11-26-2018, 01:15 PM | #1 |
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From 535i touring to 640i GT
Hi All
Im currently on my 3rd 5 series Touring, my current one is a 535i which I love the space is great and I love the performance of the car. I am starting to get itchy feet and thinking of changing in the next 6-8 months and fancy something different. I am a BMW man as they are one of the main stream German brands which give a decent choice of petrol engines. This brought me to the 640i GT I know the looks are not to everyones taste but I like it and is still practical enough for my needs, just looking for real world feedback on them main things I'm interested in is whats it like around town and parking in car parks etc. I ask as the GT is a bit bigger than my 5 touring which can be a squeeze at times. Cheers in advance Steven |
12-14-2018, 08:02 AM | #2 |
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it is a little bigger but the steering is so light to turn the vehicle, my wife finds it no problem especially with all the cameras and sensors warning you and shes only 5ft
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12-25-2018, 03:26 PM | #4 | |
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I traded my F11 530d for a 640i xDrive in November and now feel I'm in a position to give some feedback. I'd been looking at the G32 since June as I thought the G31 was just too similar to the F11. I love the look of the 6 and it has the best looking rump of most of the current BMWs. I've just done a 1000km trip to France and averaged 32mpg which I'm quite pleased with coming from a diesel 3.0 that did just under 40mpg for the same journey. There's no doubt it is a big car at 184mm longer and 40mm wider than the F11 but under normal driving conditions the car shrinks around you. Parking can be challenging at times and it just means it takes me longer to find the perfect spot. I did try and enter an underground car park in Evian that was already a tight squeeze for the F11 but the G32 was too tight getting round the first corner so ended up reversing back up the in-ramp and finding parking elsewhere and that was with my daughter leaning out the rear side window and my wife outside the car guiding me. I think that was an exceptional experience though. The Eurotunnel was fun but I managed it without damaging the wheels - I bought 19" winter wheels and tyres replacing the summer 20"s just before the trip. which gave me a little more sidewall height to protect the rims from the curbs on the train. As for driving the car, the engine is a peach and very powerful. Not as much torque as the 530d but there is so much more power 250KW vs 180KW. My F11 was a 2010 car so the electronics have come on greatly over the past 8 years. The iDrive is so nice with its touch screen and the voice control is so much better. I wouldn't want to be without the full surround view cameras, had them on the F11 but the implementation on the G32 is loads better. For such a big car I'd say they're a necessity. I have the 2 axle air suspension along with the integral active steering. Again, I see both as being necessary. With the IAS the rear wheels turn too so the turning circle is very tight and the steering only goes 1.25 turns lock to lock. You need this for any tight turning manoeuvres. I have Remote Parking which I use each time I get the car out of the garage so no novelty there for me. HUD is fantastic and the HK sound is a decent step up from the business speaker system I had in the F11. I have the 4 Zone aircon and rear heated seats which my daughters love. I'm less enamoured with the rear seat entertainment and would much rather have 2 iPads on headrest mounts. As for luggage space, the boot is slightly larger that the F11 and we packed about the same amount of stuff. I was worried about losing the opening window on the tailgate, but packing wasn't that difficult without it but I do miss it. Driving position - I'm 6'4" tall and was never perfectly comfortable in the F11. I felt my seat didn't go back far enough for my long legs (36" inseam). In the G32 you sit higher in the car and the seat goes back slightly further so is far better for my dodgy back. Oh and I do have comfort seats and the Nappa leather which is very a comfortable combination. I've not tried anything other so can't give a comparison. That's all I can think of for now but if you have any specific questions just let me know. I'm in Kent if you're close enough and would like to come take a look. |
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12-28-2018, 01:48 PM | #5 |
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Hi mrashton.
Thanks for the comparison you've covered all my main questions and more and thanks for the offer but I live at the other end of the country but thanks again. The car is parked in the street so one of my main concerns was the increase in size which have covered in your comparison. My only other question would have been about the rear seat entertainment wether or not it is worth the extra money. I don't have a family so only every carry adults in the back so not sure if it would ever really get used. To be honest I like the looks of the G31 and the G32 but as I put in my original post i do fancy a change. The Touring I have at the moment is specced just how I wanted it but due to my budget I couldn't replace it with a similarly specced G31 but with the deals on the G32 and 0% finance my budget would cover a very nicely specced G32. Once again thanks for the comparison. Cheers Steven |
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12-28-2018, 03:49 PM | #6 | |
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The Rear Seat Entertainment is a real compromise in my opinion. I would much rather have 2 iPads mounted on specific brackets that attach to the headrest poles as I used to have on my F11. With the RSE in the Gxx cars (up to December 2018 as it has just been revised), you get 1 x HDMI, 1 x USB, miracast for Android and an AV input. USB with video files works fine but there is no Pause button on the remote so the only way to pause a video is to press the screen off button. For the AV in, I bought an apple 30 pin to composite video adapter as only the iPads up to the New iPad (or iPad 3) have analogue out. The problem with this set up is that the car doesn't acknowledge the aspect ratio so all movies are squished into the 4:3 ratio - useless. The HDMI port works fine and I bought the Apple lightening to HDMI adapter so my other daughter can mirror her phone to the RSE screen. The screens aren't touch capable so all controlling is done via the single remote supplied with the car. This is fine but if both rear passengers want to play around with the iDrive functionality you get in the rear, one has to wait for the other. Oh, that goes for adjusting the volume too unless you use the BMW supplied headphones that have a volume adjuster built in. These aren't Bluetooth headphones either - they using something called "Kleer". The updated RSE from December 2018 I believe includes touch screens and different available connections. All of this is a first world problem of course but iPads and brackets will be far cheaper and more versatile IMHO. |
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12-30-2018, 11:58 AM | #7 |
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Roomy but watch the repairs
Here why to never buy a BMW again! I owned a 2013 MW 650i, purchased with only 4500km on it. Last March I dropped the engine out on the highway an hour from home had it towed to the dealer and that is where the TERRIBLE customer service began!
The car was past it 4 year warranty point but only had 47669km on it certainly not much for BMWs high end sport sedan and I learned directly from the service consultant that most of the oil was gone, that the system clearly showed no engine warning lights. Low oil light or information to alert me to the problem and he confirmed that I had followed the recommended service just not with the dealer. He stated that I would require an entirely new engine, at my cost both for the engine and installation and that BMW Canada would offer a discount on the engine parts only (30%) not very generous when you consider that I am sure the mark up on engine parts is far above 30% so they in fact we still making money off the replacement of an engine that should have gone 4x times as long as this at least! But it gets better. At the suggestion of my local dealer, I called BMW Canada myself, spoke to someone who treated my very poorly, told me there was no record of my car in the system and to contact the dealer again. I submitted an online complaint to BMW Canada and after a few more phone calls, I received an email 2 weeks later (April 10, 2018) with a contact number. I called for 4 days with no reply I left my office number and instructed my staff to interrupt me if anyone called and no call. I emailed again and gave the person the VIN for the car in hopes of getting something moving ahead. I called daily for 3 weeks finally got another email stating she would be available all morning and would call me every 2 hours but NO calls. We finally spoke (May 3, 2018) and was told I would be contacted by another customer care person and that she would send me their contact name etc but again no email. I should mention that she offered me a $500 credit on a new vehicle as compensation (for an almost $21 000 service repair bill which I found insulting). Two weeks passed and not a single call or email but then May 16, 2018 13 days later I receive an unrelated follow up email (automated) thanking me for contacting BMW I replied again. I finally received an email on June 19, 2018 over two months after my first email and almost 3 months after my first web submission, with a name and contact number. Interestingly this followed an online submission to the BMW main website, not the Canadian site I finally spoke to a nice and helpful person who explained that they had been contacted by corporate BMW and ask to look into things but were not given any direction. He also stated that because the car was originally a BMW US vehicle they would not be offering any additional funding or special rates, they only wanted to close the loop on my experience! I had spoken with BMW US early in the problem and had been informed that as my car was in Canada and at a dealer they could not do anything for me. It really appalling that my business and their reputation for a quality care means so little to BMW. I understand about a warranty but really an entire engine without warning at 47 000km I would be very wary of buying one of these vehicles ever. And it is not like I was new to them, I had previously owned a 645 so I was a likely repeat buyer not now or ever. To make matters worse, early in the repair stages I talked with a salesperson at the local dealer about considering a trade in, something to allow BMW Canada to retain my business (before all this terrible customer service occurred) and keep my in a BMW for a couple more years. After 15 miuntes on the phone outlining my thoughts on a new vehicle, and telling him mine was in their shop right then, he could not even be bothered to call me back! This is the definition of an arrogant car company with no regards for their customers. |
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12-30-2018, 02:40 PM | #8 | |
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12-31-2018, 04:09 AM | #9 | |
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