First thought is that it'll still be illegal until they add the front plate in CA.
You can do digital in the rear, but afaik you still have to mount a normal plate in the front.
Unlikely to be an issue. I've never run a front plate on my cars, 5 years in WA, 16 years in CA. Every so often someone comes out of the woodwork and says "it's getting worse" but that's never been my experience. First it was because of the laser guns in WA, then because of laser guns in CA, now the latest is due to the proliferation of ANPR.. the fact of the matter is there simply aren't that many police around here and they have better things to do. I hear of people occasionally getting tickets from a meter maid in SF, but those stories are not new, I've still never had an issue.
I've personally never liked the all blacked out car look, to me it looks like something a kid would do or a cop. I am a fan though of the door handles being the same color. I'm getting mine wrapped in blue.
Agreed. I'm considering wrapping the brightwork on the window trim on our red 3 but I don't mind the door handles as much. I've just never been a fan of chrome, on anything. Still need to tint the windows first though, maybe 40%.
I would have gone with lighter wheels. Those form cast boat anchor 20's (~34 lbs) are heavy...it would look better with their
20 Forged wheels which only weight (~21.45)... no way in the world I would ever get that pricey digital license plate either.... the murdered out look used to look cool until everyone started doing it... now its just MEH..
34lbs????? Holy schnikes! The fugly 19" boat anchors that came on my Golf were 'only' 25lbs and I got some much better looking 18s at 19lbs each for only $280 apiece. I can't fathom what would lead someone to want to destroy their performance and ride quality with such heavy wheels, in addition to the obvious ride quality hit you get from the extra low profile tires.
As for the minivan, reminds me of when my grandma got a black leather jacket...
Looks-wise, to each their own. I agree the 3 looks a bit narrow from front and rear and the lowering does help; from the rear, particularly, the car looks narrow because it looks virtually identical to the much-wider S, so it really stands out. If the S never existed, I'm not sure I'd feel the same way from the rear. From the front, i think it looks narrow because the hood is so low, you get SO much windshield glass, it looks a bit like a bubble car. I love it from inside, amazing view of the road, it just throws the proportions off a little bit, visually.
I'm not a sedan fan, but this is the first car I've bought that I'd put in the "appliance category", so I just don't care that much; it doesn't need to look perfect because it's already not my choice in form factor, and there are so many others on the road anyway. Though I guess I can see how that would make some people want to stand out more. I guess in the past my cars have already stood out from being relatively uncommon on the road. Not to say I wasn't really excited about getting the 3, but it's more about what it represents than what it looks like or how it handles.