Post by Big Blue on Sept 22, 2021 8:28:53 GMT
Well here are the only photos you’re likely to see of the car being this clean. It was coated in Protect X but that just gives me an excuse to clean it less, surely? OK - I promise to clean it more often than usual in the first year.
Firstly, the best reason to get up early to go to the gym: free 32A charging.
Whilst there I took the opportunity to take some exterior snaps in a setting that is nicer than a suburban driveway.
So before we look inside, what is it like? Well it’s a 5 series and does all the things a 5 series does really well. It’s really comfortable and very quiet inside - much more so than the Gorilla. It does gather speed pretty swiftly and the silence means that you have to be wary in average speed areas, which brings me to the oddest thing that I never spotted at spec time: the absence of voodoo cruise. It’s only part of the tech plus pack and I omitted that because I didn’t want the autonomous driving shite and everything else I wanted was in the standard tech pack. I think I’ll survive given how much I got annoyed with the Gorilla slamming it’s brakes on when cornering on the motorway and it saw a slower vehicle in a different lane as being in front of me.
Other than that it has all the things I wanted and the only items deleted due to the chip fiasco are wireless phone charging and enhanced Bluetooth (which allows lots of phones to connect at the same time), which with three females in the car constantly on WhatsApp which pings to the iDrive is probably a good thing. The salesman (who was brilliant throughout I may add) said a lot of customers are having the Harmon Kardon deleted at the moment.
As to fuel economy, the drive back from Eastleigh was 34.4 mpg which started with no charge and I did some charging on the way through the engine modes. Having fully charged it last night the average has gone up to 39 after that trip to the gym this morning. Two things of note: I am consciously driving more sedately as there seems no point hooning a hybrid and the chances of it making 35miles of battery-only driving in the traffic round our way is absolutely nil.
So inside, it looks and feels special. Like or loathe wood inserts, I like them.
I also like that the image of the car on the iDrive is the colour of the car (ish) although it shows 20” wheels.
And the cabin has at least as much space as the Gorilla. The leather colour is also the best choice. Not so light it gets instantly filthy, not so dour it feels like a funeral parlour and not a shade to be confused with the contents of a particularly soiled nappy.
The same cannot be said about boot space but whilst it’s lacking compared to a non PHEV 5er, it’s not exactly desperately tiny. Given that we use the full space about three times a year it’s not an issue. The OGIO skid luggage will have to go in backwards, however, as the skid base is too big to go under the luggage cover.
Lastly then, the wheels. So so so glad they updated the spec to allow the 19” 845M ones. They look really nice without making the car ride like a cart. Blue brakes kind of match the blue detailing of the BMW e badges, which have a blue surround, but when I specced it the red callipers were extra. They’re not anymore….. Really happy after one day, but who wouldn’t be happy with a brand new car on the first day? Let’s see what next September’s one year review looks like.
Firstly, the best reason to get up early to go to the gym: free 32A charging.
Whilst there I took the opportunity to take some exterior snaps in a setting that is nicer than a suburban driveway.
So before we look inside, what is it like? Well it’s a 5 series and does all the things a 5 series does really well. It’s really comfortable and very quiet inside - much more so than the Gorilla. It does gather speed pretty swiftly and the silence means that you have to be wary in average speed areas, which brings me to the oddest thing that I never spotted at spec time: the absence of voodoo cruise. It’s only part of the tech plus pack and I omitted that because I didn’t want the autonomous driving shite and everything else I wanted was in the standard tech pack. I think I’ll survive given how much I got annoyed with the Gorilla slamming it’s brakes on when cornering on the motorway and it saw a slower vehicle in a different lane as being in front of me.
Other than that it has all the things I wanted and the only items deleted due to the chip fiasco are wireless phone charging and enhanced Bluetooth (which allows lots of phones to connect at the same time), which with three females in the car constantly on WhatsApp which pings to the iDrive is probably a good thing. The salesman (who was brilliant throughout I may add) said a lot of customers are having the Harmon Kardon deleted at the moment.
As to fuel economy, the drive back from Eastleigh was 34.4 mpg which started with no charge and I did some charging on the way through the engine modes. Having fully charged it last night the average has gone up to 39 after that trip to the gym this morning. Two things of note: I am consciously driving more sedately as there seems no point hooning a hybrid and the chances of it making 35miles of battery-only driving in the traffic round our way is absolutely nil.
So inside, it looks and feels special. Like or loathe wood inserts, I like them.
I also like that the image of the car on the iDrive is the colour of the car (ish) although it shows 20” wheels.
And the cabin has at least as much space as the Gorilla. The leather colour is also the best choice. Not so light it gets instantly filthy, not so dour it feels like a funeral parlour and not a shade to be confused with the contents of a particularly soiled nappy.
The same cannot be said about boot space but whilst it’s lacking compared to a non PHEV 5er, it’s not exactly desperately tiny. Given that we use the full space about three times a year it’s not an issue. The OGIO skid luggage will have to go in backwards, however, as the skid base is too big to go under the luggage cover.
Lastly then, the wheels. So so so glad they updated the spec to allow the 19” 845M ones. They look really nice without making the car ride like a cart. Blue brakes kind of match the blue detailing of the BMW e badges, which have a blue surround, but when I specced it the red callipers were extra. They’re not anymore….. Really happy after one day, but who wouldn’t be happy with a brand new car on the first day? Let’s see what next September’s one year review looks like.
