That feeling when you're behind the wheel of a BMW

[Chestrockwell]

I work for a dealer that sells sensible family cars now, I sold my M240i back in April and my company car since has been a little hybrid

We have a M340i on site, took a customer out for a test drive in it and I must say, it felt glorious to be back sitting low behind the wheel of a BMW.

If you haven't before, I suggest you try it

[Sebring440]

Chestrockwell said:

That feeling when you're behind the wheel of a BMW

[cerb4.5lee]

Sebring440 said:

Chestrockwell said:

That feeling when you're behind the wheel of a BMW

What's funny?

I've had 9 of them, and only 1 one of them didn't drive that well for me. So I get what the OP is saying to be honest.

[Chestrockwell]

cerb4.5lee said:

Sebring440 said:

Chestrockwell said:

That feeling when you're behind the wheel of a BMW

What's funny?

I've had 9 of them, and only 1 one of them didn't drive that well for me. So I get what the OP is saying to be honest.

Even if its a 318i, once you're behind the wheel, you just know you're in a proper car

[Wills2]

cerb4.5lee said:

What's funny?

I've had 9 of them, and only 1 one of them didn't drive that well for me. So I get what the OP is saying to be honest.

Indeed there is something about them, they feel different and I'm currently aching to get out of my Merc shed and back into a BMW, I've had one Audi and 2 Mercs but 13 BMWs and I'm spending too much time looking for the current cars replacement.

[cerb4.5lee]

Wills2 said:

Indeed there is something about them, they feel different and I'm currently aching to get out of my Merc shed and back into a BMW, I've had one Audi and 2 Mercs but 13 BMWs and I'm spending too much time looking for the current cars replacement.

Definitely. We've had 1 Audi and 2 Merc's, but we always end up back in a BMW though.

[Furbo]

Chestrockwell said:

I work for a dealer that sells sensible family cars now, I sold my M240i back in April and my company car since has been a little hybrid

We have a M340i on site, took a customer out for a test drive in it and I must say, it felt glorious to be back sitting low behind the wheel of a BMW.

If you haven't before, I suggest you try it

I've not had a BMW since 1999 - a 328i Sport coupe. It was indeed a lovely experience, and it felt like I was driving a better class of car. It wasn't necessarily made of the best materials, however, and it "patinated" quite quickly.

I've got a Rolls Royce at the moment, which obviously was made by BMW. It's not necessarily made of the best materials, however, and it is "patinating" quite quickly.

The opinion that I have formed, therefore, is that BMW products DO feel good to drive, but the underlying quality isn't always as good as you'd hope.

[cerb4.5lee]

Furbo said:

I've not had a BMW since 1999 - a 328i Sport coupe. It was indeed a lovely experience, and it felt like I was driving a better class of car. It wasn't necessarily made of the best materials, however, and it "patinated" quite quickly.

Our 2024 X5 40d isn't as well built as the 2022 GLE400d we had as you say. There are lots of rattles in the door pillars etc in the X5 for example, and you just didn't get that in comparison with the GLE. But the X5 does drive and ride much better than the GLE though for me.

[Metric Max]

The feeling of;

"Where's the indicator stalk"

Oh, I don't need one, I'm in a BMW
(From MB driver)

[E63eeeeee...]

Having had 4, I'd say: very good cars, miserable ownership experience, would sum it up for me. As a fun weekend car, definitely. As a car I need to be able to rely on to get me places without constant work or being constantly exasperated by the dealership, nope.

[Furbo]

Metric Max said:

The feeling of;

"Where's the indicator stalk"

Oh, I don't need one, I'm in a BMW
(From MB driver)

Oh don't get me started on BMW indicators. They changed a method of operation that has worked for decades.

We've got an array of BMW products in the business and the degree to which the indicators are st varies between them.

Which utter moron was behind that?

[dan98]

Chestrockwell said:

I work for a dealer that sells sensible family cars now, I sold my M240i back in April and my company car since has been a little hybrid

We have a M340i on site, took a customer out for a test drive in it and I must say, it felt glorious to be back sitting low behind the wheel of a BMW.

If you haven't before, I suggest you try it

As this is a BMW sub-forum, it's to be expected most people will consider them superior and to their tastes.
Thanks for the suggestion but just for the sake of balance, do remember they're really not for everyone.

The 'feeling' I get is of something rather inert, over engineered and fairly inappropriate for pot-holed little UK roads.
I'm not a fan of sitting low down close to the road, neither do I like the quality of their interiors (or how they look on the outside for that matter, with a couple of exceptions).

The two or three people I know who own newish ones have had ongoing reliability issues and the depreciation seems to get particularly awful as they get to a certain age once the local scrotes get their hands on them.

[Pica-Pica]

Furbo said:

Oh don't get me started on BMW indicators. They changed a method of operation that has worked for decades.

We've got an array of BMW products in the business and the degree to which the indicators are st varies between them.

Which utter moron was behind that?

If you’re talking about the indicators that you operate and they return to centre, I love them. After a while you think, why aren’t they all like this? You cancel by moving the stalk in any direction. It’s great for cancelling immediately after a turn, when you want an early cancellation because of another side turning coming up.

[bmwmike]

E46 for me - the seating position (non electric), chassis squat under braking, and there was never any doubt as to which wheels were driven, not that there is ever doubt as such, it just always had this sense of being pushed along. Manual box. Wasn’t the fastest (323i) but I enjoyed it.

[E-bmw]

Metric Max said:

The feeling of;

"Where's the indicator stalk"

Oh, I don't need one, I'm in a BMW
(From MB driver)

MB drivers, aren't they the ones that don't bother with the steering wheel on 3-lane roundabouts?

[Mr Tidy]

Metric Max said:

The feeling of;

"Where's the indicator stalk"

Oh, I don't need one, I'm in a BMW
(From MB driver)

That figures!

I've had 3 Mercedes but only managed to find one with 3 pedals and decided I wasn't old enough to enjoy an Automatic, so I'm currently on number 7 and 8 BMWs. And they all had fully functioning indicators on a stalk that wasn't overloaded with other functions like wipers.

[flight147z]

I've had two, they are the sweet spot for me as a balance of style, prestige, fun, performance and cost (compared to something like a Porsche where for me the balance is unbalanced with the additional cost not being worth it for my use case)





Suspect I'll be back in one in the future

[Rob_R]

I've always loved BMWs, personally. Maybe not so much the newer ones which, if you look at BMW's website, it seems nothing more than an SUV dystopia but during the 90s and 00s BMW were absolutely at the top of their game.

I have three Beemers myself now, an F30 335i, an E86 3.0si coupe and an E90 M3 track car and love them all in their own ways. I've driven friends Audis and Mercs and they just aren't as good to drive. They aren't as special. I love Porsches even more but the ones I want are just out of my reach, financially.

[rottenegg]

Oooh yes, that feeling of impending cost when you're behind the wheel of a BMW

Nah, I get it, completely.

For their size and heft, the F3x/F80 and F10 platforms are great steers, imo, and G82 M4 Competition is an absolute animal on track, in spite of pushing past 1750Kg.

The older Bimmers have a certain smell and feel about them that the newer ones don't, but the same company DNA is there. Get the front end grip and feel dialled in and it reminds you why RWD is so much more rewarding than front and 4 wheel drive.

[Skodillac]

I've driven one BMW. A Mark 2 '3' Series (oh all right then, an 'E30') 2-door 318iS. I was utterly hyped to be getting a go in it, but I've never been so underwhelmed in my life, and never bothered trying the marque again. A contemporary MG Maestro was more fun and a better all round car IMHO (yes I did drive one, my Mum had one), also the Alfa 33 1.7 of the time (I owned a couple of these around the same time I drove that 318). 39 cars I've owned, still never had a BMW nor a Vauxhall.

YMMV, but my feeling behind the wheel of a BMW would pretty much be "this is an overhyped, overmarketed, overstyled, overpriced car, for which there are better value alternate propositions".

Would still quite fancy a Mark 4 (oh all right then, E39) 5 Series estate, though - 528i would probably be the sweet spot for me. That's probably the only model which really appeals to me. No leather though, please. Yick. Nice basic spec will do.

Yes, I am an odd car enthusiast. Don't hate me.

EDIT, hang on I forgot, I have also driven a Mark 2 '3' Series 325i convertible. Again, unmemorable and felt shoddy. Did not like.

Edited by Skodillac on Tuesday 12th August 09:42