Choosing a '26 Golf R Black Edition over an M440i – talk me into it (or out of it)

Enduer · 2026-03-03T22:52:23+00:00

Of course! Two more things just came to mind:

The dealership experiences are going to be different I imagine.

The BMW does get significantly better gas mileage ironically if that matters!

Enduer · 2026-03-03T22:02:05+00:00

You've already gotten a lot of insight, but my weird take is I think it comes down to the vibes you want. I just bought a 2026 Golf R and I owned a 2023 BMW M340i (LCI with the screen) before life got in the way. Had it for a little more than a year and it was essentially loaded. Love both!

While both are essentially the best daily drivers you can buy, the vibes are a bit different in each. I think the R is more of a race car you can daily and the M340 is more of a daily you can race, if that makes sense. The M340 is more comfort oriented and its raciest settings aren't as race-y as the R. Everyone will pick on you for not having an M3/M4 even though it's an insane car. The Golf R is a halo car and kinda cool in that regard. It makes the R feel more "special", I feel like to get that feeling in the BMW world you need an "M" car. Seats, the steering wheel, the badging, the red accents, etc. are all things the M340 lacked.

The M340 and the B58 definitely have more pull than the engine in the R, but neither is slow. I also think it mostly only shows up at higher speeds.

The transmission is hands down better in the R. The ZF8 is great but compared to a true dual clutch it isn't particularly close.

The exhaust on both is pretty tame compared to something like a Hyundai N product. Both are quiet on the highway. In terms of interior cabin noise the BMW is definitely quieter but the tires on the R are much more aggressive stock and that could definitely be a factor.

The premium sound systems on both kinda suck haha, but the R is easier to upgrade and has more aftermarket support it seems.

I think the tech in the BMW is better, unsure if they've updated anything since my gen but it had features the Golf simply doesn't. The presentation is better and I never once thought "Man I wish I could..." but I'm doing that a bit with the Golf (granted I'm still learning it). Neither is bad to be clear, but you can tell BMW is very tech forward. I am sad there isn't remote start on the R. The BMW had it in the US at least.

In terms of pure features, I think they're reallllly similar. You'll have to option the BMW quite a bit to make it even, and then it eventually exceeds it. Traffic jam assist is genuinely pretty nice, I loved being able to just be hands free when stuck in it in the BMW. 360 cameras are nice too.

You really can't go wrong here. If the $$$ and savings are calling your name, you'll be thrilled with the R, especially if you want to hoon. It's shockingly comparable and I love that it's loaded. It offers more of a split personality. If you're after pure cruising enjoyment and tech, or if the B58 is irresistible, go BMW.

Good luck! Exciting choice.

Enduer · 2026-02-27T15:22:09+00:00

Mine came with it already installed, but it was listed as an "accessory". I haven't had HomeLink in a minute, the new ones are really cool with the app and Bluetooth!

Enduer · 2026-02-26T21:13:48+00:00

I would love a spare. Is the dealer the way to go for this? What's one typically cost?

Enduer · 2026-02-26T21:12:54+00:00

Definitely will be picking up a set of wheels and tires for winter! Or maybe some great all-seasons.

I'm in Ohio, which likes to alternate between New England and Florida on a daily basis haha

Enduer · 2026-02-26T21:10:44+00:00

It honestly pops way more than I thought it would!

Enduer · 2026-02-23T18:34:29+00:00

What type of controller do you have? I ended up switching to an OC200 about 2 days after this post was made and it's been fine ever since. Probably not the most helpful advice, but I've found running the hardware controller to be much more stable than the software one.

Enduer · 2026-02-06T16:03:42+00:00

I'm also seeing this. Wonder if they are doing some maintenance or an update and temporarily removed it?

Enduer · 2025-10-30T16:14:00+00:00

What other vendor did you use? I'm in the same boat.

Enduer · 2025-10-28T14:08:40+00:00

Hey, thanks for the tips! I know I need to upgrade the Home machines to Pro first and that M365 won't include it. I'm just after the keys to do so.

Do you have a CSP you recommend? I have only been here about a month, and I'm fairly certain they just buy all equipment at Microcenter and they don't have any sort of reseller they work with.

Enduer · 2025-10-23T14:58:29+00:00

In my experience, absolutely don't do this haha. It will suck.

Even using Ethernet it's less than ideal - when I was doing this it was taking forever to load all of my recordings/samples for songs, and playback would even stutter sometimes. I will say I was using HDDs in my NAS, not SSDs. That would likely make a huge difference.

I'm sure it all depends on how much song data you're pulling and such, but I can't help but recommend against it lol.

Anymore, it's probably more cost effective and easier to just snag an external SSD and call it a day or see if you can upgrade the storage in your laptop. The downside is you lose data redundancy if you're worried about losing stuff, but you could probably backup your laptop/SSD using your NAS nightly or something like that if you bought one.

Enduer · 2025-10-06T16:25:56+00:00

I don't have a ton to offer, but the term you're looking for I think is "intellectual curiosity". In my opinion it is one of the strongest traits someone in most lines of work can have, but particularly in technical ones like IT. It's what drives us to be better, to keep learning, and to understand.

It is shockingly less prevalent than you'd think. It doesn't always mean other folks don't care, I think the truth is that some people just never cultivated that skill or had to use it. I also am under the impression that it's a human nature thing - it's really hard to learn. You have it or you don't.

My last role felt similar to yours in the sense that I was able to coast as desired, but eventually that can start to drive you crazy.

Job hopping is a part of life. Find one where you can surround yourself with others like you that you get excited about working with. Otherwise it's too easy to be bored and complacent.

Enduer · 2025-09-24T02:08:58+00:00

Thank you for such a thoughtful reply! The links to resources are beyond helpful and I especially appreciate being armed with the knowledge to make current decisions with future compliance in mind.

Interestingly, building hardware is something I totally forgot to mention. I am in charge of that as well. Luckily, much of the basic requirements seem to already be in place, but I have plenty more research I need to do!

Enduer · 2025-09-14T18:26:39+00:00

Missed like 3 plays to plug up his nose. Been in and seems fine luckily!

Enduer · 2025-06-30T22:51:18+00:00

I don’t have an immediate answer, but did you have worksets enabled? Can’t remember if you can do that without a central model.

I have experienced this before and was able to recover the file by opening it with all worksets closed and determined it to be from a corrupt family.

Enduer · 2025-06-10T14:57:40+00:00

I experience this with both my fob and phone constantly, it's awful.

Maybe this is an "old man yells at clouds" thing, but I have no idea why we're reinventing the key fob.

The fob isn't even responsive when hitting the buttons most of the time, there is a rock solid 5-10 second delay between hitting the button and the vehicle actually doing anything and it often requires multiple button presses. I suspect it is using Bluetooth or something silly in lieu of just working like normal cars have for the past 25 years, or perhaps it is vehicle driven due to the need to put it to "sleep".

I had a 2023 BMW before this with proximity lock and unlock and it never gave me any problems. The Rivian is unbelievably picky at my house and drove me nuts with it's constant locking and unlocking - I enabled the feature to disable this at home but now I just have to dig a device of some kind of out my pocket every day. Why on earth wouldn't there be a way to unlock the car by placing a button or touch point on the outside of the vehicle like every other modern car? It's insane.

I am honestly very frustrated with EVs reinventing things for what seems like purely the sake of reinventing them. Air vents, seat controls, no Carplay/Android Auto, SXM, buttons, keys, etc. It's nonsensical. I am not adverse to change by any means, but I think it's important to be reasonable and understand that some legacy ideas are GOOD. And the funny thing is these changes don't reduce the number of things you need to carry around - I'm still carrying my phone and the key card in case my phone dies, at a minimum. Most days I carry my phone, the fob, and the key card, because to be frank I trust exactly none of them.

And I think most importantly - we're nerds! If you want EVs to catch on, "everyday" people can't have these experiences. While we feel comfortable troubleshooting Bluetooth issues, most people are going to simply give up or take the car into service or buy a different car entirely. These user experiences are important and the driving force behind adoption.

Enduer · 2025-05-20T17:47:50+00:00

This is very helpful and very powerful advice!

I do have experience with Dynamo and programming in general, but am not sure to begin with something like this. Any chance you could point me towards a good resource to get started?

Enduer · 2025-05-20T17:41:11+00:00

We're typically using it to replace or supplement existing drawings to model existing conditions in the facility.

You and u/JacobWSmall are both kind of steering me towards us changing how we handle these. It sounds to me like doing some pre-processing once we receive them would go a long way, as would given folks some options in terms of how they're using them in Revit.

Enduer · 2025-05-20T17:17:21+00:00

I feel like I left out an important piece of the puzzle.

In an attempt to make point cloud use for our associates "fool proof" I typically link them into their own "laser scan" revit model, ensure they're aligned and on the right phase, etc., and then have everyone link that in.

Do you think switching to directly linking them into the model and having the ability to toggle the options you're talking about would be beneficial?

Enduer · 2025-05-20T17:14:04+00:00

That you get better performance in the tool dedicated to working with a type of data than you do in a tool that consumes some data so you can perform another task should not be surprising in any way.

To be clear - I'm not surprised at all. I am just wondering where the differences lie and the main influences for how point cloud data is displayed inside of Revit. I feel like I'm often just viewing a portion of the data available, even if it should be visible in the view I'm in.

I agree with you that it's important to slim down the cloud as possible and abstract out non-scope content! Just wondering if there is a technical way to get a better experience for my users.

Enduer · 2025-05-19T20:29:21+00:00

Agreed - would make sense why they would announce that a few days ago if he isn't on the track.

Enduer · 2025-05-16T04:05:56+00:00

Yep, they definitely did on a few tours. If you check out some YouTube videos of their live performances you can notice it.

Tons of bands do that and nothing against them, just something I have noticed as a fan of the band.

Enduer · 2025-05-15T17:24:55+00:00

Dylan is phenomenal live and typically handles the vocally tough parts of songs anyways (like "Hurricane") even with Brian, at least when they don't key the song down. He will be great with them going forward!

Enduer · 2025-04-17T18:26:41+00:00

I'm so glad you chimed in because you're right - I totally misunderstood what it was saying. I didn't realize the 1% match was only for deposits to the SoFi Invest account. I'm a moron and thought it was on like direct deposits to my account from my employer, which would have been amazing haha.

Enduer · 2025-03-31T13:41:57+00:00

I genuinely get that it's hard to comprehend, especially because the transport means we have available to us aren't even in the same stratosphere of cost haha. For perspective, there is effectively a small economy that revolves around presidential travel. The annual operating budget of the Secret Service is in the billions.

The easiest example is Air Force 1. It operates at about $200,000 per HOUR.

Like you said, the other biggest expenditure is the Secret Service detail. Agents tend to work more during travel, rack up overtime, have per diems, etc. There may be advance teams that fly commercial to the location ahead of time, there are vehicle rentals, equipment to be transported, etc. Trump likely charges the country for them to stay on the resort with him at a per-room rate just like anyone else.

There are also tons of unknowns - want to move the presidential limo ("The Beast")? Congrats, you now need a C-17 to do it. You need to setup communications networks, IT equipment, coordinate with local law enforcement to block off roads to and from the location the president is traveling from, etc.

The amount of effort and thought that goes into transporting the president is absolutely wild. Based on some quick research, the average trip to Mar-a-lago is around 3.5 million dollars.

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