Well after a little bit of waiting around, I was able to take delivery of my new X1 yesterday. I received it with only 8 miles on the clock, but now I have 66. I managed to increase my odometer by a factor of 8 in just one evening.
So far I am generally very pleased; I quickly got used to the funky joystick shifter, and have set up my bluetooth calling and universal garage door opener buttons without much fuss. I don't have to deal with the Auto Start/Stop function as it will be a long time yet before the temperature here reaches the minimum 37°F for that process to work. But when it does, I'll disable the system... it's not for me.
I am loving the adaptive headlights! I sat stopped in the middle of the street, with my lights focused on a garage door down the road, turning the steering wheel slightly left and right and watching the headlights follow suit. Being in Alaska, at this time of year it is dark for all but five hours a day so the headlights are pretty often used. They follow the road nicely, and light up the area in front of the car very well.
The quick-reference owners guide is very useful and quickly gives me just the basic info needed to use a wide variety of functions on the car. Trying to glean this info from the main manual was about as painful as being smashed by a bus. However, I think once I have the initial understanding of the more complex systems, the main manual will make much more sense. I believe it may be best to study the quick reference guide before attempting to digest the main manual, but that's just me.
I have been trying to not push the car too hard since the engine is still so new, but even so, I find numerous occasions where I think to myself "I can't believe this is only a 4 banger!" Despite poor throttle response off the line (must find a way to fix this), once I'm moving, very little go-pedal movement is needed to force a downshift and receive a healty return of acceleration. It will move pretty quick, and the engine does not get any noisier in the process; the general experience reminds me of a (much quieter) version of the 7.0 V8 in my Corvette, in which a request for power, no matter how much, is easily met without a whimper. It never feels like I am "asking too much" of the engine, and that's awesome. The car just takes off like you're doing it a favor!
I was initially annoyed when I found out I would not be able to stream Pandora via Bluetooth since I don't have iDrive; but I was doubly annoyed when I found that I could also not stream audio via my USB cable! My radio told me that the cable was not authorized or some silly nonsense.
A few phone calls and $72.50 later, I ended up with BMW's proprietary and impossibly short aux cable to allow me to connect my iDevice to the radio. I think they could have provided more than 10 inches worth of cable, but it works as long as you leave your device in the storage tray immediately beside the aux ports. Once I accomplished this, I finally had my Pandora. I did not explore the USB option as that would not solve my Pandora issue, though I may investigate it for using music I already have stored and could then place onto a thumb drive.
It also seems BMW keeps a lot of info close to their chest. I went to a few car audio shops looking for aftermarket solutions, and they all told me that BMW's are the worst cars to work with because they share so little information about their radios / etc. Nobody had an alternative cable for the dealer's $72.50 cable, and one shop told me that even if they did have such a cable, it would be more than 72.50. When I inquired about solutions to allow a bluetooth audio connection to the sound system, again the common answer was that due to the lack of available info from BMW, nobody had anything. So initially it appears that if I want to add this type of functionality, I need to retrofit a bunch of OEM components and invest 3-4k. I'm not yet convinced there is no REASONABLE solution to this; still have a few tricks to try but hey, I like a good challenge!
Overall... VERY pleased with the car. I look forward to spending more time with the documentation and becoming more familiar with everything, and researching the few issues I do have.
Here's the obligatory picture... I apologize for the crummy phone-cam quality picture, but once I get my good camera out of the closet, I'll get some better shots.
Car specs:
2013 X1 AWD 28i
X-Line trim
Mineral Gray paint / Nevada Terra leather
Cold Weather Package
Lighting Package
Premium package
Paddle Shifters
Servotronic
Some other stuff
So far I am generally very pleased; I quickly got used to the funky joystick shifter, and have set up my bluetooth calling and universal garage door opener buttons without much fuss. I don't have to deal with the Auto Start/Stop function as it will be a long time yet before the temperature here reaches the minimum 37°F for that process to work. But when it does, I'll disable the system... it's not for me.
I am loving the adaptive headlights! I sat stopped in the middle of the street, with my lights focused on a garage door down the road, turning the steering wheel slightly left and right and watching the headlights follow suit. Being in Alaska, at this time of year it is dark for all but five hours a day so the headlights are pretty often used. They follow the road nicely, and light up the area in front of the car very well.
The quick-reference owners guide is very useful and quickly gives me just the basic info needed to use a wide variety of functions on the car. Trying to glean this info from the main manual was about as painful as being smashed by a bus. However, I think once I have the initial understanding of the more complex systems, the main manual will make much more sense. I believe it may be best to study the quick reference guide before attempting to digest the main manual, but that's just me.
I have been trying to not push the car too hard since the engine is still so new, but even so, I find numerous occasions where I think to myself "I can't believe this is only a 4 banger!" Despite poor throttle response off the line (must find a way to fix this), once I'm moving, very little go-pedal movement is needed to force a downshift and receive a healty return of acceleration. It will move pretty quick, and the engine does not get any noisier in the process; the general experience reminds me of a (much quieter) version of the 7.0 V8 in my Corvette, in which a request for power, no matter how much, is easily met without a whimper. It never feels like I am "asking too much" of the engine, and that's awesome. The car just takes off like you're doing it a favor!
I was initially annoyed when I found out I would not be able to stream Pandora via Bluetooth since I don't have iDrive; but I was doubly annoyed when I found that I could also not stream audio via my USB cable! My radio told me that the cable was not authorized or some silly nonsense.
A few phone calls and $72.50 later, I ended up with BMW's proprietary and impossibly short aux cable to allow me to connect my iDevice to the radio. I think they could have provided more than 10 inches worth of cable, but it works as long as you leave your device in the storage tray immediately beside the aux ports. Once I accomplished this, I finally had my Pandora. I did not explore the USB option as that would not solve my Pandora issue, though I may investigate it for using music I already have stored and could then place onto a thumb drive.
It also seems BMW keeps a lot of info close to their chest. I went to a few car audio shops looking for aftermarket solutions, and they all told me that BMW's are the worst cars to work with because they share so little information about their radios / etc. Nobody had an alternative cable for the dealer's $72.50 cable, and one shop told me that even if they did have such a cable, it would be more than 72.50. When I inquired about solutions to allow a bluetooth audio connection to the sound system, again the common answer was that due to the lack of available info from BMW, nobody had anything. So initially it appears that if I want to add this type of functionality, I need to retrofit a bunch of OEM components and invest 3-4k. I'm not yet convinced there is no REASONABLE solution to this; still have a few tricks to try but hey, I like a good challenge!
Overall... VERY pleased with the car. I look forward to spending more time with the documentation and becoming more familiar with everything, and researching the few issues I do have.
Here's the obligatory picture... I apologize for the crummy phone-cam quality picture, but once I get my good camera out of the closet, I'll get some better shots.
Car specs:
2013 X1 AWD 28i
X-Line trim
Mineral Gray paint / Nevada Terra leather
Cold Weather Package
Lighting Package
Premium package
Paddle Shifters
Servotronic
Some other stuff