600bhp 1 Series

[D4MJT]

p1stonhead said:

Personally I will be buying one. I just need to make the numbers work. I do 20k a year so leasing is impossible.

Im waiting for Shadow Editions (or fully optioned examples) to hit say £20k.

I do 20k a year too, and I’m on a 20k PCP.

I’ll fire you some numbers if you want buddy

[D4MJT]

bhstewie said:

Should be picking mine up mid-week

Anything I really need to know other than common sense stuff like letting it warm up and not pushing it too hard for the first couple of thousand miles?

I know, RTFM but I don't have it yet

There's a world of differing opinions to be honest.

The official line from BMW is that the engine should be ran in for 1200 miles during which period you ideally keep it under 4,500rpm and avoid full hard acceleration.

The majority of the internet and some BMW salesmen seem to advise ignoring this and saying that it's pointless.

I personally chose to follow the 1200 mile run-in. My car has been brilliant and uses no oil at all, however that's not to say it wouldn't have been exactly the same if I'd thrashed it from day one, people have on the owners group and state theirs are also fine.

Eco-Pro really dampens down the throttle response, and allows the gearbox to be disengaged and the car to coast, which helps with the fuel economy.

Sport gives you a far more aggressive throttle map on the pedal, and retains traction control to keep things generally pointing the right way.

Sport+ allows a degree of silliness. I find this is still very easy to catch and allows you to get some fairly decent slip but still makes it fairly easy to pull back into line, however be aware that it will allow you to get the car far more sideways and the Traction Control is less intrusive, although still present.

If you hold the "Traction" button you eventually get DSC OFF and full silliness, should you wish.

What spec did you end up going for? I bet you can't wait to collect it, trust me you'll love it.

[D4MJT]

On the subject of the Eibach springs and spacers I've fitted...

I've had a few days to drive the car now and I've started to get a few more miles in and a bit of a feel for the new setup.

Whilst it's good overall, these are my thoughts. I paid significantly less than retail for the springs and spacers, due to them being fitted to a friends car, him deciding to trade in less than 4 weeks later, and me removing them and refitting his standard parts as part of the deal. If I'd paid the £440 retail for the parts, I think I'd be considering whether or not it would be worth spending more for a set of coilovers, or at least some dampers.

The car doesn't feel massively different driving around normally, it definitely doesn't feel as if it's silly low, there is far less evident body roll on roundabouts, or longer curved slip roads etc where you can pick up speed. It's also firmer than it was, however this now does a good job of highlighting that the standard dampers are on the soft side, at 80mph or thereabouts, it can feel a little bouncy on uneven roads / uneven motorway stretches.

On reflection, it's a good kit, it looks the part, and the vast majority of the time it's an improvement over the standard setup. For the money you can't really complain, however the more you press on, the more imperfections are exposed and it starts to feel less together than a decent set of coilovers would do.

That said, it's also a lot cheaper than KW's for instance. I think down the line I may look at the Birds springs and damper combo, depending on how I get on with it over the summer.

[D4MJT]

bhstewie said:

Spec I went for was:

3 door shadow auto
719M alloys
Media pack - Professional
Speed limit display
Adaptive M Sports suspension
Heated front seats
Front and rear park sensors
Folding mirrors (believe you need this to get dimming mirrors)

The media pack is an excellent choice imo, the larger widescreen lifts the interior nicely, similarly the heated seats are excellent, I use mine all the time.

I somehow managed to forget to spec folding mirrors which annoys me everytime I lock the car

[D4MJT]

ScoobyChris said:

You can code the mirrors to fold and/or unfold by reducing the standard delay time on the keyfob button press. One of first changes I made!

You can if you're not a massive numpty who forgot to spec them in the first place

[D4MJT]

Scobblelotcher said:

My car also has the smaller screen but with HK. I’ve used both and it makes absolutely no difference in my opinion.

I didn’t think you could buy a M140 without nav?

I don't "think" you can now.

I think re the nav it's horses for courses really. Some people will inevitably buy these cars as a cheap way to get a lot of performance, and won't do anything like the miles I cover, being more worried about how the car drives and performs over creature comforts.

For me personally, the larger screen and better resolution is nice for the navigation and maps, and the different aspect ratio of the screen allows for more information, I can have media information on the right and split the screen with the nav, it allows video playback, basically I'm a massive soft arse. The performance aspect is lovely and I enjoy driving the car on a weekend, but sadly I haven't covered 20k in 10 months of wonderful country roads and mountain passes, I've spent most of it sat in traffic in a heated seat, arsing around with the entertainment system

[D4MJT]

bhstewie said:

Plus I think it's touchscreen on the new models so make a bit more sense to have the biggest screen possible.

Interesting one this, as you're right, it is, but....

I couldn't use the functionality. The interior trim is bad enough for finger marks anyway, the push from modern car manufacturers to do away with buttons and have touch screens for everything is technically brilliant, but I'll spend more of my journey wiping the bloody things down to get rid of finger marks.

I *hate* finger marks on anything

[D4MJT]

bhstewie said:

No I'm the same, sad fk with a microfibre in the door pocket

The guy I'm dealing with at the dealers was adamant not to go for the gloss black interior trim as he said himself you're forever wiping it down as you only have to touch it and it marks.

It's not as bad as they make out, but it does mark easily.

And I do carry a door pocket microfibre.

FML.

[D4MJT]

Argybargy said:

A great thread this - thanks to the OP.

I picked up my M140i a week ago. Coming from a 2003 E46, it has taken a little getting used to (particularly the tech).

Spec as follows:-

Adaptive suspension
Harmon Kardon
Sunroof
Elec seats with lumbar support
Elec folding mirrors
Front and rear parking sensors
Sun protection glass
Speed limit display
Headlamp wash

I also had the MPE fitted from new which adds plenty of pop and woofle.

The car is manual - the 8 speed auto was mightily impressive but I just prefer the control of a manual.

I test drove three cars prior to ordering. I just love the whole big engine in a small car combo - I tried a couple of Golfs (GTi Performance and R) but the straight six did it for me.

The drive home unfortunately highlighted a few of the car's flaws:-

Road noise - crikey it was loud. I honestly thought I'd left one of the back doors slightly open and it sometimes drowned out the stereo. Is it the Michelins or poor sound insulation or both? It seems to have got a little better (although that might be me getting used to it).

Sticky gearbox. I assumed it was down to the car not being run in, but actually think it isn't partly down to the narrow pedal box - I noticed how small the pedals were compared to my E46 and my clumpy shoes were sometimes preventing me from depressing the clutch pedal fully.

Gear ratios - 70 in 6th is 2.5k rpm - it just sounds like the engine is turning over a fair bit faster.

All of which sounds like I don't like it but I love it - the engine is immense, the ride is great and most of the tech is logical and easy to use. I also love the looks - some think the 1Series is a bit gawky but I like the long snouted, cab set back look.

Hey, hope you enjoy the car!

Out of curiosity, what model E46 did you have?

That's a nice looking car and spec list, I'd have loved the sunroof but I was trying to keep the list under 40k for VED.

The road noise is pretty loud. I think at the end of the day you have to remember it's a 1 series, the smallest compact BMW make. I don't think the MPSS tyres do much for this, and I feel the tyre noise is quite a chunk of it. The 5 door is apparently quieter due to having framed doors as opposed to the 3 doors pillarless ones.

With regards to the gearbox, my mate has a manual one and his has "loosened up" a bit after a few thousand miles, so don't get too downhearted with it yet, however I found the rev-matching quite clumsy in practice and that annoyed me more than the feel of the box. Not much to be done about the revs at 70, obviously the auto is less than this, but simply down to having 2 more ratios.

I agree with the looks, it seems quite marmite, but I think it's a great looking car. The LCI changes to the lights really smartened it up I think,

[D4MJT]

bhstewie said:

What kinds of MPG are people seeing please?

Only done a couple of hundred miles so far and the OBC is reading 33mpg which doesn't seem terrible.

Ages since I've had 10 minutes to get online, so here's a bit of a catch up coming up.

I've done 24k miles now, my long term average is 27mpg, which is fantastic imo. It could be more if I wanted it to be, I haven't been driving at all economically recently.

[D4MJT]

Spoof said:

Driving with traction completely off (Hold the DSC button for a few seconds). I'm no driving God, so I'm not doing this to hone my skills, but I prefer the way the cars adaptives set the car in this mode. The throttle become long and linear, the steering is firm enough and gear changes are seamless instead of the aritificial bang Sport+ provides.

Overall I'm amazed, I never keep a car more than a year and I can honestly see this being passed on to the wife in a year or so. I'm that impressed with the package.

You're exactly correct there, in DSC OFF mode the throttle response reverts back to Comfort from Sport or Sport+.

I'm in a similar boat, I can get quite bored and I ended up with this for a reliable work daily above all else, but I'm not bored of it all 12 months in.

[D4MJT]

McFarnsworth said:

How are these for comfort? I'm looking for a new daily and this seems to tick most boxes for me.
However, it will need to do double duty as my mom's car as well. (lives next door, barely does any miles, but does need a car occasionally)

So any hope for it to be used as a sensible car for a 66 year old lady, or will she fire it off into the nearest tree first time she hits the loud pedal?

First off, regarding your mum. You can code the car to start in Eco Pro mode. Get that sorted and she'll have no problems at all tootling around in it. It's also fine in comfort which is the default driving mode, unless she's a real hero.

Comfort...

Eye of the beholder really. If you've spent the last year in a Range Rover Vogue, no, it isn't going to be as comfortable. That said, if you've had a fiesta it'll be delightful.

I came to mine directly from a long wheelbase 7 series. I still dream about the seats

The ride in the 140 is fine, it's obviously firmer, but I've found it to be perfectly acceptable over the last year. I have electric seats as I'm odd and frequently change my driving position, but the memory function is paired to the keys, so could be handy for you if you want to share the car with your mum, she can have her own key and keep the mirrors, seat, radio / heater etc all saved to her key, and it'll set itself back to yours next time you open it with your key.

As Spoof has mentioned previously, the thing with this car is, it's so good generally, you have to remind yourself of what it is when you consider the flaws. I'd love to be able to choose comfort seats, but at the end of the day it's a 1 series hatchback, and not a 5 / 7 series. The fuel tank also irritates me as I ordinarily get 240ish miles from the (small) tank, so I'm filling up every 2 days, which sounds like a first world problem, but with the 7 series I could stick £120 worth of diesel in it and forget about it for a week at a time.

As an all rounder it's brilliant. The few niggles I have with it are completely outweighed by the whole package, it's great value for money imo, and 12 months down the line, if I had the previous years experience and I was shopping, I'd happily buy the car again.

As a side note, it appears from July that the manual option is being dropped for the 140i and the auto box will become standard equipment. Might be useful to some people, I'm not sure what that will do to the base price, whether it will remain the same or go up by the £1600 it was to spec auto previously.

[D4MJT]

Bit of an update.

I'm coming up to 28k miles now, no issues to report. I'm continuing to average around 26-28mpg.

As I've been renovating my new house, it's mostly been pressed into daily tip run duties, and hauling stuff from B&Q.



That said, I've finally reclaimed my garage, and I've been working on some soldering and extended some water pipes out so I have hot and cold running water for the hosepipe now.



I had some carpet left over from the house too which I've stuck to the garage walls to avoid scratches, and I've put up some shelving for storage, the man cave is coming along nicely...



Like a glove



So all in all, no issues. I'm due a rear brake inspection in 3,600 miles, and I'm about ready to change the oil for a 10k change myself, but bar that it's spot on. Absolutely no idea what I'd change it for if I was to get rid, which can only be a good sign...

[D4MJT]

p1stonhead said:

Out of interest, how wide is your garage? Im trying to clear mine out to fit a car but like yours its a reletively small single.

Mine is 2.6m wide inside so should be ok but I havent had a car in yet! Is yours similar?

Sorry, I missed this totally!

Mine's 2.4m wide inside, so you should be golden!

[D4MJT]

Right then, 2 fairly important milestones in this update.



and



I'm just over 40k miles now, which seems a good time to reflect on what the car has been like so far and what it has cost.

All in all, it's been ridiculously good value. I've just fitted a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4's as they are meant to be better in non-dry conditions, and the Michelin Pilot Super Sports were appalling in anything other than great conditions really. That said, I got 19k out of the first set of MPSS and 20k out of the 2nd, which is mental. I've actually also retained one of the front MPSS on 20k as a spare, as it still had 3mm of tread remaining. Madness.

Bar servicing, it's cost me nothing, and the servicing has been included, however I've now used my service pack so I'm on to paying from now on. I've been changing the oil myself between BMW services to average around a 9k oil change. I'm still somehow on original discs and pads, although on a recent healthcheck it was flagged up that the front pads are down to 3mm and the front discs are slightly lipped, which I agree with having had the wheels off at the weekend. 40k miles from a set of brakes is utterly excellent though imo, and they haven't had a completely easy life.

I've had the steering wheel replaced under warranty as I felt the wear on the 11am and 1pm points was excessive for the mileage, no quibbles, it was done by the dealer and all has been well since.

I had all 4 wheels off this weekend to clean and reseal properly after the worst of the winter, they were done beforehand and I think it helps to maintain them. I also cleaned out the arches and cleaned up the calipers and waxed them for some extra protection.





Once waxed back up, they are still as new and I'm really happy with the condition of them bearing in mind they've now covered 40k miles of road use in all conditions.



Speaking of all conditions, it also continues to be a hugely practical car for everyday use



Agricultural duties, no bother. Oyster leather was an excellent choice

I've also built a unit in the back of my garage which houses my tool chests and a PC / sound system for garage tinkering / cleaning and my air compressor in a cupboard at the top right. All of the materials for this were bought and carried back in the back of the 140. For reference, you can get 8 x 2.4m 45mm x 45mm timber lengths easily in the back of a 3 door 140 hatch



The only other major mod has been replacing the start / stop button with an M2 Competition item, it's red which has to be worth at least 20bhp right?





In the above photo, you can see the wear on the top of the steering wheel I referred to earlier, as this was taken before the new wheel was fitted.

Asides from all of that, it continues to be all the car I could possibly need. It's brilliantly practical, fast, comfortable, relaxing, frantic, benign, a handful, and all at the same time.

I also had it on a rolling road 2 weeks ago, and it made 430bhp and 680nm.



It's such a multi-purpose tool, you can tootle around in it in Eco Pro / Comfort and auto, it's basically silent and returns almost 35mpg fairly easily, or you can knock it into Sport+ and it becomes a lairy hooligan than burbles and keeps you right on your toes.

People will rightly say they aren't a full blown M car, and they aren't as exciting and drama filled as say a Focus RS etc, however it's a phenomenal compromise and it's very very good at a lot of things.

I'm happier with it today than I was when I first picked it up, and I don't think you can top that really.

[D4MJT]

Court_S said:

Fantastic.

I’m opting out of my company car scheme later this year and am desperate for one of these (or late 135 depending on what I decide to do). Currently trying to sort out a deal on a factory order with TRL which would tie in with handing back the MINI that my other half uses. Spec will be...

Shadow edition
White
Black alloys
Black leather with blue stitching
Pro nav
Heated seats
Brushed aluminium trim with gloss black finisher
Debadged

I’d like a more interesting colour than white, but I’ve got one eye on monthly costs as I’m working to a car allowance budget. It’s just a lot of money; I really wish that I’d bought the LCI 135 that I was quoted on when we bought the MINI because looking back it was insanely cheap. I went to look at a Golf GTi today because the TCR had caught my attention, but compared to the 140 I felt really underwhelmed.

The cost is one reason why I might go with a used LCI 135. Plus it would give me an opportunity to hand the MINI back for a bit first. There seem to be a lot around.

Glad to hear that your car has been reliable and economical (providing you can resist the urge to boot it everywhere. The 640d exhaust trims look brilliant as do the black canards.

Thanks That sounds like a good plan, if you get a late LCI 135i then visually internally and externally they're very similar / identical to the 140, and the engines also seem pretty reliable too. The main difference you'd have bar the engine on a new order 140 would be an updated instrument display panel. I'm split on these, I guess they look more modern, but I don't really like the white numbers and I prefer my "old skool BM" layout I think.

JackReacher said:

Were the 640d exhaust trims a straight swap for those on the standard exhaust or do you have the MPE?

They were a straight enough swap onto the MPE. They would be too large in diameter for the standard 140 backbox. I changed to the 640d tips as they were as close an OEM option as I could find that would fit onto the MPE, and I'm not a fan of either the chrome or carbon trim options for that. If you have the standard 140 backbox they look pretty similar to the 640d tips anyway

rayyan171 said:

These cars, albeit in M135i form, are fast approaching bargain territory. They seem like astonishing cars for the money, and in my opinion the best hot hatch yet. Real shame that BMW are dropping the engine, and deciding to go FWD, but it only allows for these to fall into budget for us!

Very nice car OP.

I can't fault it at all, it seems excellent value for money to me. It is a shame the 140 will be no more shortly, but it's the way of the modern world I think isn't it. The 2 series (for now) will remain available with a 6 cylinder rwd option. Personally that wouldn't attract me though, I love the practicality of the hatchback for day to day living and I wouldn't get that with the 2 series boot.

I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier in the thread or not, but my pal has a VBox and we tested my 140 on it last year in the summer. I was able to get a GPS 4.6 seconds to 60mph out of it almost straight away, which is bang on the book figure.

[D4MJT]

toon10 said:

D4MJT, I think I passed you last week in Ashington. Our cars look the same (grey 3 doors) but knowing how much HP yours is putting out, I'll not try and play in my stock one ;-)

Ah you will have done I’m around there a fair bit! If you want any coding done to your car drop me a message

Depending on what options you have there’s quite a lot you can do, video in motion, alarm chirps, digital speedo, seat belt warnings off, active sound changed, eco pro off by default, seat heat memory, etc etc

Welcome to come for a blast in mine if you want to see what they’re like turned up a little.

[D4MJT]

toon10 said:

Nice one. Mine's not a great spec. I have heated seats and a couple of other bits and bobs. I've toyed with the idea of coding sport mode by default but my other half uses the car too and she gets scared in that mode!

If you see me, give me a toot and a wave! I'm in the area. My son wants me to boost the power but I'll be swapping it for something else soon.

Ahhhh, I have seen your car about!

Any idea what you’ll be replacing it with?

Out of interest, how long have you had the XC90 and how have you found it? I keep pondering them as a dog chariot as they seem mega value for money! I had a D5 V70 a few years ago on 200k miles and it was faultless

[D4MJT]

Henry_b said:

P38 "Cough" "Cough" ahem.. lol

Yeah... I know how expensive that ended up being last time...

rasto said:

I've had mine a year and a half now and have just hit 10k miles. The car has been faultless and continues to deliver lots of smiles/mile. I'm averaging 26 mph & 26 mpg which isn't surprising given my 8 mile commute on mostly 30 limit roads.

We're going back up to Skye in it again this May after enjoying our trip last year, the Highland roads are perfect for the M140. For our journey last year we averaged 42 mpg which I still find amazing for a car with that size engine.

I'm looking forward to replacing the MPSS tyres with something that provides a bit more grip and confidence in less than perfect conditions. The MPSS are awesome on warm bone dry roads, but given the UK weather I want tyres that are more appropriate.

It's reporting that it will need a service in 6k miles and doesn't appear to have used any oil so far, indeed I've not had to top up anything in the engine bay.

It did suffer from the dreaded exhaust rattle for a while, but I haven't noticed it recently so I'm hoping it has cured itself.

Looking forward to many more miles in it

I've just replaced my MPSS with Pilot Sport 4's. I'm only 800 miles ish in, but I won't be going back to MPSS, the PS4 are far superior in wet and damp conditions and noticeably better in cold conditions too. A far better everyday tyre for the UK.

Court_S said:

Deal done and the car has been ordered. Spec as per my previous comment, so it’s just a case of waiting. Due to my company car, I can’t collect until the end of June. It might be here earlier but will be stored for me until then. The deals on these new are incredible at the mo; I’ve paid £1,200 more than my local Sytner are flogging a year old one for!

I’ve never had an issue with the old BMW orange interior lights (in fact I really like it, turned right down and it’s very relaxing). I do however really like the new LCI2 dials and they’re very smart. Can’t wait until June!

Fantastic! I bet you can't wait. You can track the progress of your order once you get the build number from your dealer, then you can ask BMW Genius' on the website for a production update. If you want to get really nerdy you can then track the boat on vessel tracker

Leicester Loyal said:

430hp and it's not a full blown M car!

I really do like these, there aren't many (realistic-ish) cars I'd prefer to have over my own but this is definitely one. It's a beauty!

Good thread too btw, keep the updates coming.

That's very kind of you thanks. The power is great, but I do get the argument, with a full blown M car you get better suspension and the diff etc etc. I can't really justify that as mines a daily that I use for sitting in traffic, but as I say, it's an utterly brilliant halfway proposition that I can justify. I really just enjoy driving it, and I think that's a good marker for whether a car is any good or not.

[D4MJT]

Court_S said:

That’s what I’m hoping for. I dearly love an E90 M3 because that engine is so special and is fabulous mated to the DCT gearbox. I don’t fancy running one as a daily; it’s be useless for chucking mountain bikes in (I imagine the 140 will be a bit of a pain after 4 years in a vRS) and will cost a fortune on my 60 mile round trip to the office three days a week. I borrowed a 140 for 48 hours and loved it...the acceleration the first time I booted it really made me laugh too.

If you can amend your spec at all, for £170ish the 30/40/30 split rear seats and the cargo net are a good shout if you're going to chuck mountain bikes in the back. with the rear seat split 3 ways you get extra anchor points in the headliner for the a mesh divider for the back when the seats are down, and theres luggage points to strap the bike frames down to.