RE: BMW M135i: PH Fleet

[F355GTS]

I find my LCI with adaptive one of the finest handling cars I've ever driven on a B road blast, it's equally at home cruising on a motorway or just driving around.

Maybe I'm only driving it at up to 8/10ths but at that rate it's insanely fast and I wouldn't want to go any quicker on a public road

[Roncee]

Echoing similar thoughts that floaty suspension feels like the car is not tied down properly. It does not inspire confidence. Its a shame as other components in the package are good.
Eibach springs on adaptive help a tiny bit - I have them on mine
Not sure that even if you get the best suspension package in the world the very poor/numb steering will ultimately frustrate. It is really has 0 feedback.
I have yet to try a car with the m4 LCA but am interested but is around £600-650 fitted.

I too have my normal roads I drive in my other cars (some are a lot slower) and the BMW performs badly and just does not satisfy

BTW adaptive costs about £30 to "code out" and then you are good to go with passive suspension kit.

SO if you get
suspension 2k
LCA 0.6
DIff 2k
Exhaust 1k
Remap 0.5k
ARB 0.5k
Spacers 0.2k

you get a 10/10ths car (and prob ruin the residuals or waste time and money putting it all back to standard)

surely just work harder and get an m car to start with? maybe i'm bitter I didn't do this in the first place!

[stevec33]

Roncee- ive done most of the mods you've listed apart from the suspension kit and arb's. Spent a fortune and the car is still not right, awful down a country road the cars just gets thrown all over the place by bumps and cant deal with poor road surfaces, it feels un settled and unsafe and not confinince inspiring whatsoever.
I didn't plan to ever go as far as i have, you start by adding a tuning box and some lowering springs and just keep goong trying to make it right.
Can't decide if to get the suspension kit and arbsor just sell it for a car that was right in the first place

[nickfrog]

Roncee said:

I have yet to try a car with the m4 LCA but am interested but is around £600-650 fitted.

Back 2 years ago, the parts cost me £200 from Cotswold BMW, it took us 2 hours with a friend and we did most of the alignment with strings/Iphone.

Final alignment was £75.

An indie should charge 1 hour labour max so I think it's do-able for £400.

[shoestring7]

stevec33 said:

Roncee- ive done most of the mods you've listed apart from the suspension kit and arb's. Spent a fortune and the car is still not right, awful down a country road the cars just gets thrown all over the place by bumps and cant deal with poor road surfaces, it feels un settled and unsafe and not confinince inspiring whatsoever.
I didn't plan to ever go as far as i have, you start by adding a tuning box and some lowering springs and just keep goong trying to make it right.
Can't decide if to get the suspension kit and arbsor just sell it for a car that was right in the first place

So you're unhappy with the way the car drives on bumpy tarmac, so you thought "Its needs more power and less compliance".

Oh well.


SS7

[Prawnboy]

pistonheads review 2012:

It's definitely a UK car, the M135i; the ride is firm, but control is good and it never feels as though the set-up is too much for the chassis. Though that's partly because there's plenty of grip from the specially developed 245-section Michelin rubber. Its grip and direct, accurate steering means it's easy to precisely place the car. You can drive it in this way - neat and tidy and fast - or you can drive it like a hooligan in a properly point-and-squirt style.

But now..........

The first thing we wanted to address was the M135i's ride and handling. As standard, it's a curious mix of uptight ride quality and soggy body control..... as it rolled out of the factory the M135i just doesn't feel quite right.

i too was under the impresion that you would be crazy to buy anything else.

[shoestring7]

Prawnboy said:

pistonheads review 2012:

It's definitely a UK car, the M135i; the ride is firm, but control is good and it never feels as though the set-up is too much for the chassis. Though that's partly because there's plenty of grip from the specially developed 245-section Michelin rubber. Its grip and direct, accurate steering means it's easy to precisely place the car. You can drive it in this way - neat and tidy and fast - or you can drive it like a hooligan in a properly point-and-squirt style.

But now..........

The first thing we wanted to address was the M135i's ride and handling. As standard, it's a curious mix of uptight ride quality and soggy body control..... as it rolled out of the factory the M135i just doesn't feel quite right.

i too was under the impresion that you would be crazy to buy anything else.

Good post. The briefest test drive on English roads would give the lie to the 'accurate' steering and 'good control' assessment, so all I can think of is that the PHs bloke was trying it on manicured German tarmac after a heavy night on BMW's Liebfraumilch.

SS7

[ZX10R NIN]

Roncee said:

Echoing similar thoughts that floaty suspension feels like the car is not tied down properly. It does not inspire confidence. Its a shame as other components in the package are good.
Eibach springs on adaptive help a tiny bit - I have them on mine
Not sure that even if you get the best suspension package in the world the very poor/numb steering will ultimately frustrate. It is really has 0 feedback.
I have yet to try a car with the m4 LCA but am interested but is around £600-650 fitted.

I too have my normal roads I drive in my other cars (some are a lot slower) and the BMW performs badly and just does not satisfy

BTW adaptive costs about £30 to "code out" and then you are good to go with passive suspension kit.

SO if you get
suspension 2k
LCA 0.6
DIff 2k
Exhaust 1k
Remap 0.5k
ARB 0.5k
Spacers 0.2k

you get a 10/10ths car (and prob ruin the residuals or waste time and money putting it all back to standard)

surely just work harder and get an m car to start with? maybe i'm bitter I didn't do this in the first place!

The things is if you don't have to do every upgrade, also a good suspension setup works at low speed as well as when you're getting a scoot on.

The best part is that you don't have to do it all at once as for resale one with all the above would fetch good money over a standard car.

[Scottie - NW]

Hmm this is all quite worrying.

A 63/14 plate M135i was on my list to replace the daily car, commute is about 12 miles each way most down country A and B roads, I don't modify the daily much so this is now making me consider removing the M135i off the list as handling is something I rate above nearly all else, hence once having a RX8 PZ as the daily!

I don't want to have to spend money on making a daily drive right

[Scottie - NW]

ZX10R NIN said:

The best part is that you don't have to do it all at once as for resale one with all the above would fetch good money over a standard car.

No it won't. The upgrades list add up to 7k, he'd be lucky to see 2k extra of that back, if not less, mods put a lot of people off.

[nickfrog]

Scottie - NW said:

Hmm this is all quite worrying.

A 63/14 plate M135i was on my list to replace the daily car, commute is about 12 miles each way most down country A and B roads, I don't modify the daily much so this is now making me consider removing the M135i off the list as handling is something I rate above nearly all else

Drive it to form your own opinion first - for road use I don't agree things are as bad as described. I actually even drove the car unmodified at Spa and got a 3:00 out of the box and at no point was I unaware of the limits of lat grip on turn-in nor traction. This was a 3-dr LCI, which seems the "least bad" configuration as damping was improved and the car is braced (unlike the 5-dr) so probably a little easier to control.

Things might not as rosy on poor tarmac but I have also commuted on b-roads for 6 months in it and really enjoyed it.

[fido]

Roncee said:

surely just work harder and get an m car to start with?

Because 17.5k + Birds Performance Package is alot less than 40k+ (for an M2).

[uremaw]

The suspension and diff were only part of the problem though. The variable ratio steering and regenerative brakes both contributed to the poor B-road experience too for me. I enjoyed my M135i while I had it, but it was one trick pony - a dragster disguised as a family hatch.

[urquattroGus]

willshn said:

Test drove the Birds M235i recently, was very capable, just drove exactly how it should out of the box. Full confidence to push on over bumpy surface.

My 135 has adaptive damping which costs more to remove sadly which prices their package out of range for me.

Have read a lot about Eibach springs - are they worth it?

My m135i had adaptive, so I just went for springs, anti roll bars and the diff.

Kept the standard adaptive dampers, worked well.

[N88]

Scottie - NW said:

Hmm this is all quite worrying.

A 63/14 plate M135i was on my list to replace the daily car, commute is about 12 miles each way most down country A and B roads, I don't modify the daily much so this is now making me consider removing the M135i off the list as handling is something I rate above nearly all else, hence once having a RX8 PZ as the daily!

I don't want to have to spend money on making a daily drive right

I'd suggest forming your own opinion of it before taking it straight off the list!

I drive one as a daily and it's a great all rounder. It doesn't inspire the same confidence one a B-road as my past Type-R's, but I never expected it to.

[custardkid]

F355GTS said:

I find my LCI with adaptive one of the finest handling cars I've ever driven on a B road blast, it's equally at home cruising on a motorway or just driving around.

Maybe I'm only driving it at up to 8/10ths but at that rate it's insanely fast and I wouldn't want to go any quicker on a public road

Have done 21,000 miles in my LCI with adaptive.

if you push in 'comfort' it feels soft and can trip its self up
switch to Sport and its much more planted

I usually put it into sport even on the motorway only switching back to comfort for the most potholed roads

as a daily its perfect.
As a weekend / track car its way too comfortable without enough negative camber at the front - but it was never intended to be this ...

PS if you are looking make sure you get adjustable lumber.. means you get some back support and can pinch your kidneys to keep you in the seat whilst cornering

[underphil]

Roncee said:

Echoing similar thoughts that floaty suspension feels like the car is not tied down properly. It does not inspire confidence. Its a shame as other components in the package are good.
Eibach springs on adaptive help a tiny bit - I have them on mine
Not sure that even if you get the best suspension package in the world the very poor/numb steering will ultimately frustrate. It is really has 0 feedback.
I have yet to try a car with the m4 LCA but am interested but is around £600-650 fitted.

I too have my normal roads I drive in my other cars (some are a lot slower) and the BMW performs badly and just does not satisfy

BTW adaptive costs about £30 to "code out" and then you are good to go with passive suspension kit.

SO if you get
suspension 2k
LCA 0.6
DIff 2k
Exhaust 1k
Remap 0.5k
ARB 0.5k
Spacers 0.2k

you get a 10/10ths car (and prob ruin the residuals or waste time and money putting it all back to standard)

surely just work harder and get an m car to start with? maybe i'm bitter I didn't do this in the first place!

I guess a big difference between M-lite cars and full M cars, is that the M-lites get the same soft suspension/subframe bushings as the basic non-sport models whereas the full M cars get firmer items that make you feel more connected to the driving experience

[stevec33]

Roncee- ive done most of the mods you've listed apart from the suspension kit and arb's. Spent a fortune and the car is still not right, awful down a country road the cars just gets thrown all over the place by bumps and cant deal with poor road surfaces, it feels un settled and unsafe and not confinince inspiring whatsoever.
I didn't plan to ever go as far as i have, you start by adding a tuning box and some lowering springs and just keep goong trying to make it right.
Can't decide if to get the suspension kit and arbsor just sell it for a car that was right in the first place

[stevec33]

To the op, do you find that this setup has got rid of the wobbly/nervous feeling that these cars suffer from? Ive got one, got an lsd, eibach springs, spacers, tuned to approximately 400hp and tbh its not great, feels almost dangerous sometimes and not settled/planted at all.
Im in two minds if to get a kit like this and some arb's or sell it and get something else.

[D200]

All this 9 10ths or 10 10ths stuff is funny

People slating this car as it 9 or 10 tenths it ‘falls apart’ ?

I test drove a M135i – with no salesman with me – so drove it ‘reasonably’ hard. It felt fine, a bit bumpy/skippy at times but I wouldn’t say this ruined the car – made you realize you were travelling hard!

And how often do you all drive at 9 or 10 tenths?

If you drove a Golf 1.2 at even 9 10ths on the road you would be banned within a week never mind a performance cars. Drive even a Golf GTi never mind a Golf R or Audi RS3, A4 AMG or M135i at 9 or 10 tenths and you will be banned within an hour

And then if you try to drive something like a 911 GT3, GTR, 458, 650S etc at 9 or 10 tenths, then I dunno...

I drove some very fast cars, inc a 911 Turbo, 458, R8 etc and drove then pretty hard –was doing about 130+ on an a/b road, it was crazy/scary fast but I would say I drove it at 4 tenths at the very most!

And I can drive cars pretty fast, went to come race schools, a few track days etc. I own and owned some reasonably fast RWD cars and do get them sideways etc on the road but I still would not call that driving at 9 or 10 tenths, no where near it.

To drive at 9 or 10 tenths this would be basically full throttle all the time, full on the brakes, taking corners at the maximum speed possible – i.e. then the car is losing grip and beginning to slide

I have done a small bit in my younger more foolish days – I wouldn’t now. It’s dangerous as hell, risky as hell and if caught bye bye license. Plus you are relying on other road users being full aware of what you are doing.

Unless my understanding of driving at 10 tenths is completely wrong?