Nickname as of yet

[NorCalAthlete]

Originally Posted by TiMSport

Very nice writeup, sounds like you made the right choice. Props for liking Motorcycle "As The Rush Comes"!

Definitely sounds like your car is getting a lot of attention and hopefully only in a GOOD way, lol.

Tanzanite and Cognac look great! Glad you approve of the black Vernasca with blue stitching as your choice #2. Personally that's my favorite.

BTW, fixed the orientation of the first 4 pics for you.

QUESTION: Did you opt for the CF trunk lid spoiler? I can't tell in the photo. It looks like the regular gloss black one.

Awesome, thanks man! And no that's the regular body color spoiler, not even gloss black. I may still swap that out for the black or CF one eventually but I kinda feel like all or nothing there - if I get the CF trunk spoiler then I'm also going to get a CF shark fin, mirror caps, front vents, etc to go with it. And since there's no all-black grill yet that I know of (they all still have cerium nuggets) I'm holding off.

[TiMSport]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

Awesome, thanks man! And no that's the regular body color spoiler, not even gloss black. I may still swap that out for the black or CF one eventually but I kinda feel like all or nothing there - if I get the CF trunk spoiler then I'm also going to get a CF shark fin, mirror caps, front vents, etc to go with it. And since there's no all-black grill yet that I know of (they all still have cerium nuggets) I'm holding off.

No problem. Oh wow, the lip spoiler looked kinda black in the photos. I guess that's how dark Tanzanite appears, lol. Yeah I understand what you mean about all or nothing with the CF goodies. That was my stance as well. Well kind of at least. I didn't opt for the CF rear diffuser as I thought it was a bit too much. Figured at least the lip spoiler and side mirror caps would look good at least. The interior trim as well. I actually like the CF/Alcantara better than the glossy finished one that the G80/82 has.

I thought I had read in another thread there is an all black grill for your car but it's on back order or something like that. I could be mistaken though.

[zamboni]

Nice write up and great color combo.

[CCM11285]

Looks fantastic! Great writeup, enjoy it! Keep us updated.

[Smiller155]

Gorgeous car--enjoy!

I had Tanzanite Blue on my 2018 440GC and loved it. But its basically black at night, dark blue in the day. A bit hard to keep looking clean, but nowhere near the level of Carbon Black (my previous 2015 435GC).

I love the color combo with cognac interior because of the contrast--if you went black, it might feel too dark. That black and blue interior is really nice with Artic Race Blue in my opinion (like vetteguy's car).

I have yet to see another G22 on the road in Marin, so I'm sure I'll spot you if you're in my neck of the woods.

[NorCalAthlete]

Originally Posted by Smiller155

Gorgeous car--enjoy!

I had Tanzanite Blue on my 2018 440GC and loved it. But its basically black at night, dark blue in the day. A bit hard to keep looking clean, but nowhere near the level of Carbon Black (my previous 2015 435GC).

I love the color combo with cognac interior because of the contrast--if you went black, it might feel too dark. That black and blue interior is really nice with Artic Race Blue in my opinion (like vetteguy's car).

I have yet to see another G22 on the road in Marin, so I'm sure I'll spot you if you're in my neck of the woods.

Haven’t been up to Marin in years but definitely need to get some pics up in the headlands looking down on the Golden Gate. I’ll shoot you a PM if / when I head up your way for a photo shoot! I’ve seen a couple other G22s floating around the South Bay but literally just 2. Or maybe the same one twice, both were black.

[Ikester19]

Congrats nice car, and colour combo!

[Rob_G77]

I'm curious why you didn't get the m performance brakes?

I was a big fan of the 4Runner and drove my 2012 Trail for 5 years. But, I don't like what Toyota did with the lineup the past few years. It's stale and boring now.

Rob

[TiMSport]

I don't think hardly anyone here in the US gets the M performance brakes. If I'm not mistaken they're several thousand bucks. Unless I'm thinking of something different.

[NorCalAthlete]

Originally Posted by Rob_G77

I'm curious why you didn't get the m performance brakes?

I was a big fan of the 4Runner and drove my 2012 Trail for 5 years. But, I don't like what Toyota did with the lineup the past few years. It's stale and boring now.

Rob

Harder to keep the wheels clean, wear out faster, more expensive to replace, and I have no plans for track days. I may do a single session at Laguna Seca just for shits and giggles but this is 99% daily driver + weekend trip / fun drive through the hills car.

[zazzau]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

THE WAIT: (will fix this table later)


So, right off the bat, sorry but I don't have good pics up yet. PPF + Ceramic are scheduled but the guy didn't have an opening for a couple more weeks still. I'll put up a couple though for you guys because the Tanzanite is an absolutely gorgeous color and worth every penny.

The Build:
- Basically everything except for the brakes and executive package w/ laser lights.

Tanzanite Blue
Cognac interior
Carbon Fiber + Alcantara trim added as a port option
Extended Shadowline
797 style bi-color wheels w/ performance non-runflats (which also got me the extra cooling + high perf tire package)

Yadda yadda you guys know the options and can play around with the builds and that part's not going to be to everyone's liking anyway, but feel free to ask if you have questions on anything.

What you're all really here for probably is the driving, the feel, the touch. And I'll start off by saying this - I don't care what you're coming from, I doubt you'll regret buying one of these. I've had a shit-eating grin from the first time I sat in it. I'm grinning right now as I type this. I feel like Bob from those stupid Viagra commercials.



Tanzanite blue is an amazing color. I've seen it previously on a VERY few cars here and there and it stuck in my brain, naggling at me until I just HAD to pull the trigger on it and order it. This color was basically the primary reason I ordered one instead of buying off a dealer lot - nobody had anything in Tanzanite, and the couple who did didn't have the Cognac interior to go with it. The color combo is fantastic, though I think the Cognac could actually be a bit darker and still look good. It's a lighter brown than you'd think when it's in the sun. But back to the Tanzanite...in the shadows, it's damn near black. In the sun, it sparkles brilliantly in a deep blue hue. The slightest tinge of purple hints throughout during the transition from sun to shade. Combine that with the Shadowline and wowzers - this thing is gorgeous. Enough so to the point where I'm trying to come up with a name for the car, and I've never named any of my cars.

Moving to the interior, the touch and feel of each surface / touchpoint are great - firm in the right places, soft in the right places, supple and squishy in the right places. One nitpick - there's a bit of an odd mix in gloss vs flat for certain controls that have me questioning the choices. For those of you with an M340 / 440 currently, just take a minute to glance around at all your controls next time you're sitting in your car. Steering wheel controls vs drive modes vs audio settings vs climate etc. I count at least 4, maybe 5 different surface materials and styles there. I think if they eliminated the 2-3 items that are in gloss black and either gave them the machined metal look / feel of the climate control or the flat plastic of the drive modes it would work better overall and be more uniform.

edit - one comment on Cognac - love the color but I also saw the black w/ blue stitching interior in person and it would be my 2nd choice easily. If you're going with a full M4 though, Silverstone / Black would get my vote and it would be a tossup between that or Kyalami Orange / Black. Couldn't go wrong with any of those + Tanzanite.

Putting things in and out of the backseat is a bit tight, but that's to be expected in a coupe. I don't plan on keeping anything in the backseat so not really a big deal - it's just there to look pretty when the seats aren't folded down for a paddleboard, golf clubs, bike, snowboard, etc. And on that note, folding the seats down is pretty easy, though a note of caution for taller drivers - with the seats down you can't push the seat back to max or recline it as much. My friend's 6'4" and ran into that issue immediately but was still able to get comfortable just fine in the front seat.

Audio - I did order the HK audio upgrade. The bass is a bit light, but perfectly acceptable when it (not the overall audio just the bass) is cranked up nearly to max. Some songs I used to test audio response (yes, I sat there for a while just listening to music at the dealership while waiting for finance to clear the wire transfer...):
Two Feet - I Feel Like I'm Drowning

Marian Hill - One Time

Earl - All That Glitters

Shaed - Trampoline

Barns Courtney - Glitter & Gold

Godsmack - I Stand Alone

Slipknot - Nero Forte

Phantom Of the Opera - Lindsey Stirling

Phantom Of the Opera - Overture

Phantom Of the Opera - Masquerade

Phantom Of the Opera - The Music of the Night

Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes

Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Chill Mix)

Mostly V-shaped on the equalizer got it to my liking, though I'm still experimenting with the whole Logic 7 Surround stuff.

Other infotainment - I configured the screen pages to show music in the top left, route preview below that, and the nav map on the right half. Eco-pro settings didn't really show a whole lot that I wanted to see in the box, didn't care about the contact info, other stuff, etc. 2nd page has the sport settings displays + map, but I haven't played around with that much yet. The infotainment was pretty easy to figure out, but the navigation between certain menus was a bit unintuitive. Also, I'm mildly annoyed that it keeps making my phone blast me with popup messages to activate wifi + siri to use Carplay. Even when I just want bluetooth audio. I've had Siri disabled for years and have no particular inclination to start using her now. Similarly I've had unlimited everything as a plan for years - no particular inclination to start using wifi now. Might have to though if I can't figure out how to kill these annoying "activate wifi to use wireless carplay" messages.

Moving on to...the driving experience.

Disclaimer : I've had it in comfort or eco mode only so far. I've had it for 3 days and put 400 miles on it but that was all freeway and a bit of city.

In comfort or eco mode, 1 word describes the driving : s m o o t h. This car doesn't care if you're coasting through a 25 mph turn doing 50, you hardly feel like it. [Allegedly] cruising at 90 on the freeway? Feels like you're doing 30 and the only indication of your speed is when you see the highway patrol pulling someone else over on the other side and you glance down and notice it. To be fair, around here that's just called keeping with traffic - when you've got 30 other cars around you doing 90 and the slow lane is doing 75-80, you just keep up regardless of what the sign says. Though I did get a kick out of the fact that it notifies you of the current speed limit in both the HUD and digital display, and flashes your current speed in orange / red when you start going over by more than 5 mph.

I didn't feel the steering was particularly lacking, though I wasn't railing on it. One thing I did immediately turn down was the responsiveness from the lane-keeping nanny aids - felt far too grabby at times. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, if you start drifting too close to a lane line the car will automatically steer you back to the center of your line. Problem is, if you drift to one side because there's a twatwaffle on your other side who can't stay in their lane, the car still tries to steer you back to the center of your lane rather firmly until you turn it down. I haven't disabled it completely (yet) but cranked it down to minimum almost immediately after the first time that happened with a pickup truck next to me.

Acceleration - hoo boy. Even in comfort mode it's quick. Keeping in mind the aforementioned average speeds in the bay area, I had no problems merging onto the freeways - even in areas that have dangerously short on / off ramps that cross each other, meaning traffic getting off the freeway is diving in front of you and jamming on their brakes to make the exit, while you're braking for them but then flooring it to hit the gap before the next one. Again, I'm still babying it for the break-in period, but can't wait to hit about 1,000 miles and toggle that sport+ mode on...which should probably be next weekend.

Probable route for a first "fun" drive

Don't worry, I'll take plenty of pics from that one...maybe even see if I can rig up my phone or pull video from Drive Recorder.

Next up, braking - one thing I've always tried to take note of / keep a close eye on is braking feel in cars. I'm no expert racer by any means but with a few hundred thousand miles under my belt driving everything from tanks to streetbikes to a very wide variety of cars, I'd say I have a better feel than most. I haven't had to panic brake in this car yet, but I've had no problems adapting to braking feel for smooth and steady stops from any speed so far. The same cannot be said for all the cars I've driven (a particularly bad culprit would be the Toyota 4Runner, that thing has absolutely garbage feel for braking it's all or nothing and nearly no room in between for hard-but-smooth or soft-and-steady). No fade, steady and smooth and as responsive as you are. Although, the automatic braking when backing up or approaching obstacles and whatnot was another feature I immediately disabled / cranked to minimum before it ever came into play. Not a huge fan of those aids. Overall, I like the brakes so far.

Visibility : gonna mention this though most are already aware I'm sure. You will have little to no visibility looking over your shoulder to the driver's side. Significant blind spot. For this reason I cranked up the warnings from the blind spot monitoring to max. In California, lane-splitting by motorcyclists is legal. I've been riding for close to 25 years now and lost count long ago of the number of times I've been splitting and someone dives in front of me and doesn't see me. That particular aid is one that I do use, and have a feeling will likely be the next mandatory safety feature now that backup cameras have become mandatory. Visibility to the rear and passenger side are great though and I have no complaints about to the front / sides.

On a different aspect of visibility - man, this car has been getting a lot of looks. I've watched neighbors slow to a crawl to stop and take a pic or just gawk, I've gotten texts from neighbors complimenting me on the color, I've sent 2 neighbors to my sales guy at BMW because they want to sell their Mercedes and pick up a BMW now. I went to run some errands and a dude in oncoming traffic almost hit a pedestrian because he was watching my car and not his lane. I just hope it doesn't draw quite the same attention from the boys in blue :laughing:.

Will post some more thoughts (and PICS) later, time to get back to work...

edit - crap, how do I stop the youtube videos from embedding? Just meant to post them as links.

First off: Congratulations! What a stunning ride?

Dumb question: how do you opt for the Carbon Fiber + Alcantara trim at the port? Do these options become available AFTER the car has left the factory? First time buyer from factory so my experience is limited. Also I'm getting an M340i so I'm guessing that may not necessarily apply to my model?

[nooobimmer]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

THE WAIT: (will fix this table later)
[btr]

So, right off the bat, sorry but I don't have good pics up yet. PPF + Ceramic are scheduled but the guy didn't have an opening for a couple more weeks still. I'll put up a couple though for you guys because the Tanzanite is an absolutely gorgeous color and worth every penny.

The Build:
- Basically everything except for the brakes and executive package w/ laser lights.

Tanzanite Blue
Cognac interior
Carbon Fiber + Alcantara trim added as a port option
Extended Shadowline
797 style bi-color wheels w/ performance non-runflats (which also got me the extra cooling + high perf tire package)

Yadda yadda you guys know the options and can play around with the builds and that part's not going to be to everyone's liking anyway, but feel free to ask if you have questions on anything.

What you're all really here for probably is the driving, the feel, the touch. And I'll start off by saying this - I don't care what you're coming from, I doubt you'll regret buying one of these. I've had a shit-eating grin from the first time I sat in it. I'm grinning right now as I type this. I feel like Bob from those stupid Viagra commercials.



Tanzanite blue is an amazing color. I've seen it previously on a VERY few cars here and there and it stuck in my brain, naggling at me until I just HAD to pull the trigger on it and order it. This color was basically the primary reason I ordered one instead of buying off a dealer lot - nobody had anything in Tanzanite, and the couple who did didn't have the Cognac interior to go with it. The color combo is fantastic, though I think the Cognac could actually be a bit darker and still look good. It's a lighter brown than you'd think when it's in the sun. But back to the Tanzanite...in the shadows, it's damn near black. In the sun, it sparkles brilliantly in a deep blue hue. The slightest tinge of purple hints throughout during the transition from sun to shade. Combine that with the Shadowline and wowzers - this thing is gorgeous. Enough so to the point where I'm trying to come up with a name for the car, and I've never named any of my cars.

Moving to the interior, the touch and feel of each surface / touchpoint are great - firm in the right places, soft in the right places, supple and squishy in the right places. One nitpick - there's a bit of an odd mix in gloss vs flat for certain controls that have me questioning the choices. For those of you with an M340 / 440 currently, just take a minute to glance around at all your controls next time you're sitting in your car. Steering wheel controls vs drive modes vs audio settings vs climate etc. I count at least 4, maybe 5 different surface materials and styles there. I think if they eliminated the 2-3 items that are in gloss black and either gave them the machined metal look / feel of the climate control or the flat plastic of the drive modes it would work better overall and be more uniform.

edit - one comment on Cognac - love the color but I also saw the black w/ blue stitching interior in person and it would be my 2nd choice easily. If you're going with a full M4 though, Silverstone / Black would get my vote and it would be a tossup between that or Kyalami Orange / Black. Couldn't go wrong with any of those + Tanzanite.

Putting things in and out of the backseat is a bit tight, but that's to be expected in a coupe. I don't plan on keeping anything in the backseat so not really a big deal - it's just there to look pretty when the seats aren't folded down for a paddleboard, golf clubs, bike, snowboard, etc. And on that note, folding the seats down is pretty easy, though a note of caution for taller drivers - with the seats down you can't push the seat back to max or recline it as much. My friend's 6'4" and ran into that issue immediately but was still able to get comfortable just fine in the front seat.

Audio - I did order the HK audio upgrade. The bass is a bit light, but perfectly acceptable when it (not the overall audio just the bass) is cranked up nearly to max. Some songs I used to test audio response (yes, I sat there for a while just listening to music at the dealership while waiting for finance to clear the wire transfer...):
Two Feet - I Feel Like I'm Drowning

Marian Hill - One Time

Earl - All That Glitters

Shaed - Trampoline

Barns Courtney - Glitter & Gold

Godsmack - I Stand Alone

Slipknot - Nero Forte

Phantom Of the Opera - Lindsey Stirling

Phantom Of the Opera - Overture

Phantom Of the Opera - Masquerade

Phantom Of the Opera - The Music of the Night

Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes

Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Chill Mix)

Mostly V-shaped on the equalizer got it to my liking, though I'm still experimenting with the whole Logic 7 Surround stuff.

Other infotainment - I configured the screen pages to show music in the top left, route preview below that, and the nav map on the right half. Eco-pro settings didn't really show a whole lot that I wanted to see in the box, didn't care about the contact info, other stuff, etc. 2nd page has the sport settings displays + map, but I haven't played around with that much yet. The infotainment was pretty easy to figure out, but the navigation between certain menus was a bit unintuitive. Also, I'm mildly annoyed that it keeps making my phone blast me with popup messages to activate wifi + siri to use Carplay. Even when I just want bluetooth audio. I've had Siri disabled for years and have no particular inclination to start using her now. Similarly I've had unlimited everything as a plan for years - no particular inclination to start using wifi now. Might have to though if I can't figure out how to kill these annoying "activate wifi to use wireless carplay" messages.

Moving on to...the driving experience.

Disclaimer : I've had it in comfort or eco mode only so far. I've had it for 3 days and put 400 miles on it but that was all freeway and a bit of city.

In comfort or eco mode, 1 word describes the driving : s m o o t h. This car doesn't care if you're coasting through a 25 mph turn doing 50, you hardly feel like it. [Allegedly] cruising at 90 on the freeway? Feels like you're doing 30 and the only indication of your speed is when you see the highway patrol pulling someone else over on the other side and you glance down and notice it. To be fair, around here that's just called keeping with traffic - when you've got 30 other cars around you doing 90 and the slow lane is doing 75-80, you just keep up regardless of what the sign says. Though I did get a kick out of the fact that it notifies you of the current speed limit in both the HUD and digital display, and flashes your current speed in orange / red when you start going over by more than 5 mph.

I didn't feel the steering was particularly lacking, though I wasn't railing on it. One thing I did immediately turn down was the responsiveness from the lane-keeping nanny aids - felt far too grabby at times. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, if you start drifting too close to a lane line the car will automatically steer you back to the center of your line. Problem is, if you drift to one side because there's a twatwaffle on your other side who can't stay in their lane, the car still tries to steer you back to the center of your lane rather firmly until you turn it down. I haven't disabled it completely (yet) but cranked it down to minimum almost immediately after the first time that happened with a pickup truck next to me.

Acceleration - hoo boy. Even in comfort mode it's quick. Keeping in mind the aforementioned average speeds in the bay area, I had no problems merging onto the freeways - even in areas that have dangerously short on / off ramps that cross each other, meaning traffic getting off the freeway is diving in front of you and jamming on their brakes to make the exit, while you're braking for them but then flooring it to hit the gap before the next one. Again, I'm still babying it for the break-in period, but can't wait to hit about 1,000 miles and toggle that sport+ mode on...which should probably be next weekend.

Probable route for a first "fun" drive

Don't worry, I'll take plenty of pics from that one...maybe even see if I can rig up my phone or pull video from Drive Recorder.

Next up, braking - one thing I've always tried to take note of / keep a close eye on is braking feel in cars. I'm no expert racer by any means but with a few hundred thousand miles under my belt driving everything from tanks to streetbikes to a very wide variety of cars, I'd say I have a better feel than most. I haven't had to panic brake in this car yet, but I've had no problems adapting to braking feel for smooth and steady stops from any speed so far. The same cannot be said for all the cars I've driven (a particularly bad culprit would be the Toyota 4Runner, that thing has absolutely garbage feel for braking it's all or nothing and nearly no room in between for hard-but-smooth or soft-and-steady). No fade, steady and smooth and as responsive as you are. Although, the automatic braking when backing up or approaching obstacles and whatnot was another feature I immediately disabled / cranked to minimum before it ever came into play. Not a huge fan of those aids. Overall, I like the brakes so far.

Visibility : gonna mention this though most are already aware I'm sure. You will have little to no visibility looking over your shoulder to the driver's side. Significant blind spot. For this reason I cranked up the warnings from the blind spot monitoring to max. In California, lane-splitting by motorcyclists is legal. I've been riding for close to 25 years now and lost count long ago of the number of times I've been splitting and someone dives in front of me and doesn't see me. That particular aid is one that I do use, and have a feeling will likely be the next mandatory safety feature now that backup cameras have become mandatory. Visibility to the rear and passenger side are great though and I have no complaints about to the front / sides.

On a different aspect of visibility - man, this car has been getting a lot of looks. I've watched neighbors slow to a crawl to stop and take a pic or just gawk, I've gotten texts from neighbors complimenting me on the color, I've sent 2 neighbors to my sales guy at BMW because they want to sell their Mercedes and pick up a BMW now. I went to run some errands and a dude in oncoming traffic almost hit a pedestrian because he was watching my car and not his lane. I just hope it doesn't draw quite the same attention from the boys in blue :laughing:.

Will post some more thoughts (and PICS) later, time to get back to work...

edit - crap, how do I stop the youtube videos from embedding? Just meant to post them as links.

Congrats bud and really nice writeup! Hope you're enjoying the car. Do post back after you're done with the breakin period. Really nice color that, would've definitely gone for it had I not been leasing it

[TiMSport]

Originally Posted by zazzau

First off: Congratulations! What a stunning ride?

Dumb question: how do you opt for the Carbon Fiber + Alcantara trim at the port? Do these options become available AFTER the car has left the factory? First time buyer from factory so my experience is limited. Also I'm getting an M340i so I'm guessing that may not necessarily apply to my model?

You can ask your dealer to order these options for you. They are installed at the port, not factory. Also, you can get the CF/Alcantara trim for the M340i, I ordered that option for mine. In fact, the OP ordered this interior trim for his car(M440i) at the last minute and it wasn't a problem. Hope this helps.

[VetteGuy]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to more pics and more driving commentary.

[zazzau]

Originally Posted by TiMSport

You can ask your dealer to order these options for you. They are installed at the port, not factory. Also, you can get the CF/Alcantara trim for the M340i, I ordered that option for mine. In fact, the OP ordered this interior trim for his car(M440i) at the last minute and it wasn't a problem. Hope this helps.

I'm tempted but not yet completely sold. Would ask my dealer if/when I decide. My car is still a long way from getting here.