In reply to mr2s2000elise :
What generation? In a certain way not far off, in another way, not that close.
In reply to mr2s2000elise :
What generation? In a certain way not far off, in another way, not that close.
740i Sport Package with M-Parallels?
In reply to dj06482 :
I love me a sporty shorty, but they are too old at this point. I know my name would suggest adding another Bavarian to the fleet, but I actually decided to go with something different. Was not even on my radar until I stumbled upon it.
Wait, you bought a Jaaaaaaaaaaag?
In reply to Jordan Rimpela (Forum Unterstützer) :
In true GRM fashion I am posting about a purchase before it's actually complete. But it seems like my hint was a little too obvious 
So it turns out that the deal I found was in fact too good, and in between driving home from my test drive and putting in an offer the car sold to another buyer. It was a '12 Jaguar XF Supercharged.
Just over 36k miles, and it was $18k. ALOT of car for the money. Unfortunately, these things are hard to find, and life seems to be rapidly approaching some kind of normal so I've already been looking into other options.
It'll probably disappoint those following along, because I'm heading back into familiar territory. I'm busting the budget just a bit, but I'm getting a whole lot more car than I expected from the outset.
Working on the final paperwork, buying a car remotely is weird, but this really is the real deal this time.
It's a Melbourne Red metallic '17 340i with the M Sport visual package and suspension (lowered, stiffer springs, adaptive dampers). It also has the sweet style 403 wheels, and a few little"aero" pieces. It's 1000 miles away, literally, but I should have it in my possession within a week or so.
Really excited to really get to driving. I don't intend on messing with this car too much for the time being, but an exhaust, some springs and sways are not out of the question.
Congrats!
nice to see a proper colour Bmw
In reply to mr2s2000elise :
Thanks. I'm pretty stoked about it. And I agree the rule was no black, silver/grey, white German luxury cars. I was between this and an Estoril Blue car, but this was a better deal.
Don't think I've ever seen one of those in person. It's a looker.
In reply to trumant :
I don't have any hard numbers on this, but RWD 340's seem to be much less common than their xDrive equipped brethren. M Sports are uncommon as well and Melbourne red is also a little less common too. Put it all together and you've got a Barrett Jackson special, or just a kinda rare non-M BMW.
It'll be interesting to see how I feel about it long term, since I had kind of written this generation off based on reviews. I test drove a local 340 an was pretty impressed. Apparently BMW made some changes with the LCI F30's. Some people think it made a significant step in the right direction, while others don't seem to think it went far enough.
I guess time will tell. I haven't ruled out getting coilovers, but for now the plan is to drive and enjoy it.
Nice looking car! Good choice on the RWD and the B58 is supposed to be a solid motor. For the B58 they have a mechanical water pump and an electric aux water pump so you don't have to worry about the sudden cooling system failure potential like you have on the N52/N54/N55.
Do the M3 control arms swap onto the F30s like they do on the E90 cars? On the E90s you get another half degree of camber and caster along with stiffer bushings and a monoball when you put the M3 parts on.
In reply to rothwem :
You are following my train of thought almost exactly. The B58 seems to be a very stout motor. It was good enough for Toyota after all, and removing xDrive cuts out one of the major F30 issues I have heard about.
My understanding is that you can swap F80 LCA's on to any RWD F30, and they net about one degree of negative camber and have a sealed monoball. There are also front carriers that have built in camber (about half a degree) that you can get directly from BMW. I don't know if I'll go that far with this car, but it's nice knowing that there are options.
It's here! Showed up bright and early this morning. Seeing this car in person makes me all the more glad I decided to hunt a bit for the right one, and Melbourne red really helps to make this car just feel a little bit more special. As they were backing the car out of the trailer I learned something. I noticed that the vapor from the exhaust was only coming out of the right tailpipe. Apparently these cars have an active exhaust as standard, which I thought only came with the upgraded "power and sound" kit. It activates in sport/sport+ modes, but admittedly it's very quiet either way.
As I mentioned before, this is a 340i M Sport, they aren't all that common and I wanted one for a few reasons. First, was that they allow you to get the adaptive suspension along with the lower springs and stiffer sways. Second was you get the good looking front end, that actually has functional brake ducting and an additional radiator for more cooling capacity on the passenger side behind the fog light. I believe you also get a better brake compound, but you have to spec the M Sport brake package in order to get the massive 370x30 front rotors. I think that the 340x30 will probably be fine for my purposes. My car has two pieces from the M performance catalog; the front splitter and the rear spoiler. I'm going to guess that they provide very marginal performance benefits, but I do like the affect they have on the side profile of the car.
I went for a quick coffee run this morning, and so far I am pleasantly surprised. Even with 19' wheels and run flat tires, the ride is perfectly compliant in comfort mode. Steering is accurate and direct. I haven't driven enough to really assess the feel or feedback, or lack thereof, that is a common gripe of the earlier F30's. The drivetrain calibration is one of the consistent high points that you'll see in reviews of this car, and I would have to agree. In comfort mode, it's a little to eager to change up, but sport mode is well calibrated and will hold gears for a long time. In manual mode, where you use the paddles, shifts seem nearly instant and imperceptible.
I need to drive it more, but the major impression that the B58 gives is TORQUE. It starts down low, 1380 RPM according to BMW, and it just keeps pulling. I think a lot of that is down to the 8 speed ZF and the twin scroll turbo. As someone who's always appreciated BMW for their linear power delivery, this engine really does not disappoint. There aren't tons of twisty roads where I live and it was a bit greasy from the overnight rain we had, so I don't really have any impressions on handling at the moment. I also didn't really want to test the brakes with three hot coffees in the car. I will need more time with it to get a really complete picture of the car, but I think it's going to be a great daily driver and fun to boot.
That B58 is a beast. I love the N55 in my M2, but it's nothing like what you have.
Man, that's a great combo on that car. I still think the F30 is the best looking non-M four-door 3-series of all the generations (also a lot of hyphens). I know the E90 is supposed to do sport sedan-ing better, but I need haul kids myself these days I just never warmed up to the standard four-door front end.
In reply to Matt B (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks, and that's one of the things I appreciate about the F30. It gets ragged on a bit for being as big as an E39, but the fun thing is that E39's are the perfect size if you actually need to fit adults or giant car seats in the back.
I will say that I think you need to get an M Sport equipped car if you don't want a completely ho-hum exterior. I do think this car is pretty handsome and I tend to be pretty picky about what I like.
Yeah it's weird how relatively compact E39s look these days. March of "progress" I suppose, but I have to say my appetite for what used to be mid-sized vehicles has grown.
Agreed on the M sport. Pricing on the other models are certainly tempting, but the looming shadow of buyer's remorse is too long.
Nice car. I see quite a few Yas Marina and Lime Green M3 version of these body in LA a lot.
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