Sad day….

[SRGTD]

@Hertsman; it looks great , and a nice early Christmas present. Looking forward to hearing what life’s like with a 128Ti.

[Exonian]

Commiserations (TCR) and congratulations (128ti) Hertsman.
Never mind all that other fluff - how’s the heated steering wheel? 

[Adam T7]

Commiserations (TCR) and congratulations (128ti) Hertsman.
Never mind all that other fluff - how’s the heated steering wheel? 

Guy I go shooting with has a heated steering wheel in his Range Rover, reckons it’s the best thing since sliced bread

[Hertsman]

Let us know if you manage to get the seat position comfortable.... because I certainly couldn't!

Its a great car apart from that...

Now completed 500 miles can understand why you would say that, as it took quite a few adjustments to get seat to position that really felt comfortable in and also feel the additional adjustments make you sit in a more correct, upright fashion with real and prominent lumbar support, that creates some initial discomfort of its own.

The GTI seats have up and down and barely noticeable manual lumbar, the 128Ti seats have up and down, front tilt (up and down) an extension for under leg, and electric lumbar and bolster controls, that when at max are quite prominent and can extend right up the back to preference.


So, feel its amount of adjustment initially works against it, as it does force you to sit in a more supported way, via the lumbar, tilt, extender, and your body has to adjust to that change also, hence the immediate discomfort and fidgeting about, as now just jump in, and sit comfortably no matter the journey.

[Hertsman]

@Hertsman; it looks great , and a nice early Christmas present. Looking forward to hearing what life’s like with a 128Ti.

The 128Ti overall is such a different car to drive than MK 7 x which been in for 9 years, so its taken a little while to get used to, but at 500 miles now starting to feel at one with car and its nuances, and still about 500 miles away from testing performance, but its starting to loosen in the hand and starting to show me its performance attributes.

One of aspects had to get past is that it felt a little too grown up and premium, it was all too nice in luster in the cabin, but that's dissipating as get used to it, and it becomes the normal.

Do love the Wireless Car Play and the literal plethora of shortcuts and standard buttons for every function, have assigned a few in menu options to the 1-8 buttons, and the screen, with selectable widgets has iPad responsiveness, but tend to use the wheel, which again is highly intuitive.

Have had DCC on all three of my MK 7 Golfs, so was little concerned to the 128Ti passive set up, but its been a huge surprise, really smooth, especially on good roads, easily between Normal and Comfort on GTI as a comparison, though did notice it does 'jiggle' a little bit on lesser surfaces, which GTI did in Sport to maybe a slightly lesser extent.

Still hard to do a proper assessment as still nannying the first 1000 miles, but its shown me enough to be hopeful that the pleasant running around in comfort at present will transform at the press to Sport into the decent performance drive that enjoyed in the R and the TCR.

[Hertsman]

Commiserations (TCR) and congratulations (128ti) Hertsman.
Never mind all that other fluff - how’s the heated steering wheel? 

HaHa, for £150 an absolute bargain, very pleasant indeed on a cold morning, though downside is one cold morning the wife took it opposed to hers, citing the steering wheel 

128Ti is such a change from the Golf, the driving position, you feel less over the front wheels, the interior, that its taken sometime to get to that zone where you feel completely at one with the car, but on cusp of that now, just starting to dart it about within the limits of not pushing the revs till 1000 miles, and with the original stiffness/newness declining the 128Ti is starting to feel increasingly agile as my understanding to its attributes increase.

So jury is still out, but can say already that its a well built, premium feel car, that's a really nice car to drive and sit in on comfort setting for the normal day to day drive, and quite hopeful it will show decent performance attributes when can truly stretch it out

[Sootchucker]

I nearly cancelled my new Tiguan a few times when the delivery times went ridiculous, and looked at a few BMW's. One was an X3 and one a 3 series Tourer.

However they both fell through when I wanted to order the Premium pack (I think that's what it was called). It was a £3k plus option on both cars but included driving assistant pro (Adaptive cruise control etc), Harmon Kardon, Wireless Phone Charging, keyless entry, steering wheel heating (and one or two others that I can't remember). They only told me just as I was about to pay a deposit for the 3 series, that due to supply issues, on the Premium pack, the Driving assistance pro, Harmon Kardon, Wireless Phone Charging and Keyless had been removed from the packs, leaving just 3 or 4 relatively low cost options. However they only knocked £800 off the option pack and still wanted me to pay £2300 for it !! I told them to shove it, and just continued to wait for the Tiggy.

However one thing I will say, is that BMW could definitely show VW a thing or two about designing an interior and the integration of all that tech into the car. Compared to my then only 3 year old GTI, it made it feel like it was from a different decade ! In fairness I should add that our last 11 VW's have all been absolutely bullet proof and none of them needed a single warranty visit to the dealer (let's hop ethe Tiggy continues that trend), so I've no knowledge if BMW's are really reliable or not, but god they produce some really nice cars.

[Exonian]

Great to see both yourself and Mrs Hertsman have embraced the modern motoring nirvana that is the heated steering wheel!  My younger self would pour derision on that comment but I’m not young anymore 

I think the feeling of sitting further behind the front axle is partly an illusion as both BMW and Audi have positioned their windscreens slightly further back towards the cab area in their 1 series and A3 respectively to keep that traditional and distinctive long bonnet styling carried over from their barge sized models. Interior space is similar in all those cars and the boot of the 1’er took the genuine VW mk7 Golf boot liner almost millimetre perfectly when I had mine.

Keep the updates coming, they’re great reading

[Hertsman]

I nearly cancelled my new Tiguan a few times when the delivery times went ridiculous, and looked at a few BMW's. One was an X3 and one a 3 series Tourer.

However they both fell through when I wanted to order the Premium pack (I think that's what it was called). It was a £3k plus option on both cars but included driving assistant pro (Adaptive cruise control etc), Harmon Kardon, Wireless Phone Charging, keyless entry, steering wheel heating (and one or two others that I can't remember). They only told me just as I was about to pay a deposit for the 3 series, that due to supply issues, on the Premium pack, the Driving assistance pro, Harmon Kardon, Wireless Phone Charging and Keyless had been removed from the packs, leaving just 3 or 4 relatively low cost options. However they only knocked £800 off the option pack and still wanted me to pay £2300 for it !! I told them to shove it, and just continued to wait for the Tiggy.

However one thing I will say, is that BMW could definitely show VW a thing or two about designing an interior and the integration of all that tech into the car. Compared to my then only 3 year old GTI, it made it feel like it was from a different decade ! In fairness I should add that our last 11 VW's have all been absolutely bullet proof and none of them needed a single warranty visit to the dealer (let's hop ethe Tiggy continues that trend), so I've no knowledge if BMW's are really reliable or not, but god they produce some really nice cars.

Have been on the Baby BMW forum since ordered and there has been some horror stories of 18 month waits, tech being removed or just finding it was deleted when received the car, even car personally received had the drivers cubby removed, and the ambient lighting strips in read replaced with LED lights in the handle, everything else was as ordered.

BMW really suffered with chip supply as it was mainly the tech that you quoted that was dropped across the range from what seen, however, the last 2 months have seen a flurry of cars arrive on quoted times, and with much of the tech you quoted now available, so maybe a sign some normality is returning

Personally had an Oct delivery moved to Dec delivery, that was met, and as car pretty much as specced, got away lightly

All three of my MK 7 Golfs, GTD, R and GTI had zero garage visits outside of servicing in 9 years, so like you, cannot fault the quality of any of them cars.

The interior of this 1 series is definitely a level above the MK 7 and media integration and manipulation is different class, and it feels well bolted together, everything seems fitted well and with no squeaks or anything like that,

Do miss the DSG lever, still getting used to the gear selector and still trying to see how feel about the gear changes as it does feel different, more blends into next gear than feel the change into, but until can push the revs its just super smooth seamless changes at revs doing.

First BMW after being an Audi VW man for last 20 years, so at 500 miles a lot of assessment to come.

[Hertsman]

Great to see both yourself and Mrs Hertsman have embraced the modern motoring nirvana that is the heated steering wheel!  My younger self would pour derision on that comment but I’m not young anymore 

I think the feeling of sitting further behind the front axle is partly an illusion as both BMW and Audi have positioned their windscreens slightly further back towards the cab area in their 1 series and A3 respectively to keep that traditional and distinctive long bonnet styling carried over from their barge sized models. Interior space is similar in all those cars and the boot of the 1’er took the genuine VW mk7 Golf boot liner almost millimetre perfectly when I had mine.

Keep the updates coming, they’re great reading

She warmed to it straight away, especially the wheel (see what did there  ) think she appreciates the premium aspects more than me, interior wise, its more her car, there is still some artisan in me, as find no problem to jump in the MK 6 GTI and enjoy that as equally as much even if light years behind tech wise.

Now getting used to the dimensions, think you are spot on, its a bit smoke and mirrors on where felt sitting as again starting to feel at one with car and that's increasingly a non factor/thought.

Actually bought myself an OEM boot liner, which is quite swish, but wish had checked the 'cool liner' took out of the TCR now as nothing wrong with it, never even thought to check it would fit in the 1 series!

Its highly likely will end up with a late MK 7 again at some point so the Cool Liner will just have to take up some shed space till then

Going to get the car well past the 1000 mile mark and hopefully with full familiarity and being able to freely drive in manner of its predecessors can give a really informed opinion on how stacks up against them predecessors and as BMW stab at a GTI