130i, will I be waiting forever?

[Mr Whippy]

For a manual 4dr xenon and leccy seats?

Is retrofitting xenon or leccy seats quite easy? Or are parts rare (quick checks and they seem rare)

I’ve not yet tried one but after a bit of time looking at them generally they seem just as big/practical as a Golf R32... and on paper (and likely to drive), better in almost every regard.

Just finding a nice one in a good spec feels like it might take a few years given the amount on AT.

[hyphen]

Mr Whippy said:

they seem just as big/practical as a Golf R32

Golf's & S3's have a larger boot, the 1 series of that era were less practical then the competition iirc.

[bmwdriver86]

In a word yes.

I've just bought a 130i, with front/rear PDC, xenons and heated leather in graphite grey. Wanted Le Mans blue.

Took me a good while to find most of what I wanted.

Worth the wait if not exactly what I wanted.

John

[PTF]

I wouldn't bother looking for a high spec one.

I've got an SE. So that's business audio (which is crap), cloth seats (which are actually very comfy and better than the leather SE seats i had in my E91), 17" rather boring looking wheels (but the ride is better and a set of PS4s is only £400 plus you can swap them round).

It still has a nice chunky steering wheel, a glorious soundtrack from the N52 engine, a lovely short throw gear change. It's brilliant.

It'll lug my mountain bike round with back seats down and front wheel off the bike. It's not as roomy as the equivalent golf, but it's not far off and TBH not a huge lot smaller than an E91.

The SE models don't seem to command the same premium as the M-Sport, but there are only 75 SEs on the road so they're rarer!

I got with 50k miles and 1 owner. Full BMW history and had been under BMW warranty from new (11 yrs). I really wanted a better spec but this came up and i snapped it up, and truth be told i'm glad i went for it over an M-Sport. Sports seats can be retro fitted for a few hundred quid. The radio can be upgraded. And i prefer the Q-car looks

[Mr Whippy]

Yeah I’m not averse to parts bin modding where it’s fairly easy to do so.

I did consider SE even for the 330i but the list of mods vs msport is quite big.

I quite like the SE suspension on our F30 335xd, if the 130i SE is the same then win win... but the softer ride in my Golf R32 does frustrate occasionally... you get a second round of bounce a lot at the back in high speed compressions etc.
Not something you can easily test until you own the car and get it on local roads.


Memory seats is a core thing I want. Manual seats just annoy me now.

Yeah the Golf boot is apparently bigger... maybe wider just, but not as long.
Maybe the Golf R32 boot is smaller already?


I’ve seen some special model 3dr 130i with lemon leccy seats and all are high spec... also they have BBS wheels I think.
Just not sure I can live with 3dr yet having occasional toddler use in mind... though it is very occasional. Hmmm.


Anyone know the best forum for UK 130i type owners?

Thanks

Dave

[Catatafish]

babybmw.net has a load of info re the 130i

You might find one with your spec come up for sale.

[aeropilot]

Mr Whippy said:

I’ve seen some special model 3dr 130i with lemon leccy seats and all are high spec... also they have BBS wheels I think.

130LE.

Only 150 of them, but they do turn up from time to time.

Had all the extras thrown at them, apart from heated seats...which is a bit odd, so if heated seats are a must don't bother looking for a LE.
They are all in Carbon Black with Lemon leather interior, and no mot BBS wheels, they are BMW Style 216 wheels.

Mr Whippy said:

Anyone know the best forum for UK 130i type owners?

As already mention, BabyBMW forum is the place to go, lots of 130i owners and info there - good bunch.

[aeropilot]

Mr Whippy said:

For a manual 4dr xenon and leccy seats?

Is retrofitting xenon or leccy seats quite easy? Or are parts rare (quick checks and they seem rare)

Forgot this bit....

Manual 5dr with leccy seats and xenons will be a hard find - maybe impossible tbh. Not many 5dr cars with leccy seat option. I think in the 6+ years of owning a 1 Series I only saw one 5dr car with leccy seats, was a really early car, probably an original dealer demo when they came out.

I doubt retro-fitting leccy seats in a 5dr will be an option?
Someone on BabyBMW will know though.

[chriscoates]

As mentioned, electric seats don't seem to turn up very often with the 130i.

I bought mine in the Spring with heated leather, front and rear PDC and cruise. Had a crap aftermarket radio in so I've installed a BMW Professional head unit which improves the look of the centre console. Really wanted xenons and having lived with the car for six months I'd prioritise them over anything else - the standard lights are dreadful. I'm looking for some better bulbs but with the new HID rules it's proving difficult, and to legally retrofit xenons you're looking at £1k+.

Worth mentioning that I was put off the LE models because they only have four seats - mine's a standard 3dr but does have three seats in the back. Always thought the LEs had a strange spec - no heated seats or cruise (although cruise can be fairly easily retrofitted).

Buy one though, you won't regret it - the N52 is a sublime engine.

Edited by chriscoates on Friday 28th September 15:00

[Luca Brasi]

Xenons I understand but why are people so hung up on electric seats? If you're the only person driving the car, you never adjust the seat anyway, at least I don't..

[aeropilot]

Luca Brasi said:

Xenons I understand but why are people so hung up on electric seats? If you're the only person driving the car, you never adjust the seat anyway, at least I don't..

Nor me.

And why I didn't tick the leccy seat option when I ordered my 135i back in 2011.

However, I wish I had done, as the leccy seats have a much more minute adjustment range, and after living with the car for a few months I found that my ideal seat position was somewhere in between the manual positions....so never could get the seat in the position I really would have preferred, but that's probably because my back/spine problems means I am very fussy seat position wise.
Which also means, whenever the car went in for service, it took me ages to get the seat back in the right position after it had been moved by the tech etc.
So, yes, for some, leccy seats aren't an issue, but for some of us, they are a must have.

[Bemmer]

There's one on here low miles £10989 but apparently just under £9000 worth of pounds of factory extras..... www.cramag.com

[aeropilot]

Bemmer said:

There's one on here low miles £10989 but apparently just under £9000 worth of pounds of factory extras..... www.cramag.com

Crikey......yes, I can't think of any option that has been left not ticked on that one (except metallic paint) makes it very rare....and with such a rare colour combination, I'd go as far as to say that it's unique, won't be another one like that in the UK. Even has the horrid active steering option ticked, which is really rare!!
BUT.....and this is a big but, its an auto.......and the 130i with the Steptronic box, is not a pleasant drive. I drove a demo auto 130i back in early 2009 and its why I waited a bit longer to be able to afford a 135i.

Edited by aeropilot on Friday 28th September 15:24

[Mr Tidy]

Manual 130is are hard to find - to get one with electric seats and Xenons I think you'd wait months, if not a year or more!

I wanted one to replace my E46 325ti Sport, but having missed one in Japan Red less than 10 miles away I gave up and got an E91 325i instead - it is a bit more practical after all and this is my daily!

But as someone said earlier the N52 engine is rather special! I've got a little one in my E91 (325i) and a bigger one in my Z4 Coupe and I think they are great (apart from the electric water pump).

[Mr Whippy]

aeropilot said:

Bemmer said:

There's one on here low miles £10989 but apparently just under £9000 worth of pounds of factory extras..... www.cramag.com

Crikey......yes, I can't think of any option that has been left not ticked on that one (except metallic paint) makes it very rare....and with such a rare colour combination, I'd go as far as to say that it's unique, won't be another one like that in the UK. Even has the horrid active steering option ticked, which is really rare!!
BUT.....and this is a big but, its an auto.......and the 130i with the Steptronic box, is not a pleasant drive. I drove a demo auto 130i back in early 2009 and its why I waited a bit longer to be able to afford a 135i.

Edited by aeropilot on Friday 28th September 15:24

I was sat in that exact car 2 days ago.

I went to have a serious recce of a 3dr and check boot size, access to rear seats, rear seat space with driver seat set for me, etc.

I’m not keen on the red in the skin. The shape is already challenging, and it was more challenging in red.


And yeah, automatic, I really can’t live with another auto in the household haha.
I can’t really cope with the lameness of an auto for ‘driving’


Had it been titanium silver and manual I’d have it in a heartbeat.


On leccy seats.
MOT man moves them.
Service might move them.
Wife won’t drive it unless it can be easily set to her position == miles from mine.
Move them to clean under them.
Finer position settings.
Easy to try new settings then move back to known good.

If you’ve lived with them they’re impossible to live without.

And imo, BMW manual seats are pretty poor.
Your average Peugeot has better manual seat controls, finer smoother controls and easier to reset if moved, tweak positions etc.

That said even my R32 seats are ste manual ones too.
Germans are crap at manual seats

[Mr Tidy]

Mr Whippy said:

Germans are crap at manual seats

Not necessarily - at least you can get them low enough (unlike Fords)!

[pvogue]

Miss my 130i LE

https://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&a...





I think fitting Xenons requires some coding aswell, as my brother has an 125i Coupe with the horrible halogens and couldn't be bother with the hassle.

Edited by pvogue on Sunday 30th September 20:24

[Mr Whippy]

There is a nice LE for sale on babybmw now.

£7,000 for 70k mile 07 which seems ok to me.

I’m going to have to take a serious look at some local 3dr and 5dr 1ers (any engine), just to get a feel for if a 3dr will work with toddler stuff.


I’m assuming LE still have isofix in back side seats? Remembering they’re 4 seaters not 5!
I always just worry about getting a toddler out of a 3dr in an emergency etc. Hmmmm.

[aeropilot]

Mr Whippy said:

I’m going to have to take a serious look at some local 3dr and 5dr 1ers (any engine), just to get a feel for if a 3dr will work with toddler stuff.

A mate of mine still has his LE, and has a toddler......but his missus has a Passat CC that gets used for toddler carrying, as the LE is just too much of a faff to get his son in and out the back of. He said if they had to be a one car family, the LE would have to go.

[Craikeybaby]

I'm finding the E87 a bit small for toddler stuff and ours is a 5 door.

The ISOfix flaps weren't there on mine, but the mounting points were there under the seat, so it wasn't too tricky to add the flaps - or you could always just swap the seat backs.