I picked up the E91 sportswagon today, waited 9 weeks. First impressions are pretty good. Drive feel is tight and nimble, not too different from my E46 with sports suspension. With x-drive, the wagon does ride higher, couldn't really feel the difference on turns, but probably wasn't going sharp enough. Didn't have a chance to get it on the highway yet to feel the extra horses.
As for interior, the Premium and Cold packages were as expected. The lumbar support is nice, didn't have it on the E46. The panoramic moonroof opens widely, and both front and rear panels can vent. Interior noise is reduced.
As for technology, there is alot of it. The iDrive is not too difficult to use, I've gone thru all the menus and settings already (took about 1 hour). I could see how the less tech/gadget folks can get frustrated. My only complaint is the voice commands, which I find slow. Probably will get faster as I learn the key words.
The Bluetooth works seemlessly, mated to my Motorola right away. In fact I got a call from my wife while I was tinkering with the car, she caught me red-handed.
The Homelink took the longest ... had to look up previous posts on this forum to figure it out (if you have a garage openner with roving codes, the instruction provided in the BMW manual is insufficient. You basically use the same instructions on setting your remote to the garage openner as specified in the garage openner manual, see www.homelink.com). The only annoyance about the Homelink is that it works only when the ignition is on.
As for the exterior, I am getting used to the design. This new color sparkling graphite looks very similar to the E46 Steel Metallic, perhaps a shade darker.
The path lighting is pretty nice. The iDrive also allows you to select how many seconds to run the path lighting, turn on/off features like day running lights, triple turn signal (which many find annoying), safety door locks, etc.
As for interior, the Premium and Cold packages were as expected. The lumbar support is nice, didn't have it on the E46. The panoramic moonroof opens widely, and both front and rear panels can vent. Interior noise is reduced.
As for technology, there is alot of it. The iDrive is not too difficult to use, I've gone thru all the menus and settings already (took about 1 hour). I could see how the less tech/gadget folks can get frustrated. My only complaint is the voice commands, which I find slow. Probably will get faster as I learn the key words.
The Bluetooth works seemlessly, mated to my Motorola right away. In fact I got a call from my wife while I was tinkering with the car, she caught me red-handed.
The Homelink took the longest ... had to look up previous posts on this forum to figure it out (if you have a garage openner with roving codes, the instruction provided in the BMW manual is insufficient. You basically use the same instructions on setting your remote to the garage openner as specified in the garage openner manual, see www.homelink.com). The only annoyance about the Homelink is that it works only when the ignition is on.
As for the exterior, I am getting used to the design. This new color sparkling graphite looks very similar to the E46 Steel Metallic, perhaps a shade darker.
The path lighting is pretty nice. The iDrive also allows you to select how many seconds to run the path lighting, turn on/off features like day running lights, triple turn signal (which many find annoying), safety door locks, etc.
![[;)]](/images/smilies/wink.png "Wink [;)]")
![[:D]](/images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin [:D]")
. Yes its an annoyance that it does not work when the key is in the ignition, but think of this way, if your car is outside and some one breaks into it, they can't open your garage.