BMW 1 Series....a few questions

[texasjohn]

SSBB said:

But at an average speed of less than 45 mph. Add to that the post you deleted of the 118d on 76mpg says that your commute is not typical as you must be pottering around really slowly to get that kind of figure.

The 118d pic was a one off trip from the north to Southampton, and not representative of my commute. I deleted it because it's not really that impressive, having done 200 miles at 50-55mph.

In the 130i my commute was 52 miles, 42 of which was busy M42 motorway at rush hour, I'd just sit there at 60mph and let everyone else fight. A lot of the final 10 miles was on A roads at 50-60mph. The trick to getting over 40mpg was anticipation and not using cruise control.

The average speed was a long term average. You don't reset all the trip computer functions at once by pressing reset (unlike a Mercedes which resets all values).

I now have a C250CDI and don't spare the throttle, easily keeping up with the third lane. I get there about 5 minutes quicker and only get 8 or 9 MPG more.

[texasjohn]

DonkeyApple said:

texasjohn said:

That's certainly impressive if that's your average mpg.

I've had the car around 2 years and the average mpg over that time is 26. If I use the trip and cruise at 55 on a motorway then I get a higher number but that isn't reflective of typical everyday usage and the trip soon works its way to 26/27.

43.4 was a personal best, lucky with traffic lights that day. I would get 42mpg all week normally, and about 27mpg at weekends.

The point was to show you can have a 3 litre in a light car, drive a little below the motorway speed limit (just get out of bed 5 minutes earlier) arrive at work unstressed.

A lot of people run a weekend car and a weekday commuter. Running a 130i is a cheaper alternative to that approach IMHO.

I did 500 miles commuting a week and if I was really careful I could get 4 days (8 * 52 mile trips) out of a tank of fuel.

[texasjohn]

Jobless said:

Facelifts have different lights. The tailights have smaller reverse lights and I think the bumpers are different too. Face lifts have rectangular foglights and pre-facelift have round ones IIRC.

The front end is the same on pre and post facelift M Sports.

The interior is a little different also - doorcards with inserts on the facelift cars.

[A13]

T16OLE said:

Is is regarded the pre facelift models are more reliable?

I do seem to remember hearing that when i was looking at them..

[T16OLE]

I am now considering an A3 circa 2003/4, I understand they do have fuel pump, injector and turbo failure, how bad or frequent is this?

I sold my 530d because I was worried to death about it, but my mileage will soon dictate the need for a derv

[road_rager]

The turbo blew on the MIL's 54 plate 118D a couple of months ago... cost 1k plus to put right...and it was a fairly well looked after car

[Tefal]

currybum said:

The timing chain snapped on my brothers 2 year old 118D.....needed a new engine...which was funny

That's probably the 177hp N47 engine, timing chain at the rear, becoming a more common issue and known about in the field.