600bhp 1 Series
Discussion
Huskyman said:
Happy days! I bet you can't wait to collect it. With reference to the nonsense that Yipper posted any car can become unstable or loose control if there is a nut behind the wheel....
my dad was looking at an M2 but after driving the M140 he ended up ordering one, and we ended up selling the Boxster GTS we co-own because he wasn't driving it anymore!!
I drove one and thought the engine was stonking, the chassis felt nice and fluid and the brakes were very good. Congratulations on your new car and I hope you have loads of fun with it.
I wonder if I can persuade my fiancée to chop her car in for one?!? I can but live in hope....
That sounds really promising. Definitely looking forward to collection day. I've still not actually driven one yet hilariously, they didn't have a demo when I ordered. I had a brief <10 min nip out in an M240i convertible, but I didn't really get to "drive" the car or push it due to the built up area of the test drive.my dad was looking at an M2 but after driving the M140 he ended up ordering one, and we ended up selling the Boxster GTS we co-own because he wasn't driving it anymore!!
I drove one and thought the engine was stonking, the chassis felt nice and fluid and the brakes were very good. Congratulations on your new car and I hope you have loads of fun with it.
I wonder if I can persuade my fiancée to chop her car in for one?!? I can but live in hope....
I can feel lunch at the Hartside Cafe coming on for Monday lunch
For anyone else buying, I'm probably telling you the most obvious of all, however this is my first financed vehicle, which brought about the world of GAP insurance. BMW offer barebones GAP for around £500.
I've been able to sort replacement vehicle GAP with a much higher level of cover, for £240 with a 10% discount code from the BabyBMW forum. I won't link incase it's against rules, but they're a forum sponsor so easily located on the board.
Jimmy Recard said:
Off topic here, but I've impressed myself with it!
I set myself a £4k budget for a used car that wouldn't cost too much to run but wouldn't be too awful (I was thinking mk5 Golf GTI or similar), and managed to spend about a third of that on an Astra SRi Turbo 200 in the end
I might as well update that thread, thanks for reminding me!
A friend has an M135i I've driven a couple of times and enjoyed it, so an M140i would be right up my street. Get us some decent pictures when you collect it!
That's many cheaps!I set myself a £4k budget for a used car that wouldn't cost too much to run but wouldn't be too awful (I was thinking mk5 Golf GTI or similar), and managed to spend about a third of that on an Astra SRi Turbo 200 in the end
I might as well update that thread, thanks for reminding me!
A friend has an M135i I've driven a couple of times and enjoyed it, so an M140i would be right up my street. Get us some decent pictures when you collect it!
Good read, I've just checked your thread out. I shall get many pictures tomorrow.
That looks like an excellent bit of road!
I'd echo Jimmy's comments, I love the 325ti on paper but I've always found them a little awkward looking, but that looks cracking there.
I'm really not concerned by the rwd aspect, I think of my entire car history I've had 3 or 4 fwd hatches and a couple of Range Rover's, but everything else has been rwd, it's definitely my preference.
14 hours to go
I'd echo Jimmy's comments, I love the 325ti on paper but I've always found them a little awkward looking, but that looks cracking there.
I'm really not concerned by the rwd aspect, I think of my entire car history I've had 3 or 4 fwd hatches and a couple of Range Rover's, but everything else has been rwd, it's definitely my preference.
14 hours to go
And a grand day was had by all.
Today was collection day, and the wife unit and I rocked down to Lloyd BMW Newcastle to pick up the 140.
The car was prepped and waiting in one of their collection bays, albeit with a black sheet over it, which was pulled off to reveal the car. A bit cringe city, but I guess it's some people's bag and it would be boring if we all liked the same thing!
Once the sheet of cringe was dispatched, I grabbed a few terrible photo's with my iPhone, this is probably the cleanest it will ever be
There wasn't much paperwork to sign, just a few last signatures and we were on our way. Lloyd threw in an M umbrella, for when I want to be "that official Merch guy" at a motorsport event of my choice
First stop was the watering hole, the car came with 1/2 tank of fuel, so I brimmed it off, start as you mean to go on.
Yes, those are lightweight //M Motorsport flip flops.
After that I pulled up for about 20 minutes and just played about with stuff, got familiar with the car and generally had a fiddle. In rather more forgiving lighting I got a few better photo's. I really love the look of the car, and I'm pleased I went 3dr, I think it looks a little more muscular in the side profile.
The rest of the day I spent piling up the Hartside pass for a delicious cup of tea, and a bit of a scenic detour on the way back towards Newcastle. I've racked up a solid 209 miles today, so only 991 to go
I'm aware some people will, and some people won't, however I personally am observing the 1200 mile run in. So I'm driving the car without labouring the engine too much, plenty of gear use, and not going over 4 / 4.5k rpm's. Even with this and as spirited a drive up Hartside and back as this will allow, according to the car I've averaged 32mpg today which seems very good. I imagine when it's run in, it'll be nearer 13.2mpg
Plenty of initial thoughts, but it's late, and I'm at work until Wednesday, so I think I'll sit on them for a day or so and report back on Wednesday. I'm very happy with the car on the whole though, it's been a great day, wonderful to have it sat outside and have driven it today.
Today was collection day, and the wife unit and I rocked down to Lloyd BMW Newcastle to pick up the 140.
The car was prepped and waiting in one of their collection bays, albeit with a black sheet over it, which was pulled off to reveal the car. A bit cringe city, but I guess it's some people's bag and it would be boring if we all liked the same thing!
Once the sheet of cringe was dispatched, I grabbed a few terrible photo's with my iPhone, this is probably the cleanest it will ever be
There wasn't much paperwork to sign, just a few last signatures and we were on our way. Lloyd threw in an M umbrella, for when I want to be "that official Merch guy" at a motorsport event of my choice
First stop was the watering hole, the car came with 1/2 tank of fuel, so I brimmed it off, start as you mean to go on.
Yes, those are lightweight //M Motorsport flip flops.
After that I pulled up for about 20 minutes and just played about with stuff, got familiar with the car and generally had a fiddle. In rather more forgiving lighting I got a few better photo's. I really love the look of the car, and I'm pleased I went 3dr, I think it looks a little more muscular in the side profile.
The rest of the day I spent piling up the Hartside pass for a delicious cup of tea, and a bit of a scenic detour on the way back towards Newcastle. I've racked up a solid 209 miles today, so only 991 to go
I'm aware some people will, and some people won't, however I personally am observing the 1200 mile run in. So I'm driving the car without labouring the engine too much, plenty of gear use, and not going over 4 / 4.5k rpm's. Even with this and as spirited a drive up Hartside and back as this will allow, according to the car I've averaged 32mpg today which seems very good. I imagine when it's run in, it'll be nearer 13.2mpg
Plenty of initial thoughts, but it's late, and I'm at work until Wednesday, so I think I'll sit on them for a day or so and report back on Wednesday. I'm very happy with the car on the whole though, it's been a great day, wonderful to have it sat outside and have driven it today.
Spoof said:
Looks great. Enjoy.
Re running in. I didnt really bother, took it steady-ish with the odd run up to about 5k for the first 500 miles, then pretty much drove it as normal from there.
5000 miles in. Not a drop of oil used (don't know how accurate the onboard measuring thing is) and dyno'd at 368hp.
Interesting. I'll see how I get on. The temptation to boot it is massive, but I'm a total bender for following instructions as well. Dilemma's Re running in. I didnt really bother, took it steady-ish with the odd run up to about 5k for the first 500 miles, then pretty much drove it as normal from there.
5000 miles in. Not a drop of oil used (don't know how accurate the onboard measuring thing is) and dyno'd at 368hp.
368 is healthy! I don't think I've seen one make the quoted factory figure yet, the least I've seen is 350-odd.
stewies_minion said:
Can't say as I remember any talk of a running in service on my 135i..?
Although it is an older engine so maybe things have changed.
I just took it easy for a few hundred miles. Only used 1l of oil in 12000 miles so I'd assume all is well.
They reckon it's more to do with bedding the piston rings in etc. You're spot on, there is no running in service for the engine, it's just good to go, so a lot of people don't worry about the running in period and boot it from day one. Although it is an older engine so maybe things have changed.
I just took it easy for a few hundred miles. Only used 1l of oil in 12000 miles so I'd assume all is well.
fred bloggs said:
Does it have a LSD in it ?
As said below, no it doesn't, I think the general consensus is that if a diff was on the options list it would put the car too close to the M2 for a significantly smaller outlay. Joe Achilles has done some interesting rolling vids with an M240i and an M2 and there's absolutely nothing in them side by side.The BMW diff is around £2,500 plus fitting.
stewies_minion said:
In the non service and mpg related section of this thread, I'd very much like to call out how nice the interior colour is.
Works a treat.
Mine is an orange car with black leather and the interior is somehat drab.
Thanks, that's kind of you to say. I've got a right thing for cream leather which none of my friends gets, but I think a two-tone interior just breaks everything up a little. Works a treat.
Mine is an orange car with black leather and the interior is somehat drab.
I'm off work tomorrow and I'm going to fiddle a bit, so I'll get some actual decent photo's and have a bit of an update on how I'm finding the car.
A few days late. That can only be a good sign, I've been far too busy enjoying the car!
A few milestones. I've now covered 610 miles in the car, so half the run in period. I've also carried out a few modifications, and also had a chance to almost "drive it properly" a little. So, a probably rambling long and poorly structured post starts here.
May as well cover modifications first. I'm a bit of a tinkerer and I like to put my own stamp on things I guess, so I had these few mods planned already. Truth be told, now I've done them, I've mixed feelings, however they're all easily reversible.
First up, I'm a fully signed up member of the //M tat apparel brigade, behold my delightful Alcantara key cover. It's sole purpose is to stop my key getting battered from my other keys, and make it needlessly complicated to get at the buttons on the fob.
Steady yourselves, it's all downhill from here I'm afraid.
The M140i comes with 'Ferric Grey' mirror caps regardless of what colour car you purchase, here they are:
I've replaced these with some contoured carbon fibre affairs from AutoID.
Now don't get me wrong, the quality of the product is brilliant. They were packaged well and fit nicely, they're by no means cheap and nasty. And half the time I do like them, however I'm not totally sold on them yet. Easily reversed though, by some miracle I managed to remove the old covers without snapping the clips.
Next up, grilles. The car comes with chrome grilles as standard, which I found odd as they're the only bit of chrome on the entire car. Pictured handily below:
So off they came, replaced with some eye-wateringly expensive for what they are genuine BMW gloss black 'Performance' grilles:
I got these because I felt it would be a bit cheap to put eBay jobs on a brand new car. To be brutally honest, the quality can't be any worse of the eBay parts, so I'd probably get them from there in future. The slats aren't even entirely glossed. Nice job BMW.
Again, I'm really not sure on these. They are growing on me as initially I didn't like them at all. I think I may have the lower fin's that surround where the foglights would be on lower models painted gloss black to match, rather than the Ferric grey they are currently, it may tie everything in. Or look horrendous.
I wanted a few subtle tweaks, however as anyone who dares modify their car will contest, it's a fine line between subtle and the winged horse of chav tat.
This brings me neatly onto my final modification. My personal favourite, however easily the most divisive from the point of view of owner feedback. I personally don't really like the //M badges on the car. I'd even go so far as to say they cheapen it a bit, which is hilarious given the modifications I've just made, but bear with me. Fundamentally it isn't an M car, and although it's nearer than a 520d in recession white with everything from the M Performance bin bolted to it, that's what it's in danger of looking like I think. So I've removed both of the //M wing badges:
and also the rear //M140i badging:
Which I may or may not have immediately replaced with an OE alternative
It's best not to take yourself too seriously, and it makes me laugh.
Modifications aside, I've given it a decent wash and clean, and layered on some Collinite 476S wax, which is phenomenal stuff for durability.
Yesterday I had a morning off so I took a drive to the Hartside Cafe with my buddy and fellow PHer MuZiZZle, and his FK2 Type-R. Photo Op!
This is a bit of a continuity nightmare as I hadn't fitted my mirrors at this point, but on the plus side it looks slightly less terrible. What it does highlight for me, is how understated the M140i is compared to the majority of the big hot hatches on sale like the FK2, Focus RS, RS3, A45 etc which are far more visually bulked out and muscular.
That's entirely subjective and will undoubtedly be a negative for some people, but I really like how much of a Q-car it is compared to it's rivals.
Power wise I'm still in the run-in period so nothing worth talking about in comparative terms between the two as of yet. I did find that when pushing on a little, I felt that the BMW was tending to understeer in corners and push out a bit. That could well be my appalling driving, and most likely is, but the other issue could be tyre pressures. Having come down the hill mine appear to be a bit all over, with the front up to 41psi, when the recommended pressure I believe is 32psi, so I'm going to look at reducing those to start with and see what it's like then.
I'll do another post shortly around my thoughts on the car as it stands, and not the rubbish I've bolted to it.
A few milestones. I've now covered 610 miles in the car, so half the run in period. I've also carried out a few modifications, and also had a chance to almost "drive it properly" a little. So, a probably rambling long and poorly structured post starts here.
May as well cover modifications first. I'm a bit of a tinkerer and I like to put my own stamp on things I guess, so I had these few mods planned already. Truth be told, now I've done them, I've mixed feelings, however they're all easily reversible.
First up, I'm a fully signed up member of the //M tat apparel brigade, behold my delightful Alcantara key cover. It's sole purpose is to stop my key getting battered from my other keys, and make it needlessly complicated to get at the buttons on the fob.
Steady yourselves, it's all downhill from here I'm afraid.
The M140i comes with 'Ferric Grey' mirror caps regardless of what colour car you purchase, here they are:
I've replaced these with some contoured carbon fibre affairs from AutoID.
Now don't get me wrong, the quality of the product is brilliant. They were packaged well and fit nicely, they're by no means cheap and nasty. And half the time I do like them, however I'm not totally sold on them yet. Easily reversed though, by some miracle I managed to remove the old covers without snapping the clips.
Next up, grilles. The car comes with chrome grilles as standard, which I found odd as they're the only bit of chrome on the entire car. Pictured handily below:
So off they came, replaced with some eye-wateringly expensive for what they are genuine BMW gloss black 'Performance' grilles:
I got these because I felt it would be a bit cheap to put eBay jobs on a brand new car. To be brutally honest, the quality can't be any worse of the eBay parts, so I'd probably get them from there in future. The slats aren't even entirely glossed. Nice job BMW.
Again, I'm really not sure on these. They are growing on me as initially I didn't like them at all. I think I may have the lower fin's that surround where the foglights would be on lower models painted gloss black to match, rather than the Ferric grey they are currently, it may tie everything in. Or look horrendous.
I wanted a few subtle tweaks, however as anyone who dares modify their car will contest, it's a fine line between subtle and the winged horse of chav tat.
This brings me neatly onto my final modification. My personal favourite, however easily the most divisive from the point of view of owner feedback. I personally don't really like the //M badges on the car. I'd even go so far as to say they cheapen it a bit, which is hilarious given the modifications I've just made, but bear with me. Fundamentally it isn't an M car, and although it's nearer than a 520d in recession white with everything from the M Performance bin bolted to it, that's what it's in danger of looking like I think. So I've removed both of the //M wing badges:
and also the rear //M140i badging:
Which I may or may not have immediately replaced with an OE alternative
It's best not to take yourself too seriously, and it makes me laugh.
Modifications aside, I've given it a decent wash and clean, and layered on some Collinite 476S wax, which is phenomenal stuff for durability.
Yesterday I had a morning off so I took a drive to the Hartside Cafe with my buddy and fellow PHer MuZiZZle, and his FK2 Type-R. Photo Op!
This is a bit of a continuity nightmare as I hadn't fitted my mirrors at this point, but on the plus side it looks slightly less terrible. What it does highlight for me, is how understated the M140i is compared to the majority of the big hot hatches on sale like the FK2, Focus RS, RS3, A45 etc which are far more visually bulked out and muscular.
That's entirely subjective and will undoubtedly be a negative for some people, but I really like how much of a Q-car it is compared to it's rivals.
Power wise I'm still in the run-in period so nothing worth talking about in comparative terms between the two as of yet. I did find that when pushing on a little, I felt that the BMW was tending to understeer in corners and push out a bit. That could well be my appalling driving, and most likely is, but the other issue could be tyre pressures. Having come down the hill mine appear to be a bit all over, with the front up to 41psi, when the recommended pressure I believe is 32psi, so I'm going to look at reducing those to start with and see what it's like then.
I'll do another post shortly around my thoughts on the car as it stands, and not the rubbish I've bolted to it.
Car stuffs: Vol 2.
Disclaimer - I've only driven 600 miles in the car, so all of this is a reflection of that. All advice and tips gratefully received, I'm likely missing tricks.
What's good:
Seating position: This works well for me. I'm 5ft 11" and the seating position is about perfect for me, I feel low enough, and central in the car longitudinally as it were. All of the controls are well laid out, and the steering wheel controls allow you to scroll through playlists in the online media catalogue, shown as a list in the screen between the dials. My car has a heated steering wheel which is delightful, toasty mitt's for me.
The engine note: This appears to be a bone of contention among owners, the majority seem to want more drama, noise and bangs. There is a distinct difference between 'eco pro' / comfort and Sport / Sport + in terms of engine note. For me the balance is about right. In comfort or eco, on the motorway the engine is near silent. The cabin insulation is pretty good, and that leaves you to enjoy your favourite S Club 7 classics you've managed to locate on your included Napster media subscription, once you've got over the shock that Napster is still even a thing.
In Sport you immediately get a deeper growl from the exhaust and engine, and dropping down the rev range from 3k with the window open you get a lovely burble. I've done a short video of the standard exhaust in an underground car park to try and illustrate the sound easily:
https://youtu.be/ws_6yNXaXhQ
You can enjoy/suffer that in glorious 1080P 60FPS should you so desire.
The gearbox: My car is the 8 speed ZF auto, a torque converter box and not a DCT. It's very smooth. In sport there are some thuds engineered in for more dramatic changes, which kind of adds to the theatre of changing gear yourself with the paddles, you get a nice tactile jolt from it. Nothing as pronounced as a hard change in an M car though. Around town it's very efficient and smooth, no complaints at all. I haven't been able to drop 2 gear by double tapping the downshift paddle, and I don't in all honesty know if that's possible. I'm aware there is a block downchange feature if you are in manual mode and sport, however due to not wanting to exceed 4K rpm I haven't tried this yet. Same goes for launch control.
The cabin: It's a lovely place to be, the seats are good and supportive, the switchgear feels nice with the possible exception of the indicator stalks which feel a bit cheap and nasty. The dash plastic is a bit cheap too in all honesty, it's a small complaint given what the car does for the money, but it's one stand out part of the interior to me that doesn't feel premium. I have gloss black trim which looks lovely and smart, but marks immediately so don't even consider touching it
The sound system: There are no shortage of complaints about the quality of the sound system on the BabyBMW forum, either standard or Harman-Kardon. I have the Harman-Kardon system in my car, and initially I wasn't really very impressed with it. However, settings is king it would appear, and with the bass cranked up, the treble at around a third, and the fade shifted heavily to the rear of the car, it's a much deeper and better sound quality, I'm really very happy with it now.
What else is stand out after a fairly short amount of miles. Hmmm.
The engine is brilliant, effortlessly torquey and it gathers pace deceptively. The tyre noise from the Michelin Pilot Super Sports is insane. They're the loudest tyres I've heard. Perhaps because the cabin insulation is good so that's all that's left for you to hear, but my god
Things I wish I'd known: Although I'll never use it, if you have a 3dr car and don't spec the 40/20/40 split folding rear seats, you still get 60/40 folding rear seats. What they don't tell you is that you don't get a rear central armrest either, and you can't later add the luggage compartment separation net that you can buy. A bit of an annoyance more than anything, as I like the look of having a rear armrest and the extra cup holder come in handy.
I think that's pretty much my initial thoughts on it! I'll report back when I've completed the run in miles and found more things to complain about.
If anyone's on InstaHamz you can follow me on there also, I'm @D4MJT
Disclaimer - I've only driven 600 miles in the car, so all of this is a reflection of that. All advice and tips gratefully received, I'm likely missing tricks.
What's good:
Seating position: This works well for me. I'm 5ft 11" and the seating position is about perfect for me, I feel low enough, and central in the car longitudinally as it were. All of the controls are well laid out, and the steering wheel controls allow you to scroll through playlists in the online media catalogue, shown as a list in the screen between the dials. My car has a heated steering wheel which is delightful, toasty mitt's for me.
The engine note: This appears to be a bone of contention among owners, the majority seem to want more drama, noise and bangs. There is a distinct difference between 'eco pro' / comfort and Sport / Sport + in terms of engine note. For me the balance is about right. In comfort or eco, on the motorway the engine is near silent. The cabin insulation is pretty good, and that leaves you to enjoy your favourite S Club 7 classics you've managed to locate on your included Napster media subscription, once you've got over the shock that Napster is still even a thing.
In Sport you immediately get a deeper growl from the exhaust and engine, and dropping down the rev range from 3k with the window open you get a lovely burble. I've done a short video of the standard exhaust in an underground car park to try and illustrate the sound easily:
https://youtu.be/ws_6yNXaXhQ
You can enjoy/suffer that in glorious 1080P 60FPS should you so desire.
The gearbox: My car is the 8 speed ZF auto, a torque converter box and not a DCT. It's very smooth. In sport there are some thuds engineered in for more dramatic changes, which kind of adds to the theatre of changing gear yourself with the paddles, you get a nice tactile jolt from it. Nothing as pronounced as a hard change in an M car though. Around town it's very efficient and smooth, no complaints at all. I haven't been able to drop 2 gear by double tapping the downshift paddle, and I don't in all honesty know if that's possible. I'm aware there is a block downchange feature if you are in manual mode and sport, however due to not wanting to exceed 4K rpm I haven't tried this yet. Same goes for launch control.
The cabin: It's a lovely place to be, the seats are good and supportive, the switchgear feels nice with the possible exception of the indicator stalks which feel a bit cheap and nasty. The dash plastic is a bit cheap too in all honesty, it's a small complaint given what the car does for the money, but it's one stand out part of the interior to me that doesn't feel premium. I have gloss black trim which looks lovely and smart, but marks immediately so don't even consider touching it
The sound system: There are no shortage of complaints about the quality of the sound system on the BabyBMW forum, either standard or Harman-Kardon. I have the Harman-Kardon system in my car, and initially I wasn't really very impressed with it. However, settings is king it would appear, and with the bass cranked up, the treble at around a third, and the fade shifted heavily to the rear of the car, it's a much deeper and better sound quality, I'm really very happy with it now.
What else is stand out after a fairly short amount of miles. Hmmm.
The engine is brilliant, effortlessly torquey and it gathers pace deceptively. The tyre noise from the Michelin Pilot Super Sports is insane. They're the loudest tyres I've heard. Perhaps because the cabin insulation is good so that's all that's left for you to hear, but my god
Things I wish I'd known: Although I'll never use it, if you have a 3dr car and don't spec the 40/20/40 split folding rear seats, you still get 60/40 folding rear seats. What they don't tell you is that you don't get a rear central armrest either, and you can't later add the luggage compartment separation net that you can buy. A bit of an annoyance more than anything, as I like the look of having a rear armrest and the extra cup holder come in handy.
I think that's pretty much my initial thoughts on it! I'll report back when I've completed the run in miles and found more things to complain about.
If anyone's on InstaHamz you can follow me on there also, I'm @D4MJT
ChocolateFrog said:
Great car and I like the comfort oriented spec.
Not sold on the mirrors if I'm honest but I like the other subtle mods.
Think I'd get the original covers body coloured if it was mine.
Yeah, this is also a consideration. I think I'll give it a week or so and see how I feel about them.Not sold on the mirrors if I'm honest but I like the other subtle mods.
Think I'd get the original covers body coloured if it was mine.
Good shout.
MRobbins1987 said:
I took one for a test drive on Thursday off the back of this thread, lovely thing and I agree with your thoughts. I'm in the camp that it could do with a bit more drama, it's nothing a good exhaust/intake wouldn't sort out though, it's the only thing that stopped me from signing on the dotted line. It really is a fantastic motor for the money.
Nice badge!
Thanks Nice badge!
There is the option of the M Performance back box which makes it a lot more lively without necessarily being over the top, and there's also a BCS system which transforms the car into a much louder, poppy, banging, warbly affair.
Like you say, fairly easily sorted, I suspect the thing that puts people off is warranty implications.
Bright Halo said:
Almost seems wrong for a car to have that much power and yet look so normal.
I know what you mean there! Growing up I always had a massive soft spot for the E39 540i, I think they still look great today. Now granted BMW's naming structure doesn't reflect engine size, and didn't then, but it's mad that you can now go and buy a 1 series 40i.If I'm correct they have some 60bhp more than the 540i did as well
It still isn't run in so I've not experienced full bore yet, but it really picks itself up and moves along quite quickly on the motorway from a roll.
chrismc1977 said:
Back to chrome surround kidney grilles? Unless you can de-bling the tops of the headlight units then i think the chrome actually works better- though I'm not a chrome fan either
Yeah I think I'm sort of with you there, it's much better head on, but if you're stood sort of on top of the car, they look a bit lost as the lights have a much lighter top edge.chrismc1977 said:
Not sure about the 116d badging. Wouldn't dream of it on such a new & premium motor tbh- it almost seems a bit 'retro-chav' if you'll pardon the expression. A total de-badge would be ultimately stealthy if that's your bag
It's definitely split opinion that's for sure I dunno tbh, the owner's group mostly hate it, I've got the option to obviously de-badge or even re-badge it as an M140i still, it's not a big thing to change. I don't really get the horror over it though I must admit, if it was a Ferrari 275 or something I'd understand, but as lovely as it is, it is at the end of the day a grey 1 series BMW.
Or maybe I'm embracing my inner hidden-chav
chrismc1977 said:
sc0tt said:
That is a different car chap, notice the extra doors 
So it is- all confused now!?!
The photo of the black 5dr car was posted by PH'er Spoof, who also has an M140i. My car is still very much 3dr, and sporting terrible gloss black kidney grilles.
It's also 62% run in now, nearly!
Update time. And an important one, the 1200 mile run in milestone has been completed.
Well, it seemed rude not to...
All in all, it's mega. I'm in complete agreement with Spoof's opinion that the car is perfectly loud enough as standard. Annoyingly the weather has been a bit poorer since I hit 1200 miles so I've not really had a good chance to give it a thrash yet, but I tried out the launch in the mild damp and that was fairly lively.
I've snapped a few quick and poor photo's of the interior, it's a nice place to be:
I'll not give up the day job to become a photographer.
Being brutally honest, I don't really have many niggles with the car. I've now had it for 2 weeks, and I've covered 1250 miles so far. The sound system is perfectly decent and far better than the forums would lead you to believe in my opinion. The other taboo subject seems to be fuel consumption.
I'm not really sure what it is about this, but it seems that if anyone dares to ask about fuel economy on either the BabyBMW forum or any of the facebook owners groups, they're immediately shot down by hordes of people ready to trot out their finest lines on how "if you're worried about fuel economy then this isn't the car for you".
Finally I get to use a favourite PH phrase. 'In the real world' however, it sort of does matter. This car is pretty much at the limit of what I can afford to own, and in choosing it I needed it to become a compromise and do it all car, as I don't have the time currently for a track day / fun weekend car, and now that I've bought this, I can't afford one either.
What I wanted from the car ultimately was a bit of Jekyll and Hyde, the ability to get decent fuel economy if I choose to drive like Miss Daisy for work purposes, and the option of some decent perfomance on a day off at the expense of that economy, so has it delivered.
In a word, yes. In case you've got this far and missed it, my car is a Sport Auto equipped car, and I can't praise the box enough. In Eco-Pro mode, it's rarely ever working harder than 1,400-1,500rpm, and when coasting it disengages completely. On the flip side, it also performs block downchanges should you wish, and is sharp enough with the paddles in Sport mode to make pressing on good fun.
I use an iPhone app "Road Trip". No affiliation, I believe there are many, and a free version of this, I've used it on all my cars for a few years now.
What you can see from this is that my all time average over the 1200 miles I've had the car has been 29.19mpg, which in itself is good enough. That includes passenger trips for a few friends, trying launch control yesterday and 3 trips up the Hartside pass.
On the 17-18 May I filled up before and after one of my regular work commutes from Newcastle - Carlisle. Over 123 miles I averaged 41mpg, which is staggering in my opinion for what it is. Granted for this figure I was primarily sat on cruise at between 50-60mph, however on the A69 that's often an achievement in itself due to traffic and lorries mixed with few dual carriageways. The point is, if you want economy and are covering longer distances, this can return good figures, although you're obviously not going to get 41mpg tootling round town.
In all honesty I'm expecting my average to increase over 30mpg, the car will have loosened up slightly as it's been run in, and I wont be doing constant passenger rides and booting it as often once the initial excitement has worn off. I was happy with anything over 26mpg that I was getting from the 7 series, so this is great as far as I'm concerned.
Boring fuel stuff aside, I ended up behind an M Coupe the other day, so I pulled over for a chat with the owner and grabbed a few pics.
For a 20yr old car, they look great today, and I can sort of see cues from the coupe shape in the M140i. The guy who owned this was a real enthusiast, and has just put it back on the road after a good resto. It's very yellow, and truth be told a bit too AC Schnitzer for my own tastes, but then each to their own, who am I to talk when I've still got my 520d front grilles in
Finally, I was up at my folks the other day and grabbed this on my phone, it's probably one of my favourite photo's of the car so far, so it seems a good choice to end on!
Well, it seemed rude not to...
All in all, it's mega. I'm in complete agreement with Spoof's opinion that the car is perfectly loud enough as standard. Annoyingly the weather has been a bit poorer since I hit 1200 miles so I've not really had a good chance to give it a thrash yet, but I tried out the launch in the mild damp and that was fairly lively.
I've snapped a few quick and poor photo's of the interior, it's a nice place to be:
I'll not give up the day job to become a photographer.
Being brutally honest, I don't really have many niggles with the car. I've now had it for 2 weeks, and I've covered 1250 miles so far. The sound system is perfectly decent and far better than the forums would lead you to believe in my opinion. The other taboo subject seems to be fuel consumption.
I'm not really sure what it is about this, but it seems that if anyone dares to ask about fuel economy on either the BabyBMW forum or any of the facebook owners groups, they're immediately shot down by hordes of people ready to trot out their finest lines on how "if you're worried about fuel economy then this isn't the car for you".
Finally I get to use a favourite PH phrase. 'In the real world'
however, it sort of does matter. This car is pretty much at the limit of what I can afford to own, and in choosing it I needed it to become a compromise and do it all car, as I don't have the time currently for a track day / fun weekend car, and now that I've bought this, I can't afford one either.What I wanted from the car ultimately was a bit of Jekyll and Hyde, the ability to get decent fuel economy if I choose to drive like Miss Daisy for work purposes, and the option of some decent perfomance on a day off at the expense of that economy, so has it delivered.
In a word, yes. In case you've got this far and missed it, my car is a Sport Auto equipped car, and I can't praise the box enough. In Eco-Pro mode, it's rarely ever working harder than 1,400-1,500rpm, and when coasting it disengages completely. On the flip side, it also performs block downchanges should you wish, and is sharp enough with the paddles in Sport mode to make pressing on good fun.
I use an iPhone app "Road Trip". No affiliation, I believe there are many, and a free version of this, I've used it on all my cars for a few years now.
What you can see from this is that my all time average over the 1200 miles I've had the car has been 29.19mpg, which in itself is good enough. That includes passenger trips for a few friends, trying launch control yesterday and 3 trips up the Hartside pass.
On the 17-18 May I filled up before and after one of my regular work commutes from Newcastle - Carlisle. Over 123 miles I averaged 41mpg, which is staggering in my opinion for what it is. Granted for this figure I was primarily sat on cruise at between 50-60mph, however on the A69 that's often an achievement in itself due to traffic and lorries mixed with few dual carriageways. The point is, if you want economy and are covering longer distances, this can return good figures, although you're obviously not going to get 41mpg tootling round town.
In all honesty I'm expecting my average to increase over 30mpg, the car will have loosened up slightly as it's been run in, and I wont be doing constant passenger rides and booting it as often once the initial excitement has worn off. I was happy with anything over 26mpg that I was getting from the 7 series, so this is great as far as I'm concerned.
Boring fuel stuff aside, I ended up behind an M Coupe the other day, so I pulled over for a chat with the owner and grabbed a few pics.
For a 20yr old car, they look great today, and I can sort of see cues from the coupe shape in the M140i. The guy who owned this was a real enthusiast, and has just put it back on the road after a good resto. It's very yellow, and truth be told a bit too AC Schnitzer for my own tastes, but then each to their own, who am I to talk when I've still got my 520d front grilles in
Finally, I was up at my folks the other day and grabbed this on my phone, it's probably one of my favourite photo's of the car so far, so it seems a good choice to end on!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff