First ED thoughts and newbie questions

[hinckley]

I’m nearing the end of my sixth ED (the third to pick-up my own car) and I thought I share some quick, initial thoughts . . . but first a couple of newbie questions . . .

• Is there a way to have the system default to Surround View when you shift into reverse? My car is defaulting to the Rear View Camera no matter how many times I turn it off in the iDrive menu.
• The Blind Spot Monitor seems to never light on the passenger side, and goes on and off very quickly on the driver’s side. I have the dash button turned on, but is there an iDrive setting that I’ve missed?

On to the car and the trip . . . first, I absolutely LOVE the M4. I’d have to reach very far to find anything to dislike. I’ve been driving BMWs since the 1980s but had strayed from the brand over the last few years. It’s great to be back home! I’ve found all the right settings for my tastes and the car fits like an old glove. Fantastic.

As I said, this is my sixth ED and on the other five, I did all the southern routes and mountain passes. This time, we headed north instead. We landed in Munich five days ago, went straight to the Welt and drove off. So far, I’ve had nights in Český Krumlov (Czech), Prague, Berlin and Copenhagen. I took a detour to Wroclaw (Poland) for lunch and a day-trip to Malmo in Sweden. Drive baby, drive.

A few notes from the trip so far . . .

• At the Welt, they had a problem activating the USB Nav maps and had to take the car to the service area to fix the problem. About five miles after leaving, the Nav system stopped working and we used Google Maps to make our way back. The guys at the Welt worked quickly and changed the stick and we were off again. But the Nav stopped working again a couple days later (we were in Prague by then). We re-seeded the USB stick, the maps loaded and it’s been ok since then.
• Sakhir Orange gets a lot of attention in Europe. A lot of people stopping, staring and pointing. I’m not really sure what they’re saying of course!
• I’ve gone through more passport checks than I ever remember driving in Europe (and I started coming here for work in the early-1980s). To our European members – is this a result of the migrant crisis (all the stops were at bridge or ferry crossings)?
• A crazy Swede in a gangsta'd out M6 vert was all excited to see another M car. He kept pulling up next to me and giving me a thumbs up. Finally, he wanted to race across the Oresund Bridge (https://www.oresundsbron.com/en/start). It was raining and wind was easily blowing at 40-50 mph. It was a bit unnerving but I did stay next to him up to about 120 mph before I backed off. The car was very unstable in the cross-winds and I was sure there were speed cameras everywhere on the bridge.
• Copenhagen is NOT a car friendly city!
• I know there’s a bunch of us in Europe this week, and those in northern Europe know the weather has sucked. It’s been cold, overcast and damp every day. The rain has varied from mist to torrential downpours and the wipers have rarely been off. Bummer.

Here’s just a couple of pics . . . a clean car at pick-up at the Welt, and a very dirty car this afternoon in Copenhagen as the skies tried to dry out.

[Thescout13]

Nice! Our Yas Marina is breaking necks all throughout Europe. We have had multiple people stares when driving by, or when seeing us drive by, or point and tell a friend to look. It is crazy. We did not expect to get so much attention.

[Aaaaaaaaa]

Surprising it gets so much attention since the F8X has been out for around 4 years already.

[hinckley]

Originally Posted by pheerlx

Surprising it gets so much attention since the F8X has been out for around 4 years already.

I think it's the color, not the car. The guy who handled my delivery at the Welt remarked that Europeans don't buy colors like Sakhir and on the roads, you see an occasional red car, but everything else is black or grey.

[kechang]

mine is white and I saw a total of probably 3 M my whole week at Germany so I did get a lot of attentions, 2 kids on the freeway kept giving me thumbs up

and pretty much at every hotel we've stayed at, the hotel porters would come and check out the car and compliment it, I was parked next to ferrari, bently and maybach in the Munich hotel too, he probably said nice car 5x

[Jim B]

I will have had mine 3 years next month and I STILL get a lot of complements and thumbs up on it. It's got the be the Sakhir Orange. This shot was taken On Christmas day, 2014 after I took delivery a month earlier. I especially love the full leather SO/black interior with it. The car definitely looks better with the body color steel roof with the moon roof. I'm NOT planning to sell or trade it in anytime soon.

[KevinM]

Congratulations and look forward to hearing more about your trip!

[firedown31]

Originally Posted by hinckley

• Is there a way to have the system default to Surround View when you shift into reverse? My car is defaulting to the Rear View Camera no matter how many times I turn it off in the iDrive menu.
• The Blind Spot Monitor seems to never light on the passenger side, and goes on and off very quickly on the driver’s side. I have the dash button turned on, but is there an iDrive setting that I’ve missed?

My 2016 always defaults to top down when I put it in reverse. Not sure if it's because of something I coded or if it remembers the last setting. I'd have to check later. I tried googling for an answer and found this http://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...php?p=20286265 it seems different people just default to different modes

On blind spot, I know it only activates between a certain speed. Something like 30mph-80mph. Are you experiencing it light up to alert you that a car is there, then while maintaining the same position and speed with that car it'll shut off?

[hinckley]

Originally Posted by firedown31

My 2016 always defaults to top down when I put it in reverse. Not sure if it's because of something I coded or if it remembers the last setting. I'd have to check later. I tried googling for an answer and found this http://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...php?p=20286265 it seems different people just default to different modes

Thanks firedown. That's a pretty muddled thread! I dropped off my car yesterday and now will wait until it's re-delivered Stateside to figure this out. I'll pre-ping my delivery Genius to do some research!

[hinckley]

Originally Posted by Jim B

I will have had mine 3 years next month and I STILL get a lot of complements and thumbs up on it. It's got the be the Sakhir Orange. This shot was taken On Christmas day, 2014 after I took delivery a month earlier. I especially love the full leather SO/black interior with it. The car definitely looks better with the body color steel roof with the moon roof. I'm NOT planning to sell or trade it in anytime soon.

Beautiful car Jim. This is actually my second SO car (My F10 M5 was also Sakhir). This time I kept flipping between it and Silverstone, changing my order back and forth. By the time I had settled on Silverstone, it was too late - the order had frozen. But now that I have the color again, I couldn't be happier with what I ended up with. Driving thru Europe seeing endless black, grey and silver cars makes me so happy I've got something different.

I know that the sunroof is not popular here. But I want the air flow and sunlight of the open roof. I see the carbon fiber option as a minimal-utility aesthetic choice (maybe unless you track your car and the small weight difference is important ). But that's why they give us choices!!

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by Thescout13

Nice! Our Yas Marina is breaking necks all throughout Europe. We have had multiple people stares when driving by, or when seeing us drive by, or point and tell a friend to look. It is crazy. We did not expect to get so much attention.

Well ... depending on country the attention is more, "what the fuck is broken in them?? their lives must be so horrible ..."

I used to do a lot of business with europeans and the best way to sum up what they told me is their attention is sympathy for your damaged soul.

Originally Posted by hinckley

I see the carbon fiber option as a minimal-utility aesthetic choice (maybe unless you track your car and the small weight difference is important ). But that's why they give us choices!!

Well it's also where the weight is - if you take a hard corner and have weight up high it's momentum attempts to flip the car. This causes a traction loss and makes the car feel "tippy" around corners, i.e., the car doesn't corner flat and feels mre like an SUV.

How much the CF roof vs a sun roof helps ... who knows.

Personally, for sport driving, I just stow the entire roof in the trunk ... cause it's all about the bass.

[firedown31]

Originally Posted by hinckley

Thanks firedown. That's a pretty muddled thread! I dropped off my car yesterday and now will wait until it's re-delivered Stateside to figure this out. I'll pre-ping my delivery Genius to do some research!

I tried it out in my car, whatever the last setting was, top down/rear view, is remembered the next time I start my car and is the default.

[kechang]

anyone with a slightly blurry HUD?

[hinckley]

Originally Posted by kechang

anyone with a slightly blurry HUD?

Mine was ok.