600bhp 1 Series

[D4MJT]

I've had the Ferric Grey front grill fins painted in gloss black to try and tie them in with the grilles a bit more. If I still don't get on with it I'll grab a standard set and I can sell on a full gloss black front end kit.

Standard fins pull off with some force, there are 5 clips on each in total, 2 clips on the top and bottom edges, and one up the side.



These went off to the painters for many glosses



And then got fitted:





Apart from that, it's going very well. It's just ticked over 1,750 miles, no drama's to report, it's standing up to daily use well and I still find it comfortable, no issues with the seating position. The auto box is great for daily driving.

[D4MJT]

M1C said:

Personally....i dont like the mirrors.

But i do like the gloss black grille treatments.

The badging thing thing....im not sure. I think...cos i'm a car person...i'd know straight away that it wasn't a 116d...which would annoy me.

A non car person might not know at all.

I'm not 100% on the mirrors myself, but they are growing on me! I think I like the grilles and fins now they match.

Badge wise, your last bit is sort of the point really, I'm more than happy for 99% of people to think it's a 116d, if you know you know.

a said:

I agree with that.

If you didn't like the M badge you could have kept the 140i or debadged completely. If I saw your car, I'd probably think it had been in a bump and had a replacement tailgate from a 116d.

Haha, it's easy rebadged down the line, I just quite like how it slips under the radar to be honest.

edo said:

Love the 116d badge.

Cheers

I'm taking the car away with some friends for a few days in Scotland next week, so it'll be a chance to get a good run out in it which I'm looking forward to. It'll also be interesting to see how easily it swallows 4 adults and luggage for 3 days.

I've got it booked in for a dyno run on the 13th June to see what it's making as stock power.

[D4MJT]

Spoof said:

That's looking good.

I said to myself I wasn't going to waste money modifying my commuter, but after seeing that.....
Thanks A lot Matt.

Best laid plans...

[D4MJT]

bhstewie said:

Apologies as I'm latching onto a few M140i threads at the moment but I'm considering one and absorbing as much Youtube and real world feedback as I can.

Any regrets or things to know?

A bit late to the party here, but better late than never...

I've just clocked over 15,000 miles in mine now, so I'm well settled into it, my thoughts are as follows:

Test drive cars with and without adaptive suspension. There is a lot of talk about how it is an essential must have option, I've driven both, and to be honest I'm just as happy without it. Then again, my car is a daily hack for everything not just a drivers toy for hooning, so perhaps if my criteria were different I'd feel differently about it.

I've driven manual and automatic, and in all honesty I don't really get why you'd bother choosing the manual. The auto fits my lifestyle as I'm traffic a lot and it can just get on with it, but pressing on I find being able to change gears with the paddles very engaging and the box is very fast, I can't fault it at all. Aesthetically I also prefer the look of the steering wheel with the paddles, but that's by the by.

My options were specced to make the car as comfortable and relaxing as possible for the miles I do, and I went with:

Adaptive Headlights - Unbelieveably good, they come with the auto-main beam bundled in and are just outstanding at night, bending round the corners and lighting up the road brilliantly.

Elec Memory Seats - I'm not blessed to be one of these people who can set their seat and leave it for years, I'm constantly changing my seating position and the electric seats are great for me for this, plus my wife uses the car and she might as well be 3ft 2, so having her settings saved for her key is great, they auto apply when she unlocks the car with it.

Heated Seats / Heated Steering Wheel - Again, total creature comforts but they're great, the seats help with back ache and the steering wheel is delightful in the recent cold snap we've had.

Pro Media - This gives you the larger widescreen and bits like Online Entertainment etc, so you can use streaming music services. This works brilliantly with voice command, and you can talk to the car easily and ask it to "play horrendous youth music" or "fleetwood mac" depending on your level of traffic frustration. You also get great nav, and real time traffic etc.

Rear Camera - Personal preference this, I just fancied one really. It's good, it's also in continual need of the lense cleaning at this time of year.

Sun Protection Glass - Again, personal preference but I think it makes the car look smarter.

Harman Kardon Sound System - It's not the best sound system in the world by any means, which probably means you should definitely get it as I suspect the standard system is pretty appalling, however it's decent enough and the tweeters in the doors look smart.

Cruise Control - This may be standard now, it was an option when I specced my car and although it's frustrating you can't choose adaptive radar cruise, it's still nice to use and I use it a lot on the motorway.

I didn't bother with comfort access which is the keyless entry, as it's supposed to make the cars easier to pinch anyway, but also regardless of whether you choose comfort access or not, you still get keyless go so you just have to have the key in your pocket to start the car, the only benefit of comfort access is being able to unlock the car simply by touching the door handle.

You can tweak the options around but crucially I wanted to stay under 40k list so I didn't jump tax bands, and also I wanted mine to be as nice a place as possible inside for when I just want to mince home calmly after a horrendous shift.

Things that I wish I'd known / are annoying etc. Well, the fuel tank is still hilariously small. I get that it's a 1 series but that's my main gripe, I get about 250 miles from a tank and if it would do 400 I wouldn't be at petrol station every other day. I also somehow forgot to tick folding mirrors, and it's staggering how often I want to fold them and now have to do it manually. Horrendous. I'm considering employing a chap solely for the task.

My car developed the famed exhaust rattle from the flap in the back box. I video'd this and complained to my dealer, who raised it with BMW UK. Thanks to having to sign a NDA I can't divulge what BMW did to rectify this for me, but I now have the M Performance back box fitted to my car, which doesn't have a valve in it, so can't ever rattle. Problem solved.

Bar that, it decided it needed some coolant at 11K miles ish, took it in and they pressure tested the system and it was fine, so they topped it up. It seems on the forums that the B58 likes to use a drop of coolant. No issues since it was topped up.

I still love the car, the performance is great, it feels like a premium product, I'm happy with how the car drives and now that I'm used to it, it's pretty easy to drive nearer the limit and you can point it through and out of corners on the throttle quite happily. Sport+ allows a nice amount of slide but not daft amounts, and generally it's all very good and rosy.

I'd buy it again tomorrow if mine vanished or combusted, one very happy owner.

[D4MJT]

TheDrBrian said:

Interesting that you’re putting cheap petrol in a high compression high boost engine. What does BMW recommend?

Not putting diesel in.

Unsure of what you mean here, I’m just catching up with the thread, do you mean Costco fuel?

Edited by D4MJT on Sunday 7th January 18:35

[D4MJT]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

Done 20 odd thousand miles in mine as a daily hack (I have a more fun Z4M for summer) and can't understand why anyone would spec it with an auto. Surely the only point of one over a 120d or 125d is that it is a lot more fun, so why give that away with an auto box for the sake of convenience? Mine is a 3 door with sunroof (essential) non run flats, adaptive LEDs and adaptive suspension (both essential).

Out of interest, have you driven the auto?

You see, I'm an avid fan of the Midget Gem, mind only the proper ones where the black ones are liquorice. And yet, whilst being of apparently sound mind, my old man is partial to a lemon bon-bon or two. That's as well as I can explain myself regarding the gearboxes.

I guess it suits my purpose more, although you sound like you're covering similar miles to me. Perhaps I'm just a bit of a jessie. I think if I'm honest as well, and I'm aware the car is considerably underpowered, compared even to similar bland german things you can drive out of a showroom, it's pretty quick to me, and I think I could drive the auto faster than I could drive my mates manual any day of the week. Obviously that's a limitation of my own driving ability, but I think it makes the performance more accessible. I also prefer the gearing in the auto, cruise at 70 is barely 1,500rpm.

One thing that's very interesting to see with the owners is the widely differing opinions on essential options, it's definitely worth doing your reading up beforehand and deciding what you like, as it seems to differ wildly. I'd agree on the LED's, and the suspension is clearly a hot topic also, but I'd have heated bits every day of the week before a sunroof

Mind, be dull if we all liked the same things!

[D4MJT]

jimPH said:

Our M135i didn't have HK and the sound was lacking. I just added some HK tweeters and it's improved the sound considerably.

Its a blimmin quick little car, I've not got anywhere near it's limits on the road, on the road it will keep up with anything.

I'm reliably informed the speed limiter works.

[D4MJT]

Sparkzz said:

Nice, understated vehicle.

Might be a bit hard on the 'arris after floating about in a 7 series?

You my friend, are not wrong.

The ride is leagues apart, and my 7 series was an older one too. That said, it's firmer for a reason and the 140 is a lot more fun to point up the Hartside Pass on a weekend than a diesel 7 series was. Swings and roundabouts.

However, that does bring me onto another complaint for the M140i in general.

It would be lovely, and I would have ticked it, if you could option some better seats than the standard 1 series seats. They do the job, but it would be nice to have the option of a more premium seat. The 387-way adjustable comfort seats in my 7 series are sorely missed.

[D4MJT]

adam85 said:

Fair enough... my point isn't really applicable to "car people" .. which is your point too - I guess that's the point

As it happens, I removed it in a fit of rage a few weekends ago whilst trying to clean inside the "d" of the 116d badge. I ended up with wax inside it and couldn't get it out, so pulled the lot off and went to sulk.

I quite like the look of it totally debadged now so it'll probably stay like that for a while.

Regrettably I'm still a colossal child at heart so I can't say it won't get rebadged again at some point.

[D4MJT]

rasto said:

It doesn't warn you if you exceed the displayed limit and yes, you can configure a digital speedo although it is quite small.

You flatterer you.

The cheque is in the post x

[D4MJT]

bhstewie said:

Thank you, the demonstrator didn't have black panel or this option - could I ask if it warns you if you're exceeding the limit and if so how configurable it is?

Presume there's a digital speedo option as well as the analogue as I always find that quite useful as it's in your face.

Well then, a few other bits I thought of that might be worth mentioning.

I don't know what the cost of the speed limit display is but.....

As standard the car comes with a soft limiter that you can activate with the steering wheel, so when you get to 30, you clip it on, and unless you absolutely floor it, the car won't accelerate past the speed you've set. It's very handy in town, and in fact if I'd been using it today I probably wouldn't be expecting the letter from the mobile camera van I passed earlier. Sigh.

That's actually probably a decent sales pitch for speccing the speed limit display, I'll tell you in 14 days.

I don't know if you're looking at 3 or 5 doors, but if you're looking at 3dr, look at the 40/20/40 split rear seats option. It basically means you can fold the rear seats in that formation rather than just the standard 60/40, but what they don't mention in the brochure is that if you have the 40/20/40 folding rear seats, the centre seat suddenly has a sweet armrest that folds down for rear passengers with cup holders that you don't get otherwise. This is hugely annoying as I'd had that too.

In terms of differences between the cars, the M140i has newer dash / dials / iDrive and will feel more modern inside. The engines are similar, the M140i feels like it has much more shove lower down the rev range, while the M135 feels like it screams to the redline more. Or that was my impression anyway.

Digital speedo - not as standard on my car, that may have changed with the LCI2. That said, mine now has it anyway as I coded it in. There's all kinds you can do with the car regarding tweaking bits for your preference, I've coded off the stop start by default as it does my head in and it saves me having to manually turn it off etc.

At the end of the day, they really are a great car for the money. Even with my complaints regarding fuel tank size and not being able to choose better seats, if you look at the competition from Merc or Audi, you'd be paying another 10K to get into an A45 or an RS3.

Similar boat re the finance, it made sense for me to buy through PCP, even though my intention is to keep the car longer term. Due to the mileage I'm stacking on my balloon is only something like £11k.

Mine's due it's first service in 1800 miles so we'll see how that goes. I have the 3 year service pack, however I changed the oil myself at 10k as my personal opinion is that 20k miles is too long.

[D4MJT]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

Yes definitely have heated seats - I have those too. But I'd lose them before I lose the sunroof. But - as you say - horses for courses! Stupidly I left off (can't think how) reversing sensors and I miss those.

Haven't driven the 140 with the auto - but have driven other BMWs with that box. I can't think that you'd want to go faster than the manual allows - except on a track, which I'm not that interested in as thankfully a 140 isn't a track 'weapon'! Also not sure how more accessible the performance needs to be than with the manual! The auto does feel a bit dim witted to me after manuals - when going in to reverse quickly, etc, and occasionally its in the wrong gear. Granted, most of my driving is non-urban, but for those who say an auto is easier in stop-start traffic, surely it's not THAT hard to change gear...! As you say, it would be boring if everyone liked the same thing, but I'm not sure anyone would agree that the auto is more fun or more rewarding... If it was, I'm sure I'd have one!

Definitely agree about the gearing, tho - its under geared in 6th on the M Way although I've got used to it...

I've driven 2 different diesel G30 5 series that I've had as courtesy cars with the 8 speed ZF box and I was staggered by how different it felt, so you may be pleasantly suprised!

Bar that, regarding stop start traffic, I think basically you're just less lazy than I am

[D4MJT]

Well then, update time I guess. I'm nearing the 20,000 miles mark now, and the car has had an oil change that I carried out, and it's first official BMW Service.

It hasn't all been plain sailing, but that's no fault of the car.

First off, the recommended oil change interval is around 20,000 miles. For those who are simply leasing and returning that's probably fine, but it's still my intention to keep the car, so I chose to change the oil around the 10k mark myself. I bought OE sump plug washers from BMW, and oil from Opie, and up she went:





The procedure is nice and simple, there's a small access flap in the undertray for the sump plug, draining is easy as the oil is so thin. The top up procedure is a bit scary though

Basically, there is no physical dipstick on the engine, (thanks BMW) only a digital check, so when you've drained all the oil, you refill with 6.5L and then have to start the car up to check the oil level is correct, except the car has to be warm for the oil check to be available, so you have to wait for the oil to warm through as well. All was well though.



After this, I decided I hadn't wasted any cash on frivolous rubbish for at least a week, and bought some 'black gel' plates for the car.



Almost immediately, the car rewarded me with the dreaded backbox rattle that appears to be a common fault:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zob1v1WMnCA

I raised this with BMW UK, and ultimately everything was resolved to my satisfaction. I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement which prohibits me discussing exactly what they agreed to do to rectify the problem, which seemed a bit shady, however on the plus side....





One M Performance Exhaust system.

This is a throatier back box basically, which has no valve, and so can't rattle again. There are 2 choices of tailpipe trim, both of which are predictably horrendous. There are the chrome tips, which I opted for, or they also do a "carbon" tip which is basically the chrome tip, with a carbon fibre sleeve over it with a slight cut out so you can still see the //M logo on the tip. Ghastly on all counts really. I'll come back to this.

I did give it a proper wash and wax, and a chap I know who is better with picture things than I am took these:









Plenty of fodder for the terrible parking thread there. The chrome rear pipes stuck out like a sore thumb, and didn't really gel at all with the "under the radar" 116d badge, so around this time I pulled that off.

I then drove it lots more as I've just bought a house, so car times have been few and far between recently. Then as I was trundling along behind a wagon, a large rubber tile flew off the back and landed squarely on the edge of my bonnet, leaving it looking rather sorry for itself:



It turned out to be fairly superficial, and after some time with 3M's finest compounds, it's looking like this:



I then got round to de-chroming it. You unfortunately can't use the stock tailpipe trims on the M Performance back box as the tailpipe diameter is larger. They are however, exactly the same size in diameter as the 640d tailpipes, and the M Sport models come with some rather familiar looking trims...



As I'm still a massive child, I've also rebadged it again, this time as a 114i. I might grow up one day, but it wasn't this day.

Also, on a recent european jaunt, it walloped it's way up to this remarkably quickly and easily in 6th, with 2 gears to go. The limiter definitely works, it was like hitting a wall



So all in all, things with the M140i are still very very good. It always puts a daft grin on my face, and it's fantastic to drive. The exhaust now makes a deeper noise and burbles away very nicely, especially on the overrun or upshift. I'm still on my original set of tyres, but I'll need new rears before long as they're nearing the markers. Brakes still appear fine.

[D4MJT]

Henry_b said:

Lovely looking M.

I've been following all your projects especially your P38.

Hopefully i'll get mine close to the standard yours was.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I was just reading your P38 thread the other day!

You sound like a man after my own heart, that's exactly the sort of thing I'd buy

I loved my P38, they definitely have something about them, I'd have another quite happily. Enjoy!

[D4MJT]

I've been fiddling again.

The M Performance Exhaust is known to make the car look a bit "Wheelbarrow-esque" as the tips stick out quite a bit. This doesn't really suit the stealthy look of the 640d tailpipes, but I'd just chucked them on for the time being. Either way, they looked a bit st:





So, I borrowed my buddy's ramp, and whipped the backbox off:



For a bit of precision adjustment:



It looks so much better now in my opinion, and the exhaust looks stock again, rather than drawing attention to itself:







Bar that, it's all been plain sailing. It's doubled as a brisk and efficient tip run weapon:



I've also fitted a Pipercross panel filter to the OE airbox, which has freed up a bit of induction noise. Not masses, but there's a subtle whoosh there now.

I expect it'll tick over 20,000 miles this week.

[D4MJT]

M1C said:

The exhausts are a great change. They did look to stick too far out before, they look just right now.

I do wonder though if BMW deliberately made them like that? Perhaps they found in testing that they got too hot and gases/heat etc fouled the bodywork near the tip? I guess you'll find out soon enough, hopefully not!

Cheers!

We'll soon see! I doubt it, as the original back box tips were pretty close to where these are now. It seems fine so far anyway!

[D4MJT]

Spoof said:

Lots of interesting stuff

• sweet photo*

Aha, I forgot. I've also fitted a JB+. I chose this over the JB4 as I don't think I'll ever decat mine, or go for many other mods to the drivetrain, so the JB+ with a single map seems to be sufficient over the 6 maps and additional logging etc you can get with the JB4, granted you don't get quite as much power. What map are you using Chris?

According to the supplier, mine should now be around 390/400bhp and about 550nm. I'd echo your comments, it's ballistic now, I wasn't really sure how much of a difference I'd notice, but it's absolutely relentless mid-range to the redline now.

I did a 70-100 roll in 4th the other night in 3 seconds dead, which seems brisk enough.

You must be using yours properly, I'm still on my first set of tyres!

[D4MJT]

GregK2 said:

The tips do look much better now they're sunken in more.

Thanks

[D4MJT]

clarkeysntfc said:

Thinking of putting a Pipercross Air Filter in my 140 - but am worried about invalidating the warranty, particularly in respect of the engine.

I don't want to find myself in a situation whereby an engine warning light comes on and a BMW dealer throws a bill at me for having put a 3rd party filter in the car.

What are your thoughts?

As stated, it's a very simple part to swap back to standard should you require the car to be taken to a dealer for any work, not that I imagine they would be particularly worried.

That said, I have a Pipercross filter, and there is very little difference to the induction noise over standard, so if you were thinking of doing it for this reason, you probably won't be that impressed by it anyway.

[D4MJT]

First things first:



That didn't take long

I decided to celebrate the big 20k by driving over some sharp metallic things.



Sadly this wasn't repairable, and to be fair I wasn't far off replacing the tyres anyway, so that cost me a new set of 4 Michelin Pilot Super Sports.

Things got steadily worse from there, and continuing to do a terrible job of not buggering around with it, I've purchased what's referred to as the "Motech Stance Kit". I know I know. I've got a snapback on order, and I'm mixing up my own flavour of vape as we speak.

The kit from Motech Performance consists of Eibach lowering springs, -20mm Front and -25mm rear coils, and some TPI wheel spacers. These are 12mm front spacers, and 15mm rear. The spacers seem good quality, they come with longer bolts and longer locking wheel bolts, and I've had no shimmy or wobbles with them fitted so far.

As I'm an idiot / glutton for punishment I fitted these myself, so if anyone fancies a shot, here's a quick idea of how to do it. Apart from the rears, as being brutally honest I started it far too late at night, and it was 2:30am by the time I got done and I forgot to take any photo's

Anyway, the fronts are the hardest, the rears are a doddle.

Undo the top drop link bolts and move the drop link out of the way. These are a 16 or 17mm nut, with a T30 fitting inside the drop link head to stop it from rotating as you undo the nut, Halfords do these jazzy badgers which make life much easier:





Then you want to undo and remove this bolt from here:



There is a small brake pipe fitting bracket that is held in place by this bolt:



You can then move this back out of the way. The bolt is 19mm and this is it removed:



Ideally you'll have a sexy friend on hand for the next part, as I'd imagine it's much trickier by yourself. Once you've undone the 5 x 13mm top mount bolts inside the engine bay that I also forgot to take a picture of, the strut is basically loose in the wheel arch. You can then persuade your sexy friend to push the hub assembly downwards while you swear profusely and attempt to twist and pull the strut upwards out of said assembly, leaving you with this:



Delicious.

The next part is my favourite by far. Dust off your best pair of cheap coil spring compressors and instantly remember cursing them last time you attempted to use them, swearing you'd get some decent ones and throw these away. Tell yourself it won't be that bad and they're probably OK.

Gingerly wind said compressors to maximum lethal tension, and realise that despite starting to slip alarmingly towards each other round the coil, they haven't really taken that much tension off the strut top anyway.



At this point the Halfords Jazzy Badger 3000's are useful again, as the nut for the strut top bearing is quite deeply recessed, about an inch down into the strut top, so an offset ring spanner won't do.



As luck would have it, my terrible spring compressors managed to do enough of a job so that the strut top bearing didn't fire itself off into the roof as I wound off the top nut, it simply jumped up with a pop whilst I soiled myself and sobbed softly.

The eibach's are a similar size spring uncompressed, which makes refitting the strut tops fun. Again, I used a sexy friend to pop the nut on and get the first few turns on, while I used my not in-considerable body weight to push down further on the strut tops.

As Haynes would say, refitting is simply the reverse of removal.

The rears are very simple. Undo the rear shock bolt and remove, then undo the rear control arm bolt from the hub. You can then swing down the rear control arm and simply remove the spring and change it out. Use a jack to get the control arm back in place and replace the two bolts you removed previously.

The finished article:







I think they've settled a little more since, but I'm happy with how it looks. It doesn't really look as if it's been lowered massively, it just sort of looks "right". And the wheels being spaced out makes it look a little more purposeful, as well as now making it far easier to clean the brake calipers

I haven't done many miles yet, but it seems great so far, reduced body roll, and it doesn't seem to have compromised the ride quality. I'll report back after I've got some miles in.