It took me awhile to find one that was available, but since I had 105 hours of vacation time, I decided to take the day off and drive down to Irvine BMW to check it out. This is the vehicle:
https://www.irvinebmw.com/new/BMW/20...6745902308.htm
So let's get into it!
Exterior: It is definitely a polarizing look. I don't love it and I don't hate it. Some angles it looks great and some angles it really doesn't. It's definitely big. It looked like a monster parked next to my F87. It also won the tire lottery.
Interior: Leaps and bounds better than my F87. I could really get used to living in there if I were to purchase one. High quality materials and I for one really like iDrive 8. I also loved that I could lower to seat farther down than my F87. As much as I love my car, I wish I could sit lower. Seats are super comfortable.
Driving Experience: It's a very nice a smooth ride. However, the roads around Irvine BMW are pretty flawless (nice and smooth with no bumps). It feels planted. A lot more planted than my F87. I could get used to that. I've always felt the F87 is rather twitchy at speeds and the G87 seems to rectify that. A longer test drive would probably give me a better idea, but to me, safer is always better.
Steering: I wasn't impressed with the steering (but then again, BMW still hasn't really figured this out with EPS). There was just something weird about it. Yes, it is more direct than my F87 but it feels very synthetic. Almost like they were TRYING too hard to add some sort of feedback but missed the boat. I honestly think the steering in my F87 is better, but to each their own.
Transmission: This was the 8-speed auto. I had started another thread a couple of weeks ago stating this transmission had no business being in a performance BMW (I had driven a G80 at M Town Tour). HOWEVER, that car must have been thrashed over countless people driving it and hammering on it. I was actually pleasantly surprised by it. Yes, it is not as engaging as my DCT but it isn't that bad at all. I could get used to it. I'm glad I was able to drive a not-abused M car. I would definitely prefer it over the manual.
Power: It definitely has good power and puts it down nice and easily. Being that this was a 10 minute test drive and that the car is brand new, I really didn't get on it. I'm not one of those a-holes that thrashes cars on test drives. My thought is that if I'm not going to buy it, I'm not going to hurt the car for another owner. So forgive me if I say it doesn't feel faster than my F87, but I'm sure it is. I just don't know by how much.
Sound: It's a definite improvement over the F87, but again, not by much. I drove a G80 at BMW's M Town Tour and THAT thing sounded amazing but it had the M Performance exhaust. I could see myself adding that because my god it makes the car sound good.
Brakes: Brakes are fine. They have good stopping power and again I wasn't really able to test them out.
At the end of the day, it just isn't leaps and bounds better than my F87 (to me that is). I am not really a fan of how big it has become. I really like smaller cars. Is it better than an F87? Of course it is! But not enough for me to fork over $70K plus when I own my car outright.
Hope this helps anyone looking to purchase one. It's a nice little ride and feel free to hit me up with any questions.
