The Club Sport is getting its annual oil service (plus plugs and a fuel filter) at my dealer and I was given a new 430i xDrive coupe for my loaner. It's black on black, which at least hides the huge grille. It actually has the M Sport suspension and it feels maybe a touch stiffer than the C43 in comfort mode; it definiely lets more high frequency suspension motions through. Like the C43, it also has 19" wheels with run-flats. The steering is typical BMW- accurate but totally devoid of feel. It has 5k miles on it, which may explain that it felt a lot quicker than I expected; on the way to work I had a bit of fun with a G8 GT at the Pontiac's expense.
Inside, I'm still no fan of the widescreen display and the accompanying useless graphics. Ditto for the elimination of physical HVAC and audio controls- although in fairness some of the audio settings can be adjusted by buttons on the steering wheel. As I noted elsewhere, it has the most annoying safety nanny- hands down; it has road sign recognition and if you exceed the speed limit the road sign icon blinks for several seconds.I had to spend a couple of minutes drilling down through some iDrive menus but I was finally able to kill it.
At the end of the day I think its a comfortable cruiser but it's not particularly engaging. I drove it back-to-back with the C43 and the Mercedes is definitely the more involving drive. My wife also much preferred the C43.
Inside, I'm still no fan of the widescreen display and the accompanying useless graphics. Ditto for the elimination of physical HVAC and audio controls- although in fairness some of the audio settings can be adjusted by buttons on the steering wheel. As I noted elsewhere, it has the most annoying safety nanny- hands down; it has road sign recognition and if you exceed the speed limit the road sign icon blinks for several seconds.I had to spend a couple of minutes drilling down through some iDrive menus but I was finally able to kill it.
At the end of the day I think its a comfortable cruiser but it's not particularly engaging. I drove it back-to-back with the C43 and the Mercedes is definitely the more involving drive. My wife also much preferred the C43.
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