IMOA
August 11th, 2016, 09:15 PM
Ok that's better. When I picked it up I got the usual 'do you want to upgrade to a convertible for a little bit extra' so I ask which cars? 'We've got an A3 convertible', umm, yeah, no thanks, I'd prefer the BMW. 'We've also got a BMW 640 convertible'. Now we're talking, that's properly interesting, how much extra? 'An extra $900 for the rental period'. Given I'm only paying $600 and it's hard to justify a 150% price increase when I've got something a lot more exciting at home you now all know why this is a BMW 328 review.
The car: Its fairly low sec I guess, climate, sunroof, pleather (either that or leather that Toyota would be proud of), auto with flappy paddles and a sunroof. I only noticed the sunroof aft about 500 miles of driving, I think I'll try it out when I get to Cali.
Initial impressions: Actually, I quite like it. Seating position is brilliant, by far the best non sports car seating position I've ever driven. It lets you sit low, back nice and upright, steering wheel is in front of you and properly perpendicular to the ground and this is the first car that I've been able to get it close enough to me without using all the reach. Gold star BMW. Oh, and can someone tell me why the climate in the car (and half the hotel rooms I've stayed in) was set to 60? Is there an endemic lack of understanding of how a thermostat works in the US?
Cruising: fundamentally this is a road trip and as a road trip car it's pretty awesome. Cruises happily, got enough punch to quickly overtake, no extraneous wind noise and equally as comfortable doddling around town as it is at higher speed (haven't got it past about 120 yet so I might give it a poke later if roads/conditions permit.
Pushing on: haven't had much of a go yet as I've not really been on ten best roads but I had a bit of a swing a couple of times today. Steering is a bit lacking, I assume it's EPS and that's why it's devoid of feel. It is direct and turns in nicely and doesn't have big dead spots but it just gives you nothing back through the hands. Handling is extremely competent but not exactly inspiring. Some of that is it feels like the computers are doing things underneath you, not quite sure if that's when you are in comfort mode and it decides that you should be in sport mode but it feels like roll resistance sometimes changes during the entry phase of a corner. This is well before I'd expect any active diff shenanigans so I don't think it's that but next week I'll have some proper roads to do some proper testing. Likely involving turning off all the nannies and seeing what happens.
Off road: Again, surprisingly good. Did good with nannies on and did better with nannies off. Pretty good ground clearance and quite predictable with good grip. I'd like to have a bit more of a go to be honest. particularly somewhere with less SUVs which apparently are just a hair trigger from leaping uncontrollably into a ditch which is the only explanation I can come up with for why they drive so fucking slow.
Stupid things: Push button start but not keyless entry. So you have to get the key fob out to open the door but once you're in the car you need to put it back in your pocket. I've had keyless entry and push button start and that actually works better than you'd think, I've had open car with push button and use the fob as the key and that works well because you get to put the fob somewhere. But this system is stupid.
Radio doesn't turn off when you turn off the engine. Or when you open the door. Or close the door. Actually, it doesn't turn off until you lock the car. What the fuck were they thinking. How possibly is it a good idea to leave all the accessories running after you've shut down the engine and left the car by default. Every other car I've had with funky start buttons and the like let you put the car into accessories mode but not by default.
Overall: really good actually and would be a really decent daily which was fun enough when you find yourself on a fun road. Will give it a bit of a bollocking in a week in California to see how it holds up when having a poke.
The car: Its fairly low sec I guess, climate, sunroof, pleather (either that or leather that Toyota would be proud of), auto with flappy paddles and a sunroof. I only noticed the sunroof aft about 500 miles of driving, I think I'll try it out when I get to Cali.
Initial impressions: Actually, I quite like it. Seating position is brilliant, by far the best non sports car seating position I've ever driven. It lets you sit low, back nice and upright, steering wheel is in front of you and properly perpendicular to the ground and this is the first car that I've been able to get it close enough to me without using all the reach. Gold star BMW. Oh, and can someone tell me why the climate in the car (and half the hotel rooms I've stayed in) was set to 60? Is there an endemic lack of understanding of how a thermostat works in the US?
Cruising: fundamentally this is a road trip and as a road trip car it's pretty awesome. Cruises happily, got enough punch to quickly overtake, no extraneous wind noise and equally as comfortable doddling around town as it is at higher speed (haven't got it past about 120 yet so I might give it a poke later if roads/conditions permit.
Pushing on: haven't had much of a go yet as I've not really been on ten best roads but I had a bit of a swing a couple of times today. Steering is a bit lacking, I assume it's EPS and that's why it's devoid of feel. It is direct and turns in nicely and doesn't have big dead spots but it just gives you nothing back through the hands. Handling is extremely competent but not exactly inspiring. Some of that is it feels like the computers are doing things underneath you, not quite sure if that's when you are in comfort mode and it decides that you should be in sport mode but it feels like roll resistance sometimes changes during the entry phase of a corner. This is well before I'd expect any active diff shenanigans so I don't think it's that but next week I'll have some proper roads to do some proper testing. Likely involving turning off all the nannies and seeing what happens.
Off road: Again, surprisingly good. Did good with nannies on and did better with nannies off. Pretty good ground clearance and quite predictable with good grip. I'd like to have a bit more of a go to be honest. particularly somewhere with less SUVs which apparently are just a hair trigger from leaping uncontrollably into a ditch which is the only explanation I can come up with for why they drive so fucking slow.
Stupid things: Push button start but not keyless entry. So you have to get the key fob out to open the door but once you're in the car you need to put it back in your pocket. I've had keyless entry and push button start and that actually works better than you'd think, I've had open car with push button and use the fob as the key and that works well because you get to put the fob somewhere. But this system is stupid.
Radio doesn't turn off when you turn off the engine. Or when you open the door. Or close the door. Actually, it doesn't turn off until you lock the car. What the fuck were they thinking. How possibly is it a good idea to leave all the accessories running after you've shut down the engine and left the car by default. Every other car I've had with funky start buttons and the like let you put the car into accessories mode but not by default.
Overall: really good actually and would be a really decent daily which was fun enough when you find yourself on a fun road. Will give it a bit of a bollocking in a week in California to see how it holds up when having a poke.