This is the third generation of 3-series BMW I've owned. My first BMW was a 1993 325i, E36 in BMW code. I've also owned several E46s (still have 3 on the road). And now I have an E90. Excited to have the newer and better designs and technology. However it is interesting to see that not everything is better. Here are some thoughts on the E90. In fact there are several things gone all together. There is no spare tire, no dipstick and no temperature gauge.
No spare tire. Well this is pretty obvious why it isn't cool. But beyond the obvious the trunk space is smaller. The specs I had read was the e90 trunk was LARGER. There is no way this is true. That is if you include the space in the trunk where the spare is. And it is trunk space and should be included. On a recent trip with my e90 I took a BMW wheel with me to return to my brother. With that wheel in the trunk there was not much room left for luggage. Only hand luggage or duffle bags would fit. In contrast my previous 3-series BMWs had a spare
and could fit luggage in as well. What gives? The reviews of the e90 said the trunk is bigger. No way!
No dipstick. Found this out soon after getting the car. How do you check the oil then? There is an electronic sensor. Well that sounds ok. I guess. Except in older cars it is nice to look at the oil to look for and diagnose problems. Guess one has to drain the oil to do that now. And how about doing an oil change. How does one know if they have filled it up enough? The electronic sensor can take up to 5 min to get the oil level vs 10 seconds with a dipstick. This may be some cool tech that allows me to check the oil when I drive (that is pretty funny). But keep the dipstick too. Deleting it is a big annoyance.
No temperature gauge. I hadn't really thought much about it. That is until, the weather got cold and my heater wasn't warm. The first question I needed to answer was is the engine getting warm. Something that on previous 3-series was just a glance at the dash. Now I had to go through trouble to find out. Find and connect a diagnostic tool to the car. Just to find no it wasn't getting to temperature. Something I would have noticed BEFORE it had gotten cold if I would have had a temperature gauge. (And no there was no check engine light). So I had several very cold drives while getting the parts and repairs done. And had to work on the car in the cold. All knowing this would have been done in the warm weather if there had been a temperature gauge. Oh and by the way. It wasn't a simple thermostat. That was the first and third thing I replaced trying to repair it (oddly it was the radiator).
Over all I like the car. There are many things that are improved. But it seems to me there isn't a reason to make the car worse in some ways while better in others. Feels like a case of one step forward. Ones step back.
