After being bounced from press car to press car, features editor Scott Mead finally had a lengthy term behind the wheel of our blue Bavarian beauty. He was quickly enamored by the silky powertrain, noting, "Those BMW engineers really know how to design and build a car. Powertrain and suspension is perfectly balanced. Inline six is very torquey at the upper rpm band and the tranny is geared to match the linear band."
But the love affair didn't include the GPS navigation system, as Mead stated after a trip to visit his parents in picturesque Lake Arrowhead, "Ve urn drivink ze bot mit wasser? I programmed the Nav system to take us to Lake Arrowhead Village and everything was great, until the system told me to make a right turn where there was no street. Looking at the screen, I watched the 'car' turn off the road and start motoring across the lake. Keep in mind that I'm still driving on a paved road, but the GPS was all washed out." On the trip home, Mead noted that the system became confused for a whopping 20 miles before it finally recalculated the route home, but missed the destination by three blocks. From the looks of things, we'll probably have this checked out at the next service interval.
Mead learned a new term in BMW language: closed-pressure fuel delivery system. Mead also suffered a bout with the "check engine" light illuminating similar to Deborah Greenbaum's experience in December. Mead took the Bimmer to the car wash and the attendant evidently didn't close the fuel cap tight enough after filling the tank. Three days later, the "check engine" light came on and stayed lit after two refills. A trip to Santa Monica BMW ensued, where the technicians found a check engine fault, saying that with the closed fuel system, it usually takes 1,000 miles for the computer to reset itself. The dealer cancelled the fault, washed the car and gave it back within three hours, without charging a dime for their time. Oh, the service writer also said to be sure to get the cap on tight when filling the tank to prevent the fault from occurring in the future.
Looking at the rear tires, we decided that it was about time to replace them as the wear bars were nearing the contact patch. Upon closer inspection, a cut was found in the right rear sidewall, mandating an immediate visit to Stokes Tires in Santa Monica, Calif. Thirty minutes and $427.96 (which included rotating the tires) later, we were back on the road.
One item that Mead, along with all of our recent drivers, didn't like was the red rearview mirror dimmer/alarm LED knob, noting, "I'm already looking for the white head to appear on the BIG RED ZIT hanging on the rearview mirror. If there's no alarm on the car, put a regular pull-to-dim lever on the damn mirror, or make the knob black. It just looks stupid if there's no other use for the darn thing."
Total Odometer Reading: 24,062
Best Fuel Economy: 23.7
Worst Fuel Economy: 20.6
Body Damage: $0
Maintenance Costs: $427.96 (two Continental Sport 225/45R17)
Problems: GPS is confused and confusing.
