My Estoril Blue 1-Series

[Mattknight1984]

Hi all (newbie post alert!),

Thought I'd upload a few pics of my new car - picked it on Wednesday. Loving it so far.
Appreciate they aren't to everyones taste, think you either love them or hate them. I considered getting a first generation 1-series a while back and this seems much improved in every way...






Don't have any immediate plans, other than give it a full detail/protection in time for winter.

Im keeping my current mk5 golf:





Any feedback/pointers most welcome.

Thanks for looking.

[JordanTurbo]

Looks good (for a 1 series ), always loved estoril blue. What engine did you go for?

[HypeM135i]

My old car was estoril blue, it's a brilliant colour when it's clean really pops. In terms of detailing have a look at auto finesse products they do some really nice stuff just used them to wash the car today and was well impressed.

[turboteeth]

Cracking colour - looks good!

[DanielJames]

My favourite BMW colour I think. Lovely looking car.

JordanTurbo said:

Looks good (for a 1 series ), always loved estoril blue. What engine did you go for?

It's a 116i, I was wondering the same so just looked up the reg.

[AndyCardiff]

When you see the 1-series in this colour with those wheels and that upholstery, you really wonder why they get such a hard time. I love that upholstery and would have it over leather every day

[JamesD1]

AndyCardiff said:

When you see the 1-series in this colour with those wheels and that upholstery, you really wonder why they get such a hard time. I love that upholstery and would have it over leather every day

I agree with this 100% I don't know why the 1 series gets a hard time (well i do but.....) its a nice looking little car especially in that blue (which happens to be my favourite bmw colour) and I would always choose a cloth / alcantara interior over leather as I personally prefer it.

[HonestIago]

Nice colour! Why are you keeping the Golf?

[Mattknight1984]

Thanks guys - fully expected to check back and find people slating it/ugly as f*ck etc

Its a 116 - improved over the previous model though as it has a twin-scroll turbo (140ish bhp) and goes quite well. The engine is the same as the 118i which is 170 bhp so currently looking into remaps.

Personally I love the colour/spec combo, I asked the dealer to find one in Estoril Blue and 5-door and low mileage (its on 8k) and waited until he sourced one. Previous demonstrators we'd borrowed had been 'Sport' spec, and the difference is really quite surprising. I expected the M-Sport trim to be better (obviously) but didn't realise it would be this much nicer. Well worth the extra money IMO.

I'm keeping the golf as my wife uses it now, and have spent quite a bit on maintenance (clutch/DMF, cambelt) as well as a Bluefin remap and factory stereo upgrades, not worth much now so will probably keep it until it dies.

[BorkFactor]

Nice car OP, my Mum has a 118i and it is a lovely motor. Really nice to drive and a great engine - plenty of performance and good fuel economy.

Great colour and I agree with you regarding the interior.

[TaylotS2K]

JamesD1 said:

AndyCardiff said:

When you see the 1-series in this colour with those wheels and that upholstery, you really wonder why they get such a hard time. I love that upholstery and would have it over leather every day

I agree with this 100% I don't know why the 1 series gets a hard time (well i do but.....) its a nice looking little car especially in that blue (which happens to be my favourite bmw colour) and I would always choose a cloth / alcantara interior over leather as I personally prefer it.

I disagree. The 1 series wasn't a looker in the first place and they made it even uglier.

[5harp3y]

More importantly, any more pictures of your Mk2 Gti?

[Accelebrate]

Good choice, lovely colour! Although I am biased

[aka_kerrly]

5harp3y said:

More importantly, any more pictures of your Mk2 Gti?

Same here, it looks like it is a 10 million limited edition Helios blue model - does it have rainbow interior?

[Mattknight1984]

5harp3y said:

More importantly, any more pictures of your Mk2 Gti?

Got a few - don't know why but I'm drawn to them, even if they are a pain in a** most of the time:


Can just make out the horrible blue interior in that pic, headliner hanging down etc, so interior replaced (although not with rainbow):



And this one:

[Mattknight1984]

Had chance to clay, polish and wax the car. Loving the colour more and more :-)

[Mattknight1984]

Thinking of getting the wheels redone in gunmetal grey/anthracite - thoughts?

[HypeM135i]

Ferric grey is a weird colour, and I'll tell you why.

When it's brand new and completely clean is really pops (see my old car below), however when it's mucky it makes the car look really dull, and after all the wheels make the car. I think yours in ferric grey will look better than the standard M135i wheels just because they have more space between the spokes, I was never a fan of the M135i wheels, I still think that's something BMW should of done a better job with. That said you can see below that when ferric grey is clean it does look really nice and deep...

[Mattknight1984]

HypeM135i said:

Ferric grey is a weird colour, and I'll tell you why.

When it's brand new and completely clean is really pops (see my old car below), however when it's mucky it makes the car look really dull, and after all the wheels make the car. I think yours in ferric grey will look better than the standard M135i wheels just because they have more space between the spokes, I was never a fan of the M135i wheels, I still think that's something BMW should of done a better job with. That said you can see below that when ferric grey is clean it does look really nice and deep...

Thanks, that's really useful, especially with the picture! My wife is handy on photoshop, might get her to do that first before committing to anything.

The black grill looks great on yours - is that something you did too?

[Pugland53]

My wife has an Estoril 116i M Sport identical to yours. I think they look nice, certainly better than the base models. Even though Estoril is the best colour I wish she had gone for black, the blue is far too similar to the Monte Carlo blue on my car for my liking.