1000 miles maiden trip home from PCD

At long last, I took delivery at PC last Friday October 14 and did a solo drive back to Milwaukee. Some observations:

• This was my first “PCD” and it was worth it. The instructors are great, as is the genius who went through my car upon delivery. While I expected to do some “performance driving”, I did not expect to take a X5 on the “off road” course, which was a fun surprise. I also found the plant tour fascinating. As a bonus, the center was preparing for the big 50th Anniversary of M the following day (Saturday, October 15) where the new M2 was shown. Got to see some very cool race cars as they were being unloaded. I am going back for a driving school within the next year.

• If you do PCD, give yourself a little time to explore nearby Greenville. I had no idea what to expect, but the city was really a really nice blend of shops, restaurants and green spaces – all with easy walking distance once you get downtown.

• Was on the tail of the dragon at sunrise on Saturday (around 7:30a) to avoid the typical weekend congestion. As a warm-up, I came in from the east via Highway 28 which is a great driving road as well. The run was nearly all to myself – and the couple cars I did encounter waived me by when it was safe to do so.

The car:

• There are a silly number of menus and settings to go through on ID8 – as the multiple displays all have stuff that can be selected. It doesn’t appear the content is truly customizable (eg I cannot select the info I want to see into a single view). The new display is a mixed bag for me. I’m not fan of the driver display – it looks awkward behind the steering wheel and I prefer the traditional instrument pod as seen on the 2022’s. I have, however, come around to loving the second display for maps and Apple Carplay (which has glitched out on me a couple times).

• The H&K option sounds good enough and I probably won’t modify it (famous last words).

• Can we please leave the Stop/start button on the dash next to the steering wheel? And after training me to hit the park button on the shifter, BMW moves it to the center console as well…I still find myself reverting to my old habits

• I didn’t think would ever need “auto hold”, but I sure got used to that feature very quickly at long stoplights!

• I wish my optioned rhombicle trim extended over the glove box

• If you just are casually cruising, the car does well on MPG given weight, AWD and power. I was in “comfort” mode and set cruise control between 80-85 on the interstates and never dipped below 32 MPG. There was one stretch where I was 90-95 (thank you Audi R8 wherever you are) and still managed 28 MPG. Despite this, the tank seems a tad small at somewhere under 14 gallons.

• The car is surprisingly quiet; however, I do have the summer tires (Pirelli’s – as I did not opt for ZTK) which makes a difference vs run flats.

• Suspension is very good. Again, in comfort mode it soaks up quite a bit of broken pavement, potholes, railroad crossings and the like. When in sport (as we did at the PC), it firms up as expected and corners well.

• As much has been expressed about the 240 being overweight and the brakes underwhelming (again, non-ZTK here), I didn’t find anything really notable in either area. I did overcook a couple of corners on the tail, and the brakes seemed more than adequate to bring my speed/heart-rate down.

• Also as noted everywhere, the steering really doesn’t offer a lot of feedback. I also find the steering wheel itself a bit too thick for a comfortable grip in hard cornering.

• Speaking of cornering, there is something clanging in the trunk in these situations. I think the flat tire air compressor has too much play (the tie-down strap and Velcro strips are pretty weak)

• The auto climate program has greatly improved since my last BMW (f30), as it is much more intelligent to the outside temperature – eg the heat kicked in a bit more as the outside air got colder and inside temps remained at the same temp. While this further reduces the demand for fixed HVAC controls – I would still prefer them over the “orphaned” audio volume knob and track forward and back buttons that I have yet to use (I use the steering wheel controls).

• The adaptive headlights (premium package) are excellent – this is the second car I have had with full LED headlights and they are a vast improvement vs halogen or xenon. This was a huge confidence booster on highway 28 (leading to the tail of the dragon) as it was still pretty dark out.

• Digital key: Love it, but cannot figure out why my profile is not loading in the car when I unlock the door (I have it enabled via my profile). Will try to remove it and re-install to see if that does the trick

Some pics from the PC – it will never be this clean again…ever. BTW I installed the “Tommy L Garage” splash/rock guards in the parking lot of the Zentrum center