[Ozzie8]

It’s a great car ladies and gentlemen, but there are some issues, minor irritations and disappointments. So let’s get them out on the table.

1. Not like the concept – as written by other learned drivers (most notably phoenixbmwlife) it does not have the edge of the amazing concept vehicle we all fell in love with. Especially the front end and the side styling. The fat arse is there mostly. Could it have been even better? As we have seen with many concept vehicles, once manufacturing and accounting get involved it gets a bit homogenised.

2. Location of USB A port – who was the numbnuts inside BMW who decided to put the port in this location (see photo). You cannot be serious. As I want to run my music from my USB, when I insert it into the port it gets in the road of accessing the wireless charging bay behind the port. So yes I bought a USB A to C adapter and have now put it in the centre console. But then what are you left with – an electrical socket hole – close to the liquid cup holders. A hole with no cover that will fill with crap. A hole that looks ugly. Why, why, why, why?

3. Driver seat controls – the backrest of the seat is a bit like an ironing board, in that it is very rigid, it needs a little more curvature. I miss the seat in my 640 GC. Just have not been able to get the seat setting perfect yet. It needs a control to bring the very top of the backrest further forward. A car of this quality and price, the seat controls are really just the standard set you get in any BMW. Hopefully my body weight will loosen things up over time.

4. Small storage spaces – cup holders, centre console, side door pockets – that’s it folks. I’ve got three remote controls (we don’t have integrated remote in the rear view mirror in Australia) and there is just no where to put them. Cup holders – get in the way. Centre console - have to lift arms off wheel, open, find them. Side door pockets - they rattle around. Any other small items where do they go?

5. Cleaning rear window – you need to be a contortionist to get into the back seat, twist your body sideways while rolling your head to one side to lower it, and then be able to stretch down a long glass panel with fat hands to narrow corners to clean. MPoweRo mentioned his 10 year child which I thought was an excellent suggestion. My 10 year old is now 26 and 6’ 3” so that is not going to work unfortunately. It is going to have to be one of those Enjo cleaning wands. Perhaps BMW could develop a drop-down panel between the speakers to open things up more.

6. Rubber flaps – see the attached photo of rubber flaps under the front bumper. I’ve got very tight clearance on the entrance to my driveway and my 640 GC was fine. The dealer demo m850i that I tried was fine. But I get a little scrape every exit as I drive forwards to exit the garage (and reverse in). I’m convinced these little flaps are violating the stated clearance in the vehicle specs. Speed humps are a problem too, plenty of these where I live. I will have to see if we can adjust this at some point.

7. Bowers+Wilkins – an expensive option, the speaker design and finish are first class. But I’ve been a bit underwhelmed with the sound. Crystal clear at all volume levels. However, there is virtually no information in the user guide. There is no B+W manual, there is no information on the B+W or BMW websites on how to tune the equaliser settings. So in the end I’ve settled on two more notches of bass and treble and moved sound output to the ‘concert’ setting. That feels a bit richer and warmer. Is it as good as the B&O in my 640 GC? Open question right now.

8. No warm/cool vent adjust – you can see in the photo the vent control dials which open and close the vent. What happened to the warm/cool adjusters that used to be in this position? When did BMW get rid of these? I used to love them. Starting up in the morning and the air is too cold, just switch it to warm or you’re getting a bit warm just switch it to cool, while using auto climate to maintain the overall vehicle temperature – it worked so well for so long. Alas it is gone.

9. Driving assist mode – I tried this for the first time on a long open windy road cruise. In Australia we have the Nullabor Plain (which connects the east coast to the west coast) and there is a continuous straight stretch of road which runs for 145.6 km (also known as the 90 mile straight). For this the BMW driving assist mode will be perfect. For anything else switch it off.

10. Seat belts – getting access to the front seat belts is akin to a yoga move. Breathe in, keep legs straight, push torso forward, twist torso 30 degrees (twist head at the same time), move right arm forward-straighten and lower, now gently reach backward, grab seat belt, lift upwards, reverse twist torso, lean back in seat, rotate arm over body with belt, fasten, exhale. It’s that easy folks.

Still loving this car so much – look forward to every drive – but still room for improvement in the updates to come.

In late breaking news, I’ve been contacted by the local BMW Genius. We’ve set an appointment in a few days time and I look forward to reporting back on the hidden secrets of my new car.

[uniqueMR]

[MPoweRo]

Great write up again.

"MPoweRo mentioned his 10 year child which I thought was an excellent suggestion. My 10 year old is now 26 and 6' 3" so that is not going to work"

Ha ha!

The temperature mixer has gone from all new BMW's with the new console design. You can find it by pressing the menu/ac button in the climate control cluster. Clunky though.

[phoenixbmwlife]

Wow another informed post. I really enjoy the detail you go into reviewing the M850i.

The usb thing must have been a last minute design choice. I agree that's so silly.

The front spoiler design makes the car look so much better. I have seen M850s with and without it. Never noticed how low it hangs to the ground until you mentioned it. Then I remembered that in one of the M850i GC official videos, I noticed this rubber front spoiler was damaged. This is probably going to be an issue on this car. (See photo attached)

I was originally thinking about getting the BW since I've never had this in a BMW and I regret not getting it in my 540i. After hearing some reviews about the sound on youtube and here on the forum the general consensus is that it may not be worth it. It's not a cheap option by any means and the HK can't sound that much worst does it?

As for the back window I have actually never cleaned my back window. I don't see how it could even get dirty. I feel sorry for the guy/gal that's going to tint back there though.

Anyway thanks again for the time you put into all these reviews. Cheers!

[brad850csi]

Originally Posted by Ozzie8

2. Location of USB A port – who was the numbnuts inside BMW who decided to put the port in this location (see photo). You cannot be serious. As I want to run my music from my USB, when I insert it into the port it gets in the road of accessing the wireless charging bay behind the port. So yes I bought a USB A to C adapter and have now put it in the centre console. But then what are you left with – an electrical socket hole – close to the liquid cup holders. A hole with no cover that will fill with crap. A hole that looks ugly. Why, why, why, why?


4. Small storage spaces – cup holders, centre console, side door pockets – that’s it folks. I’ve got three remote controls (we don’t have integrated remote in the rear view mirror in Australia) and there is just no where to put them. Cup holders – get in the way. Centre console - have to lift arms off wheel, open, find them. Side door pockets - they rattle around. Any other small items where do they go?


10. Seat belts – getting access to the front seat belts is akin to a yoga move. Breathe in, keep legs straight, push torso forward, twist torso 30 degrees (twist head at the same time), move right arm forward-straighten and lower, now gently reach backward, grab seat belt, lift upwards, reverse twist torso, lean back in seat, rotate arm over body with belt, fasten, exhale. It’s that easy folks.

Snipped for the ones I wanted to comment on as an F13 owner

2. Later F06/12/13 had this too. My car missed this by a few months so I only have one USB port in the centre console. If my car had that I would have bought a very small flash drive to put in there with music on it and to plug the hole up, of course I still would have had the other USB in the centre console as well. Something like the Sandisk Cruzer Micro.

4. I put my remote fobs in the ashtray and they fit there just fine. I hadn't considered where I'd put them on an M8.

10. Yes this sucks on the new cars. The F06/12/13 (as well as my E31) have the seatbelt on the seat itself which is a complete godsend on a Coupe. When I've driven M2/M4/M850i it is the single most annoying thing that happens every single time you get into the car! Curiously on the E31 and F06/12/13 have this.

[Ozzie8]

M6 nice! Yes the ashtray is gone in the 8 as that is what I used in my 640d. Agree its good to have a USB A & C port in the 8, think they both should have been in centre console. Interesting there is a seat belt solution but not deployed. Accountants?

[redhot47fla]

I don't agree with some of the points made by the OP (I find the storage space - up front - more generous than I've found in virtually any other BMW), but I will say that he missed one: No cup holders in the rear. Yes, the rear of the coupe can barely hold any people, but once they squeeze back there...not even one cup holder.

The same is true of the convertible, which offers a bit more space - actually quite enough for my grandkids (11 and 7 years old) - and...again...not even one cup holder. This makes for some...shall we say...tense moments and a lot of cup passing between the rear and the front.

Nevertheless, we all really love this beast of a car.

[GratefulM5]

I literally laughed out loud reading your post. I have the vert and couldn't agree with your points more! My kids are 6 and 8 years old and I could definitely use some rear cupholders. Maybe if they clean my rear window I'll pass them their drinks I also have found myself using the center console usb to play my music since I've been plagued with the intermittent cutouts when on Bluetooth (stops and starts randomly on its own which is a killjoy- so hoping for a software update?????).

Nonetheless this is such a fun car and joy to drive. I've had it for about a month now and still getting used to it (and breaking it in). Coming out of an M5 I miss the more individual adjustments that can be made to the driving characteristics but I guess they save that for the true M, although there are some more adjustments available in this car than other models. Still puts a smile on my face and happy my kids can still fit in the back This is my daily driver and since I don't have much of a commute I just wish I had more time during the week to actually drive it!!!

As for the sound system I agree (as does my wife) we had the Harmon Kardon system and they seemed richer and deeper, although the B&W seems clearer. I find it lacking at lower volumes and I find I have to turn the bass way up to get the richness. At high volumes it shines but I don't want to go deaf and I also want to hear the delightful engine and exhaust rumble! I'll probably have to find some tutorial on the specific equalizer settings.... any suggestions?