What Can I Expect??

[Lee-69]

Just registered so this is my first post.

Im due to collect my brand new E90 tomorrow (also 1st ever BMW) after years and years of AUDI S4's. Cant wait o get my hands on it as Ive being waiting for almost 14 weeks for delivery.

Keen to know if anyone out there can let me know what to expect (good & bad) anything I need to look out for with the car.

[irish77380]

A big smile in the morning when you press the start button, even if you are in a shitty mood.

[GreasyGinzo]

Bring some napkins to clean off the visor

[Scoobe]

Biggest thing is the break in procedures. It will kill you not to run the car up to 8k but I recommend doing the break in as best you can. I think its 3500 miles or something without going over 5.5k rpm i think. Anyway that was extremely tough for me but I did it.

I test drove the new S4 before buying the M3 and even though they aren't considered in direct competition, the S4 felt sort of like a little M3 with the DCT, though more numb. You'll love the feel of the M3.

Not sure what options you have but learning all of the buttons and iDrive take some time but you get used to it.

One annoying thing is when you start the car it always goes into S3. You have to bump it over to go into D mode. After 15k miles I don't even think about it anymore, I start her up, kick the shifter right, change to S4 or S5, kick the shifter right again for D2 commute. Just be careful your first few days, hopping in, turning the radio up, start driving out of your neighborhood and not realizing your in first gear in S mode running 7k rpm.

Launch mode wont work until a set number of miles, forget what it is. Just don't worry about trying it until after the 3500 break in.

Make sure the dealer gives you M floor mats. They should be free.

Have a blast, you will love this car considerably more than your S4.

[irish77380]

Ha!!

[aka_phox]

the first thing i noticed when i cranked up my M3 was the exhaust note at idle. Sounded aggressive. Then once i started to drive it, in the pedal, you could feel the engine and the power...as if the car was alive. When i got mine, it only had 3 miles on it. I know it seems weird explaining, but you will see once you get in it for the first time.

[Nine]

My face still hurts from smiling.
The Good: List is too long
The bad: others wanting to drive it...

[Seattle S65B40]

This car will exceed your expectations upon delivery and then some more beyond that point.

[Lee-69]

Guys thanks for the responses - my current S4 which is 333 BHP is pretty quick. It had a water pump problem which meant the car was off the road for 3 weeks during which time AUDI UK loaned to me an S6. This is the car with 420bhp and a 5.2 ltr V10. Now on paper my car is supposedly quicker 0 - 60 but the S6 felt so much quicker with the auto box, you just planted the accelerator and off it went. Now this got me thinking into changing the car which I have only had since late 2009 (wife went crazy at me). I arranged a test drive at local BMW dealer in a coupe with DCT and could not stop smiling - it pulled so strong I was hooked.

Now without sounding a bit of a wuss the only thing Im a bit concerned over is all this power to the back wheels, I read the car handles exceptionally well but does the tail ever get twitchy. Many many moons ago I owned a Lexus IS200 which handled crap but it put me off rea wheel drive and onto 4WD Audi.

[Scoobe]

Originally Posted by Lee-69

Guys thanks for the responses - my current S4 which is 333 BHP is pretty quick. It had a water pump problem which meant the car was off the road for 3 weeks during which time AUDI UK loaned to me an S6. This is the car with 420bhp and a 5.2 ltr V10. Now on paper my car is supposedly quicker 0 - 60 but the S6 felt so much quicker with the auto box, you just planted the accelerator and off it went. Now this got me thinking into changing the car which I have only had since late 2009 (wife went crazy at me). I arranged a test drive at local BMW dealer in a coupe with DCT and could not stop smiling - it pulled so strong I was hooked.

Now without sounding a bit of a wuss the only thing Im a bit concerned over is all this power to the back wheels, I read the car handles exceptionally well but does the tail ever get twitchy. Many many moons ago I owned a Lexus IS200 which handled crap but it put me off rea wheel drive and onto 4WD Audi.

The M3 has MDM mode, probably the most impressive and fun traction control out there. It lets the wheels slips a bit, but won't let you lose control. It only comes available in the M button programming but it is freakin awesome. By far the best traction control I've ever driven. I was doing about 70 in a long sweeping turn, I hit the M button and nailed it, downshifting into 3rd and the ass end started to swing. Scared the crap out of me but without lifting the throttle the MDM brought it back under me without killing the engine or the accelleration. Trust me, you'll be impressed with it.

[sameh]

First, congratulations.
I was in your shoes 14 months ago. This M is my first BMW ever and more importantly; this was my first high revving engine. I came from an Infiniti G35. Here is what I experienced.
Bad:
I was not impressed by the low end torque and that made my naive mind (no past experience with high revving engines) wonder.
I felt that the driver’s seat size was not as spacious as my ex Infiniti (came to know why later as I’m rounding a C shaped hwy exit in 3rd gear at 70MPH
I felt that everyone in the street was looking at the car and me an that made me a little uncomfortable, that was worse as I’m revving the engine past 5000 (they still do but you get used to it)
MPG was expectedly bad but to be honest that was not and still is not an issue for me, in fact I sickeningly feel good at the gas pump, don’t know why!!
Some interior rattling come and go for no good reason but we decided to call that “normal”

The good:
I was shockingly impressed with the sound of both the engine and the exhaust first morning when I turned it on in my garage..I had a flimsy stop sign for the ex-wife car that if you touch it, it blinks, that thing starting blinking 6 feet away when I turned the car on.

I was able to appreciate the throttle response on this car even though I stuck to the 5500RPM limit for the first 1200 miles (which only took ne 6 days to achieve)

I didn’t feel comfortable in the beginning putting my DCT on S mode (manual) so I had it on D most of the time for 3-4 months then I started playing with S only in light traffic then S all the way for the past 6-8 months..HUGE difference..if your car is 6MT you won’t go through that phase but if it’s DCT you need to know that your M3 will only feel like an M3 if you drive it on S, shift beyond 4K and touch the redline on almost daily bases.

Stability in corners is beyond belief.

Stability on high speeds is ridiculous, it actually should be illegal to make a car feel that stable on high speeds (feels 55 when you’re on 120MPH)..and by the way 120MPH is a blink away.

I have the premium sound and wasn’t very impressed in the beginning comparing it to my ex-Bose but there is a “preferred” equalizer setting here in this forum (use search) and that made a big big difference

The steering wheel feel is racy.

The steering response and the agility both make you think that you’re the best driver on the planet, Hay I put this freaking monster wherever I want (no sexual inference intended)

The quality of the interior was definitely a step up from my Infiniti however I’m more than impressed (still) with the quality of the doors, when you get out and shut the door, it feels like a million dollar car (call me crazy but I bet ya many drivers here would attest to that)

I can’t really keep going on and on cause there is many more things to praise in this car but I would tell you that you will appreciate this car 6 months from now more than now, so just enjoy driving it, get comfortable, keep on pushing your limit till you start pushing the car limits and only then you will go back to this forum, look for this post to PM me saying

[Lee-69]

Hi Scoobe thanks for the response.

The dealer explained the M Dynamic Mode as the 'Gaurdian Angel'. They gave the handbook prior to picking the car up and having read some parts it actually says to drive the car with this feature off - im sure there just keen to covers their backsides.

I lost the back end of my old lexus twice and both times it scared my shittless once I was lucky to escape the other not so much as I spun around on the slip road going onto the motorway and bumped the front - it was raining though (my excuse).

[Scoobe]

Originally Posted by Lee-69

Hi Scoobe thanks for the response.

The dealer explained the M Dynamic Mode as the 'Gaurdian Angel'. They gave the handbook prior to picking the car up and having read some parts it actually says to drive the car with this feature off - im sure there just keen to covers their backsides.

I lost the back end of my old lexus twice and both times it scared my shittless once I was lucky to escape the other not so much as I spun around on the slip road going onto the motorway and bumped the front - it was raining though (my excuse).

Normal traction control on is very intrussive, MDM lets you play a little without completely losing it. I quite enjoy MDM. Traction off, especially on the hot San Antonio roads is a rear spin fest.

[Lee-69]

Unfortunately in the UK where I live its probably wet as many days of the year as its dry.

Does the car feel any different after the 1200 mile service? Or is it just a case that you can rev it more so it feels better anyway?

[Scoobe]

Originally Posted by Lee-69

Unfortunately in the UK where I live its probably wet as many days of the year as its dry.

Does the car feel any different after the 1200 mile service? Or is it just a case that you can rev it more so it feels better anyway?

Above 5k rpm is when the car really comes alive. And under max acceleration it never shifts below 5k RPM. So technically during break in you won't fully appreciate the power of the car.

[Lee-69]

well its time for me to knock off work now for the weekend - only 17 hours till I get my first M3.


Thanks to everyone for their responses I will be back on soon