My 435i Gran Coupe
Discussion
Hi there
Just thought I’d do a post about getting my BMW 435i Gran Coupe, if anyone was considering anything similar.
Previous Car History
Vauxhall Corsa
E46 BMW 330i Sport
Mini Cooper
Skoda Octavia VRS
Had a budget of around £30k plus my VRS, which brings in some interesting cars. I considered…
Audi S4 – Test drove and nearly bought one of these. A mistake by the dealer revealed a lower spec than I was comfortable with so I decided against it. Very pleasant place to be, but the tech is very old and it’s due a replacement.
BMW 535i – Test drove and spec’d up a new one, but whilst it was the best interior and driving position I felt too detached from the car. Just wasn’t very involving.
BMW M5 – This would have been a stretch, but one I would have loved to have made. The running costs put me off but one day…
Audi A7 BiTDI – Really like the look of this, and the Audi interiors are beautiful, but I wasn’t ready for a diesel in the end.
Audi S6/S7 – There are so few in the country, I never even got to try one.
Mercedes C63 – One of the all-time great engines, but when you’re sat at the traffic lights you’ve got an old shape C Class interior that you’ve just paid 36k for.
BMW Active Hybrid 3 – Test drove and seriously looked at these. The hybrid tech felt like a bolt on, and the boot was too tiny for a family car. Whilst others knock the 3 series interior, I quite like it.
I found a 435i Gran Coupe at Cooper Cobham with an impressive (and unusual) spec:-
BMW 435i Gran Coupe
‘64 plate – 1,036 miles
Sports Auto transmission
Sunroof
Professional Navigation
Heated Steering Wheel (!)
TV Function (?!?!)
Harmon Kardon Speaker System
M Sport Plus Pack (Nav, M Sport Brakes, HK and Privacy Glass)
Extended Storage
Adaptive LED Headlights (!) with high beam assist
Heads Up Display (!)
Folding Mirrors
Front Armrest
I had been looking for a car with Heads Up Display as a good friend of mine has a 335i with it equipped, and raves about it.
The buying experience was very good, Cooper Cobham were slick and efficient, even helping me transfer the car seats from one car to another.
After picking it up, I drove for another 200 odd miles to get a feel for the car. I have now put another 3000 miles on it, so I can give it a worthy assessment.
The engine is a 3 litre single turbo petrol engine producing 306 bhp and 400nm of torque. It sounds glorious, but the comfort levels shield you from the pace you ultimately achieve. I was a little disappointed at first when pulling away, but that is its trick – you just need to look at the speedo (or in my case the HUD) and realise what speed you’re doing. I also realised that I was in comfort – it is a cliché but sport mode is a different beast altogether. At the other end of the spectrum, Eco Pro is like putting a pillow either side of the accelerator pedal. If you want to see 30+ mpg though, that is what you have to do.
The tech is impressive, but occasionally disappointing. I-drive is 90% slick, 10% frustrating. Navigating a huge number of options is quite simple, and I love the fact that it avoids the touch screen interface. Despite the promise of connected drive, there are more bugs than I am comfortable with in it (just try to run an app, then close down the error message, then run it and it works?!?). Nothing that couldn’t be fixed by a more regular software release schedule, come on BMW.
Practicality wise, I have 2 children and both their Recaro car seats fit in the back. The middle seat become inaccessible when you do this, but this is a common problem (why don’t other manufacturers put in a 123 car seat transformation option like Volvo did?). The hatch boot is 480 litres and you get 60:40 split fold by default. It’s not Octavia practical, but it’s pretty good.
Anyone looking for a fast, good looking car with plenty of tech to move 2 kids and 2 adults at this budget could do a lot worse. I’m still really happy with my decision…
Just thought I’d do a post about getting my BMW 435i Gran Coupe, if anyone was considering anything similar.
Previous Car History
Vauxhall Corsa
E46 BMW 330i Sport
Mini Cooper
Skoda Octavia VRS
Had a budget of around £30k plus my VRS, which brings in some interesting cars. I considered…
Audi S4 – Test drove and nearly bought one of these. A mistake by the dealer revealed a lower spec than I was comfortable with so I decided against it. Very pleasant place to be, but the tech is very old and it’s due a replacement.
BMW 535i – Test drove and spec’d up a new one, but whilst it was the best interior and driving position I felt too detached from the car. Just wasn’t very involving.
BMW M5 – This would have been a stretch, but one I would have loved to have made. The running costs put me off but one day…
Audi A7 BiTDI – Really like the look of this, and the Audi interiors are beautiful, but I wasn’t ready for a diesel in the end.
Audi S6/S7 – There are so few in the country, I never even got to try one.
Mercedes C63 – One of the all-time great engines, but when you’re sat at the traffic lights you’ve got an old shape C Class interior that you’ve just paid 36k for.
BMW Active Hybrid 3 – Test drove and seriously looked at these. The hybrid tech felt like a bolt on, and the boot was too tiny for a family car. Whilst others knock the 3 series interior, I quite like it.
I found a 435i Gran Coupe at Cooper Cobham with an impressive (and unusual) spec:-
BMW 435i Gran Coupe
‘64 plate – 1,036 miles
Sports Auto transmission
Sunroof
Professional Navigation
Heated Steering Wheel (!)
TV Function (?!?!)
Harmon Kardon Speaker System
M Sport Plus Pack (Nav, M Sport Brakes, HK and Privacy Glass)
Extended Storage
Adaptive LED Headlights (!) with high beam assist
Heads Up Display (!)
Folding Mirrors
Front Armrest
I had been looking for a car with Heads Up Display as a good friend of mine has a 335i with it equipped, and raves about it.
The buying experience was very good, Cooper Cobham were slick and efficient, even helping me transfer the car seats from one car to another.
After picking it up, I drove for another 200 odd miles to get a feel for the car. I have now put another 3000 miles on it, so I can give it a worthy assessment.
The engine is a 3 litre single turbo petrol engine producing 306 bhp and 400nm of torque. It sounds glorious, but the comfort levels shield you from the pace you ultimately achieve. I was a little disappointed at first when pulling away, but that is its trick – you just need to look at the speedo (or in my case the HUD) and realise what speed you’re doing. I also realised that I was in comfort – it is a cliché but sport mode is a different beast altogether. At the other end of the spectrum, Eco Pro is like putting a pillow either side of the accelerator pedal. If you want to see 30+ mpg though, that is what you have to do.
The tech is impressive, but occasionally disappointing. I-drive is 90% slick, 10% frustrating. Navigating a huge number of options is quite simple, and I love the fact that it avoids the touch screen interface. Despite the promise of connected drive, there are more bugs than I am comfortable with in it (just try to run an app, then close down the error message, then run it and it works?!?). Nothing that couldn’t be fixed by a more regular software release schedule, come on BMW.
Practicality wise, I have 2 children and both their Recaro car seats fit in the back. The middle seat become inaccessible when you do this, but this is a common problem (why don’t other manufacturers put in a 123 car seat transformation option like Volvo did?). The hatch boot is 480 litres and you get 60:40 split fold by default. It’s not Octavia practical, but it’s pretty good.
Anyone looking for a fast, good looking car with plenty of tech to move 2 kids and 2 adults at this budget could do a lot worse. I’m still really happy with my decision…
lee_fr200 said:
Any pics of the hud working mate, looks a cracking car
best I could do:-
It floats about 2/3 of the way to the end of the bonnet.
It shows speed most of the time, but when you scroll tracks on the steering wheel controls it appears to the right of the speed (see above).
Sat Nav directions appear (turn left, turn right, detailed junction layouts) to the right of the speed display.
Incoming call and Eco Pro nagging (foot off the gas, you're burning fuel!) also appears.
AB said:
How are the LED lights? Much better than xenon?
I considered it but I've always had xenons and found them to be great.
3 hours and 15 minutes until I go and collect mine
LEDs are great, not sure it's worth it over Xenons though. Adaptive is cool with LEDs as it splits the light in quite a clever way. I considered it but I've always had xenons and found them to be great.
3 hours and 15 minutes until I go and collect mine
Quite a change from the standard halogens in my Skoda!
AB - what have you got coming, details please!
melbourne720 said:
LEDs are great, not sure it's worth it over Xenons though. Adaptive is cool with LEDs as it splits the light in quite a clever way.
Quite a change from the standard halogens in my Skoda!
AB - what have you got coming, details please!
Yeah, I've seen the video on the Adaptive and it's very, very clever!Quite a change from the standard halogens in my Skoda!
AB - what have you got coming, details please!
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Have done a thread on mine that I collected yesterday.
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