Show Me Your BMW!!!!!!!!!

[8248po]

Here's my latest, moving from an X5M I was sceptical but have to say I'd fully recommend.

[Regbuser]

Liking the 340 touring, dravit grey?

[arcticnick]

Regbuser said:

Liking the 340 touring, dravit grey?

Correct, Individual Dravit Grey with Shadowline. It looks awful on the BMW configurator but fantastic IRL. Had a lot of comments on it.

[Priceyx]

Here's a couple of snaps of my E39 540i Touring that I've owned for about a year and a half. Still got a long way to go to get to where I want her, but she's a rolling project. Very much a love/hate relationship..

[McGee_22]

Priceyx said:

Here's a couple of snaps of my E39 540i Touring that I've owned for about a year and a half. Still got a long way to go to get to where I want her, but she's a rolling project. Very much a love/hate relationship..

I have a B10 V8 Touring and that is also a love/hate relationship; love the quality of the cabin and the Alpina engine, gearbox and suspension - hate the rust and flimsy cooling system.

[Priceyx]

McGee_22 said:

I have a B10 V8 Touring and that is also a love/hate relationship; love the quality of the cabin and the Alpina engine, gearbox and suspension - hate the rust and flimsy cooling system.

Agreed on that one. I've renewed the majority of the cooling system and replaced the stock thermostat with a lower temperature one from an E38 740d. The coolant temperature now stays in the mid 90's so should hopefully help prolong the life of things. Corrosion can be a pain, although thankfully the car is largely rust free. I did have the jacking points and sills repaired last year though as there was rust in the standard places.

Edited by Priceyx on Monday 24th May 21:59

[Regbuser]

arcticnick said:

Correct, Individual Dravit Grey with Shadowline. It looks awful on the BMW configurator but fantastic IRL. Had a lot of comments on it.

And interior colour?

[chandrew]

Outgoing: 340i xDrive with MPPSK, here wearing my preferred 17" winter wheels:



Incoming: Alpina B5. No stripes and de-badged apart from the front bumper.

[Wills2]

Nice.

[Burwood]

Nice indeed.

[Trailhead]

chandrew said:

Outgoing: 340i xDrive with MPPSK, here wearing my preferred 17" winter wheels:



Incoming: Alpina B5. No stripes and de-badged apart from the front bumper.

That’s seriously nice.

[chandrew]

Trailhead said:

chandrew said:

Outgoing: 340i xDrive with MPPSK, here wearing my preferred 17" winter wheels:



Incoming: Alpina B5. No stripes and de-badged apart from the front bumper.

That’s seriously nice.

Thanks a lot. I think it's going to be just my sort of car. It's a pre-LCI car, which of course was a bit cheaper but also I think I prefer - the later cars have more aggressive looking front intakes and lose the classic round Alpina dials. I would have preferred a green car with full Lavallina but they're super-rare here so I feel lucky to have found this, and the de-badging is growing on me. It's Sophistograu.

I'm also fortunate to have such good local roads to use it on. The last one was the Fluela pass, this one the Bernina (I was supposed to be going out to get some bread.)

[VerySideways]

I'm most jealous that Fluela and Bernina are on your doorstep!
But a B5 is a lovely thing regardless, congrats.

[fatvik]

Hello All,

My first BMW .. its a 530e with the lovely comfort seats




I really like it

Two things that make me chuckle is the sat nav lady saying "please" when giving instructions and how the steering wheel moves away when you switch the car off and open the door to get out.

One thing I still cant get over is that there is no rear wiper.. I spent a good 20 mins trying to figure out how to make it work before figuring out that it does not have one!

I have been spending time on the yourtube channel and on the user manual app and I still don't know all that the car can do. Hopefully it will all be second nature soon.

The car was delivered to me on Friday and over the weekend I have spotted some niggles. There is still some damage on the paintwork, there are marks on the steering whele and scratches on the drivers side ali door insert. The plastic surround around the window / wing mirror switches seems to have discoloured like its from a 20 year old car. There are small marks on the leather too but I have been able to clean the majority of those off so am not too fussed about that. Will contact the dealer tomorrow. Dealer is in Preston and I am in North Kent! There is a BMW dealer not far from me … So, hopefully we can sort something out.

That aside, I am really happy with the car. More pics once I have had a chance to give it a good clean

FV

[gar19gj]

Hi looks very shiny, have you had it ceramic coated.

[gar19gj]

arcticnick said:

So, after 10 years of ownership, I finally parted ways with my beloved E91 335i after barely using it throughout lockdown.



Like everyone on PH I spent most of lockdown browsing classifieds thinking about the ideal 2 car fleet to cover off a fun car for me, and a good family car for holidays, IKEA runs etc. We had an XC60 on PCH ticking off the family duties, which left a small budget for a fun car.

Then - lightbulb moment. What if we went down to one car? What could tick all the boxes, if we merged both budgets together?



M340i Touring, fully specced with those bits I missed from the old E91 (pan roof, tow bar). All set for another 10 years of ownership... As our last ICE car most likely.



Feels like both a new car and an old friend

Looks very shiny have you had it ceramic coated.

[PTF]

After having an M135i in 2014 on one of the cheap lease deals discussed on here, i've been yearning for another.

In the meantime i've had an E87 130i, 325i E91, 325d E91 and 325i E92, none of which were quite cutting it, though much cheaper obvs.

My budget was £10k. If i could stick to that then i'd be able to buy outright.

After lots of searching, and despair at the current inflated market for anything more special thsn a 1.2 corsa, this popped up for sale.

3dr manual (my preferred choice) but with base spec, but they are still pretty well specced in base trim anyway.

Only 3 owners and just over 70k miles. New brakes all round not long ago. Pretty immaculate. And sitting on pilot sport 4 tyres all round. An absolute bargain at a smidge over £10k.

They're a great daily. A bit flawed as a hot hatch, but that's fine as it's not my toy car.

[cerb4.5lee]

PTF said:

After having an M135i in 2014 on one of the cheap lease deals discussed on here, i've been yearning for another.

In the meantime i've had an E87 130i, 325i E91, 325d E91 and 325i E92, none of which were quite cutting it, though much cheaper obvs.

My budget was £10k. If i could stick to that then i'd be able to buy outright.

After lots of searching, and despair at the current inflated market for anything more special thsn a 1.2 corsa, this popped up for sale.

3dr manual (my preferred choice) but with base spec, but they are still pretty well specced in base trim anyway.

Only 3 owners and just over 70k miles. New brakes all round not long ago. Pretty immaculate. And sitting on pilot sport 4 tyres all round. An absolute bargain at a smidge over £10k.

They're a great daily. A bit flawed as a hot hatch, but that's fine as it's not my toy car.

That does seem like fantastic value for sure. I read loads about these but I've never been in one(I've always wanted a M235i as well).

I remember having a similar budget a few years ago and I went with a E90 330i(sadly auto though). These seem to offer next level performance though and I imagine them to be a great all round car.

Enjoy it.

[PTF]

Thanks. I think if you can get over all of the hype about these mega-hatches and treat it for what it is - an M-sport 1 series with a bigger engine than it needs - then you'll be fine.

Coming from some older BMWs the idrive, even in base trim, is nice to use and lifts the cabin. The interior is lovely. It's more roomy than an E87 130i, but not quite as roomy as an E91.

The engine is a peach. Lots of torque. It's smooth and lazy, pulling from 30mph in 6th, which added to my thinking that an 8spd auto was overkill, and at this price simply more to go wrong.

Pro-nav would have been nice, but it failed when i had it in my E92 325d, resulting in a £1k warranty claim. I have no warranty on the M135i, so base spec is fine by me!

The steering is a little lifeless compared to the E90s/E87. It doesn't really tell you what's going on at all. But that's ok with me as i'll not be pushing it hard.

Suspension is a bit clumsy. Even on non-runflat michelins it sends lots of noise and vibes into the cabin. It's not exactly the last word in chassis development, but is no worse than my 130i was on similar tyres. It feels tighter and more pointy than the E91s by some margin.

I have a clio 200 as a toy, which really highlights where the M135i can't cut it as a hot hatch - the steering is tremendous and the chassis just begs for more, but the clio is very bare inside and far too raw to use regularly. The M135i is a bit of a limo in comparison.

Between the two they make a fine pairing.

I really want an M2 at some point, but prices are up 10-15% on those this year. I'd be worried about using one for shopping/work/kids, etc. Plus i couldn't get past paying (borrowing?) another £20k for a car with the same base engine (i know the M2s is reworked), similar interior, but less practical.

Edited by PTF on Tuesday 8th June 10:42

[toon10]

cerb4.5lee said:

That does seem like fantastic value for sure. I read loads about these but I've never been in one(I've always wanted a M235i as well).

I remember having a similar budget a few years ago and I went with a E90 330i(sadly auto though). These seem to offer next level performance though and I imagine them to be a great all round car.

Enjoy it.

I went from an E90 325i to an M135i before getting my current car. I'll be honest, the E90 was a better car. It looked better, was more practical, handled better and had that lovely NA creamy engine. It was manual which made it more engaging. It helped that it was in m sport trim in le mans blue. Performance wise, the 1 series was on another planet. It was my first auto, the box is much better suited to that engine. I used to have some straight line dual carriageway dashes with much more desirable and exotic machines and even in stock form, it used to humble them.

My 20 year old loved the 1 series but he talks more about getting an E90 in a few years as a retro homage to his old man.