Very Pleased with my ED experience, but no FANBOY here

[rmedeir1]

i just took delivery of my M4 on August 4th. I have to say I am very happy with my purchase. No buyer's remorse. I went MW and did all of the options including the controversial CCBs, which are all for show FOR MY VIEWING PLEASURE. I don't give a shit about warranty coverage or the cost of them. I like what it does to the car for me and NOT YOU! I am a previous owner of an E46 and have driven my friends E92 quite a bit. To me there is always a very special place in my heart for the E46 and i will elaborate further below. My experience is as follows...

HOTEL
10/10 We stayed at the Palace Hotel in Munich in a corner room, room 155 overlooking the wonderful garden. This is an upgrade room and much better location than the Jr Suite. The Jr. Suite and the upgraded room are about the same size, but my wife preferred the view from room 155. I admit I am a hotel and food snob and this hotel was a 5/5 for me even though their gym (or any hotel gym for that matter) doesn't have 100lb dumbells or freeweights for my needs. The hotel has a really good restaurant and highly recommended, but right across the street is the Kafer Gourmet Gastronomie gropcery store. This place was FANTASTIC. Everything in there was top notch. This place made Whole Foods look subpar and the gourmet store I used to live next to in San Francisco as average at best. We had dinner at the restaurant there and it has now become my favorite restaurant ever next to Guy Savoy in Paris! Just because of this I will make an effort to pass through Munich a lot.

ED Pickup
9/10 Iris was the girl who had helped us. She was very knowledgeable in answering the basic Qs I had about the car and some of the Qs this forum has brought up as well.Suffice it to say she did a good job, but i felt the experience was a little too elongated and could have been shorter, to the point, but not rushed. Iris was prepared to go beyond the 45 minutes and make sure I am satisfied. We spent most of our time on iDrive and getting used to that. One thing I thought was weird was offering up the opportunity to run the car around the circle within the Welt. I reluctantly did it after my wife telling me to, but it felt like showboating and I hate that shit.

The waiting area was very nice and I really enjoyed the catered food from Kafer Gourmet Gastronomie. Very good food but nothing like you would see at the store itself. It's a tiny teaser.

The one thing about ED is that the experience would be that much better if they could incorporate assistance and recommendations for dropoff based on our travel plans. I realize this is done up front weeks in advance, but travel plans can change and having the ability to leverage someone knowledgeable at BMW about their partner's and their locations and options based on our circumstances would make it that much better.

My M4!
Overall 8.5/10
No car is 10/10 in my book. Rarely is it 9/10. This comes close.

7/10 for Interior - I love the interior. the leather is done right. The trim looks fantastic. The layout of the instrument cluster is easy and intuitive to get used to as well to where I am not having to go turn my head back to the iDrive screen and back to the HUD. BMW figured out the UX on the HUD to make most important detail accessible right there. However, the seats are not comfortable to me at all. Maybe i need to fiddle around with them some more, but I could not figure out the optimum position for me. My legs went numb several times driving from Munich to Strasbourg, Strasbourg to Frankfurt. although there are a significant number of settings on the seats which I like I am still thinking my E46 seats were much more comfortable for long distance driving.

9/10 for engine - Love this engine. I have been shopping for a 4 seat car for over 8 months. I have gone back and forth between a GT-R, C63 AMG Coupe 507, M6, and M4. Test drove and tracked most cars listed over the last year minus the GT-R. Franky, the GT-R is a phenomenal performance car, BUT the Nissan badge combined with its lack of good unique design was something i struggled with. The M6 was nice and the gran coupe' too, but these cars felt too big and because of the size did not feel that fast even with the comp package. Really wanted to like the C63 AMG, but that transmission really killed it for me. Back to the engine...since tracking the C63 AMG I really wanted my next car to have all of that torque. I get it with the M4, but I don't feel like I am really going that fast perception-wise and in comparison to my E46 M3 it felt slower even though it is much faster if that makes sense. I think what I am missing is the naturally aspirated high revving that drives this perception. Thus why I give it a 9/10 because of my experience with the E46.

The engine sound is actually phenomenal. All of the recordings of the engine don't accurately reflect the sound. Within the cabin and even outside it sounds really throaty and deep enough for my needs. In fact i liked it so much I would purposefully turn the radio off, go into sport + and just listen to the engine and talk to my wife during our ride. Even 100 yards ahead of the car giving it gas from a stop sign caught the attention of several boys on the side of the road who just gawked.

8.5/10 for Handling - This rating will change i am sure because I have not put the car through much during my trip, but I can tell that this car feels like it grips so much better than any car (minus the 911 S) I have driven. Since I am limited to 5500 RPM and 100MPH durin break-in i will have to elaborate down the road in the next few months since I am have only driven 426 miles on it.

7/10 for HK Upgrade Sound - Although the stereo is good it is not phenomenal. Now take into consideration, and i won't elaborate too much here, but I am a seriously crazy audiophile. car audio is never good enough for me due to the poor acoustic environment. With the piping of the engine sound through the speakers I felt to really hear the stereo I had to turn it up louder than normal. The bass is non-present. I really had to increase the bass equalization to hear anything. I felt the highs were too high as well. As someone said on the forum already a proper sound meter and test CD will help to dial in this stereo better, but it will still compete with the engine noise.

9/10 M4 Exterior Styling & Design - I think that the M group did a really good job with the M4. I purposefully did not go with the M3 because I did not like the rear as much as the M4, but the M4 rear could use some improvement as I see the point with the M3 owners in the rear quarter panels looking "fat". If the M4 had the wheel well flare as the M3 then I think it would have been perfect! The styling of the front bumper is fantastic and have been debating f the M performance parts will take away from the looks. will need to see the parts in person. The side gills are OK, but I feel something more could have been done or maybe something less to make it look a little more sportier. For me personally i love the longer doors on the M4 and feel like the M3 doors are too small (kind of like T-rex arms) for my taste and take away from the car's beauty. The black wheels come across much better in person and even though I thought I would go with the HRE P101s I have changed my mind once seeing these live. Overall I think this car is like me, not very photogenic and makes a better impression in person. Lastly, there were a lot of cars trailing me on the autobahn and a lot of guys driving up beside me to give the thumbs up.

So What's Next?
So after having driven the M4 and how beautiful I think it is in all aspects of performance and design I have decided to graduate it from being a daily driver to being a garage queen. This car gives me almost everything i want minus that E46 feel I grew up with. Who knows, maybe after a few more miles and a year under my belt I might change my mind. What I am going to do is get the carbon rear splitter, performance muffler, black kidneys, and extend the CF in the interior when the car arrives in the next 6 - 8 weeks. Can't wait to get her back! Off to figure out what my daily driver is now...probably a 4 door Jeep Wrangler Terraflex.

[yosman8]

Great review! Very honest which makes it even better.

[mpbruin108]

Originally Posted by rmedeir1

i just took delivery of my M4 on August 4th. I have to say I am very happy with my purchase. No buyer's remorse. I went MW and did all of the options including the controversial CCBs, which are all for show FOR MY VIEWING PLEASURE. I don't give a shit about warranty coverage or the cost of them. I like what it does to the car for me and NOT YOU! I am a previous owner of an E46 and have driven my friends E92 quite a bit. To me there is always a very special place in my heart for the E46 and i will elaborate further below. My experience is as follows...

HOTEL
10/10 We stayed at the Palace Hotel in Munich in a corner room, room 155 overlooking the wonderful garden. This is an upgrade room and much better location than the Jr Suite. The Jr. Suite and the upgraded room are about the same size, but my wife preferred the view from room 155. I admit I am a hotel and food snob and this hotel was a 5/5 for me even though their gym (or any hotel gym for that matter) doesn't have 100lb dumbells or freeweights for my needs. The hotel has a really good restaurant and highly recommended, but right across the street is the Kafer Gourmet Gastronomie gropcery store. This place was FANTASTIC. Everything in there was top notch. This place made Whole Foods look subpar and the gourmet store I used to live next to in San Francisco as average at best. We had dinner at the restaurant there and it has now become my favorite restaurant ever next to Guy Savoy in Paris! Just because of this I will make an effort to pass through Munich a lot.

ED Pickup
9/10 Iris was the girl who had helped us. She was very knowledgeable in answering the basic Qs I had about the car and some of the Qs this forum has brought up as well.Suffice it to say she did a good job, but i felt the experience was a little too elongated and could have been shorter, to the point, but not rushed. Iris was prepared to go beyond the 45 minutes and make sure I am satisfied. We spent most of our time on iDrive and getting used to that. One thing I thought was weird was offering up the opportunity to run the car around the circle within the Welt. I reluctantly did it after my wife telling me to, but it felt like showboating and I hate that shit.

The waiting area was very nice and I really enjoyed the catered food from Kafer Gourmet Gastronomie. Very good food but nothing like you would see at the store itself. It's a tiny teaser.

The one thing about ED is that the experience would be that much better if they could incorporate assistance and recommendations for dropoff based on our travel plans. I realize this is done up front weeks in advance, but travel plans can change and having the ability to leverage someone knowledgeable at BMW about their partner's and their locations and options based on our circumstances would make it that much better.

My M4!
Overall 8.5/10
No car is 10/10 in my book. Rarely is it 9/10. This comes close.

7/10 for Interior - I love the interior. the leather is done right. The trim looks fantastic. The layout of the instrument cluster is easy and intuitive to get used to as well to where I am not having to go turn my head back to the iDrive screen and back to the HUD. BMW figured out the UX on the HUD to make most important detail accessible right there. However, the seats are not comfortable to me at all. Maybe i need to fiddle around with them some more, but I could not figure out the optimum position for me. My legs went numb several times driving from Munich to Strasbourg, Strasbourg to Frankfurt. although there are a significant number of settings on the seats which I like I am still thinking my E46 seats were much more comfortable for long distance driving.

9/10 for engine - Love this engine. I have been shopping for a 4 seat car for over 8 months. I have gone back and forth between a GT-R, C63 AMG Coupe 507, M6, and M4. Test drove and tracked most cars listed over the last year minus the GT-R. Franky, the GT-R is a phenomenal performance car, BUT the Nissan badge combined with its lack of good unique design was something i struggled with. The M6 was nice and the gran coupe' too, but these cars felt too big and because of the size did not feel that fast even with the comp package. Really wanted to like the C63 AMG, but that transmission really killed it for me. Back to the engine...since tracking the C63 AMG I really wanted my next car to have all of that torque. I get it with the M4, but I don't feel like I am really going that fast perception-wise and in comparison to my E46 M3 it felt slower even though it is much faster if that makes sense. I think what I am missing is the naturally aspirated high revving that drives this perception. Thus why I give it a 9/10 because of my experience with the E46.

The engine sound is actually phenomenal. All of the recordings of the engine don't accurately reflect the sound. Within the cabin and even outside it sounds really throaty and deep enough for my needs. In fact i liked it so much I would purposefully turn the radio off, go into sport + and just listen to the engine and talk to my wife during our ride. Even 100 yards ahead of the car giving it gas from a stop sign caught the attention of several boys on the side of the road who just gawked.

8.5/10 for Handling - This rating will change i am sure because I have not put the car through much during my trip, but I can tell that this car feels like it grips so much better than any car (minus the 911 S) I have driven. Since I am limited to 5500 RPM and 100MPH durin break-in i will have to elaborate down the road in the next few months since I am have only driven 426 miles on it.

7/10 for HK Upgrade Sound - Although the stereo is good it is not phenomenal. Now take into consideration, and i won't elaborate too much here, but I am a seriously crazy audiophile. car audio is never good enough for me due to the poor acoustic environment. With the piping of the engine sound through the speakers I felt to really hear the stereo I had to turn it up louder than normal. The bass is non-present. I really had to increase the bass equalization to hear anything. I felt the highs were too high as well. As someone said on the forum already a proper sound meter and test CD will help to dial in this stereo better, but it will still compete with the engine noise.

9/10 M4 Exterior Styling & Design - I think that the M group did a really good job with the M4. I purposefully did not go with the M3 because I did not like the rear as much as the M4, but the M4 rear could use some improvement as I see the point with the M3 owners in the rear quarter panels looking "fat". If the M4 had the wheel well flare as the M3 then I think it would have been perfect! The styling of the front bumper is fantastic and have been debating f the M performance parts will take away from the looks. will need to see the parts in person. The side gills are OK, but I feel something more could have been done or maybe something less to make it look a little more sportier. For me personally i love the longer doors on the M4 and feel like the M3 doors are too small (kind of like T-rex arms) for my taste and take away from the car's beauty. The black wheels come across much better in person and even though I thought I would go with the HRE P101s I have changed my mind once seeing these live. Overall I think this car is like me, not very photogenic and makes a better impression in person. Lastly, there were a lot of cars trailing me on the autobahn and a lot of guys driving up beside me to give the thumbs up.

So What's Next?
So after having driven the M4 and how beautiful I think it is in all aspects of performance and design I have decided to graduate it from being a daily driver to being a garage queen. This car gives me almost everything i want minus that E46 feel I grew up with. Who knows, maybe after a few more miles and a year under my belt I might change my mind. What I am going to do is get the carbon rear splitter, performance muffler, black kidneys, and extend the CF in the interior when the car arrives in the next 6 - 8 weeks. Can't wait to get her back! Off to figure out what my daily driver is now...probably a 4 door Jeep Wrangler Terraflex.

Great review! I'm thinking of graduating my M4 (when it comes) to a garage queen so not to get to spoiled driving it. I have my Model S but it seems odd to me to make my more expensive car the daily driver. I think I'm going to pick up a used SUV to give me a slightly raised view of the road while giving room for my 2 Golden Retrievers a room to come with me places. Jeep Wrangler is a choice I'd love to explore.

Any larger dog owners have opinions on the best SUV dog cars (without being too much of a gas guzzler)?

[04RC51]

Being that you're an audiophile, I'd love to hear proper sound that you consider great. It must be spine tingling. I think the HK is good enough but I'd love it if some maniac audiophile would've gotten their hands on that part of the car and have it offered to the masses.

[CleanAudi]

Originally Posted by mpbruin108

Great review! I'm thinking of graduating my M4 (when it comes) to a garage queen so not to get to spoiled driving it. I have my Model S but it seems odd to me to make my more expensive car the daily driver. I think I'm going to pick up a used SUV to give me a slightly raised view of the road while giving room for my 2 Golden Retrievers a room to come with me places. Jeep Wrangler is a choice I'd love to explore.

Any larger dog owners have opinions on the best SUV dog cars (without being too much of a gas guzzler)?

I'm about to order a M4 as mainly a garage queen in the time being I purchased a Jeep Cherokee as a daily driver for my large dog me and mountain biking . my first american car and I have to say I'm very pleased! Take a look at it its a really nice compact Suv

[mpbruin108]

Originally Posted by CleanAudi

I'm about to order a M4 as mainly a garage queen in the time being I purchased a Jeep Cherokee as a daily driver for my large dog me and mountain biking . my first american car and I have to say I'm very pleased! Take a look at it its a really nice compact Suv

how's the quality and reliability? I hear mixed reviews of Jeeps and was told to stick to wranglers. I was thinking Cherokee but didn't know anyone with it to give me some honest reviews.

[CleanAudi]

Originally Posted by mpbruin108

how's the quality and reliability? I hear mixed reviews of Jeeps and was told to stick to wranglers. I was thinking Cherokee but didn't know anyone with it to give me some honest reviews.

I got a Cherokee Limited for a steal of a deal. 2015's are coming out and 2014's have some huge rebates. Currently some dealers are selling the car for $5000 under MSRP (which is a lot for a Ameircan car as inovice is like less than a $1000 under MSRP) plus they are offering $1500 or more in rebates. All in all its around 6500 off MSRP.

The limited comes with Leather, then you can get navigation etc.

The quality is surprisingly very good. I have only had german cars E46 330, E92 335, E92 M3 etc. and after test driving the Jeep I was very pleasantly surprised. It's no german car but honestly you will be very impressed. Lots of soft touch materials, leather wrapped soft steering wheel, easy to use navigation and very comfortable seats. Only issue was the 9 speeed transmission which has a few bugs to work out but ever since the last TSB that was installed the car seems to shift a lot smoother. Other than that the car is phenomenal! I would give it a 8/10 if it wasn't for the transmission issue it would be a 9/10 in my books. Honestly go give it a test drive you will be impressed. Report back and tell me what you think

[CleanAudi]

Originally Posted by mpbruin108

how's the quality and reliability? I hear mixed reviews of Jeeps and was told to stick to wranglers. I was thinking Cherokee but didn't know anyone with it to give me some honest reviews.

Oh and I just saw you are in LA. I'm in LA also. If you end of test driving and like it let me know I can hook you up with the dealers that offer a great price on it

[Transfer]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[Hobbination]

i had a similar Welt experience, didnt mind the victory lap though, 70k, ill do whatever i want. The subs too, yeah, there is bass but not much...two 8" subs youd think it'd be better than that, play something with some ass in it though, its selective i guess...

[boogie1]

The stereo is rather bright as you commented.

[Black Gold]

Originally Posted by boogie1

The stereo is rather bright as you commented.

I didn't notice this when I heard it briefly at the auto show, but I didn't listen for too long, and that would be disappointing if true. I thought the advanced audio in the e92 was too bright as well, which didn't suit my taste.

hope it is not too bright and you can balance it out with proper eq settings.

[RickMonet]

Originally Posted by rmedeir1

i just took delivery of my M4 on August 4th....

Nice write up and thanks for the insight on the ED.

Did you get DCT or 6MT - any comments there?

Full Leather - comments?

LED Lights?

[rmedeir1]

Originally Posted by RickMonet

Nice write up and thanks for the insight on the ED.

Did you get DCT or 6MT - any comments there?

Full Leather - comments?

LED Lights?

I did get the DCT. Big big fan of this transmission over MT. Always been a manual guy up until 2004 and surprisingly the SMG on my E46 converted me even though it was not great in auto mode and I had to feather the throttle. Full leather is nice BUT the dash leather to me just doesn't work for me. It's not as supple as I would like and is very stiff and somewhat rough to the touch. It is much better in appearance only compared to no leather though. I would have paid more for softer leather even if reliability might be compromised.

The one thing that bothers me on the M4 is when I fold the visor up and it slaps the top of the roof and makes a very hollow cheap sound. Now I now this was done for weight savings to make the roof as light as possible but the last time I heard a visor slap the roof like that was in my 1987 Honda Accord....yuck!

[rmedeir1]

Originally Posted by KennyPowers

I didn't notice this when I heard it briefly at the auto show, but I didn't listen for too long, and that would be disappointing if true. I thought the advanced audio in the e92 was too bright as well, which didn't suit my taste.

hope it is not too bright and you can balance it out with proper eq settings.

Bright in the sense that there seems to be too much treble in the 4k to 8k range. The obvious resolve to this is to turn down the treble and/or fiddle with the EQ. Don't get me wrong, it is clear sounding and not harsh or tinney. However, like I mentioned before you'll need to dial this system in to your liking. Go get a $19 decibel meter from radio shack and a $10 test disc from Amazon and I think it will sound pretty good for a car stereo. The E46 M3 was terrible no matter what you did to it.

[mil405]

Excellent review!

[dreamsongs]

Great honest review, these are the kinds of reviews we like to hear.

Everything I read was positive except the part about the engine sound interfering with the stereo. I'm a songwriter/producer and have a recording studio in my house so needless to say an audiophile as well. My first mod will be to disable that thing so nothing comes out of the speakers except music !

Having heard from new owners now about how good the sound of the new M is in person, I don't think that was necessary. Somebody needs to figure out how to get rid of that feature....

[IMrMark]

Weird, never noticed any sort of thing with the engine note interfering with the stereo. Everyone will definitely have a different opinion for sure though.

[rmedeir1]

Originally Posted by dreamsongs

Great honest review, these are the kinds of reviews we like to hear.

Everything I read was positive except the part about the engine sound interfering with the stereo. I'm a songwriter/producer and have a recording studio in my house so needless to say an audiophile as well. My first mod will be to disable that thing so nothing comes out of the speakers except music !

Having heard from new owners now about how good the sound of the new M is in person, I don't think that was necessary. Somebody needs to figure out how to get rid of that feature....

the engine noise I am referring to is not only what is piped thru but also what you hear outside of the stereo naturally. Both together make it difficult to hear at low volumes. To be honest...I think I would rather have this problem and listen to the engine. It's only going to get worse when I change the exhaust.

[dreamsongs]

Originally Posted by rmedeir1

the engine noise I am referring to is not only what is piped thru but also what you hear outside of the stereo naturally. Both together make it difficult to hear at low volumes. To be honest...I think I would rather have this problem and listen to the engine. It's only going to get worse when I change the exhaust.

If you had a E92 before, how does this stereo compare ? And how much of the engine noise sips through into the stereo ? That would be really annoying if I'm listening to that in the middle of the guitar solo on Hotel California....

[rmedeir1]

Originally Posted by dreamsongs

If you had a E92 before, how does this stereo compare ? And how much of the engine noise sips through into the stereo ? That would be really annoying if I'm listening to that in the middle of the guitar solo on Hotel California....

I have not had a lot of time listening to the e92 stereo. Can't comment there unfortunately.

I don't want my interpretation to be taken wrong thought. The engine noise over the stereo is not unbearable or going to distract from your favorite solos. This car borders on luxury and sport (heavier towards sport in my mind) that you want the best of both worlds.

[dreamsongs]

Originally Posted by rmedeir1

I have not had a lot of time listening to the e92 stereo. Can't comment there unfortunately.

I don't want my interpretation to be taken wrong thought. The engine noise over the stereo is not unbearable or going to distract from your favorite solos. This car borders on luxury and sport (heavier towards sport in my mind) that you want the best of both worlds.

I guess what I'm asking is can you actually hear the engine sound coming out of the speakers or is it like an ambiance thing where you can't really detect where the noise is coming from ?