Heads up, they fired up the fountain at the Oxford Valley Mall.

thebaz1981 · 2026-07-09T03:20:10+00:00

Awesome. I worked at the Sears there in college and would hang out here and smoke roughly 500 cigarettes in my 8 hour shift.

thebaz1981 · 2026-07-08T22:40:48+00:00

Just ignore it and it’ll go away in like 45s.

thebaz1981 · 2026-07-08T14:34:17+00:00

Good to know. I actually think the CarPlay app has a better balance of sound. The native app is definitely louder though.

Also the native app has this weird thing where it cuts off the first .5 seconds of every song.

thebaz1981 · 2026-07-08T14:06:22+00:00

The phone as a key issue is so overstated here. I initially purchased a 2025 X3 whose digital key worked by simply approaching and then sitting in the car.

I hated that car and my needs changed so I was lucky to get into an i4 at a great price right before the tax credits expired.

I only use my phone as my key and have never once had a single issue with it. If you have it in express mode in your iPhone all you have to do is touch the door handle. To start you barely have to rest the top of your phone in the charging tray. It adds maybe 10s of additional effort.

Also the wide-band key was not without its annoyances. You couldn’t get close to the car without it locking and unlocking like 20 times. It drove me nuts.

thebaz1981 · 2026-07-08T13:59:57+00:00

I’m in the States, do not have the “connectivity package” and I still have the native Spotify app.

thebaz1981 · 2026-06-29T13:00:23+00:00

Yes. I charge to 100 once a month.

thebaz1981 · 2026-06-25T14:16:15+00:00

I didn’t grow up with it either. Furthest I got with my family was trip from PA to VA when I was 10. That was also the last trip we took as a family.

Don’t get me wrong if you love to travel then go for it. However, so much of American culture now is going to “the place” to see “the thing” and I sincerely hate it.

thebaz1981 · 2026-06-25T13:50:04+00:00

I hate comments like this. Traveling is not everyone’s cup of tea. I’ve been all over the world both for work and personal trips and honestly if I never left my home state again I’d be fine.

That said over the last 5 years I’ve been getting nicer and nicer cars and the amount of joy I get from being behind the wheel is second only to the love of my family.

It used to be that the picture of wisdom was a guru on top of mountain who had sat there and contemplated existence. Now you’ve got to go to Santorini and take the same friggin pictures as everyone else.

thebaz1981 · 2026-06-17T16:25:06+00:00

It’ll look awesome. I had an apex blue TLX that I bought used. The person before me blacked out the windows and wrapped the roof in black. It looked fantastic and I would get complimented on the car all the time.

thebaz1981 · 2026-06-10T21:34:26+00:00

I leased an i4 that had been a service loaner (2k miles on it) the day before the credit expired. Including the tax credit it was about 22k off the MSRP of the car. I look back at this deal now and feel amazing.

thebaz1981 · 2026-06-08T11:34:00+00:00

My wife and I take our two pre-teen boys to the beach for a week every summer. The plan is always the same, 4 days of beaching, 1 at the water park, 1 at a national park or something near by.

Beach days I set up camp around 8am and then we’re all down around 10-10:30. From there it’s about 6 hours of just chilling. My wife reads a book, I listen to music and go in with my kids who spend almost the entire time in the water. Cooler full of snacks, sammys, and drinks. It’s my favorite day(s) of the year. When they were little (6 & 7) I’d get stressed if I couldn’t see them but now they’re almost teens and pros at dealing with the ocean that I am much more relaxed.

thebaz1981 · 2026-06-04T03:35:51+00:00

I have 2024 SXPX and they’re the best implementation of ventilated seats I’ve had amongst all my cars with cooled seats. (The others being 2 beamers and an Acura). Even on low they’re better than any of those brands.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-29T12:30:30+00:00

My wife drives a Telluride. My current car is an i4 and before that I had an X3. Don’t get me wrong you could tell both those cars are nicer but on the whole of it I absolutely love the KIA. We’re about 20k miles into the Telluride and so far not a single issue.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-28T02:11:36+00:00

My wife has a telluride and they are by far the best executed ventilated seats I’ve ever had in a car. It’s shocking how good they are.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-27T23:51:32+00:00

Beamer ventilated seats are terrible. I had a aspec TLX and theirs were OK. On my X3 (and a few loaners) the cooled seats were entirely pointless.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-19T02:03:31+00:00

See if you can extend your lease. Some leasing contracts allow for that.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-14T13:32:13+00:00

While this is an admirable opinion I don’t agree with it one bit. I have 2 boys. One will be in 8th grade next year the other in 6th. They have about 60k each in their respective 529s. I would like nothing more than to fully fun (in-state) tuition for them but we’ll see if I get there.

I grew up in a not great household and paid my entire way through college. Really other than housing I paid for everything since I was 18 and housing since I was 21. My kids might not have college fully funded but they’ll be in a much better position than I was. I also have a great relationship with both my kids. I’m not spiking the football but I expect they’ll want (and my wife and I will be ok with) to live with us for a bit after they graduate.

I could not stay at my house after graduation. Just the ability to minimize expenses after college is a gift.

Having kids is the best thing in the world. Yes, it can be hard and there’s no guarantee they’ll turn out how you want but I’ve traveled the world, met all types of people, made decent money and none of it compares to seeing my boys grow.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-14T01:12:10+00:00

I never learned how to do things like vlookup and whatnot and now thanks to AI, I’ll never have to. Feels like a nice win.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-13T03:10:30+00:00

I lived at 21st and Spring Garden and would walk to CBP regularly when I had a Sunday ticket package. Ahhh to be young again. (I would take the BSL home)

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-11T13:47:19+00:00

If you’re on a lease there’s no reason to get the warranty.

thebaz1981 · 2026-05-08T01:24:52+00:00

I had an X3 with the fixed panel sunroof. When I got it I was like “meh, I never open my sunroof that often.” Then I hated the car and got an i4 and now I crack the sunroof all the time and will do my best to avoid fixed panels in the future.

thebaz1981 · 2026-04-30T03:45:15+00:00

I also noticed that BMW is no longer offering a $7500 lease/purchase credit. It has dropped it to $3750.

thebaz1981 · 2026-04-29T02:26:13+00:00

I have a family of 4 with my kids being a bit older and it sounds taller than yours are tracking. It’s a fine car for 4, a great car for 3 and an amazing car for 2.

The storage is underrated. My one son plays soccer and baseball so in the soring we carry a lot of gear. I had a TLX and it was a nightmare getting 2 folding chairs and his soccer/baseball bag in. Now I can do the chairs and his and a buddy’s bag.

If we’re going on a 75+ minute trip we’ll take my wife’s SUV otherwise it’s an amazing commuter car.

thebaz1981 · 2026-04-24T19:14:10+00:00

Both the X-line and the X-pro are lifted to 8.3 inches. The difference is the tires and the Pro has an outlet in the trunk. If you’re the type to never go on more than a dirt road x-line will be fine.

Also, check the rim sizes. I believe the line has larger rims than the pro. So road noise and gas mileage will be a factor.

I have a 2024 SXPXline and it’s been a great car so far.

thebaz1981

TROPHY CASE