RE: BMW M135i (F20) | PH Used Buying Guide
Discussion
xjay1337 said:
nick30 said:
xjay,
I agree some guides may need some extra information but they have generally been found to be very useful to most owners, myself included. Some of your comments are nonsense. I .
Which parts. I agree some guides may need some extra information but they have generally been found to be very useful to most owners, myself included. Some of your comments are nonsense. I .
As they are all pretty accurate and first hand experience from someone who has done 13 trackdays in the car.
Be happy to hear your opinion :-)
Edited by xjay1337 on Tuesday 28th January 21:09
nick30 said:
xjay1337 said:
nick30 said:
xjay,
I agree some guides may need some extra information but they have generally been found to be very useful to most owners, myself included. Some of your comments are nonsense. I .
Which parts. I agree some guides may need some extra information but they have generally been found to be very useful to most owners, myself included. Some of your comments are nonsense. I .
As they are all pretty accurate and first hand experience from someone who has done 13 trackdays in the car.
Be happy to hear your opinion :-)
Edited by xjay1337 on Tuesday 28th January 21:09
When they are comments made from someone who actually works on cars himself (sometimes!) and abuses them more than most people :-)
My comments regarding modifications are completely valid.
Birds are very expensive for what they are
And you would be better off with MHD software for the ecu and coilovers and camber mounts IF you wanted to go that route.
My engine is stock because of my warranty.
Myself and many others have modified cars in the past. You should see my old Scirocco if you think the mods done to my M135i are anything other that completely ordinary and every mod brings benefits in the way I want to use the car.
[quote=s m]
Here’s the manual box version, tested in wet conditions
Glad it was wet conditions, or it wouldn't have been too impressive! My 55 plate 330i does 0-62 in 6.3 seconds according to BMW.
But I'm old and don't really care for turbos, flappy paddles or fake sound-tracks - which is why my daily is the 330i (but mostly because a 130i was out of budget)!
Still my fun-day car is a Z4M Coupe, and based on that experience MPSS tyres really are "exciting" in cold/damp conditions - scary or exciting, depending on your point of view.
Here’s the manual box version, tested in wet conditions
Glad it was wet conditions, or it wouldn't have been too impressive! My 55 plate 330i does 0-62 in 6.3 seconds according to BMW.
But I'm old and don't really care for turbos, flappy paddles or fake sound-tracks - which is why my daily is the 330i (but mostly because a 130i was out of budget)!
Still my fun-day car is a Z4M Coupe, and based on that experience MPSS tyres really are "exciting" in cold/damp conditions - scary or exciting, depending on your point of view.
Mr Tidy] m said:
Here’s the manual box version, tested in wet conditions
Glad it was wet conditions, or it wouldn't have been too impressive! My 55 plate 330i does 0-62 in 6.3 seconds according to BMW.
But I'm old and don't really care for turbos, flappy paddles or fake sound-tracks - which is why my daily is the 330i (but mostly because a 130i was out of budget)!
Still my fun-day car is a Z4M Coupe, and based on that experience MPSS tyres really are "exciting" in cold/damp conditions - scary or exciting, depending on your point of view.
These don’t really feel turbocharged, well not to me. I think being a decent sized engine that would make say 275bhp without the turbo means that the turbo doesn’t have to add so much especially when compared to its competitors. It feels more responsive than my old E90 330 in terms of pick up etc and is happy to rev out. Glad it was wet conditions, or it wouldn't have been too impressive! My 55 plate 330i does 0-62 in 6.3 seconds according to BMW.
But I'm old and don't really care for turbos, flappy paddles or fake sound-tracks - which is why my daily is the 330i (but mostly because a 130i was out of budget)!
Still my fun-day car is a Z4M Coupe, and based on that experience MPSS tyres really are "exciting" in cold/damp conditions - scary or exciting, depending on your point of view.
As for the gearbox, as you’ll know manual E90 330’s are like rocking horse poo. I had to settle for an auto and the the new boxes are way better than the old ones.
Good article, can’t fault it. They do rattle a bit though. Not as much as the 130i mind, much better quality. Clearly not everyone likes to drive or look at them and although they are classics I wouldn’t buy one as an investment. That being said my 3-door manual is 7 years old from new with 125k on the clock and no plans to replace. The now slightly worrying thing is that it’s still on its original clutch, obviously down to exemplary pedalling, but they are tough little things.
Mr Tidy said:
Still my fun-day car is a Z4M Coupe, and based on that experience MPSS tyres really are "exciting" in cold/damp conditions - scary or exciting, depending on your point of view.
I've decided now that I prefer 4wd at this time of the year.
I remember that Autocar review and I was disappointed that it was wet because I'd always wanted a M235i, but the performance figures were very ordinary due to the conditions sadly.
Had an M135i for over two years here in Singapore - bought as it provided pretty much the best performance per $ from something with more than 4 cyls. Was ex-BMW management car so had all the toys for the relative bargain price of S$185,000 (cars here are VERY expensive). Really enjoyed it in the dry but in the wet it was a bit scary at times. Fuel economy around town 20-22mpg at best... Was glad to have a 5-yr warranty as the intake boost pipe split during a period of hard acceleration (dealer said it was not uncommon) and had the electrics go into meltdown with warning lights coming and going putting the car into limp mode. Apart from that had no other issues and was sorry to see it go but needed something more economical. Definitely recommended to those brought up on 4 cyl front-drive cars as managing a 6 cyl rear-drive performance hatchback is a very different experience.
Recently checked out the new M135i....really disliked the styling particularly the new BMW family (stupidly oversize) grill - am sure its faster, more economical etc. but its lost the USP of the original...at over S$240,000 no thanks!!
Recently checked out the new M135i....really disliked the styling particularly the new BMW family (stupidly oversize) grill - am sure its faster, more economical etc. but its lost the USP of the original...at over S$240,000 no thanks!!
Just coming up on four years in a 16 plate LCI, only car I've ever bought new. Purchased with head over heart (sorta) and it's in the middle of my personal Venn diagram. For practical enjoyable motoring it's a hard act to beat having been pressed into service as a BMVan when helping a friend flatmove, GT'd all around Europe returning with large amounts of wine and hacked into work daily returning a staggeringly consistent 28.6mpg which for a three litre turbo is very impressive. As others have said 10/10th's down a back road is not its forte, although I'd suggest a Puma and point out that the BM's 7/10th's is extremely quick point-to-point.
I've got HK sound which is okay, electric lumbar and heated seats and wheel are all year, all day comfortable. Most under used £150 I've ever spent was the mainbeam assist but on the handful of occassions I've used it it's been awesome. Adaptive suspension is pretty useful at making it tolerably comfortable with extra body control available when needed. LSD and a set of winter tyres are the only extras I should really have got.
Oh and funky autobox may be funky but I've got a very nice manual box which suits the car to a tee; not noticed offset pedals? Can't be that bad: I felt instantly comfortable in the 1 series and before purchase I had looked at a lot of different cars none of which were any comfier.
I've got HK sound which is okay, electric lumbar and heated seats and wheel are all year, all day comfortable. Most under used £150 I've ever spent was the mainbeam assist but on the handful of occassions I've used it it's been awesome. Adaptive suspension is pretty useful at making it tolerably comfortable with extra body control available when needed. LSD and a set of winter tyres are the only extras I should really have got.
Oh and funky autobox may be funky but I've got a very nice manual box which suits the car to a tee; not noticed offset pedals? Can't be that bad: I felt instantly comfortable in the 1 series and before purchase I had looked at a lot of different cars none of which were any comfier.
Ran one for six years. Only sold it because we emigrated. Echo many of the other comments. Felt more like junior GT than a hot hatch - which was fine for us. Apart from a few punctures and two people driving into me I can’t recall any faults during our ownership (about 50,000 miles). I don’t love it but was one of the cars I’ve owned the longest, which must say something.
cerb4.5lee said:
Mr Tidy said:
I remember that Autocar review and I was disappointed that it was wet because I'd always wanted a M235i, but the performance figures were very ordinary due to the conditions sadly.
greenarrow said:
Did you read the Autocar test of the M135i from a few years earlier? I'll try and dig it out, but the 0-60 time was sub 5 seconds as I recall and 0-100 in under 12. Pretty impressive at the time for a non AWD hatch. Still impressive now tbh
I think I might have it somewhere because at that time I used to buy almost every Autocar BMW full road test. Agree that the M135i is quick for sure(the M235i will be too in the right conditions I'd hope). If I remember correctly I've seen that the M135i auto has a pretty much identical 0 to 100 time to a E92 M3 manual. Impressive I reckon.
cerb4.5lee said:
Niffty951 said:
cerb4.5lee said:
I've decided now that I prefer 4wd at this time of the year.
Poofter ay 
I do seem to be losing my bottle as I'm getting older for sure!
The PSS’s are very good in the dry but they can be little buggers in this weather...Monday morning I pulled off a roundabout onto a slip road and ended up a wee bit sideways. Certainly woke me up!
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