RE: BMW 130i: PH Carpool

[nickfrog]

scherzkeks said:

sturney said:

No it may not be the best looking car but its a 260 bhp hot hatch with RWD.... no comparison no competitors.... Focus RS shouts louder than it goes and its fwd... the 130i LE was a 34k car new.... its a bargain now.

Great car great choice, get some new suspension a diff and the 6pot performance breaks and the thing is a weapon for work and the weekend.

It is a fine car, but no competitors? The S3 8P would stomp it in most performance categories (even the old, heavy R32 was faster and a more composed drive).

indeed.

4wd on a car with a track bias? lol.

[csmith319]

nickfrog said:

indeed.

4wd on a car with a track bias? lol.

Having owned a 130 and driven my brothers R32 (DSG) - in a straight line the 130 felt much faster and was much more fun. R32 is great though - the 2 of them are probably my favourite hot hatches of all time (hmm, ok, maybe a Lancia Delta Integrale would trump them). They won't be repeated anytime soon either (even the M135i, not matter how good the reviews are doesn't interest me as much for some completely unknown reason!).

[VolvoT5]

Would be quite nice without the chavvy wheels and stickers on the side. Also, get a fking haircut.

[scherzkeks]

DoubleSix said:

I moved from an S3 (tuned to 300 bhp) to a 130i and I can tell you now the S3 is a dull piece of st in comparison.

Can only assume you're basing your views on that silly Top Gear review where they took a rwd car on runflats and put it against an AWD car with proper tyres on a DAMP track! Like to see the outcome on a dry track with proper tyres.

Either way, one is hoot and the other is just a big dollop of understeer.

Says more about your driving than anything else. Old S3 8P was comparable with the (more powerful) 135i where track times are concerned.

Edited by scherzkeks on Tuesday 24th September 13:12

[browna]

no, no, they are definitely completely rubbish cars, ugly, impractical, unreliable, expensive on tax and petrol.

so lets all stop talking about them, and certainly dont buy one for gods sake. plus ive heard the ones in south wales are ESPECIALLY prone to catastrophic engine meltdown!

just give me a couple of months to buy one then we can go back to talking about how perfect they are for my needs!

damn you all!

[Duffman83]

Hi P1H,

Cracking choice on the LE. Im looking to move into one of these two in the next year. One question though, how lemony is the lemony interior?

P1H said:

This is the Limited Edition model. I put a deposit down on a mint condition model identical to this on Saturday. I'm very pleased with my choice!

[anonymous-user]

VolvoT5 said:

Would be quite nice without the chavvy wheels and stickers on the side. Also, get a fking haircut.

Not needed really was it?

Did you even bother to read the post as to why the wheels might have been fitted?

[DoubleSix]

scherzkeks said:

DoubleSix said:

I moved from an S3 (tuned to 300 bhp) to a 130i and I can tell you now the S3 is a dull piece of st in comparison.

Can only assume you're basing your views on that silly Top Gear review where they took a rwd car on runflats and put it against an AWD car with proper tyres on a DAMP track! Like to see the outcome on a dry track with proper tyres.

Either way, one is hoot and the other is just a big dollop of understeer.

Says more about your driving than anything else. Old S3 8P was comparable with the (more powerful) 135i where track times are concerned.

Edited by scherzkeks on Tuesday 24th September 13:12

You're rather missing the point. Laptimes count for very little in the real world. You can quote all the reviewers laptimes you like but having actually owned both I'm telling you that an S3 can be as rapid as it likes but it is still a dull steer where a 130i is lively and interesting on the limit...

[scherzkeks]

DoubleSix said:

You're rather missing the point. Laptimes count for very little in the real world. You can quote all the reviewers laptimes you like but having actually owned both I'm telling you that an S3 can be as rapid as it likes but it is still a dull steer where a 130i is lively and interesting on the limit...

Right, lap times are of no interest to the sporting driver. Will have to remember that.

[Guvernator]

The more I read about the 130i and the M135i (kind of hard to avoid on PH theses days) the more I realise that a 5 door version of either could suit me down to the ground. The power train on both cars is awesome, they are RWD, have a decent boot and five doors so it almost sounds like the perfect dual role car to ferry the family around in and then have fun on a Sunday morning blast, IF only I could get on with the looks. Even owners on this thread are admitting that it's looks are challenging.

To be fair I don't think the rear and side views are too bad, but that front end is woeful. With that in mind hasn't anyone released any mods to tidy up that awful light\grill\nose arrangement? I've done a search and come up with zip, surely with all the complaints levelled at that face, it must be ripe for some enterprising 3rd party tuner to tidy it up a bit?

The aftermarket even managed to make the bugeye Subaru Impreza look halfway decent so surely the 1'er isn't beyond saying?

[Terminator X]

^^ My son (age 12) prefers the look of the front end of the 130i vs other angles!

TX.

[VolvoT5]

yonex said:

Not needed really was it?

Did you even bother to read the post as to why the wheels might have been fitted?

I wasn't commenting on their function, just the appearance....... I don't care if they are 20kg lighter they still look Halfords chav special.

[nickfrog]

scherzkeks said:

Right, lap times are of no interest to the sporting driver. Will have to remember that.

You do realise that timing is not allowed on a track day, do you ?

scherzkeks said:

Says more about your driving than anything else. Old S3 8P was comparable with the (more powerful) 135i where track times are concerned.

I think it says a lot about your driving if you rely on a car universally recognised as terminally understeery to have fun.

Edited by nickfrog on Tuesday 24th September 16:52

[Dagnut]

Guvernator said:

The more I read about the 130i and the M135i (kind of hard to avoid on PH theses days) the more I realise that a 5 door version of either could suit me down to the ground. The power train on both cars is awesome, they are RWD, have a decent boot and five doors so it almost sounds like the perfect dual role car to ferry the family around in and then have fun on a Sunday morning blast,

EXACTLY my sentiments..until I go look at it and realise it's is very impractical..sounds like a st ar$e boring thing to say but if your looking for 1 solution my guess is you will find the limitations of the boot very quickly.
I'm caught between, the 130i and the 330i..I haven't driven an E90 330i in anger I'm wondering how much better the 130 is..

[scherzkeks]

nickfrog said:

I think it says a lot about your driving if you rely on a car universally recognised as terminally understeery to have fun.

Edited by nickfrog on Tuesday 24th September 16:52

LOL. I can have quite a bit of fun in an S3, yes -- as I know how to drive an AWD vehicle. I find it curious that you neglect to mention what the 135i's dominant handling trait is at the track...talk about irony!

[LocoBlade]

IronFire said:

For all those doubting the price comparison remember this applied in 2010 when the car was bought. Back then the F model 1 Series didn't exist and the 123d was quite a bit more.

The 123d has never been substantially more than an equivalent spec and age 130i though, overall they've had a very similar depreciation trajectory. I owned my 123d from the start of 2009 at just over a year old, at the time I weighed up the merits of both and they were both priced within the same £17-20k window from AUC sources with no particular bias towards one or the other, and 4.5 years later they're both still in the £9-12k band like for like, depending on source.

[T0MMY]

scherzkeks said:

Right, lap times are of no interest to the sporting driver. Will have to remember that.

Depends what you mean by sporting. For a racing driver, sure, lap times are everything. For trackdays and fast road driving I'd far rather be having fun than maximising my lap times. Who cares if a 4wd understeer setup gets you round a track quicker? In fact case in point...my MX5 is a stload more fun than my WRX was...I had both at the same time and sold the WRX as I never drove it any more. Sure it would be way quicker than the MX5 (well not now, but before I modified it) but it was just nowehere near as exciting and an Impreza is probably a livelier drive than an S3.

[E60M5]

PPPPPP said:

From certain angles it can look OK

Wow!!

[E60M5]

The man sounds like he needs to move up to an M3 or M135i! Poor little 130i isn't really setup for heavy track abuse (despite mods). If you pound on it so hard, probably time for an M car or dedicated track rat (see MX5 or 944). Awesome little car though!

[scherzkeks]

T0MMY said:

Depends what you mean by sporting. For a racing driver, sure, lap times are everything. For trackdays and fast road driving I'd far rather be having fun than maximising my lap times. Who cares if a 4wd understeer setup gets you round a track quicker? In fact case in point...my MX5 is a stload more fun than my WRX was...I had both at the same time and sold the WRX as I never drove it any more. Sure it would be way quicker than the MX5 (well not now, but before I modified it) but it was just nowehere near as exciting and an Impreza is probably a livelier drive than an S3.

Understeer is largely a function of how the vehicle is set up (which is also why last-gen BMW 1 series cars were just as notorious for understeering as any recent Audi on the track).

Understeer is also a sign that you have exceeded the limits of the setup and are either ham-fisting the thing, impatient with power application and steering inputs, or just flat out not driving clean lines. I have no problem "enjoying" AWD cars. I also like RWD, but not particularly for going fast -- and to me, going fast is a key component of sports driving.