BimmerFest BMW Forum banner

Kafkaesque320 moves uptown to a 2016 M Sport 328i - The hunt and the Acquisition

48K views 651 replies 60 participants last post by  FCBayernFTW 
#1 · (Edited)
Here's a long one to read on the crapper...

I talked a little bit about the new car in my existing 320i BMS Stage 1 epic saga thread, for those of you who actually follow that one and I still haven't decided whether or not to keep that thread going. I doubt this will become anything close to that thread, mainly because for the first time in, well, ever, I am content with my car. The day I was driving the 320i home I was having buyer's remorse. Car felt a little like the emperor's new clothes, if anyone is familiar with the reference. I threw the stage 1 piggyback on there to try and up the boost and HP on what was a quick yet, overall pretty gutless ultimate driving machine and was trying to block out the fact that this $36,500 MSRP car lacked features that my $23000 Mazda3 had back in 2010. But overall, I learned to love that car and it served me well. It was flawless mechanically, the build quality was solid (not a squeak or rattle for 3 years) and though, at least the way I had mine optioned, it was a 'stripper' as BJ would have said (RIP), it still had that BMW DNA.

Fast forward to a month or so ago when I really started shopping around. Some of you followed that search process on my other thread so I won't elaborate but, though I saw a lot of 2016 328i heavily discounted, most were the middle-aged Koreatown, college-aged kids-out-of-the-house Mom-mobile lease specials with 17's, halogens and not much else. I drove a '16 with Greg Poland (sales adviser savior of the forums...) and while I was somewhat impressed, the base suspension (even on 18's) still fundamentally bummed me out coming from the 704 M sport suspension, as did that crappy base steering wheel they throw in all the non-M 3 series. So I kept looking and was starting to give up, not finding any M sport 328's, or finding them and thinking they were out of my price range. I wanted to stay with my 320 monthly payment of $367. I figured I would have to settle, again.

I wanted the cake and I wanted to eat it.

So after Greg and a guy @ Irvine BMW I was talking to struck out and weren't able to acquire a few M sports I found at other dealers, I decided to go straight to the source and hit up Crevier BMW. From the get go, they (particularly Craig Holland) were the absolute best, most streamlined staff to deal with. Night and day. Within a few days and with the help of a few forum members (mwm1166 thanks!) I hit them with a counter offer to their initial offer that they accepted and I went down to Santa Ana to get the car - a Black Sapphire 2016 328i with M Sport package, driver assist, Navigation & heated seats. Sticker price $48,575. After some negotiating on-site and me refusing to do the deal unless they took my car and ate my last 3 payments, we agreed, and I signed on the dotted with the usual $1500 driveoff, zero 'down' and a monthly payment of...No $hit...$367 a month, out the door, tax included. Safe to say I am driving one of the cheapest $49000 328's on the market. I am still in shock as to this deal. They ate 3 payments, drive off was the same as the 320 and my payment is the same, for an M Sport 328 with a $13k higher MSRP? Moral of the story is they really want to move those 2016's right now.

So on with the review:

I won't go too deep with the review since the vast majority of you have the 328 and know its strengths and weaknesses, but here it goes in no particular order. I will be making a lot of 320 comparisons, mainly to my 320 which had moonroof, sport package and thats it. This thread isn't intended to bash the 320 but, since I did have it for 3 years, I will say whatever the hell I want about that car, prefacing it with my thoughts that it is still a great car even though at the end of the day, in my short time with this car, I do think the 320 is 'BMW-light', generally speaking.

Power

Compared to stock 320i, the stock 328i blows it away. Simple as that. Compared to stage 1, it still blows it away. I haven't done JB4 or whatever on the 320, so I don't know, but yeah, I've seen the dynos. With the 320i, I was always having to get on it, wind it out. The 328i is just effortless and strangely, because of that, I find myself driving it more conservatively than the 320. Something about knowing that when I throw it in sport and step on the gas, that it will unleash, is enough for me. I have thus far had my share of onramp blasts and aggressive passing and have had some time to drive it hard and this car is fast. Car and Driver clocked low 5's right, 5.3, something like that? Seems about right. Couple this with the 'active sound', which I think sounds beautiful, and the car feels like a beast compared to what I am used to. Right now I feel like I am 100% fine with it stock but I have that stage 1 piggyback in my back pocket I could try if I get used to it.

Ride/handling/etc.

Car has the same M sport 704 suspension that I loved so much from the 320. The ride is very similar but I will say this - I know that on paper, the difference isn't much, but in real life, the 328i feels heavier. No doubt about it. Same summer tires, same suspension, but this car feels bigger and heavier. I would say that is the one advantage the 320i had - it felt lighter and easier to throw around.. But not by much. This car is still very fun to drive and for whatever reason, the car feels more solid and substantial than the 320 did, so overall, it feels more solid.

Steering


I don't really have a problem with the steering. I thought the E90 steering was too heavy. Always thought that. I don't mind the steering on the F30. I think its one of the most overstated gripes about the car. But I also don't think you need to hand crank your engine to start it or have roll up windows to be an 'enthusiast', so who knows.

Interior and exterior design/tech and features

Alright this is really where it gets good and where the car feels a lot nicer than my last car. The little details and attention to detail is immediately felt with this being not only the M sport but also the LCI. There are little metal and chrome touches everywhere, on all the switch gear and framing the buttons, we have the little 'M' elements, which I don't mind, like on the wheels, the door sills, etc., we have the M steel dead pedal cover, we have the excellent and robust paddle shifters on an already great M sport steering wheel,we have the sport AT now standard which means the significantly nicer shifter compared to what I had, we have the anthracite wood trim which is beautiful compared to the ****ty silver matte trim I had and much nicer than the burl, in my opinion. We have standard power seats with aluminum trimmed buttons and switches and lets stop right there. The power seats. Compared to the manual seats, there is so much more room for finite position adjustment. The M sport body package... I think some of it is borderline rice, but its subtle rice, so I don't really care but the front grill looks so ****ing good. Couple that with the full LED headlights and the whole front end is just MEAN.

Moving on to tech. Where do I start? The 320 was so base its just night and day. Comfort access is nice, the foot sweep to open the trunk is nice, the different options for backlighting the instrument panel is a nice touch, having satellite radio (even though it sounds like ****) is nice and the extended display is nice. Which leads me to Nav.

I humbly take back and eat my words re: Navigation, not needing it and it not being necessary or Waze being better or whatever. Having the much nicer, larger, higher res Nav screen with all the options for split screen displays, displaying album artwork, the maps, and having the directions and routing displayed under the speedo and tach is just really nice. Honestly, the nav screen and extended display makes the interior. The screen is beautiful, the maps are nice to look at even if you aren't using them (especially at night) and the options to zoom in and out and interact with the maps goes much deeper than I really care to go. Less than a week in and I would never get another BMW without it.

Interestingly, I have taken the same routes I used to take in the old car when all I had was Waze, and the BMW routes are similar. It uses real time traffic info to route and reroute you and overall, its fine. Love the nav, love the extended display.

Other, Misc.

The car is still brand new so MPG will improve a little but I have noted a 2-3 MPG decrease vs. the 320i on the exact same routes. Floor the 328 a few times and its amazing the dent that puts in the fuel consumption reading on the trip computer vs. when I used to floor the 320. Moor boost, more power, heavier car, more gas. Still, Im getting 25 overall so far which is fine.

2 things the car doesn't have that would be nice are HK audio and leather. In my case though beggars cant be choosers and this is how the car was optioned. I may be imaging this, but the sensatec seems a little nicer in this car/the LCI. Yeah, probably imagining that. Also, today for example, I took my daughter to the park and it had just rained so she stepped all over my backseat with muddy shoes and left her scuff marks everywhere and all I had to do is wipe them down with a wet rag and they were like new. I think with 2 young kids, sensatec is probably the way to go. I sat in some cars with leather on the showroom at Crevier and honestly, blind taste test and most people wouldnt be able to feel the difference. You really only notice the difference with the higher end leathers in the 5 and 7 series, otherwise the Dakota is pretty crappy. These seats are heated now, which I love and missed from the GTI. (Another option available in most $25k cars that my 320 didn't have.)

As for Audio, I mean I have said it before, but I think the base system is really pretty good. I listen to a lot of lossless FLAC and WAV files and the sound quality is night and day vs. satellite or Pandora. So HK would have been nice, but audio is fine, esp considering I listen to podcasts and audiobooks quite a bit.

So that is it for now. I have gone on long enough. Though based on the same F30 platform as my 320 was, this car is nicer in every possible way. It feels more like a 'luxury' car because almost every surface you touch is well crafted, well made, nice to the touch with attention to detail and design. This is the overall vibe with all the little bonuses of Nav and extended display/options as well.

A car that feels quite a bit more luxury, considerably more powerful with plenty of sporting characteristics to keep me amused from day to day.

Gripes

There are few but here they are:

This came with the conti sport pro contact summer run flats and they suck balls compared to the Pirellis. The Cinturatos are much better tires. These are noisier tires and they ride rougher. This is an easy fix.

The other thing is something I experienced with the GTI - chassis flex and subsequent groaning or squeaking from where the rubber door seals flexing against the metal door frames. I did not have this problem with the 320. This is however a common grip with the F30 328 and I have read countless threads about the problem. I am no stranger to this so for the time being I rubbed some Gummi PFledge (sp?) on the seals which helped and stuck a few small black felt furniture pads (the kind that go on the bottom of chair legs) along the metal door frames and it has silenced it.

When I get a moment I will take it to the dealer to apply the BMW Teflon tape which is supposed to be a 'permanent' fix.

Thats it for now. Haven't had time to take any pictures besides this. Thanks for reading. Love this car.







 
See less See more
4
#241 ·
The M4 is too much car for me, so I think what BMW thinks I'd buy is an M240i. Maybe they're right
That is where I am at. Driven my sons 2016 M3 6MT - awesome beast, but he even says that more than 45 mins is too much travel time for his girlfriend. Looking at the M2 6MT, but I think the M240i would be a car I could live with. The M2 and M240i have the same torque spec.
 
#248 ·
Another thing that's been off-putting to me about the F33 is the weight. I kinda wanted a lighter car, less for straight line speed and more for cornering, but tough to get that with a cabrio. My E93 is heavy, and the F33 is even heavier. The F23 is significantly lighter than both, and maybe a way to have my cake and eat it too.

I think it's funny how they always talk about weight reduction in cars every generation, lightened structures, weight saving materials, and this and that, yet cars keep getting heavier. :dunno:
 
#243 ·
Observation re: satellite radio. Dog$hit. Yes it is a ton of channels but it reminds of the Pink Floyd lyric from the Wall -

I've got 13 channels of $HIT on the TV to choose from

Besides the fact that the quality, sonically, is as bad as it gets. Tiny compressed Mp3's from outer space. Aside from that, it is essentially every kind (mainstream speaking) of music in existence which plays every song you've ever heard 10000 times over and over again, with some news and some Howard Stern which at this point is complete garbage. I wouldn't pay a dime for this service and I think its for people who don't really care about music or have specific tastes and just want something on and its for people who take a ton of road trips to places with no service where you can't stream apple music, spotify or pandora which are LIGHT YEARS better in terms of variety and options.

So definitely going to let this free 3 month trial run out (just like I did in the GTI) and let it go away.

On a side note, if you asked me now, I would tell you I am going to buy this car at the end of my lease and keep it 10 years. I honestly can't think of a better car to have right now or in the remote future. Aside from my mid life crisis dream of buying a 2 seater Porsche when the kids are driving and not relying on me for transportation, I feel like this car is it.
 
#246 ·
If I bought the car for $30k at lease end, I would essentially pay around $42000 for the car which is an excellent deal. Its just taking the long road vs. paying it off quicker. Figure a 3 year loan on the back end and 3 years up front so six years. Considering with leasing you have a car payment all the time anyway, the payment for x amount of years is a moot point.
 
#279 ·
A coworker is doing similar math on a pending lease.

Assuming $30k includes tax and disposition, finance interest from year 3 to 6 is about $1500. The 3-yr lease total out of pocket is around $15k(monthlies plus drive-off), so the total deal is $46.5k.

This lease + buyout will be $1.5k more expensive than cash purchase of the same car@$45k($40k + tax + fees, assuming same purchase price as lease).

The lease + buyout will beat financing the same car@$45k 3% for 6 years, which total $45k + $4k interest, or $49k.

The big kicker is the lease buyout discount, @$32k + tax is close to $35k, a potential $30k total buyout amount is a $5k discount that the finance deal cannot get in the middle of 6-year term.
 
#249 ·
On the topic of satellite radio, I couldn't believe how bad the sound quality was in a few rental cars that have had it. I honestly thought I had checked that box in my E93 and wanted to give it a try, but I guess I missed it and it doesn't have it. Now I know I'm not missing anything. I can't stand the quality, as in can't even listen to it. I'm not an audiophile, it just sounds bad. Why on earth didn't they just create fewer stations and allow a little more bandwidth per channel so that the quality could be better? My God, it sounds worse than AM. So MP3 CDs are what I listen to. Quality is great.
 
#278 ·
The weight savings is actually true in the case of the F15 X5, which is definitely lighter than the E70 it replaced. It's apparent because there wasn't a change in the overall size, or overall tech features. In the case of the F30, they claim "weight savings" once again, but negated if you're adding to overall vehicle size and adding significantly more in the way of tech. Lightening the structure and claiming a certain amount of weight savings on the trunk or whatever is funny marketing, when the overall vehicle still ends up being heavier. We saved 127 pounds (or whatever) on the vehicle structure vs. steel or non-advanced materials!!! Then they don't tell you that there's a lot more structure than the old car, and that it's still heavier! LOL. I was honestly expecting an F33 to come in at about the same weight as my E93. The F33 is a tad larger, but not significantly so, so with the "weight savings" I was expecting a car at about the same weight or maybe a tad lighter. Instead it's 200 lbs heavier. Well, base E93 didn't even include iDrive or a screen, so there's that. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. ;)
 
#297 ·
Not sure how or why I didn't notice this before, but I realized this morning that, similar to Google maps, the BMW Nav has 3D imaging off surrounding buildings and things. If anything it just makes it nicer to look at and good for reference. Can't get over how into the Nav I am. Really eating my words, all the **** I talked about the nav before. Really makes the interior experience.

 
#300 ·
^^ Not sure.

@bmw325 - yeah, for sure. When I A/B'd Waze and had it running on my phone vs. the built in Nav, Waze at best came up with routes that saved like 2 minutes but the BMW nav comes up with detours and all kinds of route options on the fly and the routes it has come up with to and from work at peak traffic times are very close to and as good as Waze. Just from a graphics and visual standpoint, I mean come on, you cant even compare the 2. Waze is one dimensional with like one view and you can touch screen zoom in and out but it basically looks like an old Garmin with a bunch of annoying little cartoon character animals everywhere. The BMW Nav has so many viewing options, interactive, zoom options, perspective view (my fav) and when it switches from day to night and all the interior gauges come on, it just looks sick. Nicest in-car nav I have seen to date.

I pulled up the sport settings with the HP and TQ guages and quickly tired of it. It basically shows you how little HP you use in day to day driving but TQ maxes out quite a bit, confirming the max torque at X RPM's thing and then WOT, it tops off at 240HP. Kind of a gimmick

I just got around to getting my connected drive in order so I look forward to using it to send destinations to the car nav from my phone. One other thing I noticed vs. the bluetooth option I had coded in the 320 is that bluetooth pairing and streaming is flawless in this car vs. the 320 which was glitchy as hell. Cool too that you can pair 2 devices. Wife paired her phone along with mine during the road trip so we could switch off Pandora accounts.

It was almost shocking being in the loaner 320 the other week and being back with the basic iDrive screen. Looks so down market and cheap.
 
#303 ·
^^ I pulled up the sport settings with the HP and TQ guages and quickly tired of it. It basically shows you how little HP you use in day to day driving but TQ maxes out quite a bit, confirming the max torque at X RPM's thing and then WOT, it tops off at 240HP. Kind of a gimmick
Our GT still max's out at 240hp even with the stage 1 installed.
 
#301 · (Edited)
Cool! Another thing that's nice is voice online search. Say "online search" and then whatever you're looking for. It uses google to find results and works really well. Better than Siri/Apple maps. With that feature I don't bother sending destinations from my phone anymore. The voice control (nuance dragon drive) is excellent in general.

The only small nav complaint I have is that there's no way to exclude a particular part in the route list. You can "detour" or "exclude area" but that's not quite what I want. The alternate routes display is also too small and you can't see the detailed route list without selecting it. Small issues though.
 
#309 ·
Yeah its a gimmick

Not a fan of touchscreen in cars at all and have always liked the iDrive.

Something I did right off the bat is program buttons 1 - 8 to correspond with various features.
1. Home Nav destination 2. Work Nav destination 3. The only radio station I listen to 4. Onboard info 5. Vehicle status (TPMS display) 6. External devices 7. Satellite radio 8. Trip computer
 
#316 ·
Made an appointment to go and get a bunch of coding done next weekend. CAN'T WAIT. Same guy who did my 320, he was a wizard. 320 was so basic there wasn't much he can do but seeing as I have nav, premium, driver asst etc. I think he'll be able to do a lot of goodies. Few off the top of my head are the LED cornering fog lights, remote window and sunroof close with key fob, temperature display of each tire in TPMS, auto mirror fold in when ignition turned off, all doors unlock when drivers door open (this annoys me to no end), get rid of the lame splash warning when I start the car, there are probably a ton of cool little things to have done.

In other news, I haven't thrown stage 1 on yet. Still totally fine with the stock power on this thing. Eventually I expect Ill throw it on.

Otherwise, this car is practically perfection. When I get around to bringing it in to get this annoying passenger side door buzzing I have taken care of, the car will be silent like a tomb in side. Had it in the 320 and it only happens over that rough grate type highway but anyway, they just pull the panel and line the connecting points with foam and thats it. Otherwise the thing has been flawless, although... there are a few gremlins. Electrical mainly, or whatever.

For example, I was listening to an audio book on a CD the other night and while it could read the CD and track info, for whatever reason, it wouldn't play the tracks. Just would not play the tracks on the CD. I rarely actually play CD's so whatever but then this morning, I tried it again and it worked. So weird.

This used to happen with the 320. One day something just doesn't work or like, the blue tooth streaming audio would break up and get all this crackling. Turn the car off, back on, and its gone.
 
This post has been deleted
#317 · (Edited)
So in short...

In other news, I haven't thrown stage 1 on yet. Still totally fine with the stock power on this thing. Eventually I expect Ill throw it on.

Otherwise, this car is practically perfection. [...] I just can't believe how much I like this car.
"8/10"

Exciting stuff...

Stage 1 it!!! I want to read at least a 9/10 review on this new 328i. A lil more boost and you won't even hear the squeaks ;)
 
#322 · (Edited)
Reluctantly, I think I am going to bring the car back in for round 2 of the silencing treatment. After the last visit when they installed the felt tape behind some trim pieces and the teflon tape, interior creaking, flexing and ticking is reduced by about 75%. The most annoying of all was the creeaaaking I was getting from where the vinyl material meets the plastic side-seat trim where the power/memory buttons are that was happening every time I took off, came to a stop, etc. I DIY'd that by applying a little silicone spray in the area and it has been dead silent ever since. The last remaining annoyance rears its head when I am on rough highway grate and its a distinct buzz from the handle area of the passenger side door. You don't even have to drive it to tell. All you have to do is push on it and it sounds like there is an empty potato chip bag inside the door. My 320 had this, the GTI had this, and ofcourse the Uber driver's $22k Prius C the other night didn't have tany of these sounds, but HEY, who's keeping score?! SO, the solution to the buzzing passenger door is to simply remove and install felt or foam padding at all the contact points and problem solved. I did a DIY with this on my GTI because it was so bad, VW service is literally worthless when it comes to problems like this and it was a royal pain in the a$$ to do. I'm assuming this will be a quick fix for the dealer and since Pacific BMW has been so receptive to such fixes, why not? Its just such a drag to go down to the dealer, do the whole routine, get the loaner, leave, go back there, etc. etc. for a problem that honestly shouldn't exist.

Some people say "it's physics - blame a car with sport suspension on low profile run flat tires with an interior that has a ton of sound deadening and you are going to get and hear some rattles." Still, if it is so easy to fix, i.e. going in and lining some things with felt or foam or whatever, isn't this a quality control issue on the factory level?

What is funny is today I drove the car around with stereo off, air off and windows up on some really bad, uneven roads just to be sure. It is pretty amazing, considering the car is indeed on runflat low profile tires and sport suspension, that it (A) soaks up such bad roads so well and (B) that there aren't more rattles or noises. Honestly the thing is really solid and well put together. Due to all the sound deadening it is quiet like the vocal tracking room in a recording studio. Ok, not that quiet, but way more quiet than, for example, my wife's Tiguan. So that is part of it. The car is so quiet inside that the faintest thing, especially if you are OCD like me, can be really annoying.

I rarely drive around in silence with the windows up and nothing cracked. Almost always have a few windows cracked or sunroof cracked and some kind of music or talk/podcast going, but for those times I want to drive in silence in my sub $50k car, I want it to be quiet. Is this too much to ask? What is funny is, aside from the buzzing passenger side door intermittently coming and going on the highway, the interior as far as noises etc. is on total lockdown at moderate to highway speeds. It is like, over 40mph or something, the whole thing tightens up. The whole drive to Vegas, the car was so quiet and I never hear anything on the highway, except the buzz. But go slow on bad roads with the windows up and all kinds of gremlins start speaking up. Maybe it is also because the car feels near perfect to me so some rattle from the passenger door kind of pierces that veil of perfection.

Good thing for me, my service guy, Armon, at Pac BMW has an M3 and the rattles and noises he has experienced in that thing sound waaaay worse than my car, so the moral of the story is, no matter how much money you spend, nothing is perfect.
 
#323 ·
I had the exact same thing with my F30 (328) as well and found that the sound was sometimes not present depending on the temperature outside. I think the dealer ended up replacing the door handle and the sound was gone. took me 3 or 4 visits before all rattles gone. good luck with the car and enjoy the ride!
 
#324 ·
Its the quest for perfection that drives me. If I can get that buzzy door silenced, it will be perfect. I am real close to throwing stage 1 on. Real close
 
#326 ·
My 2014 320i is rattle, squeak, creak free. Been that way since day one. The only noise issue I had which was promptly diagnosed and fixed was a knocking sound. I thought it was the rear suspension, turned out to be the rear seatback. Dealer fixed it with felt and it never came back.
 
#328 ·
Blk88verde, yeah my 320 was pretty solid but i had them pull the hvac trim after the first month and line it with felt since that was crackling a lot. Then the door buzz and after that, quiet
 
#331 ·
They are made to manufacturing tolerances, but in no way exactly the same. Far too many variables to be exactly the same.
 
#336 ·
I'm with you Kafka. Ive had 3 bmws and none have been rattle free. The e46 was the worst . Surprisingly my e92 was the best. I remember noticing felt tape that had been applied at the factory in several areas. So at least back then BMW was making an effort to deliver rattle free cars from the factory.

It is a bit annoying considering I can hop into almost any GM rental car and it's rattle free. My current f10 has 2-3 rattles from the driver door panel that come and go at random times.

You are lucky that you have such a good sevice guy. In my experience, dealer service depts can't/won't fix rattles. They might try but usually to no avail.
 
#338 ·
It is a bit annoying considering I can hop into almost any GM rental car and it's rattle free.
My 12 year old GM is rattle free. Granted it is an Australian built car.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top