hey folks - had a chance to check out the new cars at a local dealer in Toronto (where I placed the order). Unfortunately was not allowed to start up the car after numerous times asking to my SA and the sale manager.. oh well
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Context: per my sig I am not coming from previous M cars or anything of this caliber, but I have spent some decent seat time in the current gen C63 and RS5, as well as the X3MC during my shopping process.
elephant in the room: like many who have seen the cars in real life, the design look better in the flesh. The grill really doesn't look good in 2D photographs and stick out like a sore thumb but the actual car works decent for me who love the aggression. Tho I really can't think these would look good with North American square plates on the front, I think either you risk the tickets or hang it on the side JDM style...
The 45-degree view pic is prob closer to "real life observation" given you are not gonna look at the grill head-on, from a an angle looking down the shape already looks less outrageous
Rest of the looks: So I now understand the comments about the cars looking big (and factually heavy). Esp on the G80 with the wide rear haunch the car looks huge.
I personally like the lines and shape of the G82 more, really does remind of a mini-M8. Tho I wish the rear haunches are a bit more pronounced like how the current C63 is...
The exhaust pipes are fat, can totally fit a fist in there lol
The two launch colours are well covered here and on the internet, but seeing them in real life reassured me about SPY. With the green hue the color is def not banana yellow a la Porsche Racing Yellow. IoMG while in pics look quite bright, from some angles do look quite dark and I'd call it almost a teal colour.
Both cars had black rims, the 826M is quite a looker in black!
Seats (from about 10min sitting inside): My main motviation for going tonight was to check out the carbon bucket seats and if I fit. Being 6'2 and 240lb, I'm def a victim of the COVID-19(lbs)
... Glad to say, with the bolster in the loosest setting, I fit just fine without feeling pinched. It's def tighter than the sport seats in the Audi S/RS cars, the X3MC seats and the normal C63 seats, with key diff coming from the leg bolsters. But i found the C63 AMG Performance seats to be a bit tighter than the M Carbon Buckets on the side. The carbon bits between the legs didn't bother me at all from a sitting comfort POV. Love the exposed carbon finish!
Rest of Interior: The cars were trimmed in full leather interior (i.e. stitched upper door panel, stitched lower dash), not sure if extended leather would have the stitched leg rest? The carbon steering wheel is the obvious highlight, the paddles in carbon are so so cool. As it's the full leather package, quality is obv great. Rest of interior impression no diff than normal G20/G22. I do find the front cubby a bit small, my Galaxy S20 Ultra with a case on def won't fit on the wireless charger
The wheel itself is no diff than other late BMW M models however, thickness felt similar to X3M, which itself is the same as F90 M5, which is to say, might be too thick
As the pic shows it's pre-prod software, the dash shows a X5 image LOL ... Forgot to get pics in of the various screens (will do that if I have to go in again to sign more papers over next few days). I played around with the set-up screen, the new M gimmick screens, and the M-Mode button, the latter brings the compact double-tach gauge that's much better than default one below. But all a bit useless to play through without actually driving the car