Auto express M3 long range review. [thread]

[SpareHeadOne]

Autoexpress, autocar and everything from that media group has hardly ever criticized any German cars. Few years ago many had criticized the stiff suspension of BMW 3 Series but not these guys!

AE were particularly biased towards BMW a few years ago (yikes, about 20 now I think about it); I remember reading one of their bit tests with five or six 3-Series size cars.

The 3xx taking part in the test didn't win a single category, but was still the car they recommended you buy.

 

[Peter 224]

Could you go out and look at the i4's front grill every morning?

I've got a test drive booked at my local BMW dealer tomorrow. It will be interesting, especially the ride and handling. Past BMWs I've owned dissapointed on ride and road noise, handling and steering were never an issue.

 

[Mrklaw]

its already softening on me. I remember the big square bum on the 5-series back in the day was ugly as hell, but after a while it grew on you and it made other cars look old. BMW are often pretty good at doing that.

 

[debrooker]

Could you go out and look at the i4's front grill every morning?

I've got a test drive booked at my local BMW dealer tomorrow. It will be interesting, especially the ride and handling. Past BMWs I've owned dissapointed on ride and road noise, handling and steering were never an issue.

Let us know how it goes. The looks dare I say it are growing on me

 

[Zilla91]

Could you go out and look at the i4's front grill every morning?

I've got a test drive booked at my local BMW dealer tomorrow. It will be interesting, especially the ride and handling. Past BMWs I've owned dissapointed on ride and road noise, handling and steering were never an issue.

I think the i4 looks pretty good, even with that grill.

The real thing that lets it down is the weight, it’s a proper porker - weighs as much as an X5 which is absolutely criminal.

 

[Scarletfever]

I've registered with my local BMW dealer to test drive an i4 M50.
I'm expecting a filling rattling ride.
I'll let everyone know what I think.

I've had 2 modern BMWs, 320 Touring M Sport X Drive and a M140i. Both had a ride not dis-similar to the AMG C63. All went within 2 years, I couldn't take the ride and the tyre noise.

The Morgan, on 19" wheels and 35 profile tyres has a far,far better ride.
But not round the dreaded green hell... 8 min 39.

The AMG C63 is 7 min 44.
The Tesla Model 3 Performance is similar.

Go figure.

If you compare the M3 and the i4, each car wins in a lot of categories. But a ‘rattling ride’ the i4 is not; in terms of suspension, handling, and road noise the i4 wins hands down.

 

[The_Cable_Guy]

the i4 was actually a better car for me in practical terms, i.e useable boot, interior is nicer, steering is better, but and its a big but, by the time you factor in options is a 60k easy.

Its a really heavy car too which you notice as soon as you come to a roundabout at any sort of speed, its fast and brakes very well dont get me wrong, and personally i would have had either a tesla or an i4, but the tesla won for costs vs reward.

If money no object i would have personally had the i4 purely for the fact there no where near as common and you can spec it very individually.

 

[Jason71]

the i4 was actually a better car for me in practical terms, i.e useable boot, interior is nicer, steering is better, but and its a big but, by the time you factor in options is a 60k easy.

Its a really heavy car too which you notice as soon as you come to a roundabout at any sort of speed, its fast and brakes very well dont get me wrong, and personally i would have had either a tesla or an i4, but the tesla won for costs vs reward.

If money no object i would have personally had the i4 purely for the fact there no where near as common and you can spec it very individually.

This may not be key for you but there is still the rapid charging elephant in the room of course and money doesn't solve that
I don't even DC charge that often it that often,, 4 times this year, but its still a factor for me.
But who knows if car sales continue to outpace charger installations and Tesla open up some or all of the SuC then maybe by the time I am looking to change again we will all be equally badly off charger wise and I can consider something else.

 

[The_Cable_Guy]

It wasnt a consideration for me, i do less that 8k miles a year, and it mainly consists of a 10 miles work trip twice a day with chargers at my office.

I will probably only supercharge a few times a year.

 

[spdpsba]

It wasnt a consideration for me, i do less that 8k miles a year, and it mainly consists of a 10 miles work trip twice a day with chargers at my office.

I will probably only supercharge a few times a year.

And still those few times a year you are better off with a Tesla than a BMW or Audi - but that is my personal view!

 

[Adopado]

I will probably only supercharge a few times a year.

We only know 2 other people with non Tesla EVs ... either of them can keep going all evening regaling you with stories of their charging "nightmares" when on longer trips. The most relaxed long trips I've ever done have been in the Tesla!

 

[Zilla91]

It won’t be long until the superchargers are open to everyone so this argument becomes irrelevant

 

[spdpsba]

It won’t be long until the superchargers are open to everyone so this argument becomes irrelevant

They may well be! But Elon isn’t dumb enough to destroy his own success story. He is the richest man on this planet because of Tesla not because of previous businesses or Spacex and Twitter. He will make other car makers pay in whatever way and he will never forget the amount of ridicule he got from traditional car makers when Tesla was struggling.

I think other brands will subsidise Tesla charging and this can be done in various ways - I am sure we will find out when this happens. So don’t bet on buying your favourite German car and quickly charge before a Tesla - that will never happen.

 

[Adopado]

It won’t be long until the superchargers are open to everyone so this argument becomes irrelevant

Yes I agree, eventually, but I think it may be relevant for a while yet. We are not like the Netherlands in our rapid charger mix and Tesla is likely to take a modified approach IMO. The availability and pricing may well mean that it's not quite a "free for all"... so a degree of protection for Tesla vehicles perhaps.

 

[Jason71]

It won’t be long until the superchargers are open to everyone so this argument becomes irrelevant

That was kind of the point I started from. Soon we can all be equally miserable.
As Buddy Pine said "When everyone's super, no one will be"

 

[The_Cable_Guy]

That was kind of the point I started from. Soon we can all be equally miserable.
As Buddy Pine said "When everyone's super, no one will be"

exactly, i think once and if its opened to everyone image the queues.

i dont think the experience of waiting an extra 20-30 mins for non supercharging is going to effect my view on tesla preference or not.

i bought the tesla purly because it was a free car, its by no means better than my current car other than its free, so it was a massive incentive to switch.

its not faster, its not comfier, its not got more toys, the interior isnt better. It was just a finanical choice to save my self hundreds of pounds a month.

 

[spdpsba]

its not faster, its not comfier, its not got more toys, the interior isnt better. It was just a finanical choice to save my self hundreds of pounds a month.

There may be other cars that are comfier with much better interiors. But there are very few cars that are faster than a M3P or having more toys that can be updated every 2 weeks and then get on to a forum and say how good/bad that it made the car and create your own debate - Not many!

I think the forum is full of people with different reasons why they bought a Tesla compared to X or Y. May be you are the first one to get it because it was ‘free’. Again that changes your views - I got an Android tablet free (that’s the max free I can get) and I never use it - or use it for basic jobs. Unfortunately it is pretty poor android tablet. But if I had got a Samsung ones or the iPad pros my usage stats may be different. My guess is you have got an iPad Pro in your hands and you are using it to do some word documents just because you got the word app for free. iPad Pro isn’t going to do a stellar job with word documents just like Tesla isn’t going to be more comfy or better interior wise or shall I say good with auto wipers and headlights (for our perennial complainers ) than say a Porsche panamera or an Audi A5!

 

[WannabeOwner]

i think once and if its opened to everyone image the queues

I think Tesla will become the charger-brand of choice ...

Ionity has 17 sites (total) in the UK with 66 chargers - so average of 4 stalls per site.

Tesla opened 19 locations last year (average 8.5 stalls) and so 9 sites far this this year (average 12 stalls) so that could become 25+ sites by year end ...

Dunno about cable-length and non-Tesla cars parking in wrong bay / across 2 bays etc. That will be an annoyance, as will any slow-charging other-brands ...

 

[qwickshot]

It’s really not a difficult problem to solve, they just need to space out the tombstones more and put them between two spaces.

That way with each tombstone serving a space on either side, it can be accessed from all 4 corners of a car without blocking any other charger.

Not every space needs a charger and it’s very rare to see an MSA with the car park more than 75% full.

 

[pault1981]

If they make it so non-Tesla cars subside free SuC for Tesla drivers then I might be up for it (if only)