Although I enjoyed driving my 2020 Thar around the city, long distance trips are a bit of a pain in the Thar.
BHPian 84.monsoon recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Since selling my G30 530i early last year, I have periodically had somewhat severe “BMW withdrawal” symptoms – Although I enjoyed driving my 2020 Thar around the city, long distance trips are a bit of a pain in the Thar. After an 8 hour drive to the hills, I would end up feeling like the whole world was still shaking for a few more hours at the destination.
My usage was very low for nearly two years due to COVID and this was one of the reasons I sold the 530i. However, every now and then I would long for a fast drive out of the city, nothing like it to shake off the urban overhang and the monotony of the day to day office commutes and weekend errands! With travel picking up again, opportunities to drive (instead of taking the train or flight) on those long weekend trips came up more often. Made the decision to add back a fast petrol sedan or SUV to the garage.
At first I thought of investing less and getting a used German car. Used car prices were super high throughout 2022 and I could never find a relatively new, low mileage example of a BMW or Audi that was in pristine condition, yet priced sensibly. Came close to buying a very low mileage new-gen X3 petrol late last year, but got cold feet at the last minute as I suspected it was showroom test drive car. Toyed with with the idea of acquiring a Toyota strong hybrid like the Hyryder/Innova Hycross (even booked them) as I think these are really good balance between the EV future and the ICE present, but the driving enthusiast in me could not quite be convinced.
I then started to think about the lease scheme my employer has through ORIX, that would save me a bunch of tax if I went that route. This opened up the budget a bit, as it would save nearly 20% post tax on a 3 year lease as compared to bank financing with no upfront locking of capital.
It was then that I was browsing the M340i thread (am a frequent visitor as I have drooled over this car ever since its launch in 2021.) Somehow the kinky headlights of the G20 never quite appealed to me and when the news of the LCI M340i being launched was posted by fellow-BHPian @Krishnadevjs, I started researching the G20 LCI. Really liked the cleaner shaped headlights and the fact that the M340i now had a mild hybrid system giving it some additional boost and saving some fuel as well!
My heart was set on this car, although it would be well over the amount of money I wanted to spend on the new addition to the garage, as I definitely plan to keep the Thar as well. Took the plunge and booked the car in early December with the Chennai dealer, who initially thought the launch would be in January and deliveries in February. The launch and delivery happened a lot faster than I thought. – the launch just happened with no advance warning during the BMW Joytown Delhi Fest on December 10th, just a few days after I booked the car. In early January, I was told to expect the delivery around January 24th but the car arrived on the 17th itself! It was a Jan 5th 2023 manufactured car.
The lease process was going on the back-foot and I accelerated that, but there are just too many players between my employer, the leasing company, the dealership and RTO and I am finally expecting delivery tomorrow (Feb 2). Since today (Feb 1) is an auspicious day, I went to the dealership to take “Puja” delivery, drive over the customary lemons and take pictures of the car. Kun BMW have been super supportive with everything so far and I look forward to bringing this Cheetah home tomorrow! Here are a few photos of the car from today’s visit.
Keyword: Why I bought a new BMW M340i after selling my G30 530i a year ago