ISUK

Japan red is the standard red that is offered on the 3 series compact range.

I've ammended my spec this morning to include the following items: -

Logic 7, Maple wood trim, extended light package, front seat heating, TV function, and floor mats.

I'm going to keep the active steering but won't be adding comfort seats as the sports seats are more than adequate for me. I'm not sure how they deal with comfort seats if you order individual anyway as you can only order them in the UK if you spec one of the leather options. Seems silly to order leather then have it removed for the individual leather. My dealer is not clear on how this cost would be worked out either.

The extended voice control is also far from clear as the brochure says it's included with pro nav but the website configurator suggests that it is an additional cost option.

cpd1

I am waiting on dealer to come back on the voice extended control, I'll let U know what he says.
I think the way it works if the dealer has to spec leather in order to add the seats, I had the same thing with teh comfort seats then the leather cost gets credited towards the Individual. I have all the specs at home and will confirm the calculation tonight. L7 is a great addition. I think front seat heating is really nice, I use them everyday as my car is parked outside.

ISUK

It'll be interesting to see how you get on with trying to get HUD. It isn't listed as an option in either the SE option price list brochure or the latest sport model price list brochure.

cpd1

Thx guys, why would somebody pay ?2,000 for a standard colour on a cheaper model?
Dealer just confirmed that extended voice control is extra, ?270, only avail. with Nav Prof. I think it has been delayed multple times hence why it is not included in many brochures/pricelists....
C

ISUK

cpd1,

Sterling grey is a standard colour offering on the Z4, X5 and 7 series. Imola red is standard fare on the 3 series Sport models (and was also a standard colour on the E39 5 series Sport models). I really like Imola red but IMHO it would most likely look awful on the E60 as the car is too big to take such a strong colour.

BMW seem to have a strange pricing policy on additional paint finishes. I think Audi have a much better approach to this. You can have any colour in the Audi range on any car provided you are willing to pay extra for it. I think it is around GBP ?1500 to do this. The other strange anomaly is that there is a far wider choice of colour under Individual on the outgoing E46 3 series compared with the "new" E60. As the E60 is generally a more expensive car I would have thought it was more likely that E60 owners would opt for an Individual finish.

igor

Thanks for the info and your suggestions, gents.

Here we do not have sports cars as distinguished from the standard ones (up to now at least). Just one more option available : M sport paket. So it won't normally give you possibility for ad. Individual colours. Apart from that some other considerations:
I'm going to take AC Schnitzers front and side skirts (which I like much more) and fully painted aerodinamic mirrors.
I do not want to take sport suspension as I find my present cur ride too harsh and
have problem with small clearance which wud be aggreviated further by the ACS adds. I think for better cornering Dynamic Drive shud be sufficient.
Anyway for 2,000 pounds I shud normally get any other BMW colour irrespective of the Individual programme.

cpd1 : I have the old broshure of BMW individual with the same green car. Looks
not bad . But not a very popular colour for resale. Again difficult for maintenance like all the dark blues and blacks (though they are all nice ). I am lazy and can't spend so much time washing and polishing it every day. So all the grey/silver colurs are best in this regard as well as to show the lines (if you are fond of them). As concerns the resale value I'm not sure the car without plastic
will not be in demand. On the contrary some pepoly could be ready to pay dearly
for the reall quality improvement which is difficult to get in particluar on the secondary market wher you can't easilly order options u want.
Just my 2 cents

browellm

Hmmpf, tell me about it. While you're speaking to him ask him what the retrofit cost is for a car that already has Prof Nav.

cpd1

ISUK: dealer told me that HUD should be available from Wk 1 '05, price is ?880. It seems that the multiple delays so far have arisen because BMW has been unable to locate a supplier of RHD windscreens. I think the HUD display area has a special coating and this seems to be the issue. As I said, the current thinking is that it should be available for production early Jan. The M5 will have HUD as standard so BMW must be working on a solution, I remember all the glossy brochures for the Touring back in May touting the "now available" HUD

Browellm: I will ask about retrofit and report back, if it is doable I am sure BMW will try to charge some really vulgar amount of money for it

C

ISUK

I hope you manage to get the HUD. I personally don't want/need it. I still have the brochure from August last year when I ordered my car and it shows HUD as being available from 2nd quarter 2004. I guess 1st quarter 2005 isn't too bad a delay then BMW I wouldn't count on it happening though as the model has been plagued by delays on the areas involving new technology. Incidentally the same brochure states that the extended voice control system would be included with nav pro from Jan 04. It seems BMW GB have taken the opportunity to renege on this and charge extra for it. At least they have bundled prov nav into the media pack and given an overall saving if you take this option.

The windscreen coating issue sounds very suspect. I wouldn't have thought that BMW has more than 2 suppliers of windscreens and what the heck is difficult about moving the "coating" from the LHS of the screen to the RHS? It is symetrical after all or am I missing something groundbreaking here in terms of an engineering problem?

cpd1

ISUK, I agree, smells like BS but that was the party line given to me by 2 different dealers. I would like to have it to satisfy my gadgets addictions but won't let it delaying my order so if comes Jan '05 it is avail fine otherwise i will save myself ?880