Took delivery last night!

[BlackjackMulligan]

***disclaimer*** No pics yet because I asked them not to prep it. Gimme a week or so

Quick initial impressions:

• Still says "Year One of the One" on the starter button bezel.
• Damn, it's quick. Twitch your foot in 6th gear and you're doing 80 MPH.
• Quick 2nd to 3rd shift took some practice, it seemed to keep getting hung up on the gate between 3rd and 5th. Weird, because I've driven manuals for years and never had an issue. I think it's because my Porsche gearbox was Heaven on earth and this one is, while very nice, not quite as precise. Anyone else experience this?
• It's very dark in the cockpit at night (in the vert). My other cars have pretty bright ambient lighting and white backgrounds on the buttons/IP. This has the ambient lighting in the maplight area, but without the Premium Package, that's it.
• I love the Sport seats and the driving position. Seems like everything is where it should be, right where your hand falls.
• The "base" radio is quite good IMHO. Will it win any competitions? No. But it's quite good for everyday use.
• I'm getting the hang of iDrive. It's not nearly as good as the touch screen system in my Caddy. For instance, you can only record entire CDs at one time, not individual songs. You would then have to go back and delete the songs that you don't want. In the Caddy, I can pick and choose what songs I record from a particular CD. Its a nice system, don't get me wrong, but it's not the most intuitive system out there. I can't IMAGINE what the pre 09 iDrive was like. Sorry to compare to another vehicle, I kinda hate it when others do that haha, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.
• It's smaller in person than you'd think in pics. It actually reminds me A LOT of the old E30 convertible, hardly a bad thing. Moreso than the 2002.
• With no wax on it, there are clear swirls in the Jet Black paint. No worry though, I rubbed a little Menzerna in a small area and they came out with little effort. Can't wait to do the whole car!
• The dash looks a little weird on the passenger side when looking from the driver's seat. It looks like it just "ends" after the glovebox where it juts out even though it actually continues to the door.
• The Coral Red leather is GORGEOUS. Anyone who is considering it really needs to take a look at it in person. No regrets about that at all.

I will update this as we go along, but that's just for one night and about 40 miles

Overall, so far I love it!

[AchtungF80]

Congrats!!! Can't wait to see the outcome of your prep work.

[FOXYCaymanS]

Originally Posted by BlackjackMulligan

Overall, so far I love it!

Congrats! I love how dark it is inside my 135, lol. My 3 series had too much light at night! Can't wait to see the pics, glad you're loving it already and yes they are feisty fast cars!

[creepy coupe]

Yes the interior is dark and I find the nav screen can burn your retinas out at night

[m_thompson]

Originally Posted by BlackjackMulligan

The Coral Red leather is GORGEOUS. Anyone who is considering it really needs to take a look at it in person. No regrets about that at all.

I have a Jet Black with Coral Red 128i coupe on order.

[AlienDNA]

Originally Posted by BlackjackMulligan

[*]Quick 2nd to 3rd shift took some practice, it seemed to keep getting hung up on the gate between 3rd and 5th. Weird, because I've driven manuals for years and never had an issue. I think it's because my Porsche gearbox was Heaven on earth and this one is, while very nice, not quite as precise. Anyone else experience this?

Congratulations on the new arrival!

While I don't have the same specific shifter 'problem' as you, probably due to different height and seating position more than anything else, I agree that the 135 is not nearly on the same level as a Miata or S2000 (or Porsche, in your case), but it's still light years ahead of many shifters out there.

As for the Coral Red, well, I liked it but, more tellingly, my wife normally hates red and she thought the Coral Red was beautiful. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who thinks red leather looks silly in a blue car. Not that I had any choice - in Canada, you can only get LMB with black.

[singular]

Congratulations! I'm envious...mine's somewhere on the Atlantic by now, still three weeks from Oxnard.

[warmtoes]

Yep, the vert is particularly dark inside but you get used to it. Plus, when it's nice out and the top is down it's very bright!

The subtle LED projectors from the map lights that project on the cup holders are a nice touch though.

Coral Red is an awesome colour especially with black, white and silver.

The radio, even the premium one, is fine but when you crank it you'll find the limitations. Still, for the most part it is acceptable in most situations.

Your going to love the car.

[Chewyjr15]

great write up, to fix your imprecise shifter i would go with the bmw performance shifter, i already ordered one to fix this problem. Reading your write is just making me want my 1 even more. Damn you!!!! Enjoy it and it should bring you great happiness.

[M3_Dust]

congrats, if you think it's fast now, just wait until you are through break-in and can really experience the car, I recommend a wide open highway outside of the city.

a few thoughts for you: I have not had any issues at all with shifting the gears on this car, you do have to be precise and perhaps you will get it with a little seat time.
I have the standard audio as well and I think it is very adequate, if you have the USB adapter, try playing some of your MP3's from a USB thumb drive, at this point the standard audio system actually becomes impressive.
That jet black paint is very difficult to care for, all you can do is try your best to keep up with it, it does look amazing when clean and was originally my first choice, I still wish I had gotten it at times.

[KathyFG]

Congrats man- sounds great- can't wait to get mine (a few weeks to go). Enjoy it. Can't wait to see some pics. PS- hope the shifting is not too notchy- I have an Acura RSX Type S and it is precise shifting- hope the Bimmer isn't too far off.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Couple more points from "playing" tonight in the garage:

• I threw some music from my computer onto a memory stick and downloaded it to the car. About 100 songs took like 3 minutes. The port is in the glove compartment. Now I can "search" for music with iDrive and find my songs by artist, title, genre, etc. Very cool. Also the quality of the downloaded music sounds great over the base system.
  
• I gotta figure out how to disable the headlight washers. I'm sure that there's a writeup on here somewhere, I just gotta STFA.
  
• Quick tip for vert owners: An easy way to clean the inside of the rear window is to begin putting the top down. When the back of the roof flips up to allow the clam shell tonnau cover to open, let go of the button......voila! The inside glass is raised for your cleaning pleasure, you can now access it from the outside. Maybe very obvious but perhaps helpful to some.

Here's a pic of how iDrive displays downloaded music:

[singular]

Originally Posted by BlackjackMulligan

• Quick tip for vert owners: An easy way to clean the inside of the rear window is to begin putting the top down. When the back of the roof flips up to allow the clam shell tonnau cover to open, let go of the button......voila! The inside glass is raised for your cleaning pleasure, you can now access it from the outside. Maybe very obvious but perhaps helpful to some.

Good idea on cleaning the rear window - I guess that's another advantage to a 'vert!

We're all anxiously awaiting your pics!

[Mega Man]

I'm glad someone finally said this. I thought it was just me for a while. I don't have a vert, but I do have a black interior with black trim.

Originally Posted by BlackjackMulligan

...It's very dark in the cockpit at night...

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

Yes the interior is dark...

Originally Posted by FOXYone

I love how dark it is inside my 135...

It's kinda scary...

[BimmerLearner]

I found the headlight jets dont come on if you have the headlihts off when you wash the windshield.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Originally Posted by BimmerLearner

I found the headlight jets dont come on if you have the headlihts off when you wash the windshield.

True, but at night it would be very dangerous to turn your headlights off to wash the windshield.....I'm going to try and find a better solution.

[jotapeh]

Originally Posted by Mega Man

I'm glad someone finally said this. I thought it was just me for a while. I don't have a vert, but I do have a black interior with black trim.

It's kinda scary...

I never really noticed how intensely dark it is inside. Mostly because of those little orange 'mood light' things everywhere. I also open the slide door for the sunroof sometimes so the stars or city lights can shine in from above

[BlackjackMulligan]

Here she is:

[tbird]

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blackjack, you said "With no wax on it, there are clear swirls in the Jet Black paint. No worry though, I rubbed a little Menzerna in a small area and they came out with little effort. Can't wait to do the whole car!"

DO NOT ACCEPT THAT! I'm sorry I didn't read this post earlier, and you might be already screwed. But if there is a chance that you can reject the car, DO SO!

Those swirls in the paint, affectionately known as "swirlies" are NOT from the factory. The dealerships have their guys go and wax the cars, and they use Turtle Wax or something to those lines, and they use the orbital buffers, and that is what causes the swirlies.

My mother actually rejected a car due to that. She bought the car, but brought it back for a problem a few days later. When they washed it, they buffed in the swirlies. When she complained, they tried to get out of it, but thankfully she was smart enough to make sure they noted it on the repair form before she left. She drove it home and parked it and told them that it was "Lawyer Time" if they didn't do something about it. It took some work, but eventually, they painted the car for free.

DO NOT EVER ACCEPT THE SWIRLIES! The dealer screwed up, go kick their "arses"!!

[BlackjackMulligan]

Originally Posted by tbird

DO NOT ACCEPT THAT! I'm sorry I didn't read this post earlier, and you might be already screwed. But if there is a chance that you can reject the car, DO SO!

Those swirls in the paint, affectionately known as "swirlies" are NOT from the factory. The dealerships have their guys go and wax the cars, and they use Turtle Wax or something to those lines, and they use the orbital buffers, and that is what causes the swirlies.



DO NOT EVER ACCEPT THE SWIRLIES! The dealer screwed up, go kick their "arses"!!

I appreciate your concern

But it's all good. They didn't buff swirles into the paint. They washed it, and with no wax the swirls are very apparent. I told them not to wax it because I didn't want to have to strip their wax off to apply mine. I would suggest that most cars are swirled at the dealer but that the swirls are hidden with wax.

When I'm done with her, I'll post pics, and you'll see all is well

[tbird]

I have done the same with my last four cars. I specifically instruct them to not wax the car. My Audi's, I bought them in NH, and I would have them give me a service bay and I would wax the car before it even left the dealership, since New England roads are so brutal to cars. Down here with my BMW's, I can drive it home, but I don't drive it again till I wax it.

NONE of my four cars had the slightest swirl in the paint. If you had no wax, and you had swirls, that tells me that they either already waxed it and just simply told you they didn't (dealerships lie? how about that, that never happens....LOL), or that the actual factory paint job had flaws.

If there are swirls, then there is a problem. However, as you say, if you are ok, then it is your car and that is that. Big rule in life: you need to be happy with your car. If you are, then more power to you.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Originally Posted by tbird

If there are swirls, then there is a problem. However, as you say, if you are ok, then it is your car and that is that. Big rule in life: you need to be happy with your car. If you are, then more power to you.

True, it can be a problem if they're deep, or if you don't know how to deal with them. They are very faint, and again, with very mild Menzerna polish, they will easily come out. I will then seal with Z2 and it will be a mirror!

My issue is that dealers typically don't polish the car upon deliver, they simply wax it. Wax hides swirls, it doesn't remove them. And the car must be washed before it's waxed, so you're pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place.