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      01-17-2013, 09:31 AM   #1
SpokenHands
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ABout to finalise my GC order: open to suggestions

It will soon be time for my absolutely lovely F07 5-Series GT to go back and i am planning to replace it with the following Gran Coupe spec: i would welcome your thoughts - thanks in advance.


640d Gran Coupe [F06]
M-Sport Model


Exterior: Black Sapphire [Ruby Black?]
Interior: Ivory White/Black World Nappa Leather [Cohiba Brown?]
Trim: REPLACE Heaxagonal Aluminium with Piano Black Individual
Alloys: 20" 373M


Standard for Gran Coupe in UK in 2013:
DAB Radio
Leather Dashboard with contrast stitching
Front Seat Heating
Ambient Interior Lighting
Telephone USB with Telematics
Premium HDD SatNav and Media
LED Foglights
Sport Seats
Sport Auto Transmission with Paddles
Full black panel technology
60:40 rear seat split

Options Added:
Adaptive LED Headlamps with Headlight Assist and Cornering Function
Head Up Display
Comfort Access with Smart Opener
Stop-And-Go Active Cruise Control
Surround View with RearView Camera
Rear Seat Heating
Internet with BMW Apps
BMW Audio Professional Spakers 600W Direc+12 Speakers
Electric Sunroof
Sun protection glass
Brushed Aluminium Door Surround Trim [replacing High-Gloss Shadowline]

Have asked about and awaiting confirmation
Multi-Function Instrument Display
New iDrive / Navigation

Considering: - what do you think?
Ruby Black metallic exterior colour
Cohiba Brown Interior Leather
Steering Wheel Heating
Park Assist
Ceramic Controls

Not interested in
Soft Close Doors
Speed Limit Display
Lane Change / Blindspot Assist
Windscreen with grey band
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      01-17-2013, 06:08 PM   #2
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Sounds like a nice build...colors are too hard to suggest as its so specific to an individual, but I'd say that Black sapphire does look great on the GC . A member in the board has the Rubyschwarz and lots of pix if you want to see it in the metal. I had Silverstone interior in my previous M6 which was basically white and I loved it, but wanted a change so went with Cinnamon which is great with black, I've not see Cohiba as of yet.

On the GC I'm not a fan of the Msport but I think most people go for it. I'd say definitely go for the heated steering wheel though, I've had it on the past 3 or 4 cars and can't live without it now! I'd also say to perhaps consider the upgrades for the seats as its the main connection between yourself and the car! I'm not sure how the UK packages this but in the US we have the Luxury seating package which includes the 20 way multi-contour active seats with ventilation and massager, absolutely lovely and extremely comfortable. Piano black is lovely but easily scratches and shows every spec of dust and fingerprint, so if you go nuts over such things, perhaps a wood grain will do, the grey poplar matches well with the overall interior layout IMHO.

Good luck...cheers
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      01-18-2013, 02:35 AM   #3
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Thank you

Ruby Black is very interesting, thanks or the lead.
Black-Cinnamon combination is lovely and different.

I admit not thinking about the seats as much. Will do so

Is Ceramic Controls all its made out to be?
As an experienced driver, don't think I need Park Assist and Lange Change.
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      01-18-2013, 09:07 AM   #4
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I have a Black Sapphire, with Ivory/Black, American Oak and Aluminium window trim on 20" 373's, if you pass by West London you're welcome to take a look.

In my case I bought a dealer pre-reg and so had to compromise on some options. My choices were further limited as very few cars had the Adaptive LEDs and HUD.

Black Sapphire was top of my colour choice (followed by Space Grey, then Carbon Black). Having seen various colours on the car in the flesh, it looked by far the best to my eye.

Ideally I would have wanted black interior for practicality. The black/ivory combo does look nicer, especially with the ambient lighting, but it takes some maintenance which I'm not sure I'll keep up a year+ in.

The Aluminium trim is not something I would have spec'd, personally I would have stuck with shadow line. I figured I would just get it wrapped (which I guess you couldn't do with the same success the other way around, I.E shadow line to chrome), but its somewhat grown on me now.

In terms of options, I'm glad I made HUD and Adaptive LED's a priority. The sunroof is also something I'm glad I got, the glass house on the GC is smaller (or atleast feels that way) compared to a conventional saloon. The sunroof allows you the best of both worlds (ensconced when closed, but more light and airy when open).

Since you've spec'd Adaptive cruise (I assume you'll be covering some miles) you may want to consider (missing from your list and I like them):

Comfort Seats
Lumbar support
Adaptive suspension options

I have soft close doors and like you its not something I'd spec myself. My GF loves it and it does have the initial wow effect when you first show the car to people, but I doubt anyone will blink an eye a year on and its just something to go wrong down the road :/

The one option you may want to reconsider is speed limit display. Once again I wouldn't have spec'd it but I love it now. I haven't seen it miss a sign yet. Very useful in areas you don't know well (especially when a passengers chatting away at you) or even roads you know well but a temporary speed limit has been installed (M4/M25 has them constantly, with pretty erratic distribution). Especially since speed cameras are often deployed around temporary speed limit zones.

Last edited by Mentos; 01-18-2013 at 03:42 PM.. Reason: ..
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      01-18-2013, 03:23 PM   #5
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Have asked about and awaiting confirmation
Multi-Function Instrument Display
New iDrive / Navigation

These options are from march production.

/c
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      01-20-2013, 02:56 AM   #6
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Thank you for some very useful suggestions. Went down to the BMW dealership to look at these options and made some adjustments

Adding Ceramic Controls
Adding American Oak Interior trim for some lift

Black sapphire looks brilliant on the 6GC
Advised Vermillion Red leather has better residuals than Cinnamon Brown
It also looks brilliant with the contrast stitching and not too red as I had imagined from photos

Removing Park Assist - pointless for an experienced driver
Removing Active Cruise Control - £1600 option used sparingly

Is 4-zone automatic air-conditioning really read in such a small cabin?
In the massive 5GT cabin it makes a material difference

The car will be a March production, delivered 4 months later so June time.
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      01-20-2013, 05:21 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpokenHands View Post
Thank you for some very useful suggestions. Went down to the BMW dealership to look at these options and made some adjustments

Adding Ceramic Controls
Adding American Oak Interior trim for some lift

Black sapphire looks brilliant on the 6GC
Advised Vermillion Red leather has better residuals than Cinnamon Brown
It also looks brilliant with the contrast stitching and not too red as I had imagined from photos

Removing Park Assist - pointless for an experienced driver
Removing Active Cruise Control - £1600 option used sparingly

Is 4-zone automatic air-conditioning really read in such a small cabin?
In the massive 5GT cabin it makes a material difference

The car will be a March production, delivered 4 months later so June time.
Looks great but I would keep the Piano black trim if you are going with vermillion red leather and get rid of the ceramic controls also you don't need 4-zone AC.
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      01-20-2013, 05:48 AM   #8
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Four zone automatic air conditioning seemed like overkill in the small 6GC cabin (relative to the 5GT I am running at the moment).

Love Piano Black but on my 5GT, it does show scratches quickly. Also in the 6GC, the American Oak did give it some lift. Bu will think about this as you say with the Vermillion Red leather.

Most of my music is on my iPhone/iPod and DAB/Internet Radio so the B&O upgrade was an overkill but thinking the Professional Speaker upgrade may be worth doing
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      01-20-2013, 08:14 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpokenHands View Post
Four zone automatic air conditioning seemed like overkill in the small 6GC cabin (relative to the 5GT I am running at the moment).

Love Piano Black but on my 5GT, it does show scratches quickly. Also in the 6GC, the American Oak did give it some lift. Bu will think about this as you say with the Vermillion Red leather.

Most of my music is on my iPhone/iPod and DAB/Internet Radio so the B&O upgrade was an overkill but thinking the Professional Speaker upgrade may be worth doing
IMO 4 zone Climate control is overkill in most cars. Even two zone is questionable when you consider the size of most cabins. If you set the temp more then a degree or two apart the two airflows will clearly compete, if the temp differential isn't significant then it somewhat defeats the purpose of individually controlled A/C anyway.

Wether the vehicles I'm in have 1, 2 or 4 zone climate control, I've noticed they all tend to be set at 20-21 deg C by occupants. I think the key point here is we're talking about climate control, not a non regulated heating cooling system. The goal with climate control is to reach an optimal temp and maintain it, not have the actual airflow heat/cool you. The only time I see a point in spec'ing 4 zone CC is when the car is being used to chauffeur, in which case it allows the rear passengers to control the CC settings, rather then asking the driver.

WRT American Oak, it definitely sets the Ivory/black combo off very well. I'm not usually fond off wood trims, I tend to prefer a more contemporary look. But even my GF warmed to the American Oak trim and she usually detests wood trims in cars. The advantage over Piano Black (which is what I'd normally go for, if I wasn't going CF/metallic) is that the patterns within the American Oak distract the eye from minor scratches (which you'll get on any gloss finish trim).

You will still get minor scratches, but the eye naturally focuses on changes in gradation/pattern on a reflective glossy surface. With Piano black there is nothing but scratches for the eye to focus on (at least on flat areas, where your likely to get most scratches anyway). On wood trims the natural pattern of the wood becomes a welcome distraction for the eye, rather then scratches.

Only issue is, I'm unsure how well wood trim would go with a vermillion red interior. While American Oak looks contemporary against a white or black interior, I'm not sure it would in a red interior. When trying to picture it, my mind wanders to Viennese cafe's with wood panelling and red leather clad sofas/chairs

I saw a lot of GCs during my search. Black Sapphire with Ivory/black/American Oak was Aesthetically the best combo I saw (to my eye at least). It's just the practicality of a white interior that gave me pause before pulling the trigger. Another consideration with vermillion red is that the ambient lighting would likely be drowned out as its a shade of soft orange (not ideal against red), so you may want to consider changing that after market if you go the red route.

Once again I would seriously consider speed limit display, in conjunction with the HUD I would always spec it now (without HUD it's less usefull IMO).

Last edited by Mentos; 01-20-2013 at 08:18 AM.. Reason: .
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      01-20-2013, 10:21 PM   #10
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here are some pictures of my vermillion red/black high gloss trim interior
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      01-26-2013, 06:37 AM   #11
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Thanks for some very interesting commentary here:

My last 4 BMWs have had Ivory White Dakota leather interiors. With two kids under 10, it has been surprisingly resilient and easy to maintain. I clean and nourish the leather at least once a quarter, unless spills occur when I attend to it with excellent Autoglym products as soon as possible [I have had chocolate, grassy/muddy shoes and orange juice!!] Because it is elegant, sophisticated and conservative, my natural inclination would be to get the Black Sapphire exterior with Ivory White interior.

However, if i were to try something different (and on the 6ers, all black interiors do not set off those wonderful swage lines across the centre console and dash), the Vermillion Red is a bold choice for me. Admittedly I have never liked the VR interior pictures ever, they usually photograph far redder than they actually are, but at the dealership the deep red leather against the black world interior and black sapphire exterior did look very sporty and exotic.

[I kind of agreed with the BMW dealer that the Cinnamon Brown & Amaro Brown wouldn't age as well] Cohiba Brown Individual is very elegant but as a £5700 option, its hard to justify.]

Thanks for pointing me to the Ruby Red pictures here - again, like Carbon Black you have got to own it once but it can wear off - nothing beats the sharp metallic contrasts of Black Sapphire for me.

ADDING ceramic controls (not because it will stay cool in sunlight - we barely have any in the UK - but because its dark chrome finish and tactility is quite elegant)

STILL CONSIDERING Active Cruise Control [I think Stop-N-Go is quite useful especially in start stop traffic that i drive in, and on motorway hauls]. £1600 a bit mad for this option

AGREE 4-zone automatic airconditioning is overkill in the relatively small confines of the 6GC (not so much the 5GT which is massive) but presume the rear console will then be blank - which is ugly.

REMOVING Park Assist [for 'ninnies' - technical term ], good points noted on Speed Display but I think its a personal thing (and I am not biting, but thanks anyway for your thoughts)

I am adding the brushed aluminium window trim (replacing the High Gloss Shadowline) because those curves/kinks accentuate the coupe lines. Again, I have always had High-Gloss Shadowline so perhaps this is me just being a bit different.

Ordering to go March 2013 production - but trying to figure if there are any sneak LCI facelifts round the corner. Nothing has been spied yet!!


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      01-27-2013, 12:00 PM   #12
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I haven't tried the BMW ACC, but assuming its similar to that on the Audi A8, I particularly liked the stop n go feature. I also liked the emergency braking, which would engage the break to minimise any frontal impact once it was unavoidable. However, since I only cover 6k miles a year, ACC had to give

WRT speed limit display, you may well be right to ignore it. I had the same attitude when I read about it, now its one of those things ill want to spec, which means I'm more out of pocket for a feature I wouldn't miss if I'd never experienced it :/

With dual zone CC, the rear console still has the two vents, it just doesn't have the temp controls. I can take a pic if there isn't one on the BMW site.
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      01-27-2013, 01:43 PM   #13
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Thank you Mentos.
The picture is much appreciated, when it is convenient for you to get on.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

AR
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      01-27-2013, 02:36 PM   #14
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Soft close doors very practical option. Highly recommended
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      01-28-2013, 08:10 AM   #15
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I took a quick picture of the rear vents, in place of the CC controls there is storage. I had to resize it for the upload limits. Let me know if you want any other pics of the interior (I know living in London its a lot easier to see various combinations).
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      01-28-2013, 09:31 AM   #16
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Thank you Mentos

Thank you very much for your time and effort with this.
Really helpful!

I am in Knightsbridge most of the week, so close by to you evidently.
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      01-28-2013, 09:53 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpokenHands View Post
Thank you very much for your time and effort with this.
Really helpful!

I am in Knightsbridge most of the week, so close by to you evidently.
I'm near Heathrow most of the week (about 10-15 miles away), drop me a PM if you want to have a look at my car.
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