Car to compete with an m140i? sub 16k

[Hammy98]

Chongwong said:

How about an RS Megane? Pretty quick as standard, and should be more nimble in the corners than the s3 and the m140i. A remap, decat downpipe, and exhaust can take them to circa 300-320bhp, and make for a very quick and lively drive. I love mine if you couldn't guess.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=u...

Theres a Renault dealer on my way home from work with a lovely yellow one on display at the front. The interior doesnt do anything for me if I'm honest. Cracking car though! Seems to be raved about by everyone who has one. Might stop off for a better look this week and see if I could see past the interior.

[Hammy98]

Mike335i said:

It's through a 3rd party (mondial), but sold as BMW Extended warranty. Definitely worth it for lower mileage as the cost is not too bad.

I just had a quick look at the warranty quotes, ran a 2007 31k 335i from autotrader through. £600 for the year isnt bad considering it would more than likely need the turbos replaced within 2/3 years.

Any idea if its possible for me to check with BMW themselves whether specific cars have had warranty work done?

And I hear you on the spec, Would need to be an M sport I think with the upgraded stereo as well as coral/cream leather. Could be searching for a while!

[Hammy98]

cj2013 said:

I had a similar dilemma at 19 (few years ago now), but decided to wait until I was 21 to get something more affordable to insure. Back then, you couldn't insure a "proper" car until you hit that age or spent a lot of money.

By the time I was 21, my mates with their 'quick' cars had hedged them and had no NCB with a few claims.


I went out and got myself a tidy Celica with pop up lights. Sounded good, looked good and could drop knickers from a distance. Girls thought it was a supercar because of the pop-up lights, and it did me well in those regards!

This is an idea thats crossed my mind a couple of times. I can insure a Celica gt4 for a pittance compared to some of the other cars that I'm discussing in this thread. I do worry about the reliability side of things though ad It would be a daily for 10-15k miles a year. Non-ruined ones are becoming harder to find as well.

I'm not saying you should go out and buy an old Celica, but I guess I'm being one of those boring people that can suggest that, if you're able to, it can be well worth saving up/waiting to insure something much tastier when you're a little older with some more NCB.

[Hammy98]

I ended up with an F56 Mini Cooper S. Trying to get it booked in for a custom map at Evolve tuning later in the year, should put out about 280bhp from them. Other plans are a Qaife diff from Lohen in the new year and maybe a big brake kit if a reasonably priced one comes up.

My mate with the m140i has ended up with a new Focus St, pretty closely matched on a B road, he can pull away on straights obviously as he’s nearly 50bhp up.

[Hammy98]

I like the car though, and running it doesn't eat me alive as I've little to no other outgoings.

Next time around I'll be more sensible, but as of right now I'm just enjoying it.

[Hammy98]

cerb4.5lee said:

I love my Cooper S too and I've had much more powerful cars in the past, yet this one has brought so many smiles and I like how you can have fun without doing serious speeds, I love it's handling and it's involving and enjoyable to drive.

Good to hear praise for them from someone who's had some nice cars! I'm pretty smitten with mine.

[Hammy98]

nickfrog said:

I agree, mine was the R56 S but what a fun handling car, very neutral and would be quite a bh in the wet actually, in a good way.

Thankfully I had the MINI/Mondial warranty as not a reliable car, what with the Peugeot Prince engine N14. I managed to cook the brakes at the Ring too...

My dad had an R56 very similar to yours, his was a 10 plate so I assume it would have been the N14 as well. He loved his and managed to get shot of it before the reliability issues arose. He said it never quite compared to his R53 S though, said it lacked the drama of the supercharger.

Coincidentally I had a Ds3 with the N14 engine before my F56, with no warranty... never again.