600bhp 1 Series
Discussion
I'd echo your thoughts re new vs used. I went to my local BMW dealer last March to test a 4 year old M135i and walked out with the paperwork for a new one at the same monthly cost by the time they added on the discounts and contributions. It's a superb all rounder and although these things are not as focused or dynamic as a full fat M car, it's what actually makes it a better "do it all" daily driver.
It's comfy, with the right spec a nice place to sit with a few luxuries and addictively quick in any gear when you want to push on. Mine doesn't do long journeys as we have the family bus for that so I only use it for daily trips and the short commute to work. As such I'm only seeing 24 - 26 mpg but every car I've had in the last 15 years has never given me more than that so I'm used to it. Even better when you consider that it's a lot faster than anything I've had previously.
It's comfy, with the right spec a nice place to sit with a few luxuries and addictively quick in any gear when you want to push on. Mine doesn't do long journeys as we have the family bus for that so I only use it for daily trips and the short commute to work. As such I'm only seeing 24 - 26 mpg but every car I've had in the last 15 years has never given me more than that so I'm used to it. Even better when you consider that it's a lot faster than anything I've had previously.
malucnojes said:
I had a look at the CLA45 and I just couldn't get on with the looks of it, the proportions seem all wrong and it appears further away than it really is!
I also think it's going to be difficult going back to a 4pot turbo which really does limit my options.
Yeah the CLA45 I am not a fan of the looks of at all, But I do remember being completely outgunned by an A45 on the track day in my M235i.I also think it's going to be difficult going back to a 4pot turbo which really does limit my options.
But I did hear he was on his 3rd turbo now.
I am same as you on the 4 cylinder turbos that was what attracted me to the M235i being a 6 cylinder.
The things I can think of that I can get new with more than 4 cylinders that's still sporty (that isn't BMW) that is around the 40k mark or lower is the RS3 / TT-RS and the Ford Mustang V8.
Edited by Tomy90 on Thursday 4th May 15:51
Spoof said:
I got my M140i about 2 months ago. I've done 4000 miles now and the car keeps on getting better.
On a run, I've managed 43mpg, day to day I'm seeing 32mpg with a mix of town and fast country road driving. I consider it exceptional considering my RS4 struggled to get 20 and was noticeably slower in a straight line.
I still find electric power steering odd, but I'm slowly getting used to it.
Mines in next week for an exhaust rattle (valve in back box - common problem) which I'm using as an excuse to get the M performance exhaust, but apart from that, I'm very happy with it and don't feel short changed moving from an RS4.
(When did you sell the P38 Matt? My FiL still bangs on about how much that engine cost him)
Hi Chris, hope you're well.On a run, I've managed 43mpg, day to day I'm seeing 32mpg with a mix of town and fast country road driving. I consider it exceptional considering my RS4 struggled to get 20 and was noticeably slower in a straight line.
I still find electric power steering odd, but I'm slowly getting used to it.
Mines in next week for an exhaust rattle (valve in back box - common problem) which I'm using as an excuse to get the M performance exhaust, but apart from that, I'm very happy with it and don't feel short changed moving from an RS4.
(When did you sell the P38 Matt? My FiL still bangs on about how much that engine cost him)
Edited by Spoof on Thursday 4th May 14:15
How bizarre you're currently in one too! I sold the P38 back in 2012 probably I think. I'm quite taken with BMW's currently, they seem quite well sorted.
I looked at the MPE, be interested to hear how you find it. Mine's arrived at the dealer this afternoon, so they rang me and I'm collecting it on Monday morning now. Looking forward to it!
malucnojes said:
Sounds like a great spec and hopefully you'll love every minute of it!
I've had my M135i for just over 2 years now and it's been awesome, in terms of MPG I normally see high 20's day to day and then high 30's on a Motorway drive so hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised!
The difficulty will be when you come to replace it as I'm really struggling to know what to go with at the moment, my dream is an M2 but they're still far too expensive so it may be an M240i instead.
Completely agree that some of the other offerings are a little too 'brash', I happened to see a Civic Type R the other day and I just couldn't imagine being seen in it!
My best mate has an FK2 Type-R, it's probably one of the less lairy looking ones as it's in the steel grey they do. It's a funny thing, because the looks are probably a bit in your face for me, but then other times it just looks mega from certain angles, I really like the back of them.I've had my M135i for just over 2 years now and it's been awesome, in terms of MPG I normally see high 20's day to day and then high 30's on a Motorway drive so hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised!
The difficulty will be when you come to replace it as I'm really struggling to know what to go with at the moment, my dream is an M2 but they're still far too expensive so it may be an M240i instead.
Completely agree that some of the other offerings are a little too 'brash', I happened to see a Civic Type R the other day and I just couldn't imagine being seen in it!
Technically it's fantastic, it's a riot to drive and quite easy to press on with, the diff is brilliant.
It'll be interesting to see how the M140i stacks up against it.
A great choice of car! I was debating getting one as a car that covered all of the bases. But I am also busy trying to save ; which is why I bought an E46 M3 ; my logic is strange and flawed!
I have to ask though. What kept going wrong on the E66? I'm curious to hear. Did you get it repaired or let the garage do them?
I have to ask though. What kept going wrong on the E66? I'm curious to hear. Did you get it repaired or let the garage do them?
D4MJT said:
My best mate has an FK2 Type-R, it's probably one of the less lairy looking ones as it's in the steel grey they do. It's a funny thing, because the looks are probably a bit in your face for me, but then other times it just looks mega from certain angles, I really like the back of them.
Technically it's fantastic, it's a riot to drive and quite easy to press on with, the diff is brilliant.
It'll be interesting to see how the M140i stacks up against it.
It'll be interesting to hear how the two compare and the Type R that I saw was White with the Rally red pack that really didn't work for me but the world would be a boring place if we were all the same and I still think they should have kept the lights on the spoiler that the we saw on the concept.Technically it's fantastic, it's a riot to drive and quite easy to press on with, the diff is brilliant.
It'll be interesting to see how the M140i stacks up against it.
SebringMan said:
A great choice of car! I was debating getting one as a car that covered all of the bases. But I am also busy trying to save ; which is why I bought an E46 M3 ; my logic is strange and flawed!
I have to ask though. What kept going wrong on the E66? I'm curious to hear. Did you get it repaired or let the garage do them?
Nice, I love an E46 M3. I have to ask though. What kept going wrong on the E66? I'm curious to hear. Did you get it repaired or let the garage do them?
I think I was sort of unlucky a little with the E66, but also in hindsight I'd never get a diesel one again. I averaged 26mpg, and I don't think a petrol V8 would have been far behind. My E66 was absolutely loaded with gadgetry and tech, none of which went even mildly wrong in my ownership. The 3.0 diesel drivetrain however...
I was unlucky with one bill, for some reason 3 exhaust manifold studs snapped in the cylinder head, so what sounded like an exhaust blow turned into a £1500 bill for a cylinder head removal and repair, and new timing chains etc as it was all in bits.
But bar that I also pretty much had every other diesel issue, I had to replace an injector, the EGR, the MAF sensor, the starter motor died, the alternator died, the list went on and on.
Put it this way, I'm saving several hundred pounds a month buying the M140i over continuing with the average maintenance bill for my E66. And I everything bar the cylinder head job myself.
It's probably running brilliantly now for it's new owner, as it's pretty much new lol.
We chopped in our Focus ST-3 for one as the missus wanted something a little less "Gary" to drop the littl'un at the nursery and I saw an opportunity to return to RWD with a couple more horses. Win-win 
Had it a month and a bit now and very pleased with it
Just need to debadge it now...
Enjoy!
Chris
Had it a month and a bit now and very pleased with it
Just need to debadge it now...Enjoy!
Chris
Edited by ScoobyChris on Thursday 4th May 20:45
Did 25k in a M135i a couple years back...
I averaged 25mpg, but enjoyed the car. Sure, the car will do 40mpg (or the computer says it is!!), but please don't be disillusioned. The car has a great honking engine that wants to spank you down the road at light speed and if driven hard will return you low 20's Max.
To get these high 30 averages you have to be very controlled - which is all well and good, but then what's the point of having the M if you are not gonna bury your foot at every chance!!
Admittedly we are all different and it very much depends on your drive (my commute was across the mendips with splendid B roads everyday, so I had no chance of good Mpg.)
Either way the car is great, goes very well and has a great combo of performance and comfort...
Best of luck with it, I'm sure you'll love it. I'd happily have one again as a second car...
I averaged 25mpg, but enjoyed the car. Sure, the car will do 40mpg (or the computer says it is!!), but please don't be disillusioned. The car has a great honking engine that wants to spank you down the road at light speed and if driven hard will return you low 20's Max.
To get these high 30 averages you have to be very controlled - which is all well and good, but then what's the point of having the M if you are not gonna bury your foot at every chance!!
Admittedly we are all different and it very much depends on your drive (my commute was across the mendips with splendid B roads everyday, so I had no chance of good Mpg.)
Either way the car is great, goes very well and has a great combo of performance and comfort...
Best of luck with it, I'm sure you'll love it. I'd happily have one again as a second car...
russy01 said:
Did 25k in a M135i a couple years back...
I averaged 25mpg, but enjoyed the car. Sure, the car will do 40mpg (or the computer says it is!!), but please don't be disillusioned. The car has a great honking engine that wants to spank you down the road at light speed and if driven hard will return you low 20's Max.
To get these high 30 averages you have to be very controlled - which is all well and good, but then what's the point of having the M if you are not gonna bury your foot at every chance!!
Admittedly we are all different and it very much depends on your drive (my commute was across the mendips with splendid B roads everyday, so I had no chance of good Mpg.)
Either way the car is great, goes very well and has a great combo of performance and comfort...
Best of luck with it, I'm sure you'll love it. I'd happily have one again as a second car...
Totally get what you're meaning. I think the main attraction of the car to me is that it "can" do both. I don't have the space or means for a nice comfy daily and something fun for the weekend, and this appears to have the ability to do a bit of both pretty well. In all honesty the roads I tend to commute or drive on are the single lane sections of A1 north of Newcastle or the A69 to Carlisle, neither of which offer much in the way of opportunity for hooning.I averaged 25mpg, but enjoyed the car. Sure, the car will do 40mpg (or the computer says it is!!), but please don't be disillusioned. The car has a great honking engine that wants to spank you down the road at light speed and if driven hard will return you low 20's Max.
To get these high 30 averages you have to be very controlled - which is all well and good, but then what's the point of having the M if you are not gonna bury your foot at every chance!!
Admittedly we are all different and it very much depends on your drive (my commute was across the mendips with splendid B roads everyday, so I had no chance of good Mpg.)
Either way the car is great, goes very well and has a great combo of performance and comfort...
Best of luck with it, I'm sure you'll love it. I'd happily have one again as a second car...
If I can relax and be comfy and get anywhere near 30-35mpg on those days, and also have a 340bhp rwd toy for a blast to Hartside at the weekends, that seems a very happy medium to me.
I'll let you know next week haha!
D4MJT said:
Totally get what you're meaning. I think the main attraction of the car to me is that it "can" do both. I don't have the space or means for a nice comfy daily and something fun for the weekend, and this appears to have the ability to do a bit of both pretty well. In all honesty the roads I tend to commute or drive on are the single lane sections of A1 north of Newcastle or the A69 to Carlisle, neither of which offer much in the way of opportunity for hooning.
If I can relax and be comfy and get anywhere near 30-35mpg on those days, and also have a 340bhp rwd toy for a blast to Hartside at the weekends, that seems a very happy medium to me.
I'll let you know next week haha!
Sounds good...your roads sound more suited to a 30-35mpg cruise than mine were... The reason I posted is because I used to be on BabyBMW quite a bit when the M135i was first released and it was apparent that a lot of 125d customers had either been sold or bought the M135i on the basis that it would easily return 35-40mpg, which sounded a great compromise with the 125d to have the extra performance. I think several were shocked when they struggled to get out of the 20's during their stop/start drives! I found the car to be good on A Roads if you could keep it moving along at 50-70mph, but start giving it a hard boot here and there and it would soon drag the numbers down...If I can relax and be comfy and get anywhere near 30-35mpg on those days, and also have a 340bhp rwd toy for a blast to Hartside at the weekends, that seems a very happy medium to me.
I'll let you know next week haha!
My worst effort was 38.7mpg over 170miles - Was mind numbingly boring...
My best effort was 17mpg over 65miles - (an hour of chasing a TTRS and Supercharged R32 over the mendips at midnight!)
Best of luck with it, awesome little car...
Slightly OT (diesel alert) but i've just got my company car on order 125d M-sport in Valencia Orange! 
It has the 8 speed auto too which apparently which is very good, I'd be interested how you get on.
I did debate with the 125i but apparently the engine is such a let down and after 10 years of Vtec-Yo! i wouldn't want to be driving around with a pants petrol engine so i went with the twin turbo diesel.
As for the 140i, i think the all new 1 series coming is front drive only and it will no doubt lose the straight 6... so enjoy it while you can!
It has the 8 speed auto too which apparently which is very good, I'd be interested how you get on.
I did debate with the 125i but apparently the engine is such a let down and after 10 years of Vtec-Yo! i wouldn't want to be driving around with a pants petrol engine so i went with the twin turbo diesel.
As for the 140i, i think the all new 1 series coming is front drive only and it will no doubt lose the straight 6... so enjoy it while you can!
Martin_Hx said:
Slightly OT (diesel alert) but i've just got my company car on order 125d M-sport in Valencia Orange!
It has the 8 speed auto too which apparently which is very good, I'd be interested how you get on.
I did debate with the 125i but apparently the engine is such a let down and after 10 years of Vtec-Yo! i wouldn't want to be driving around with a pants petrol engine so i went with the twin turbo diesel.
As for the 140i, i think the all new 1 series coming is front drive only and it will no doubt lose the straight 6... so enjoy it while you can!
It's rumored that the next one series will be a FWD turbo 4 pot so get them while you can! I have a feeling the next 140i will be 4 pot and AWD though as that is what the market wants ... so it seems It has the 8 speed auto too which apparently which is very good, I'd be interested how you get on.
I did debate with the 125i but apparently the engine is such a let down and after 10 years of Vtec-Yo! i wouldn't want to be driving around with a pants petrol engine so i went with the twin turbo diesel.
As for the 140i, i think the all new 1 series coming is front drive only and it will no doubt lose the straight 6... so enjoy it while you can!
HJMS123 said:
It's rumored that the next one series will be a FWD turbo 4 pot so get them while you can! I have a feeling the next 140i will be 4 pot and AWD though as that is what the market wants ... so it seems
I am not so sure they are going to do that now to be honest, considering all these rumours came out before the 2 series Active Tourer came out, which from what I have heard has not sold well.I also think the BMW M2 has helped to increase the demand for the 1 series and 2 series.
Plus it is a unique selling point BMW offer compared to there rivals, in my humble opinion would be crazy to lose in search of profit margin.
OP, great car and a good choice. Get yourself over to www.babybmw.net there is plenty on there for the BMW 1 series and especially the M140i.
Similar spec to mine OP although mines a manual, picked it up at the beginning of March.
I'm doing a similar annual mileage to you, about 5500 miles in at the moment. Most of this is long journeys for work (300+ miles at a time) with some more spirited driving at the weekends, it's averaged 30ish mpg since I got it without driving with economy in mind, but taking it easy for the running in period, the auto should be slightly better.
I didn't spec adaptive suspension either, the passive set up is fine in my opinion, it's firm but not uncomfortable, although can be a little choppy over some of the poorer road surfaces. I'm not a massive fan of fiddling with "settings" just want to get in and drive, plan on keeping it too so will be easier to upgrade when the time comes.
It really is a very good do it all daily, and I don't think we'll see an engine of this character in a car like this again. It's worth the wait and hope you enjoy!
I'm doing a similar annual mileage to you, about 5500 miles in at the moment. Most of this is long journeys for work (300+ miles at a time) with some more spirited driving at the weekends, it's averaged 30ish mpg since I got it without driving with economy in mind, but taking it easy for the running in period, the auto should be slightly better.
I didn't spec adaptive suspension either, the passive set up is fine in my opinion, it's firm but not uncomfortable, although can be a little choppy over some of the poorer road surfaces. I'm not a massive fan of fiddling with "settings" just want to get in and drive, plan on keeping it too so will be easier to upgrade when the time comes.
It really is a very good do it all daily, and I don't think we'll see an engine of this character in a car like this again. It's worth the wait and hope you enjoy!
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