RE: BMW M140i and M240i announced

RE: BMW M140i and M240i announced

Sunday 22nd May 2016

BMW M140i and M240i announced

Come in M135i, your time is up - there's a new (and more powerful) straight six 1 Series



Remember that time when the only hot hatch the Internet wanted to talk about was the BMW M135i? It was right up until the arrival of the Golf R. Now, cars like the latest AMG A45, Audi RS3 and Ford Focus RS have taken further attention away from BMW's hot rod hatchback.

Styling unchanged; good for the 2 Series at least...
Styling unchanged; good for the 2 Series at least...
Keen to regain some ground, BMW has replaced both the M135i (plus its M235i coupe sibling) with the M140i and M240i respectively. Thanks to a new turbocharged 3.0-litre straight six, power is up in both cars from 326hp to 340hp and torque climbs from 332lb ft to 368lb ft. BMW says this is sufficient for both hatchback and coupe to hit 62mph in 4.9 seconds with the standard six-speed manual, shaving a few tenths from the old 35i cars. Opt for the eight-speed auto and that sprint time falls again, with 4.6 seconds claimed. Even the Golf might struggle to match that... The M240i Convertible, if you're interested, is said to reach 62mph in 4.7 seconds with the automatic. All are limited to 155mph.

Fuel consumption is improved too with the increase in performance, which sounds like a win-win. The manual cars are officially rated at 36.2mpg and 179g/km (M140i) or 34mpg and 189g/km (M240i), with the automatic 'box offering significant improvements: the figures are 39.7mpg and 163g/km (M140i) or 38.2mpg and 169g/km (M240i).

Pricing still looks competitive though, despite the new engine. The M140i is available now from £31,875, the M240i from £35,090 and the Convertible £38,535. You don't need us to remind you of the plethora of hot hatches available at the same money, or that the BMW is the only one to offer a six-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive. It's always a tempting proposition! A replacement further depresses M135i values too; they're edging ever closer to £15K...

Author
Discussion

court

Original Poster:

1,485 posts

215 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Looking forward to this. The last 6-cyl rwd hatch... from 2018 it's all 4-cyl fwd/4wd. 368 foot pounds is excellent - more than a new RS3.

I may well order one in October for Christmas delivery when the Golf R goes back. I wonder if they'll do another colour. The current ones are a bit bland except Valencia, but I can't see me in that hue. Fingres crossed for Melbourne Red like the coupe.

Edited by court on Tuesday 17th May 01:40

j555

121 posts

227 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
I know BMW already have the 340i but this new small RWD hatch, likely to be popular with the drifting crowd in a few years time made me think of this...! smile


On another note, I'm sure it will be a good car and hope Chris Harris manages to take time out of his Top Gear schedule to give us a video.

Edited by j555 on Tuesday 17th May 04:40

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
What happened to when manufacturers would quietly improve their products year on year without needing to create an entirely new model variant for a 15hp power increase from what appears to be the same engine.

Gruber

6,313 posts

213 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
279 said:
What happened to when manufacturers would quietly improve their products year on year without needing to create an entirely new model variant for a 15hp power increase from what appears to be the same engine.
Different engine - B58 replacing N55.

Some interesting info for the engine nerds here: http://s3.bimmerfile.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-conte...

Esceptico

7,347 posts

108 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
We have had our 135i for coming up to 3 years. Overall a good car but with a number of weaknesses - a big one being lack of traction, especially in anything except ideal road conditions. Somehow I suspect more torque not going to help.

Denaris

164 posts

105 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
As nice as they are, power of these small cars/ hatchbacks are just becoming ridiculous now and unusable 99% of the time.

Tuvra

7,920 posts

224 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Denaris said:
As nice as they are, power of these small cars/ hatchbacks are just becoming ridiculous now and unusable 99% of the time.
Nonsense.

I love the idea, shame I still can't get over the looks or I'd have one in a heart beat frown

Pintofbest

804 posts

109 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Denaris said:
.. these small cars/ hatchbacks are just becoming ridiculous now and unusable 99% of the time.
If you are stuggling to drive one of these 99% of the time then the problem more with you.

Esceptico

7,347 posts

108 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Pintofbest said:
Denaris said:
.. these small cars/ hatchbacks are just becoming ridiculous now and unusable 99% of the time.
If you are stuggling to drive one of these 99% of the time then the problem more with you.
I own one and the opportunity to use even a fraction of the 300 odd bhp comes up very rarely. Much less than 1% of the time. Nothing to do with driving capability. All to do with other traffic and lack of opportunities to use the power safely.

kambites

67,462 posts

220 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Gruber said:
279 said:
What happened to when manufacturers would quietly improve their products year on year without needing to create an entirely new model variant for a 15hp power increase from what appears to be the same engine.
Different engine - B58 replacing N55.
A few years ago that didn't seem to need a new name even, for BMW.

I think it's just the nature of modern marketing. If they'd just quietly shoved the new engine in without changing the badge, no-one would have paid any attention. Giving it a new name gets them more press.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 17th May 08:08

Gruber

6,313 posts

213 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
kambites said:
A few years ago that didn't seem to need a new name even, for BMW.

I think it's just the nature of modern marketing. If they'd just quietly shoved the new engine in without changing the badge, no-one would have paid any attention. Giving it a new name gets them more press.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 17th May 08:08
Well I'm no fan of the modern naming convention. As something of a BMW traditionalist, I really struggle with the last two digits of the model name bearing no relation to engine size.

wideangle852

20 posts

111 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
. .why are they so fugly . .? Come on BMW I waxed lyrical about BMWs up to the late 2000's . . but now they seem to have got in a Japanese car designer and the cars look out of proportion and very ugly . . the 140M and 135M being prime examples of that

Amanitin

419 posts

136 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Pintofbest said:
If you are stuggling to drive one of these 99% of the time then the problem more with you.
he said the power is unusable. I am guessing he meant public roads plus the desire to no act like an irresponsible sociopath and/or die early.

kambites

67,462 posts

220 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Gruber said:
Well I'm no fan of the modern naming convention. As something of a BMW traditionalist, I really struggle with the last two digits of the model name bearing no relation to engine size.
It's not really a "modern" thing. They've always done it when an engine has generated a different amount of power than its capacity would imply; I suppose the argument is that now all engines generate a different amount of power than their names imply because they're turbocharged.

I suppose they could have ditched the old naming convention completely and put the amount of power on the back but people don't like change.

EricE

1,945 posts

128 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
A brief analysis of the new engine: http://blogs.youwheel.com/2015/06/12/brief-analysi...

Here's a topic where tuners discuss remapping the engine: http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=375...

Since the M140i and 340i will share the same engine, I did a bit of research and found that their stock B58 340i did 330hp/460 Nm at the wheels compared to the old N55 engine which had 291hp/420 Nm on the same dyno.
A remap brought it to 390hp/510 Nm with regular gas.
With a remap + E30 fuel it is virtually identical to the stock M3/M4 engine.



Mind you those horsepower numbers are measured at the wheels, add at least 15% for comparable manufacturer ratings.

So it looks like these cars will have 375 bhp stock and 445 bhp remapped.

500 bhp with a remap and E30 fuel in a RWD shopping trolley. No LSD in sight. silly

Edited by EricE on Tuesday 17th May 08:33

Thorburn

2,398 posts

192 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Esceptico said:
I own one and the opportunity to use even a fraction of the 300 odd bhp comes up very rarely. Much less than 1% of the time. Nothing to do with driving capability. All to do with other traffic and lack of opportunities to use the power safely.
My Dad has one which I drive from time to time and if you switch on the power gauges on the display it is telling how little you use - bar the occasional full bore overtake it is rare to go past 150bhp or so, you just spend your life short shifting through the gears and resisting the urge to go shooting in to license losing speeds all the time.

For me hot hatches work best when they are simple and involving, not ballistic and detached. Everytime I've gotten out of it and in to my little Fiesta Zetec-S and had FAR more fun in that - the BMW is a better car in pretty much every regard, but it is too crushingly competent to really be fun on the road.

Tuvra

7,920 posts

224 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Esceptico said:
I own one and the opportunity to use even a fraction of the 300 odd bhp comes up very rarely. Much less than 1% of the time. Nothing to do with driving capability. All to do with other traffic and lack of opportunities to use the power safely.
Well that's more about where you live. Ample opportunity to use it safely in Wales, legally? Well that wasn't the point.... smile

MaxA

238 posts

143 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
I have a couple of comments, one relevant and one less relevant.

First, if you're having a traction issue, then you might want to consider softening the rear suspension, and fitting wider and stickier rear tyres. Or a remap to limit the torque in lower gears. But this is endemic to the big powerful front engine/rear wheel drive coupes: I once had a go in a C63 Black Edition, which was crap over a bumpy road as the rears just kept spinning up and destabilising the car ... not really my idea of fun when you keep having to feather the throttle.

Second, why does BMW persist with a naming strategy that no longer reflects the size of the engine, but still insists that the engine is fuel injected? I remember when the first i's came out and it was a big deal. Shouldn't we be talking about a BMW M130T or M230T here? They could follow VAG and change the colour of the t or T depending on how powerful it was, maybe silver 't', black 'T', red 'T' etc.

EricE

1,945 posts

128 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
other changes:

- new ZF 8HP Gen 2 gearbox (120i and 125i will also get this one)
- new Navigation layout (tiles, similar to the new 7 series nav)
- possibly Apple CarPlay (unconfirmed)
- built in WiFi LTE hotspot
- new iDrive touch controller
- new voice recognition
- wireless phone charging

To be honest the M140i xDrive looks like very good value for money, I just don't think I'd ever use all this power on the road. Also a bit odd of them to hold these changes back for a new model just one year after the facelift. A completely new engine, new gearbox and new nav is almost more a facelift on its own.

Denaris

164 posts

105 months

Tuesday 17th May 2016
quotequote all
Amanitin said:
Pintofbest said:
If you are stuggling to drive one of these 99% of the time then the problem more with you.
he said the power is unusable. I am guessing he meant public roads plus the desire to no act like an irresponsible sociopath and/or die early.
Yes this is what I meant. Don't get me wrong I like power and speed just as much as anyone else on here but modern driving and road conditions (street furniture, traffic, av speed cameras etc.) do not tally up with the relentless increase in BHP we are seeing from some of these cars year after year (I read that the new M5 will be 600bhp+!). Maybe it's because I live in London, but I can't even use the 255BHP from my 330i. If you are out in the sticks or have access to a track that is great, but I suspect most of these will spend their lives crawling along the A40 at rush hour. That doesn't mean I don't like these cars, I do, but in the real world most people have no use for them.