[xenon]

Having had the F31 for a week I thought I'd gives my thoughts, good and bad, and how it compares to the previous F10s.

Good bits.

The Sports Auto really is an amazing bit of kit; the changes are so quick and barely perceptible and you can make very rapid progress indeed, it really shifts.
I like the look too, the privacy glass works well with white as does the red leather IMO although I'd get why some wouldn't like it and the steering wheel is nicer.
I'll never get bored of the electric tailgate operation and the whole boot area is welll thought out and whilst not huge is very flexible. Love the built-in dog guard that works with the seats up or down and also the retractable load cover which stores neatly away under the floor when not in use.
Nice to have a rear wiper on days like this for the first time in about 25 years.
Sports Seats have the inflatable bolsters back in the mix; the F10 didn't although the F10 were part-electric.

Best bit for me is the variable light distribution in the active lights (I think CC has these on his too). On the F10 the adaptive lights were very good and the High Beam Assistant works well. This system takes it a step further though and you've perhaps seen the YouTube demos. Driving last night when it was slightly misty you can see the beam patterns well defined. As a car comes towards you, you can see the left hand beam move down and to the left and the drivers-side beam just flatten out. As the car goes past the beams refocus like a WWII searchlight. Approaching a car to overtake the beams drop flat as you approach but as you go past the drivers side moves up first followed by the passenger side after the overtake is completed. It's hugely impressive and I love it. Seems weird having cars coming towards you and seeing the main-beam blue light lit but I wasn't flashed at all.

Hmm bits.

Touch Sensitve iDrive controller (that you can "write on" with your finger) works well but not a lot of point with a Roman alphabet; good for Asian and Cyrillic characters I suspect.
Sports Display (where it shows you the power and torque currently being produced). What possible use?
People have said to me in the past that the fit and finish of the F10 will be much better but I think that's auto-suggestion - as far as I can see the materials are the same. One thing the F10 had though was a beautifully damped action on opening any compartment; first time I opened the F31 glovebox I thought it was going to fall on the floor.
The N47 engine is the same as I had in the F10 and despite its impressive output it's an agricultural-sounding thing. In the F10 this was largely unnoticeable unless you were outside, but the F31 is undeniably less well-insulated inside, perhaps just because the engine is inevitably closer to you. I wouldn't call it intrusive but you can hear it.
You can change the colour of the interior illumination but why would you want to?
The tyre-pressure monitoring system has replaced the ABS system with individual sensors in each wheel. Whilst that means you can actually see the pressure of each tyre it means I cannot fit my winter wheels without warnings and bongs unless I fit sensing valves to the winter wheels at about £60 a corner.


Bad bits.

The F10 has the electric shutters in front of the radiators so on cold mornings like this the car is pretty much up to temperature in just a few miles. The F31 does not and the oil temperature is only about 80C when I get to the office.
Bum warmers not standard

Worst bit for me is incandescent bulbs. In the F10 everything was LED but in this the driving lights and rear light bars are LED but the indicators, brake lights etc are old-fashioned bulbs which look sh*t. I suspect it's marketing; both the e46 and e9x evolved to LEDs post-LCI and I suspect this will be the same but it's a big retro-grade step in this day and age.

[magic77]

Great looking car it is a big step up from E90 in terms of how it drives and feels.

Have to say I have disabled the writing on top of the controller as just annoys me as well it might work well if you are in LHD car and are right handed but I cant just get use to it writing with my left hand.

With the tyre pressure system you can have this coded out, sometjhing I will do when fitting winters.

Also you mention the slats on the rad for some reason M-sport models dont get them same was case on E90. I had a 320D LCI E90 and it did not have slats , other E90 320D SE LCI etc did. Something to hellp cooling as its a "performance" model. No idea very odd.

The lack of LED indicators are annoying but then they had a lot of issues with them from what I heard it could be why and also to create a distinct gap between cars with halogen , xenon and full LED headlights as they do get LED indicators.

[xenon]

Full LED headlights aren't available of the F3x??

[magic77]

That was one of the annoying bits when I speced mine as really wanted them. I suspect another ploy to make the 4 more upmarket. Either that or they will drop them in on LCI

End of the day a quick order from eurocarparts and the car now has silver front indicators so looks fine and to be honest in grand scheme of things not something that worries to me. The LED rings and brow on headlights make up for it as these look great at night

[xenon]

Yes I wanted them too but now I've driven the latest generation of adaptive xenon I'm happy with them.

[andrew 330i]

I have the same color combo as well and love it! Enjoy!

[xenon]

Thanks Andrew, I will.