For much of the month of July, our BMW 328i was in the capable hands of photo editor Scott Jacobs. If you recall from June's update, our car spent some time at Santa Monica BMW for its 30,000-mile service near the end of the month. One of the repairs which we had wanted done -- repairing a buzzy-sounding speaker (under warranty) -- hadn't been completed because the dealership didn't have the necessary parts in stock. Since we didn't want our BMW sitting around the dealership, we took it back with the understanding that the dealership would notify us when the parts came in.
About one week later, that's exactly what happened. Santa Monica BMW gave us a call to tell us that the parts were in. On the same day, we also received a mail notification stating the speaker parts had arrived.
The next morning, Scott drove the BMW to the dealership at the appointed time. A service co-coordinator pleasantly greeted him. "I was a little put off by her calling me 'sir' all the time," said Scott. "I'm a blue jeans and T-shirt kind of guy; I'm used to 'dude' and 'hey buddy' or even an occasional 'chump.'"
After confirming our appointment, the service co-coordinator asked Scott to help himself to coffee and pastries while he talked to a technician about the service that was going to be performed. "After a brief wait, I was greeted by another "sir" reference and told that the repairs were under warranty and should be completed by 3 p.m. that day," Scott said. He then hitched a ride back to the office. At noon, the dealership called to say that the repairs were complete.
Unfortunately, this run into Santa Monica BMW wasn't as smooth as the first. Being lunchtime at the dealership, the service area was very crowded with other customers. "The overworked secretary quickly pushed my papers around and sharply told me to wait for the BMW outside," Scott said. "I felt inclined to ask, 'Uh, exactly where outside?' but I didn't want to ask any more questions, due to her stressed nature. After a 15-minute wait, the car came up all nice and clean from a courtesy wash."
Servicing thus completed, our BMW was able to rejoin the herd and blend in with all the other BMWs roaming the highways of Los Angeles. If you didn't think about all the parking scrapes on the front-right wheel or the minor ding in the trunk (the ding being there since the first week we bought the car), our BMW almost felt like a new car.
The navigation system seemed much improved (the display no longer showed the BMW spinning aimlessly in a parking lot while you were driving down the freeway, for instance), but we did notice that the update included a grammar change. Before it would say, "At the next intersection, turn right." Now it says, "Right turn at the next intersection." What's up with the bad grammar, BMW?
At the end of July, we took our BMW to the test track, where we were performing instrumented testing on a 2000 Lexus IS 300. Since the IS 300 is aimed at the same crowd that buys BMW 3 Series cars, we thought it would be interesting to have the BMW there at the track as a benchmark.
Since none of the editorial-types here at Edmunds.com get paid enough to buy either of these cars, it was convenient to have a potential customer tag along with us. An account executive for a public-relations firm, "Jack" had heard we were testing the IS 300, and he wanted get a closer look at it, as he was interested in buying one.
Even though he hadn't driven either the Lexus or our BMW at the beginning of the day, he was much more excited about the IS 300. To Jack, the Lexus was cheaper and better looking. But then he sat in both cars and later test-drove them. By the end of the day, his views had completely flipped. He didn't think that the Lexus was a bad car, per se; it was just that the BMW was much better. He thought the BMW's interior materials were superior, and he liked its manual transmission and responsive steering. Asked if he would still buy an IS 300 over a BMW 3 Series, Jack replied, "No."
So there you have it: BMW: 1; Lexus: 0.
Total Odometer Reading: 29,557
Best Fuel Economy: 20.1 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 15.6 mpg
Body Damage: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: Windows creak.
