I love an F31. On the short list of cars to replace our E61 in a couple of years and they look so good with just a little bit of love. I truly hope you love your Subaru. The H-6 is a really great engine and as a person who has owned four Subarus I can tell you it is nice to have something with that level of dependability and no-BS AWD.
The F31's shitiness isn't limited to its (non existent) steering feel. It also handles poorly, has a terrible powerband (lag, huge amount of torque, then falls on its face right where you'd want it to pick up if actually driving it fast), has a useless back seat for tall people thanks to the stupid pano sunroof (which is also terrible for COG), can only be had in automatic, can only be had in awd, can only be had as a 4 cylinder, and is horrific to work on. Also, still no dip stick, drain plugs, etc.
I can't think of any combination of wants that would lead me to buy one.
Current Cars: 2005 IR/IR M3, 2001 LMB/blk M5, 2003 530i 5mt, 04 M3 wagon (with ZHP interior and exterior trimmings)
Past cars: 04 M3, 96 M3, S50B32 e36 M3 CM race car, 6mt NA RWD e91
I'm not saying you should buy one, but I can't say I have the same experience as you driving the various loaners I've had throughout the F3x's lifetime.
Handling - had an F34 loaner. Serious eyesore to look at for me personally, but it held its own on the twisty parts of the Merritt Parkway coming from New York into Connecticut. I took those corners at some pretty fast speeds. I was able to place the car accurately in the lane and never once did I feel like I was going to understeer into the guardrail. The suspension was a bit soft but that was expected. It's no ZHP or M3, but it's also no Corolla either.
I experienced very little lag regardless of which F3x I drove (drove 328, 330, and 340 variants). If that's huge lag to you, you should drive some traditional turbo cars. You can't mat the accelerator when it's in top gear and expect it to go anywhere; you've got to keep it in manual mode in a gear you specify if you are driving it fast. In this case there is almost zero lag. There is no falling on its face; it's powerband is so wide that the only way I see that happening is if you're at the very top of the rev range or at the very bottom, and those are pretty far apart extremes. It has to be driven differently than a naturally aspirated BMW. The only other two turbo cars I've driven had significantly more lag; a 2005 VW Jetta GLI 6-speed, and a Mazdaspeed 6. With that said, I do prefer the immediate response of something NA.
Back seat - I fit perfectly fine back there (6'1") when I rode in an F31 a while ago . The average adult male height worldwide is less than 6ft, so I'd say the majority of the world would disagree about the useless part. I also had sufficient legroom compared to my ZHP, which is cramped.
Drain plugs - There is a drain plug for motor oil changes. Transfer case and differential will require a suction gun/pump, but it's not hard to do, and those don't have to be changed all that often so it doesn't even matter that it's slightly more difficult, so I'd say this is hardly a deal breaker.
Can only be had as 4cylinder AWD automatic - yeah, this is a bummer. But that auto is tremendous when paired with the Sport programming and paddles, so it's actually a positive point. Being forced to a 4-cylinder automatic with AWD is also a bummer, but it's redeeming qualities kind of balance out that limitation. The 4-cylinder has good power and fuel economy. Ultimately having choice is always the best, but when you're stuck with a certain config, at least it's a decent one.
Ultimately, you can thank all the people buying those SUVs for the lack of choice here. Might as well give up driving soon, because all that will be available in the near future will be electric, self-driving SUVs.
I didn't mention EPS before, because it was "covered", but I do think it bears bringing back in-- any car where I can't feel the front tires losing grip ruined for me. How can you drive a car at the limit when the limit is hidden from you?
I don't think any meaningful handling judgements can be made on a highway :P
That said, one thing I find endlessly annoying about all EPS cars I've driven is that on the highway I have to endlessly correct. It's exhausting. On cars with steering feel, I can feel the car getting pulled and correct without thinking about it. In EPS cars, I have to wait till I see drift, and then visually correct it. Terrible.
Unequivocally, the power falls off at high RPM.
Yes, it's not an 80s turbo engine when you can count to 5 while it spools. But, any lag means I can't balance understeer/oversteer accurately using the throttle-- which is what I care about, and why I don't want any turbos on any of my cars, ever.
The lack of drain plugs on the diff/transfer case is indicative of every aspect of working on the car. Post e46/e39 era, BMW seems to have completely stopped considering serviceability in the designs of their cars. This is the main reason I sold my wife's e91 and put her in an e39 M5-- working on every aspect of the car was a ridiculous ordeal.
e46 valve cover gasket: 1 hour project
e91 valve cover gasket: 8 hour project
e46 rear main seal: 3 min, no special tools required
e91 rear main seal: 3 stage epoxy that takes multiple hours to set, $500 special tool required, and it leaks more than the e46 version
e46 diff fluid swap: use drain plug
e91 diff fluid swap: drill and tap your own drain hole if you want all the fluid, or use an extractor if you want most
e46 battery swap: replace battery
e91 battery swap: replace battery and reprogram car to accept battery using BMW tool or aftermarket copy
and the new cars are much, MUCH worse than the e9X was.
The sense of relief was free of ever having to work on the e9X again was immense. Unless BMW has a dramatic reverse course on that front, I won't be buying a post e46/e39/e38 ICE car from them.
A car with any of the following is ruined for me:
automatic
turbo
awd
EPS (at least until someone makes a system that isn't ass-- but so far every system I've driven has been)
Each in isolation ruins a car for me. The F31 can only be had with all of them, so.... hard pass.
Last edited by Obioban; 02-21-2019 at 09:23 AM.
Current Cars: 2005 IR/IR M3, 2001 LMB/blk M5, 2003 530i 5mt, 04 M3 wagon (with ZHP interior and exterior trimmings)
Past cars: 04 M3, 96 M3, S50B32 e36 M3 CM race car, 6mt NA RWD e91
Why don't you guys tell me how you really feel?
The only thing that I can say about the sport wagon's rear seats is, I was able to put a rear facing car seat in, and still have room to adjust my seat to where I wanted it.
As for the Subaru, it's my wife's car. She loves it! I love the fact that I dont have to do anything more than oil changes, and cabin filter replacements for the next 4 years. I've driven it a few times, it's a really comfortable, nice riding, and it has plenty of power. It's not a sports car, so I wouldn't expect sport sedan feel.
It does the job, looks nice, and my wife is happy. Mic drop.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
Current Cars: 2005 IR/IR M3, 2001 LMB/blk M5, 2003 530i 5mt, 04 M3 wagon (with ZHP interior and exterior trimmings)
Past cars: 04 M3, 96 M3, S50B32 e36 M3 CM race car, 6mt NA RWD e91