A Familiar BMW 130i
Discussion
About 6 weeks ago (on Valentine's Day, actually) I purchased a 130i from a fellow forum member. Luckily for me he had done most, if not all, of the things I would have done to a 10 year old 1-Series already. In fact, in the case of the brakes he'd probably gone a lot further than I'd dare to go. The link to the original thread is below, but in summary:
Grey 130i M Sport
Birds Suspension
Quaife LSD
BMW Performance Intake and Exhaust
AP Racing Brakes
Some nice factory options (fancy stereo, electric seats, xenon headlamps, park distance control, tow bar)
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The main reason for acquiring another car was that my wife is currently on maternity leave and needs the family wagon pretty much daily. As our other cars are both 2 seaters, I needed a run around. Having considered a few options, from a cheap leased VW Up to a £500 Panda or Ignis, I drove this 130i and instantly decided this was the best option.
The Birds Suspension is a massive improvement over stock in road use. That said, as someone who is used to a slightly longer wheelbase, the rear suspension feels slightly 'busy'.
Given the extensive mods carried out by the previous owner you'd think that I'd struggle to improve upon the existing formula, but you'd be wrong ;-)
I've already added a couple of new windscreen wipers
So far most of my driving has been fairly tame, but the setup feels very well damped. Been out for a couple of drives and first impressions is that it shares some character with out family wagon (335i Touring) and some with my fun car (Z4M Coupe - mainly the short wheelbase).
Overall I love the car, only criticism is that the fully electric seats sit a bit high (seem to remember that manual seats in the 1 and 3 Series of this era sit a couple of inches lower) and the exhaust can drone a bit.
Most exciting outing so far was the Sunday Service at Silverstone this weekend. Overall it was good fun to hustle round the track for 30 mins. The downside of only having a 30 min session is that there was no real opportunity to adjust tyre pressures. As a result there was probably too much grip from the rear, which made it challenging to neutralise the small amount of understeer without provoking large amounts of oversteer given the very wet conditions. AP brakes were awesome as expected. Should also say that it's been years since I've driven on track so I definitely felt like I was braking early and over-cautious when it came to passing.
Future plans might include some fancy trim from Royal Steering Wheels and a replacement head unit as this one seems to stop working after a couple of hours use. If I fancy doing more track days, the big investment might be some bucket seats - as even on the lowest setting the electric seats meant that, once inside a helmet, my head was touching the headlining.
Will try and keep this tread updated as and when stuff happens.
Grey 130i M Sport
Birds Suspension
Quaife LSD
BMW Performance Intake and Exhaust
AP Racing Brakes
Some nice factory options (fancy stereo, electric seats, xenon headlamps, park distance control, tow bar)
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The main reason for acquiring another car was that my wife is currently on maternity leave and needs the family wagon pretty much daily. As our other cars are both 2 seaters, I needed a run around. Having considered a few options, from a cheap leased VW Up to a £500 Panda or Ignis, I drove this 130i and instantly decided this was the best option.
The Birds Suspension is a massive improvement over stock in road use. That said, as someone who is used to a slightly longer wheelbase, the rear suspension feels slightly 'busy'.
Given the extensive mods carried out by the previous owner you'd think that I'd struggle to improve upon the existing formula, but you'd be wrong ;-)
I've already added a couple of new windscreen wipers
So far most of my driving has been fairly tame, but the setup feels very well damped. Been out for a couple of drives and first impressions is that it shares some character with out family wagon (335i Touring) and some with my fun car (Z4M Coupe - mainly the short wheelbase).
Overall I love the car, only criticism is that the fully electric seats sit a bit high (seem to remember that manual seats in the 1 and 3 Series of this era sit a couple of inches lower) and the exhaust can drone a bit.
Most exciting outing so far was the Sunday Service at Silverstone this weekend. Overall it was good fun to hustle round the track for 30 mins. The downside of only having a 30 min session is that there was no real opportunity to adjust tyre pressures. As a result there was probably too much grip from the rear, which made it challenging to neutralise the small amount of understeer without provoking large amounts of oversteer given the very wet conditions. AP brakes were awesome as expected. Should also say that it's been years since I've driven on track so I definitely felt like I was braking early and over-cautious when it came to passing.
Future plans might include some fancy trim from Royal Steering Wheels and a replacement head unit as this one seems to stop working after a couple of hours use. If I fancy doing more track days, the big investment might be some bucket seats - as even on the lowest setting the electric seats meant that, once inside a helmet, my head was touching the headlining.
Will try and keep this tread updated as and when stuff happens.
lewis328 said:
Nice car OP, I too fancy one of these however never many up for sale. I assume you paid strong money for such a well fettled example? Normally only low spec high mileage examples up my way.
Thanks :-)Pricing was at the higher end of the market, but given the amount of work that had gone into it I considered it a very fair price. The Suspension, Diff and Brakes had all been done in the past 10,000 miles and it came with a huge folder of receipts. Even the water pump had recently been replaced. The only items I'm expecting to replace in the near future are the head unit and the clutch (it's still on it's original at 103k miles).
I actually wasn't originally looking for a 1-Series but I do like the N52 engine which means either a 130, 330 or 3.0L Z4 Coupe. These engines seem to be very solid with the water pump being the main issue. Looking at what's available at the moment, even the low mileage ones are at around 60k so personally I'd rather buy a cheaper example and then spend the remaining money on refreshing the suspension as by 80,000 miles it'll be past it's best.
The only options I really wanted were Xenons and the upgraded Audio (as the audio is painful and expensive to upgrade later). Heated seats are nice, although mine are all electric which means they sit a little high. If i had somewhere to store them I might consider putting manual seats in - they appear to be quote cheap at breakers/ebay. Not fussed about stuff like iDrive/Sat Nav as that's very old and slow now and I end up using my phone anyway.
Edited by survivalist on Wednesday 4th April 12:10
Lovely car, I've just picked up a '57 white 3dr with only 46k from new, absolutely loving it so far. The novelty of having a big engine in a small car is going to take a while to wear off, and what an engine it is.
Mine is completely standard, but the mods on yours are something I'd like to add to mine, just wary that it'll cost half the value of the car
heard good reports about the BMWP exhaust as they are a bit quiet as standard so that will probably be first on the list. Only disappointment is that mine doesn't have xenons as I had them on my old car, so you instantly notice the difference. Had to compromise somewhere though as good examples are getting harder to find.
Mine is completely standard, but the mods on yours are something I'd like to add to mine, just wary that it'll cost half the value of the car
heard good reports about the BMWP exhaust as they are a bit quiet as standard so that will probably be first on the list. Only disappointment is that mine doesn't have xenons as I had them on my old car, so you instantly notice the difference. Had to compromise somewhere though as good examples are getting harder to find.survivalist said:
culpz said:
Looks really smart. Is it yonex's old motor by any chance?
It is indeed. I linked to his original thread in my first post, but it sounds like you've already read it :-)Drives very well for a car approaching it's 12th Birthday and more practical than my Z4 Coupe.
It's a great car and a great example you've picked up. Hope it serves you well and i look forward to any further progress with it
survivalist said:
Thanks :-)
Pricing was at the higher end of the market, but given the amount of work that had gone into it I considered it a very fair price. The Suspension, Diff and Brakes had all been done in the past 10,000 miles and it came with a huge folder of receipts. Even the water pump had recently been replaced. The only items I'm expecting to replace in the near future are the head unit and the clutch (it's still on it's original at 103k miles).
I actually wasn't originally looking for a 1-Series but I do like the N52 engine which means either a 130, 330 or 3.0L Z4 Coupe. These engines seem to be very solid with the water pump being the main issue. Looking at what's available at the moment, even the low mileage ones are at around 60k so personally I'd rather buy a cheaper example and then spend the remaining money on refreshing the suspension as by 80,000 miles it'll be past it's best.
The only options I really wanted were Xenons and the upgraded Audio (as the audio is painful and expensive to upgrade later). Heated seats are nice, although mine are all electric which means they sit a little high. If i had somewhere to store them I might consider putting manual seats in - they appear to be quote cheap at breakers/ebay. Not fussed about stuff like iDrive/Sat Nav as that's very old and slow now and I end up using my phone anyway.
If this is a short term ownership and you eventually want to move it on, I'd be interested, price dependant. Pricing was at the higher end of the market, but given the amount of work that had gone into it I considered it a very fair price. The Suspension, Diff and Brakes had all been done in the past 10,000 miles and it came with a huge folder of receipts. Even the water pump had recently been replaced. The only items I'm expecting to replace in the near future are the head unit and the clutch (it's still on it's original at 103k miles).
I actually wasn't originally looking for a 1-Series but I do like the N52 engine which means either a 130, 330 or 3.0L Z4 Coupe. These engines seem to be very solid with the water pump being the main issue. Looking at what's available at the moment, even the low mileage ones are at around 60k so personally I'd rather buy a cheaper example and then spend the remaining money on refreshing the suspension as by 80,000 miles it'll be past it's best.
The only options I really wanted were Xenons and the upgraded Audio (as the audio is painful and expensive to upgrade later). Heated seats are nice, although mine are all electric which means they sit a little high. If i had somewhere to store them I might consider putting manual seats in - they appear to be quote cheap at breakers/ebay. Not fussed about stuff like iDrive/Sat Nav as that's very old and slow now and I end up using my phone anyway.
Edited by survivalist on Wednesday 4th April 12:10
As my sentence above suggests great car and right up my street!!
survivalist said:
culpz said:
Looks really smart. Is it yonex's old motor by any chance?
It is indeed. I linked to his original thread in my first post, but it sounds like you've already read it :-)Drives very well for a car approaching it's 12th Birthday and more practical than my Z4 Coupe. [/quote
Well done OP - it sounds like you've got a really well sorted example in that case.
I read all of yonex's thread ready for when my 325ti was ready for replacement - then missed the local one and ended up buying an E91 325i!
Still as you know, if one N52 is good, two is better!
Looking forward to your updates.
So, a couple of months on and in that time not a huge amount has happened.
Following the Sunday Service track outing I had the oil changed, which coincidentally was about half way through the recommended interval.
Been on a few fun B-Road drives which always leave me impressed with the birds suspension set up and quaife diff.
The seats continued to bug me though - they sit too high and don't offer much lateral report. Also, the leather is pretty slippery when cornering which doesn't help much.
Anyway, it became clear to me that the only option was to buy some expensive seats. A while ago BMW got together with Recaro to produce some custom seats for the EXX range of cars. Based on the Recaro Sportster CS, they have custom BMW Subframes and have BMW compatible Airbag and Seat Heating.
I did look at buying some generic Recaro Seats, but by the time you add in Sliding Mounts and Floor Mounts there's not much in it and on top of that you lose the Airbags and Heating.
So, end result is me buying a pair of these:
Downside is that even though they are listed as compatible, the 5-Door 1-Series (and 3-Series Estate) have different mounting points for the seatbelts, so now need to look at how I 'anchor' the seatbelts.
Following the Sunday Service track outing I had the oil changed, which coincidentally was about half way through the recommended interval.
Been on a few fun B-Road drives which always leave me impressed with the birds suspension set up and quaife diff.
The seats continued to bug me though - they sit too high and don't offer much lateral report. Also, the leather is pretty slippery when cornering which doesn't help much.
Anyway, it became clear to me that the only option was to buy some expensive seats. A while ago BMW got together with Recaro to produce some custom seats for the EXX range of cars. Based on the Recaro Sportster CS, they have custom BMW Subframes and have BMW compatible Airbag and Seat Heating.
I did look at buying some generic Recaro Seats, but by the time you add in Sliding Mounts and Floor Mounts there's not much in it and on top of that you lose the Airbags and Heating.
So, end result is me buying a pair of these:
Downside is that even though they are listed as compatible, the 5-Door 1-Series (and 3-Series Estate) have different mounting points for the seatbelts, so now need to look at how I 'anchor' the seatbelts.
Edited by survivalist on Wednesday 6th June 07:18
paul n said:
nice seats! how did you get on with fitting them? (pics would be good!)
I have just bought a very similar car to yours. grey with all the mods done and loving it so far!
paul
Thanks. I was the guy asking you about the M3 Steering Rack on your other thread.I have just bought a very similar car to yours. grey with all the mods done and loving it so far!
paul
With holidays, work and DIY I’ve not actually had a chance to fit them yet. I have found a set of brackets that should allow me to attach the seat belt though, so will hopefully get a chance to fit them next weekend. Will post up some pictures once they’re in :-)
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