So after much moaning about long wait for delivery, we eventually got our new tourer at the weekend! Collected in Perth and now arrived back home in Herts, so got half the running in period over with now.
The car is Estoril Blue with Black dakota leather- not very original, but it's a nice colour and the black was chosen for practical reasons!
Spec as follows:
MSport plus pack
Interior comfort pack
Prof Media plus Enhanced Bluetooth
Visibility pack
Head up display
Panoramic sunroof
Towbar
Folding mirrors
Sliding armrest
Electric memory seats, with lumbar control and heating
Active cruise control with Stop and go
Adaptive M sport suspension
Variable sport steering
Reversing camera
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So a few toys to get to know. Plenty of reports on these to come...
I bought a set of 18" wheels with Pirelli winter tyres and have had them installed from delivery - a couple of pics showing both. I will try to wash the car tomorrow and get some better ones, though most folk have seen plenty EBII cars by now!
Venture shield is getting installed on Thursday and then next week it will get a full new car detail done.
First comments though...
Not being overly slow during running in period, just waiting till engine is plenty warm, and once it is then boy is the car fast!!! Quite different to previous diesels, in that it seems very linear and not "boosty" at all. It actually makes it seem deceptively fast though. Compared to an E90 and our Z4 the ride comfort is exceptional. The handling in comfort is fine for everyday driving and the gearbox is responsive enough, really haven't felt the need to resort to using the paddles. When going for it though, and in Sport mode the handling is neat and tidy, body control is good, and the car is always in just the right gear. My first proper drive was on Scottish A-roads, in the dark, at about 2 degrees.... quite frankly I found the ground covering ability quite astonishing!
The car is just so sure-footed and the traction coming out of corners is laugh out loud funny! I think though, the body control and drive train refinement at speed have you driving everywhere at 20mph more than you think! No doubt this was perfect conditions for xdrive to offer a clear advantage, but I was pleased that the handling still felt like a rear driver!
Having said all that, what I do feel so far is that it doesn't feel so much like a "sports car" (clearly it isn't), and I'd still much rather use the Z4 for a drive just for fun, even if it is slower! Not sure quite why, possibly the lighter steering, possibly the linearity of the thrust makes for less drama... perhaps the diesel just doesn't have the noise or throttle response... or perhaps it's an estate weighing 1700kgs. No doubt it's a bit of all of that. That's fine for me, and I've no doubt it will be the car we need it to be. Fast, practical, comfortable, (reasonably) economical, long distance family car, which is good to drive.
The fuel consumption so far hasn't been great, well below 40mpg so far, even after a long, steady motorway journey back down south, so hoping that improves with some miles.
I'll add some thoughts on various bits of equipment with later posts.