[MikeVictor]

So earlier this month the odometer rolled around past a round number - 60,000. I thought this a good a time as any to post my thoughts and reflections on the car to share with anyone foolish enough to wander into this thread for a sticky.

A (not so) brief history and my thoughts on the car
The car was a factory order delivered in August 2012 to replace a somewhat modified E82 135i which was no longer going to be appropriate for work situations and as a DD. It was a pocket rocket I adored and I thought I'd struggle to transfer the feelings I had to another, more "grown up" car. I was wrong but I'll go into that later. It went to a nice home I believe.

I went to town on the options, many of which have since become standard fare. HUD, DAB+, Internet, HK, glass roof, rear camera, professional nav, extended display, extended BT, BMW Individual trims, M Adaptive suspension, adaptive headlights, and Mineral White paint. I spent about half an hour looking at Alpine White and MW side by side before choosing MW and I'm glad I did, it makes the lines of the car pop so much more. I can parallel park so the parking assist didn't interest me.







Something that will no doubt cause some people to raise an eyebrow or put on their keyboard warrior armour would be my decision not to wait and order the M-sport package but to get a Sport line car. I'd seen pics of the M-Sport and I just didn't like it as much. I have a different view on the F32 and F36 cars but for the F30 it just seemed like it was trying too hard. It's something I've never regretted. If I had the stock suspension it'd be a different story however.

I was quick to get my hands on the M Performance exhaust when it was available and I know a number of you were kind enough to participate in the thread I put up about that process It's been a standout modification. The 2012's don't have Active Sound which is something I'm happy about. The only other change until recently were the gloss black M Performance grills.

Tuning and Suspension time
With the corporate service plan and warranty wrapping up in August, I installed the Evolve Technik (Racechip) piggyback. It's a breeze to install compared to the more advanced tunes I had run in the 135i and gave me performance from my 4pot 2L close to the N55. Note I said close before anyone pops a vein This was very much a well worthwhile mod, I've certainly enjoyed the increased torques and killer wasps. Fuel consumption increased by only 0.4L/100km which is good too, so I now average a city/highway combined usage of 8.6 (about 3/4 traffic 1/4 highway).

This week saw the addition of a set of Eibach Pro Kit Sportline springs. I've only had a couple of days driving on them but my impressions are that I've accomplished exactly what I was after - maintaining a comfortable ride with reduce dive and lateral roll with a sharper turn in. A big thumbs up for Vince at Rencal Motors here in Brisbane for the work too, I know a number of people on these boards use him and I can see why.



(springs and new center caps in. I should have a better idea of final height in about a week once they've settled. Currently measuring 595mm from the bottom of the wheel rim to the arch of the bodywork. The photo bombing beagle was too cute to make me redo the pic )

Likes
The HUD satisfies the frustrated fighter pilot in me nicely, it's a great bit of tech I get to enjoy everyday. Albeit with my Maui Jim's you'll notice me tilt my head from time to time for a good read but my eyesight is still 20/20 so I can make it out reasonably well even with tinted lenses in most situations.

The Harmon Kardon audio system is nice. I'm a bit of a music lover and it's helped to deliver some great ear candy over the past three and a bit years.

The M Adaptive Suspension is also something I've thoroughly rated. Whether it's dialing back the surge in peak hour by using Eco Pro, driving the girlfriend or parents around or on the highway in Comfort or having a bit more fun in Sport or Sport+ when I'm piloting solo.

The way everything in the cockpit it oriented around the driver. This stands out in every other car I drive that's not a BMW. It's a great attention to detail that I really appreciate.

Dislikes
The AS/S. The acronym is appropriate. I understand it's better in newer models but the jerkiness is a complete passion killer. I've got to get into gear and code it to remember the last setting (OFF!). I have the coding software so I expect I'll devote a day to it over the Christmas break from work.

The internet option. It's pretty crap and you'd use your smartphone or tablet any day of the week over this. Useless and a waste of money.

Closing thoughts
I honestly thought I'd be ready to trade my car about now and it's the furthest thing from my mind. Unless the distant relative in Nigera I recently found out about successfully transfers their wealth to me (all I had to do was give some money to help the documents be drawn) in which case there'll be an F80 on order yesterday.

Instead, I still love thumbing the start button each time I get in the car and reckon it's more than likely I'll hold it until the G-series 3er comes out later this decade.

I see a lot of threads where owners have had something go wrong, either due to their own fault or not, so I thought I'd post up something on the light side to try and balance it all out. Even my detailer (it get's done top to bottom every two months with me washing it about fortnightly in between, along with renewing the paint protection each year) remarks on how much he likes it. Maybe he says that to all his customers

I'm not one of those people who thinks of cars like their an appliance and my 3, while there are many like it, is a thing of beauty and one I'm glad to have in my garage.

[HFW003]

Well said Mike, I pretty much concur with everything you have written.

My biggest , and possibly only, gripe with the 3 is the "quality" of the leather used on the seats, it's absolutely disgusting.

Does the dog not like the car though

H

Forget to add, I'm on my second F30 (until tomorrow) and mine has 70K kms on it

[terminator335i]

Nice write up...love the beagle btw

[AUSf22]

Good review , great to see that our N20 motors are reliable without issue as long as the correct maintenance is done.

[MikeVictor]

Originally Posted by AUSf22

Good review , great to see that our N20 motors are reliable without issue as long as the correct maintenance is done.

Yes. I also tend to do oil changes every 10,000 to 15,000km.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments also.

[A'PEXi]

Do you take it to someone for the oil changes Mike?

I can help you with the AS/S stuff if you are in Bris, it's fairly straight forward.

[MikeVictor]

Originally Posted by A'PEXi

Do you take it to someone for the oil changes Mike?

I can help you with the AS/S stuff if you are in Bris, it's fairly straight forward.

Rencal for servicing from here on. Used Motorline while I was on the corporate service plan I had and just paid for the "early" changes myself.

I'll take you up on the offer of coding for sure, you'll likely save me a day of reading and fooling about to do it myself! Much appreciated mate.

[MikeVictor]

Well, first of all a massive shout out to A'PEXi for coming over and spending an hour and a bit coding my car with me.

Managed to get everything in I was after- iDrive disclaimer, AS/S memory, M Performance logo on the dash start up and another I was surprised that worked...

LAUNCH CONTROL! Tested and it worked on a 2012 F30 328i

Also enabled RTTI which I'll put to the test on the road in the future.

[Drk280]

With the leather, I see a lot of people not liking it but unlike the smoother leathers that get wrinkles and creases with use, this seems more resilient. My car is on 35k since 2012 and it's great. No issues so far. One day the adaptive suspension didn't kick in but a restart of the car fixed that. We went from the Central Coast to Brisbane on one tank of fuel, got 1200 km on the diesel 320d. The gps is slow compared to the newer system when you scroll in and out. Was going to trade up to the LCI but will keep it until the new wagon model comes out in 2020, very happy with it.