The fastest car is never your own...

[arkenphel]

Guess what I have as a courtesy car today:D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/e92headlight.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/E92325i.jpg

Initial impression of the car are:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/E92offroadsuspension.jpg

It's built for light offroading:confused: How they can call this sports suspension is beyond me. I've seen standard X3s with less clearance!

Getting into the car, the immediate impression is of SPACE, probably due to the light interior.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/E92Interior.jpg

This illusion is also reinforced by the curved dash, away from the driver (and passenger).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/CentralConsole2.jpg

The climate controls don't feel as well fitted, with 2mm (!) of play in any direction, and though it feels like good quality plastics/rubber, turning the dials instantly makes it feel cheap, no nice soft 'clicking' into place. Feels just like a Suzuki Baleno...:(

The dials are nice and effective, but feel a bit over embellished i.e. a bit messy

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/E92dials2.jpg

The door bins are great too, with a slidey out action

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/Doorbins2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/Doorbins1.jpg

The window switches have unnecessary duplication though. WHy not put the switches on the central console. It seems like change for change's sake
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/E92windowswitches.jpg

The rear is spacious, but strictly for 2, unless you like sitting with your legs astride a long shaft;)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/RearInterior.jpg

Interior lights seem of poorer quality, with a cheap looking and feeling opaque bulb cover. Rear view mirror has a smaller, flatter red pimple thingy
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/E92/Interiorlights.jpg

Overall, the interior is a nice place to be, but quality and fitting can be improved.

Driving the car, however, show the dynamics to be beyond reproach. On skinny 225 section rears the tail can be provoked quite easily (it's a bit wet too, which helps:D ) and is controllable. Took me a few minutes to find the damn DTC button though. It's right between the central airvents.

It may be a 325, but it feels as quick as my 330Ci, with a rev happy engine which sings (mutedly) to the 7k redline (it runs out of puff at 6.5k consistently):D A liitle less soundproofing would be nice, please BMW.

the steering is light at low speed, but gathers feel and weight at speed (this is the standard setup, not active steering), and has more feedback than the e46. The wing mirrors don't show that much, unlike the E46's 'elephant ears'.

All in all, not a bad car, apart from the styling, but there are numerous improvements that can, and will, be made in this car's lifetime.

[328-singh]

Excellent write up mate! Not a bad courtesy car to have!

[M111PDM]

good write up and a nice courtesy car but you still haven't changed my opinion on the new 3's.

[mystic sport]

Great writeup Ben, and a proper gearbox which should be fully exploited. Now stop writing and get in it and give it a damn good thrashing :D .

[MEGA]

I'm glad you like the feel of the car! I really want to get an E92 as soon as possible. more realistically itll be 2009 before I get one :(

[Mits]

Nice write up, not really a car for me though. There are not that many cars in the BMW range that I actually like.:(

Ive been in a new 320 M Sport saloon for the past few days, not a bad car...but its not a csl;)

I put in £15 of petrol and from the reserve it went to just under half. Thought i'd use up my petrol yesterday but the needle hasnt even moved:mad: Nothing like the csl where I can finish half a tank in 30mins:D

I dont like this fuel economy thing:D ;)

[arkenphel]

Just a quick note. Managed to reach my local tesco in Dundee via Blairgowrie and Perth:D :D

I'm not too keen on the E92 either, but it would have been rude not to

Just came back to drop off groceries, and I'm off to the dealers now to return the car at 5.30pm, via St.Andrews and Glenrothes, then past Brechin. (It's now 3.20pm:D :D )

Waaaaaaahooooooooo.........:eek: :D :rolleyes: :p

<Disappears in a cloud of tire smoke>.....:cool:

[huzi7]

nice wrote up mate

[arkenphel]

Just got back from my dealer:D ... and a few more thing to write up about the E92

The driving experience is more refined overall (but y'all knew that already), but there are a few neat touches about this machine

The dials light up nicely (still to fussy though)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/LitDials.jpg

The interior lights, despite looking cheap and plasticky, light up the car better than the E46

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/Litinterior.jpg

The seat belt thingy is a nice, but unnecessary comfort
1. belt holder in...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/Beltin.jpg

2. Belt holder out...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/Beltout.jpg

The angels eyes are pretty poor compared to even the previous 5er (E39)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/Angeleyes.jpg

After a hard day's drive, you get out feeling pretty wired. You plip the fob, hear the soft click of the alarm, and with a soft self assured smile, you turn round and
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/front0.jpg
Wish you had an E46 instead:D

It's soooo good to have my car back.

[Chaos]

Hehe nice journalism :D

[mnathan]

Great write -up!!

You`ll be after Chaos`s job next.........

[peppernick]

Excellent write up with a twist at the end :D Enjoyed reading that.

Wonder what the oil burner will feel like :cool:

[Chaos]

Great write -up!!

You`ll be after Chaos`s job next.........
He didn't waffle on anywhere near enough to threaten that. ;)

I've looked at the thread 3 or 4 times now, and irrespective of the note about the clocks looking busy, I really really like this photo, very arty and techno-cool :cool::

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/LitDials.jpg

[arkenphel]

Cheers fellers:D

Er, what exactly does Dan do around here?;) Did someone mention waffles?:p

Whatever the job is, I'll only take payment if the waffles come with cream cheese. I'll do almost anything, except flapscrubbing. That's Juber's job:p

Ben

P.S. hopefully will get a Z4 to, ahem, test next.
http://sonic.animebots.co.uk/MGV/GT4/MGV_GT4_BMWZ4_SS.jpg

[ShaanK]

great right up - the interior looks great, and the dials look really smart lit IMO. The outside however, just no. But then we've seen subtly modded E92's look sweet, so all it needs are some nice rims, slightly fatter bumpers ( sport kit of sorts ) and lowered for sure. But then take the first batch of E46's to come out - ones without a kit etc... people that owned later E36's with the mtech kit probably hated the look of it?? Just a thought.

[imu]

Nice one Ben, i have had a couple of E92 loaners from BMW in the last few weeks, and I think you have summed up the car quite nicely :D

[Big m.o.]

Did you snap the E brake then padwo!?

[arkenphel]

Did you snap the E brake then padwo!?

E-brake? There ain't no ebrake on the E92 fool!

http://publius.mu.nu/archives/mr-t.gif

[adood84]

E-brake? There ain't no ebrake on the E92 fool!

http://publius.mu.nu/archives/mr-t.gif


looool what do you call that black thing in the center consol :D , what you do is you while going around a corner you pull that as you turn the car then drop it you will have your e brake slide :D:D playing too much PGR on Xbox lol


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/arkenphel/Litinterior.jpg

[arkenphel]

i believe that is called a handbrake:p have things really moved on so much we don't call it a handbrake anymore?:confused:

What does the 'e' stand for?

[adood84]

emergency brake , I personally call it a handbrake

[Big m.o.]

Ark man, you haven't lived dude, out there on the streets man. Gotta nizzle wi da shizzle.