08-09-2013, 12:10 PM | #1 |
Second Lieutenant
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Great Fuel Economy and Other Observations
About four weeks ago I purchased a low mileage 2011 28i CPO X3. I took it on its first consequential road trip yesterday. Drove 370 miles at an average speed of 68 mph and over 24 mpg. I did not make any effort to drive economically but drove in my normal mildly aggressive manner with a handful of full throttle accelerations needed to pass drivers that insist on staying in the left lane. Speeds limits (except for the 30-40 non Interstate miles) were typically 65 so I was typically at a true 74 mph as much as possible. I was very pleased with this performance.
I went to some effort to master the iDrive system right after I got the car but never yet really used it to show POI's. In this respect I was very disappointed although the Nav system was otherwise excellent. There does not appear to be a means of showing POI's for a specific category only along the route. As a result, when I asked it to just show "Rest Areas" the entire display, especially in built up areas, became cluttered with those damn little grey boxes. In metro areas it was impossible to see the streets unless zoomed in to the immediate local area. I also was not able to turn off these POI's even though I checked "None" and unchecked "Rest Areas". I have been using the Bluetooth interface with my iphone 5 and used it a lot for Pandora. The only but major safety issue is that it is necessary to use the iPhone screen to change Pandora stations. After I arrived I plugged the iPhone into the console USB port, changed the interface selection as necessary, but then only found it possible to play music already stored on the phone. I have to find out if buying the console plug in adapter, if it becomes available for the iPhone 5, will allow using iDrive to select the Pandora station. Overall I was very pleased with the X3, especially being able to almost directly compare it to a Lexus RX350 we also have. The RX350 drives and handles exactly like my Dad's 1950 and 1960 vintage big heavy metal Buicks so it was real easy to love the X3. |
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