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      08-21-2008, 09:57 PM   #1
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Thumbs up 1400 Miles And Counting - My Impressions (JZB+FR E93 M3)

Hey guys,

Just had my 1200 mile service yesterday (was actually at over 1300) and thought I'd share some quick thoughts on the car now that I've driven her long enough to form some impressions. It's probably going to run a little long, so I apologize in advance. Also, I'm not going to drill too deeply since most of this has been covered.

For those of you that don't know, I took delivery of a 2008 M3 Convertible on 2 August 2008. Photos can be found here:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160891

And images of the 2004 E46 Convertible I traded are here:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showpos...17&postcount=5

The S65
This engine is a bit of a conundrum. How can it be so raw and powerful when you need it to be, yet so refined when you want to loaf along on the highway? It's an amazing feeling -- especially for someone like me who has never owned a V8 before. I'd test driven the car, but not for any great distance. I was prepared for a slightly rougher experience, but have been blown away by the complexity and refinement of this engine. This is a testament to the skills of the ///M division.

Oh... and as of today I have over 1400 miles on the car, and am averaging 19MPG (mostly all my daily driving is highway). Not too shabby at all. Again, I was prepared for the worst case and was pleasantly surprised.

Was caught off guard this morning by a warning message via iDrive saying my oil level was low. I thought that was odd since the car had just been in for an oil change the day before. So, I took it to the dealer and they topped it up with a quart of oil, and gave me a complimentary BMW kit that contains a quart of oil, a paper funnel and some other stuff. It's in a zippered pouch and has velcro on the back so I can affix it to the inside of my trunk. Nice! Turns out this happens a lot after first service. Since there is no physical dipstick, some dealers are loathe to fill the oil reservoir to capacity for fear of overfilling.

M-DCT & Drivelogic
Smooth as silk -- seriously -- the shifts can't get smoother than this. At times, it feels like a CVT, because the shifts (at least when in the smoothest program) are imperceptible. The car just goes and goes...

Have had no problems whatsoever with the transmission. During the 1200 mile service, my service advisor assured me they weren't going to change the transmission lubricant -- and even proved it to me by showing me the work order when I picked up the car. Knock on wood, I'll be good to go.

Haven't really experimented with the upper end of drivelogic settings (S or D 4 or 5). The most I've done is level three -- mostly because I wanted no temptation during break-in. Now that I'm all broken in, I'll be experimenting with that, and with the M button settings.

A couple of points of frustration:
1.] Don't like having to tap twice to the right to put the car into "D" mode. This should be a user configurable setting. I live on a very busy street here in San Francisco, and have to back my car out of a tight driveway into traffic. On a couple of occasions, I've backed the car out, brought it to a full stop (per procedure) then tried quickly to take the car out of reverse and engage the forward gears -- quickly ain't cuttin' it -- it takes a full two seconds (an eternity when traffic is bearing down on you) to get it into "D", so I usually start off in the morning in "S" mode, switching gears manually (which is a thrill anyway, so I shouldn't really be complaining).

2.] When cornering (at or above 20MPH) without coming to a stop, the car will downshift (if in "D") then take its time giving throttle when coming out of the turn. Naturally, this doesn't happen when in "S" mode, so I've taken to downshifting manually on those occasions when I'm cornering without coming to a complete stop. Which, again, is a pleasure to do -- basically, any excuse to slap through the gears manually is welcome. I've taken to using the "D" mode only when on the highway, or if in tight traffic.

EDC
DEFINITELY a must have. Period. I alter the settings constantly depending on the type of road I'm driving on. I absolutely love having the ability to do that. And the comfort setting is really lush. I usually leave it in "Normal" (one LED), but when out for dinner with the loved one, or taking clients out for lunch, it goes into "Comfort" and is... well... comfortable -- especially on the bumpy roads and hills of San Francisco. It's actually a softer ride than my E46 was, but isn't wallowy (if that's a word). And when the road really smoothes out, there's only one setting for me -- "Sport". This tightens up the dampening, and makes the car really hug the road. This setting makes smooth roads feel like glass.

Again, I've not had any of the issues some other folks have reported about EDC malfunctions. And, again, knock-on-wood.

Enhanced Premium Audio
Bass for days!! Love the sound system in this car and am glad I upgraded. I find myself listening to songs on my iPod most of the time (tucked away in the clever pouch in the center arm rest). One thing I'm noticing, however, is that songs encoded at a bit-rate lower than 160 sound bloody awful. I've got a few old-school AAC 128 iTunes tracks (before they started pushing iTunes Plus tracks at AAC 256) and every time one starts to play, I can definitely notice a difference in sound quality. Anything above 160, however, is fantastic... solid bass, sharp treble and nice mid-tones.

Fit and Finish
Exceptional. No gaps, no squeaks, no flaws in materials, no rattles (yet)... simply exceptional. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that I've received a flood of accolades from friends and co-workers vis-a-vis the color combination. Everyone who sees this car loves the combo. Of course I'd love it even if they hated it (I picked it after all), but having them love it too is gratifying. I've had complete strangers come up to me in parking lots to ask how I like the new M3... and, without fail, if they're guys, they immediately ask me to pop the hood so they can check out the engine. Hilarious.

Odds and Ends
I was notified yesterday (after the 1200 mile service) that I'd be getting a refund ($2500) from BMW NA. I asked why, and the finance guy said it's because they sold me an extended maintenance plan for the M3 Convertible, but that the plan is actually NOT available for the convertible, so they're refunding my money. I was a little pissed about this, but what can I do? I originally bought the plan because I do tend to put a LOT of miles on my cars, and wanted the maintenance covered to 100,000 miles. A couple of brake and oil changes will probably have me looking at $2500, so I thought it was worth it. Anyway, just a little frustrating. I'll put the money back in the bank and will use it if (when) my 50,000 mile maintenance plan expires.

E93 In General
I've always driven convertibles, but this is my first with a retractable hard top. I have to hand it to BMW. They were certainly not the first to introduce a retractable hardtop (I guess that honor goes to Ford in the 1950's), but they certainly know how to do it right. This car is soooo much more solid (feeling) than my previous E46 convertible. The rigidity is simply amazing, and most of that can be attributed to the hardtop. When the top is closed, the interior is also SO much quieter than my E46 convertible was. Cruising on the highway (at like 75-80 MPH) the engine is actually QUIETER than my I-6 was in the E46. I've also noticed how large the top actually is with regard to surface area. It's larger than the retractable tops on the VW EOS and the Volvo C70.

I was prepared to suffer the lack of trunk space, but have to admit the trunk volume isn't really that much smaller than my E46 was. The issue with the trunk is access while the top is retracted. When the hardtop is stowed, there's a very small opening through which you can pass items to the larger portion of the trunk. That larger portion is, for all intents and purposes, inaccessible while the hardtop is stowed -- UNLESS -- you get the 'Comfort Access' option which includes the 'Comfort Loading' feature for the trunk. I'm certainly glad I specified this when I ordered the car. Simply press the trunk release on the remote twice (holding on the last press) and the hardtop will partially remove itself from the trunk, giving you access to the larger trunk area. I've stowed five standard size paper bags of groceries in the trunk with the hardtop retracted, and can probably get another two or three bags in there when the hardtop is closed. So all the belly-aching about the small trunk is, to some degree, exaggerated.

Overall Impression:
A fantastic car, and well worth the wait. All the creature comforts are great, but at the end of the day, it's ALL about the engine. It's truly sublime. The experience of driving to work everyday with the top down, and hearing that sonorous engine propel me up and down Highway 280 is indescribable. I know there's been a lot of back and forth about whether the E93 M3 is truly worthy of the ///M badge (due to weight and other issues), but I'll tell ya... the E90 and E92 crowds will never hear their S65 sing the way we E93 M3 owners will. It's such an amazing sound.

/TheBry
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      08-21-2008, 10:19 PM   #2
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I also got the extended warranty but mine was 5k for transmission, brakes, oil changes, basicly bumper to bumper.. They refunded mine and said the m3's are not covered. It is a little frustrating and if they sell you a service they should honor it..

I have 12,000 miles on my car and I highly recommend doing an unscheduled oil change. Everybody has different opinions on when to do it and I did my oil change at 1200 and 7,000 miles and just waiting for the scheduled oil change. I can immediately tell the difference after the oil change, much smoother ride and felt like new again. My father told me my engine sounded different from the first time I bought her and after the oil change he said she sounded new again and i didn't tell him about the oil change either!
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      08-21-2008, 10:47 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBry View Post
They were certainly not the first to introduce a retractable hardtop (I guess that honor goes to Ford in the 1950's)
actually Peugeot used it on the 401d Eclipse in 1934
i know because when the Peugeot 206cc came out (my cherished ex car, a hoot to drive) everybody said it was copying the SLK, but Peugeot said they had done it earlier
about 60 years earlier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8viqB...eature=related
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      08-21-2008, 10:51 PM   #4
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Damn... I got 2100 miles and I still get only about 10.6 mpg. The only time I get over that is IF I used D mode(rarely use it) and stay in the 3k rpm range. If I go over that , it goes back to 10.something though I drove the car hard and stayed just under 5500k during brake-in. Maybe thats why .Im not concerned about it though.

Also, last week I got a thing in the mail that supposely the extended warranty prices were going up by next week although I was going to get it anyways. 100,000 6year was $2900( just mechanical)Anything from engine to things like windows and hardtop motors all that stuff, so I took it. I heard before that there was no extended maintenance for M cars.
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      08-21-2008, 11:05 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Laszlo View Post
Strange that they gave your money back for the 100,000... why would the vert be different than any other BMW? Anyway, I'd inquire about that - just in case. Unless BMW is realizing this isn't cost effective for them anymore... and more refunds will be coming to other M3 and other BMW model owners...
So, to be clear, this was the Extended Maintenance, not the Extended Warranty. I did buy the Extended Warranty as well, that that still covers the car for mechanical failures up to 100,000 miles. It cost $4K, but the peace of mind was worth it -- especially given this car has a brand new engine type and a brand new transmission type (read: unproven) never before used in a BMW. The Extended Maintenance (free oil changes, brake pads, wiper blades, etc.) is what I've been refunded. It's apparently not an option for the M6 Convertible or the M3 Convertible. The finance person said the coverage is, however, available for the E90 and E92 M3. Strange, eh?

I was pissed at first, because they let me buy it and in the back of my mind that coverage helped seal the deal on the purchase. Them pulling it out of the deal (albeit with a refund) sours my ownership experience a bit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kmarei View Post
actually Peugeot used it on the 401d Eclipse in 1934
i know because when the Peugeot 206cc came out (my cherished ex car, a hoot to drive) everybody said it was copying the SLK, but Peugeot said they had done it earlier
about 60 years earlier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8viqB...eature=related
LOL! Fair enough.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JMD0977 View Post
Damn... I got 2100 miles and I still get only about 10.6 mpg. The only time I get over that is IF I used D mode(rarely use it) and stay in the 3k rpm range. If I go over that , it goes back to 10.something though I drove the car hard and stayed just under 5500k during brake-in. Maybe thats why .Im not concerned about it though.

Also, last week I got a thing in the mail that supposely the extended warranty prices were going up by next week although I was going to get it anyways. 100,000 6year was $2900( just mechanical)Anything from engine to things like windows and hardtop motors all that stuff, so I took it. I heard before that there was no extended maintenance for M cars.
I think I'm getting great mileage because I drive about 100 miles a day and 94 of those are highway miles with little to no traffic. The car does guzzle when in the city though. I bought the AccuFuel app for my iPhone and have been tracking fill-ups, and mapping that against what the car says it's delivering. The car actually says I'm getting 19.1 MPG, but the app says 19 even, so I went with the lower number.

Also, see above comment for distinction between Extended Maintenance and Extended Warranty.
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      08-22-2008, 12:31 AM   #6
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great write up
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      08-22-2008, 04:35 AM   #7
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The first time , Ive read a long text on this forum. I liked. Thank for sharing Bry.
Im getting the same convertible as you bastard
Are you planning on doing any mods?

Greetings
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      08-22-2008, 06:26 AM   #8
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Excellent summary. Thanks for sharing you impressions.
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      08-22-2008, 07:54 AM   #9
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Nice writeup, TheBry.
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      08-22-2008, 08:04 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBry View Post
Hey guys,


Enhanced Premium Audio
Bass for days!! Love the sound system in this car and am glad I upgraded. I find myself listening to songs on my iPod most of the time (tucked away in the clever pouch in the center arm rest). One thing I'm noticing, however, is that songs encoded at a bit-rate lower than 160 sound bloody awful. I've got a few old-school AAC 128 iTunes tracks (before they started pushing iTunes Plus tracks at AAC 256) and every time one starts to play, I can definitely notice a difference in sound quality. Anything above 160, however, is fantastic... solid bass, sharp treble and nice mid-tones.



/TheBry
-1 on the bass for days can the premium speakers b upgraded?
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      08-22-2008, 12:38 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by torredresen View Post
The first time , Ive read a long text on this forum. I liked. Thank for sharing Bry.
Im getting the same convertible as you bastard
Are you planning on doing any mods?

Greetings
No mods. I think it looks 'perfect' stock. The color combo is enough of a standout anyway.
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      08-22-2008, 12:39 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by d_dot View Post
-1 on the bass for days can the premium speakers b upgraded?
Everyone has different ears This was just my impression. And I stand by it... Bass for days (as compared to the Harmon Kardon system in my E46).
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      08-22-2008, 01:23 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBry View Post
No mods. I think it looks 'perfect' stock. The color combo is enough of a standout anyway.
So, you're not going to try to replace the chrome trim around the windows?
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      08-22-2008, 04:53 PM   #14
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Wonderfull Write up man! Thanks for sharing!

Jack
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      08-22-2008, 04:55 PM   #15
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Nice write up. Enjoy the ///M
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      08-22-2008, 06:41 PM   #16
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Great write up. Thanks!
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      08-23-2008, 01:03 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ersin View Post
So, you're not going to try to replace the chrome trim around the windows?
I might eventually but, as I mentioned in another thread, the chrome (brushed aluminum actually) isn't so bad. It looks a lot better than I thought it'd look.
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