RE: BMW i4 M50 and M440i Gran Coupe updated

[Cannyjock]

Darinz said:

Cannyjock said:

I may have misunderstood some of this, but I don't see the difference in the physical controls, they were always on the touch screen, and I thought the M50 was £72k previously?

I think it's just they've moved the controls for the flow of air from the vents to the screen... madness. A simple flap thing to control it, instead now little motors in the vents and controlled from the screen - I cannot figure that one out even for a cost saving, got to be more expensive surely when they'd already made the "manual" control ones for pre facelift. Pure BS for usability too.

The article mentions the gear lever has changed to a switch. But, that happened a while ago in the pre-facelift. Fair enough the writers live by press releases so they wouldn't know that!

Ah got it, that's even worse then! I've lived with the M50 for nearly a year and in general pretty happy with it as a fast family car, however the lack of physical controls is something that still bothers me. Some things in a new car always take time to get used to, for example one pedal driving (this is my first EV) - I didn't like it at all at first, now I love it round town. Even though I'm generally a tech nerd there are still some things that are just way less efficient than in my previous cars (F10 M5, E90 M3). Examples - turning on heated seats, changing media sources. This is not exclusive to BMW or EV's, good to see firms like Aston still making proper interiors, I just hope this becomes normal for cheaper cars too. In fact I do really miss the 8 programmable buttons that my older BMW's had - I could have shortcuts to dial my 3 favourite people, change to my 3 preferred radio stations and navigate to my 2 most frequent destinations all at the press of 1 button - super efficient. Setting up shortcuts in iDrive 8, especially while you are running Android Auto, is nowhere near as easy, and BMW voice control is still pretty woeful.

On the gear switch - this changed just before I got my car, I test drove one with the larger selector, the switch works fine. I think the reference here is that the petrol is now moving to the switch as well, EV has been for a year?

[TheMilkyBarKid]

soprano said:

wistec1 said:

Quasimodo is better looking than this goping monstrosity and the rest of the current design beemer fails. I'm a big BMW fan and owner. M535d & 530d AC Schnitzer daily. 1M, M3 CLS & M3 Jahre all of which are in the my owner worship zone but this croc of ste deserves noting more than a flat sales line each month. Add to that the propaganda led hypnotized EV crap renting free space in many a human beings empty sculls and you have the perfect follow me sheep off the cliff edge mentality. You've heard of battery hens. Welcome to battery sheep. It'll take a while indeed years for the realization and denial to sink in but it will.

Can I ask - I am genuinely interested to hear - have you driven an EV? And if so for an extended period?

I have had some quite fun stuff over the years, including various V8s: TVR Griffith, Jaguar XFR, Maserati GT and 4200 (both of which I still own now) and I have loved them all, and stil love driving them. But as EV8 has said above, for commuting/longer journeys/sitting in traffic etc - ie most daily miles for work for me, I would pretty much always take my i4. It's refined, so easy to drive, quick, and generally pretty effortless which is exatly what I want from my daily car.

He does this on every EV thread now. I haven’t yet owned an EV but I find this total fear of change is a bit odd if I’m honest. When I get in the drivers seat of the X3 I use as my do everything family wagon the absolute last thing I think is ‘wow the emotion/soul this car has, I’ll bloody miss it when it’s gone’. The constant references to ‘sheep’ aimed at those with an open mindset to change are a bit strange too. I come from a farming background and the one thing I can tell you about sheep is that they inherently stick to what they know rather than trying something different…

When people talk about ‘soul’, well let’s face it a 4-pot ICE family SUV has none. Would I feel that I’d be any worse off driving a BEV into work than the deathly dull but comfortable and relatively economical car I do my 60 mile round trip commute in now? No, of course not.

Would I miss my ICE sports car? You’re damn right I would. I think there’s something about a great ICE sports car that appeals to all the senses - not just the sight of the road unfolding and scenery on the right road but the wonderful sound of a great engine (I.e. not a turbo’d 4 pot, and the one thing I’d change about my Alpine) but the feel of the steering…though I’ll pass on the smell of petrol if I’m honest.

I think the thing I find odd is that some can’t accept that different methods of propulsion work better for different uses.

1. Long distance touring, drives for the sheer enjoyment of driving, i.e. the great Scottish drives like the old Military Road between Perth and Aviemore: https://www.evo.co.uk/features/14421/old-military-... as well as the great Alpine passes, the amusement of driving through long tunnels in cars with sonorous engines - 6/8/10/12 cylinder ICE every time.

2. Long distance work/holiday drives, towing the family caravan, horse box, or (in our case) an Airstream events trailer around - currently a diesel SUV.

3. Local running, taking the kids to school, weekly shop, any sub150 mile daily drive/commute - EV all day long.

Of course the balance between use cases 2 and 3 (and I’m sure lots of others for different use cases) will conflate over time, but to be utterly blind and fearful of a different kind of motive power just seems very odd to me indeed.

Edited by TheMilkyBarKid on Friday 26th April 09:53

[soprano]

TheMilkyBarKid said:

[well written stuff]

Long distance touring, drives for the sheer enjoyment of driving, i.e. the great Scottish drives like the old Military Road between Perth and Aviemore: https://www.evo.co.uk/features/14421/old-military-...

Edited by TheMilkyBarKid on Friday 26th April 09:53

What a great post.

And by coincidence I will be cycling part of this next week!

[TheMilkyBarKid]

soprano said:

TheMilkyBarKid said:

[well written stuff]

Long distance touring, drives for the sheer enjoyment of driving, i.e. the great Scottish drives like the old Military Road between Perth and Aviemore: https://www.evo.co.uk/features/14421/old-military-...

Edited by TheMilkyBarKid on Friday 26th April 09:53

What a great post.

And by coincidence I will be cycling part of this next week!

[cerb4.5lee]

JackJarvis said:

wistec1 said:

Quasimodo is better looking than this goping monstrosity and the rest of the current design beemer fails. I'm a big BMW fan and owner. M535d & 530d AC Schnitzer daily. 1M, M3 CLS & M3 Jahre all of which are in the my owner worship zone but this croc of ste deserves noting more than a flat sales line each month. Add to that the propaganda led hypnotized EV crap renting free space in many a human beings empty sculls and you have the perfect follow me sheep off the cliff edge mentality. You've heard of battery hens. Welcome to battery sheep. It'll take a while indeed years for the realization and denial to sink in but it will.

What a hilarious load of old frothy waffle

I like it when people say it how it is, so I enjoyed that little rant in fairness.

[James6112]

cerb4.5lee said:

JackJarvis said:

wistec1 said:

Quasimodo is better looking than this goping monstrosity and the rest of the current design beemer fails. I'm a big BMW fan and owner. M535d & 530d AC Schnitzer daily. 1M, M3 CLS & M3 Jahre all of which are in the my owner worship zone but this croc of ste deserves noting more than a flat sales line each month. Add to that the propaganda led hypnotized EV crap renting free space in many a human beings empty sculls and you have the perfect follow me sheep off the cliff edge mentality. You've heard of battery hens. Welcome to battery sheep. It'll take a while indeed years for the realization and denial to sink in but it will.

What a hilarious load of old frothy waffle

I like it when people say it how it is, so I enjoyed that little rant in fairness.

How it is in wistec’s head, nobody else’s..
A high number of EV threads suffer from their little rants.
Strange how wistec is so attracted to them & thinks anyone is interested in their waffle !

[CG2020UK]

James6112 said:

cerb4.5lee said:

JackJarvis said:

wistec1 said:

Quasimodo is better looking than this goping monstrosity and the rest of the current design beemer fails. I'm a big BMW fan and owner. M535d & 530d AC Schnitzer daily. 1M, M3 CLS & M3 Jahre all of which are in the my owner worship zone but this croc of ste deserves noting more than a flat sales line each month. Add to that the propaganda led hypnotized EV crap renting free space in many a human beings empty sculls and you have the perfect follow me sheep off the cliff edge mentality. You've heard of battery hens. Welcome to battery sheep. It'll take a while indeed years for the realization and denial to sink in but it will.

What a hilarious load of old frothy waffle

I like it when people say it how it is, so I enjoyed that little rant in fairness.

How it is in wistec’s head, nobody else’s..
A high number of EV threads suffer from their little rants.
Strange how wistec is so attracted to them & thinks anyone is interested in their waffle !

In fairness although I don’t agree with wistec1 he posted an opinion and we can just choose to ignore it.

Certainly better than the current situation on PH of the same 3-4 people arguing with everyone, preaching the same nonsense and trashing every thread with EV propaganda. They’ve polarised the whole of PH and are ruining it for everyone.

I think cerb4.5lee is great as well for balancing threads out and providing an opinion. Even if don’t always agree (he called my M2 stumpy at the rear once and I’ve never forgive him)!

[cerb4.5lee]

CG2020UK said:

I think cerb4.5lee is great as well for balancing threads out and providing an opinion. Even if don’t always agree (he called my M2 stumpy at the rear once and I’ve never forgive him)!

Apologies for that, and I'd never go out deliberately to offend or upset anyone for sure.

I just tend to prefer the longer body of the M3/M4 that's all.

[Nicolas Lazar]

Never liked that incarnation - too podgy. The F36 was an elegant, even fun, and surprising versatile car. And the interior ... well, I'm too old.

[Sisu9]

There are actually a number of aftermarket solutions to marginally improve the grille. At least it doesn't have the nostrils of the M3.

May get one of these as a company lease car so looking at any way I can get bolt on, bolt off mods to make it even slightly less ugly. It's a shame the new BMW snouts are universally regarded as ugly as some of them are decent to drive by all accounts.

[Darinz]

Sisu9 said:

There are actually a number of aftermarket solutions to marginally improve the grille. At least it doesn't have the nostrils of the M3.

May get one of these as a company lease car so looking at any way I can get bolt on, bolt off mods to make it even slightly less ugly. It's a shame the new BMW snouts are universally regarded as ugly as some of them are decent to drive by all accounts.

I've seen this mentioned before but not managed to find any of the options for grille improvements, can you point me in the right direction? I am intrigued what the options are.

[Sisu9]

Vorsteiner, Evaero and Kies all offer alternatives grilles.