[snareman]

Finally had my PCD yesterday in the pouring rain. Certainly no need to turn the sprinklers on on the skid pad. The hot lap in the rain in the M5 with Matt Mullins was equally crazy and amazing. Video coming of that.

Anyway, on to the car. I've had it for 2 days now, washed it twice and drove it about 7.5h and 450mi home from SC to OH stopping in Knoxville overnight about half way.

The color, Enzian blue. I am blown away by the color. I only had a sort of idea what the color was going to look like based on internet pics and videos, but when I walked into the delivery room at the PC I was verklempt. I'll eventually post a pics/video thread over in the pics forum after I get them all sorted out in the next few days, but will add one here just to give an idea. It's a deep blue with just a little turquoise in it. It POPS in the bright sunlight. My mom who only buys white cars and hated YMB, loves this one.

Overall looks - as many others have said, I was in the grille hater camp initially and while it's not the design I'd have picked they are a complete non issue in person and I think look great. They really are starting to make the older style look kind of dated, scary as that is for me to type as I can't imagine all of BMW going to this style. The grilles just fit the overall aggressive style of this car.

The Wheels - I debated long and hard between the 825 and 826 bi color wheels and went with the 825's with the red calipers. I had fears that the bright silver in the wheels would be too bright and perhaps the red calipers would stand out too much. Theses were also unfounded internet concocted delusions in my head as they both look great in person. The wheels have just the right amount of pop as I was hoping and the red calipers are a night red without being overly bright. Now as much as I like the 825's, assuming I get the LCI I'll probably get the 826's just for some variety on the next car. I really think I'd be happy with either one. I was hoping to get a good look at the 826's in comparison during my PCD, but as it was raining, there wasn't too much standing around outside staring at the cars.

I can see that the gloss black pieces along the bottom and the fake side vents will likely get some quick swirl marks if you're not careful

Interior -
I got the black leather with the aluminum tetragon. I wanted one of the color leather options, but didn't want to risk one without being able to see it with the exterior color and didn't want a 3+ year expensive mistake so I went safe with black and am happy. I don't mind the aluminum tetragon, but the aluminum on the steering wheel is less exciting. For only $950 I would absolutely get the CF interior next time. Tried to add it this time, but was too late.

Seats - I drove the CF seats in the PC car, but got the regular seats on mine. As I saw one other person on here said - I would pay to NOT get the CF seats. They were not enjoyable to get in and out of. I pictured the side bolsters being at least a little flexible, but they were like a rock. I'm 5'7" 165, so I'm just normal sized. Your legs are pretty locked in there. I had my small camera in my thigh pocket and it was a little uncomfortable as there wasn't really room for it against the bolster. The CF seats are cool looking, but I would hate them for everyday driving. The regular seats are super comfortable and plenty adjustable.

The Tech - My delivery guy said, "you have me for the next 2.5h". I thought OMG, that's crazy, why do they give us that much time. At the Welt they'd go over the car for maybe 10min and I never got anything at my dealer. Well, 2.5h was just barely enough time to fit in everything that this car does. The car is night and day different, leaps and bounds above the F8x. It can do some crazy stuff like, you can GPS program where your windows go down. He gave the theoretical example of if you go to Starbucks a lot and you wanted the windows to always roll down as you were going through the drive through. Crazy. Hope it's not raining when they auto roll down. Thankfully I'm athletic enough to reach over and press the button.

There is a Car Cares section where the car can do stuff to either sooth you or revitalize you - different music and lighting. I guess good for if you either want to take a nap or your body is trying to take a nap while you are driving.

Anyway, there a bunch of little things that are great. The auto hold for instance. As an automatic it would naturally start idle rolling when you take your foot off the brake, but press the auto H button and it stays put. I do recommend turning it off when you're trying to let the car auto park as you might accidentally brake the car to a stop. There is so much buried in the iDrive menus that it going to take me awhile to figure out where it is again after he showed me. The HUD is larger with more info and Android auto wireless integration was pretty seamless. Waze info shows up in the HUD. No way I can cover all the tech here.

The wireless charger for the phone didn't work so great as the phone didn't seem to be charging most of the time. Started the day at 92% and ended it at 45% even with the phone on the charger pretty much the entire time. There were a few times where it bumped up a little bit.

The Stereo - The HK system seems 'fine'. Not amazing, not horrible. I was mostly listening to Spotify wirelessly. There was a noticeable improvement when I listed to an HD FM station. It would be nice to be offered an upgrade option to the B&O system on an $85k car.

The ride - The car drives amazing. I beat it up on the track in the rain to realize how I can safely slide around a corner on the way to work if I have to and I won't lose control of the car. Even in the all efficient mode that it turns on to there is still plenty of power and torque available.

Not sure what else to add as this is already pretty long. To summarize, the car is amazing, looks amazing, drives amazing. See and drive it in person before you decide otherwise.

[evilalien]

Originally Posted by snareman

Finally had my PCD yesterday in the pouring rain.

Not sure what else to add as this is already pretty long. To summarize, the car is amazing, looks amazing, drives amazing. See and drive it in person before you decide otherwise.

Gorgeous. Enzian looks fantastic.

Thanks for sharing your initial experience. I wish I could do Euro delivery or PCD, but neither are options for Canadians.

[chicagofan00]

Congrats on finally taking delivery and appreciate the initial thoughts write-up. It sounds like you are super happy with all the choices you made and I don't blame you! Looking forward to the full write-up and additional photos and videos.

[CanuckM]

Congratulations on finally taking delivery snareman, it's been a long time coming.

Enzian Blue is stunning!

[mmckenzie]

Thanks for sharing and congrats! I'd say you made the right choice to go with the 825s and the red calipers - they go extremely well with Enzian Blue.

[Henry0959]

Glad you had a good PCD despite the rain. My M3Comp is scheduled for PCD on 6/7. Fantastic color and I am so glad I went with the 825s and red calipers for IOMG. They look great on that blue.

[bri1042]

Glad to hear that the rain didn't ruin your day!

[M3Diaz]

Thank for sharing your initial review. That color looks amazing. I could only imagine it looks even better in person.

[TrentMeister]

Wait we have actual auto parking??

[amzbimmer]

That is sick! Enzian blue is one of my favorites, ever since I saw your thread on your order color.

I am debating almost the same exact color, wheels and calipers, but as an M3, and with CF interior. I think I might get the Silverstone or KO interior though. Looking forward to a lot more pics!

[KnightedBMW]

Looks awesome! Great write up! Congrats!

[OF Hero]

Congrats, sir! Really happy for you, I know you waited a long time for this. The color combo looks absolutely amazing...funny how our minds create things for us to agonize over, eh?

Enjoy!

[secretariat]

Nice review, the wheels go well with the red calipers.

[Der_Wolf]

Originally Posted by snareman

Finally had my PCD yesterday in the pouring rain. Certainly no need to turn the sprinklers on on the skid pad. The hot lap in the rain in the M5 with Matt Mullins was equally crazy and amazing. Video coming of that.

Anyway, on to the car. I've had it for 2 days now, washed it twice and drove it about 7.5h and 450mi home from SC to OH stopping in Knoxville overnight about half way.

The color, Enzian blue. I am blown away by the color. I only had a sort of idea what the color was going to look like based on internet pics and videos, but when I walked into the delivery room at the PC I was verklempt. I'll eventually post a pics/video thread over in the pics forum after I get them all sorted out in the next few days, but will add one here just to give an idea. It's a deep blue with just a little turquoise in it. It POPS in the bright sunlight. My mom who only buys white cars and hated YMB, loves this one.

Overall looks - as many others have said, I was in the grille hater camp initially and while it's not the design I'd have picked they are a complete non issue in person and I think look great. They really are starting to make the older style look kind of dated, scary as that is for me to type as I can't imagine all of BMW going to this style. The grilles just fit the overall aggressive style of this car.

The Wheels - I debated long and hard between the 825 and 826 bi color wheels and went with the 825's with the red calipers. I had fears that the bright silver in the wheels would be too bright and perhaps the red calipers would stand out too much. Theses were also unfounded internet concocted delusions in my head as they both look great in person. The wheels have just the right amount of pop as I was hoping and the red calipers are a night red without being overly bright. Now as much as I like the 825's, assuming I get the LCI I'll probably get the 826's just for some variety on the next car. I really think I'd be happy with either one. I was hoping to get a good look at the 826's in comparison during my PCD, but as it was raining, there wasn't too much standing around outside staring at the cars.

I can see that the gloss black pieces along the bottom and the fake side vents will likely get some quick swirl marks if you're not careful

Interior -
I got the black leather with the aluminum tetragon. I wanted one of the color leather options, but didn't want to risk one without being able to see it with the exterior color and didn't want a 3+ year expensive mistake so I went safe with black and am happy. I don't mind the aluminum tetragon, but the aluminum on the steering wheel is less exciting. For only $950 I would absolutely get the CF interior next time. Tried to add it this time, but was too late.

Seats - I drove the CF seats in the PC car, but got the regular seats on mine. As I saw one other person on here said - I would pay to NOT get the CF seats. They were not enjoyable to get in and out of. I pictured the side bolsters being at least a little flexible, but they were like a rock. I'm 5'7" 165, so I'm just normal sized. Your legs are pretty locked in there. I had my small camera in my thigh pocket and it was a little uncomfortable as there wasn't really room for it against the bolster. The CF seats are cool looking, but I would hate them for everyday driving. The regular seats are super comfortable and plenty adjustable.

The Tech - My delivery guy said, "you have me for the next 2.5h". I thought OMG, that's crazy, why do they give us that much time. At the Welt they'd go over the car for maybe 10min and I never got anything at my dealer. Well, 2.5h was just barely enough time to fit in everything that this car does. The car is night and day different, leaps and bounds above the F8x. It can do some crazy stuff like, you can GPS program where your windows go down. He gave the theoretical example of if you go to Starbucks a lot and you wanted the windows to always roll down as you were going through the drive through. Crazy. Hope it's not raining when they auto roll down. Thankfully I'm athletic enough to reach over and press the button.

There is a Car Cares section where the car can do stuff to either sooth you or revitalize you - different music and lighting. I guess good for if you either want to take a nap or your body is trying to take a nap while you are driving.

Anyway, there a bunch of little things that are great. The auto hold for instance. As an automatic it would naturally start idle rolling when you take your foot off the brake, but press the auto H button and it stays put. I do recommend turning it off when you're trying to let the car auto park as you might accidentally brake the car to a stop. There is so much buried in the iDrive menus that it going to take me awhile to figure out where it is again after he showed me. The HUD is larger with more info and Android auto wireless integration was pretty seamless. Waze info shows up in the HUD. No way I can cover all the tech here.

The wireless charger for the phone didn't work so great as the phone didn't seem to be charging most of the time. Started the day at 92% and ended it at 45% even with the phone on the charger pretty much the entire time. There were a few times where it bumped up a little bit.

The Stereo - The HK system seems 'fine'. Not amazing, not horrible. I was mostly listening to Spotify wirelessly. There was a noticeable improvement when I listed to an HD FM station. It would be nice to be offered an upgrade option to the B&O system on an $85k car.

The ride - The car drives amazing. I beat it up on the track in the rain to realize how I can safely slide around a corner on the way to work if I have to and I won't lose control of the car. Even in the all efficient mode that it turns on to there is still plenty of power and torque available.

Not sure what else to add as this is already pretty long. To summarize, the car is amazing, looks amazing, drives amazing. See and drive it in person before you decide otherwise.

I think you are referring to me on this post. Glad to see you like the "regular" seats as much as I do. Nice write up, and I hope you keep enjoying the car!!

[snareman]

Originally Posted by Der_Wolf

I think you are referring to me on this post. Glad to see you like the "regular" seats as much as I do. Nice write up, and I hope you keep enjoying the car!!

Yup. Must be and I totally agree. They are cool, but definitely not for me as an ever day vehicle.

[heavyD^2]

Congrats on the car OP as the blue looks amazing. I assume it's metallic? Need more pics!

[vetteflier]

Good writeup and on the money. HD FM is really very good on the HK system, I've found. Playing from my memory stick is ok, but there is compression. XM at its best is never all that good. Regular seats are fantastic, and the Merino leather is outstanding. Performance? Speaks for itself.

[GOLFFRR]

love it! Color looks great also. Congrats OP

[snareman]

Originally Posted by heavyD^2

Congrats on the car OP as the blue looks amazing. I assume it's metallic? Need more pics!

no, it's non metallic. we'll see how that goes for swirls

[snareman]

Originally Posted by LBbluem2

Wait we have actual auto parking??

yup. parallel and perpendicular.

[DecemberStorm]

congrats snareman i love the color, now thinking i gotta go individual route for my next one And prob correct to go with an aluminum trim in your black interior, adds a bit of contrast

How you liking those P-Zeros in the wet, a bit slippery isnt it? Once it's dry and warm everything will be fine in my experience so far..

HK sound system is "fine" agree.. Might be placebo but Spotify via the built-in app (which goes thru Spotify Connect) does sound a bit better than Spotify via Android Auto wireless which I assume is via bluetooth

[LuvMyE92]

Originally Posted by vetteflier

Playing from my memory stick is ok, but there is compression.

Don't use MP3, use FLAC instead. Minimal compression.

Originally Posted by snareman

Finally had my PCD yesterday in the pouring rain.

Congrats! Thanks for the write-up, excellent job.

We got our cars at the same time, I was just a couple of hours NW of you in Asheville. I also had a long drive home and the car was excellent.

Since my car was at a dealer, it had been washed/dusted/polished a few times, and already I can see swirls in the grill.