Well, after a brief but enjoyable time in my 35iS I find myself in the fortunate position to be able to move into a G29
I’ve been keeping an eye on the market for a well spec’d pre reg M40i. They were few and far between and the prices have been following the 35’s trend. Cars that were readily available 6-12 months ago with little or no miles and under £40k are no longer there and today the same vehicle, if you can find one, is £45/£46k if not more. One came on in the last few days at £49k but 5k miles. That’s very close to new money.
What I did find out is that so many of the 2nd hand ones are lower spec’d because they’re on PCP and this is done to keep the payments down which is understandable if that’s how you’re buying one and not having to worry about resale but limits the 2nd hand market if you want some toys.
So to the car, we’ve ordered a Misano Blue M40i, with black leather, gloss black interior trim and all the options packs ticked with the exception of the anthracite roof. We preferred the black roof to go with the Shadowline Plus pack. I made an official request to pay for an individual colour as the colour choice is limited on the G29. BMW were very swift in coming back and saying Get Tae!!! The response said the only Individual colour on a G29 is Frozen grey, which we’ve decided against for a few reasons.
There are very few build slots available for M40i’s but the dealer, who’s been fantastic, has with a bit of horse trading managed to secure an early build date. They called this afternoon to say the car is at paint stage today and build stage early next week with delivery around the 18th - 21st of June.
I’d like to thank the G29 forum members who have helped me and answered my questions through their ownership experience and [ref]Swiftly[/ref], for helping me with a test drive route in an area I’m unfamiliar with. Of course I have to mention [ref]ori[/ref], who has assured me many times that the Blue ones are faster, so the black one I had for an extended test drive last week was plenty fast enough so can’t wait to get my hands on a super fast blue one.
My initial impression is compared to the E89 is the cabin is a fair bit bigger. Not saying the E89 is small but at 6’2 and built for comfort rather than speed I found getting my seating position right in the 35iS difficult and felt the seat could’ve been back another 2 inches. In the G29 I had 6-8 inches behind the seats to spare so ideal. Seats are also very comfortable. The additional boot space is also a huge bonus for us. I found the G29 sits flatter, particularly over uneven surfaces, and even though on paper stats match pretty evenly with the 35iS the G29 felt slightly quicker from standing start , but more so 50 > xxx. I definitely put it through its paces on the test drive, so much so I nearly ran out of fuel
The test drive also confirmed it wouldn’t be black as this was after 45 miles in the dry
I also won’t forget the taking the p!ss crew about my “Cav in a party frock”. But nothing less than I expected and as usual the banter and craic didn’t disappoint. One of the many fantastic things about this forum.
We also have made an interim purchase so we’re not totally Zedless but [ref]Pbondar[/ref], says it doesn’t count for making the criteria for going on his forum runs
Counting down the days
I’ve been keeping an eye on the market for a well spec’d pre reg M40i. They were few and far between and the prices have been following the 35’s trend. Cars that were readily available 6-12 months ago with little or no miles and under £40k are no longer there and today the same vehicle, if you can find one, is £45/£46k if not more. One came on in the last few days at £49k but 5k miles. That’s very close to new money.
What I did find out is that so many of the 2nd hand ones are lower spec’d because they’re on PCP and this is done to keep the payments down which is understandable if that’s how you’re buying one and not having to worry about resale but limits the 2nd hand market if you want some toys.
So to the car, we’ve ordered a Misano Blue M40i, with black leather, gloss black interior trim and all the options packs ticked with the exception of the anthracite roof. We preferred the black roof to go with the Shadowline Plus pack. I made an official request to pay for an individual colour as the colour choice is limited on the G29. BMW were very swift in coming back and saying Get Tae!!! The response said the only Individual colour on a G29 is Frozen grey, which we’ve decided against for a few reasons.
There are very few build slots available for M40i’s but the dealer, who’s been fantastic, has with a bit of horse trading managed to secure an early build date. They called this afternoon to say the car is at paint stage today and build stage early next week with delivery around the 18th - 21st of June.
I’d like to thank the G29 forum members who have helped me and answered my questions through their ownership experience and [ref]Swiftly[/ref], for helping me with a test drive route in an area I’m unfamiliar with. Of course I have to mention [ref]ori[/ref], who has assured me many times that the Blue ones are faster, so the black one I had for an extended test drive last week was plenty fast enough so can’t wait to get my hands on a super fast blue one.
My initial impression is compared to the E89 is the cabin is a fair bit bigger. Not saying the E89 is small but at 6’2 and built for comfort rather than speed I found getting my seating position right in the 35iS difficult and felt the seat could’ve been back another 2 inches. In the G29 I had 6-8 inches behind the seats to spare so ideal. Seats are also very comfortable. The additional boot space is also a huge bonus for us. I found the G29 sits flatter, particularly over uneven surfaces, and even though on paper stats match pretty evenly with the 35iS the G29 felt slightly quicker from standing start , but more so 50 > xxx. I definitely put it through its paces on the test drive, so much so I nearly ran out of fuel
The test drive also confirmed it wouldn’t be black as this was after 45 miles in the dry I also won’t forget the taking the p!ss crew about my “Cav in a party frock”. But nothing less than I expected and as usual the banter and craic didn’t disappoint. One of the many fantastic things about this forum.
We also have made an interim purchase so we’re not totally Zedless but [ref]Pbondar[/ref], says it doesn’t count for making the criteria for going on his forum runs
Counting down the days
North West Surrey
(Still dissing it and I had one as well)
Your party frock jibes, keep them coming :lol: