2011 onwards 125i (2.0 Turbo) Auto - Fuel economy

[zed4]

Hello,

I'm looking to get my girlfriend a new car, and one of the options on the list is a 2011 onwards BMW 1 Series. We're looking at the 118i (with the 1.6 litre turbo) and the 125i (with the 2.0 litre turbo).

We're swaying towards the 125i, although it's proving quite difficult to find a good used one - they seem quite rare!

Question is, what is the real world MPG like on them? It's replacing a Golf GTI which only ever does 30 MPG, so anything better than that would be a bonus!

Anything else we should be aware of with these cars/engines? Is the BMW 2.0 litre turbo a good unit? It's the 218 PS form.

Many thanks,

Dan

[zed4]

No one? No comments on MPG or reliability of this engine? Please!

[zed4]

Maracus said:

I've previously owned a MK5 GTI and now have an F31 328i, so more power and weight than the 125i.

Cruising on the motorway at 75 you'll easily see 40mpg. In the 18 months we've owned it the average is around 35mpg.

Compared to my old MK5 GTI, I'd say it's around 10% more economical overall (and has a greater turn of speed) So should be slightly better in the 125i.

HTH.

That's great, thanks.

The Golf barely returns 25-30mpg and must be run on super unleaded (as it's been remapped), so with a 5-10 mpg increase and a decrease in fuel cost per litre for standard unleaded, we should be seeing a saving of at least £30 per month!

Combine that with the £120 saving on vehicle tax, that's £40 saved per month over the Golf. Every little helps go towards the monthly repayments of the BMW!

Sounds good so far.

Just got to find a nice one now.

[zed4]

Swervin_Mervin said:

Oooh, one for us. My wife recently switched from a mk1 LCI 120d to a mk2 2012 125i.

It has a lot of options specced and is apparently one of only 7 with the 8spd ZF auto 'box.

On the cruise back from Winchester to Manchester, we averaged 37mpg. Just this weekend done Cornwall and back and averaged 34mpg each into strong headwinds. All at an 80 cruise.

Drop to 70 and on a cruise it'll easily go north of 40mpg. At one point I had the combined remaining fuel range+mileage travelled at 450mi. And that's off a tank that fills up at <£60 on SUL.

Oh and it shifts. Deceptively so.

That's great, thanks.

There certainly don't seem to be many out there for sale, but I'm sure there are more than 7! Think we've found one for us, just need to make the trip up to see it.

[zed4]

Swervin_Mervin said:

zed4 said:

Swervin_Mervin said:

Oooh, one for us. My wife recently switched from a mk1 LCI 120d to a mk2 2012 125i.

It has a lot of options specced and is apparently one of only 7 with the 8spd ZF auto 'box.

On the cruise back from Winchester to Manchester, we averaged 37mpg. Just this weekend done Cornwall and back and averaged 34mpg each into strong headwinds. All at an 80 cruise.

Drop to 70 and on a cruise it'll easily go north of 40mpg. At one point I had the combined remaining fuel range+mileage travelled at 450mi. And that's off a tank that fills up at <£60 on SUL.

Oh and it shifts. Deceptively so.

That's great, thanks.

There certainly don't seem to be many out there for sale, but I'm sure there are more than 7! Think we've found one for us, just need to make the trip up to see it.

The 125i is available either with a normal auto 'box or the ZF 8 speed version (referred to as Sport Auto). It's the latter option that's rare. Not sure how they compare on efficiency but I'd have thought they'd be very similar. Good luck with the search

I didn’t think this was the case.

I thought the auto box was the ZF 8 speed auto, and the sports auto was the ZF 8 speed auto with steering wheel paddles. That’s how I understood it.