Sorry for the delay guys. We're expecting a baby this week plus work got crazy. To clarify some questions raised ...
Engine noise: In one sentence, it's not loud. Details: Inside the cabin it's quiet and sounds like any sedan. Outside and on a cold start, it sounds like a 2012 Audi diesel engine ... huh!?! Well, it's quiet (not hybrid quiet), but it doesn't sound like a usual gasoline engine. The audio tone components in that sound are different. I noticed the different sound right away but my wife felt it was normal("All I know is it's on, what should I be hearing?").
Front Grill: No idea about this. Based on the factory-built video (I 'custom' built mine) they install this at the factory itself by hand-snapping it in. I didn't request one way or the other. Actually I don't care about this.
Color: Space grey is awesome in person. It's a lot better than I thought. It's got a very neutral tone without undertones of yellow or red. With black leather seats it looks great. And oh, with the black leather seats you get contrast stitching (white threads) without asking for it. Its not the extra thick threads you get with a custom 911 or on an M3 I once drove but it's NOT thin and it's visible.
Interior trim: I got the dark wood interiors. My order of preference (=> personal choice!) is dark wood > brushed aluminum > regular aluminum > light wood. I refused to buy a car with the light wood, requiring me to put a custom order.
Weight (or "@Tangsta"
)
Regarding the remark about "328i coolaid" and following discussions: I wish; but I wasn't. Heck I didn't register on any board till a few days back. I say I wish because if I had lurked around I would have learnt about BMW's "Bluetooth Standard" actually being "
Bluetooth Castrated". And my product premium assessment figure of $4000 wasn't a hyperbole; it's my valuation of the product (2.5k to 4k). BMW won't price them that way, not till most customers feel that way and it's still profitable, but thats my valuation.
Weight distribution:
The "110 lbs on a ____ lbs automobile" argument is oversimplification. WHERE that weight is, matters. Don't take my word, pop up the hood on an xDrive28i - there is a huge vacant spot between the front grills and the front edge of the N20 engine. Apart from lateral placement, even vertical placement and # of moving parts (50% extra on a 6 cylinder) influence the handling. And between running two startups and prep'ing for a baby, I admittedly didn't do as much homework as I would have liked. So I didn't have any prior knowledge apart from "N20: worth a test drive". I just drove the X3's back to back and made notes of what I felt. I did the same for the other SUVs.
Weight of the options:
The panoramic moonroof weighs the same on both the xDrive28 and the xDrive35. As do the other options. So while they do add weight, those are fully independent factors from the engine options. That leads us to ...
Weight philosophy:
Through the history of car designs, there have been engineering tensions in weight vs power. There is no "right" answer but my ...
philosophy is "less weight". Other might prefer more power and it's not my business to tell them right vs wrong.
To each their own and although I'm 100% capitalistic, in the grand scheme of things, it's just a car ...