£13.5K choices for a fun practical car
Discussion
You could get a 135 for that money if the coupe is practical enough. I've got a fairly well sorted facelift 130i (BMWP exhaust, BMWP brakes, Birds springs, Quaife LSD, M3 front arms) and it certainly does the dual role car bit quite well. I do nearly 20k a year averaging 30-31mpg, but it has a good lick of speed, handles well and is comfortable on long journeys, slightly more so with the Birds springs which actually softens the rear to give it better balance as well as improving the ride.
LocoBlade said:
You could get a 135 for that money if the coupe is practical enough. I've got a fairly well sorted facelift 130i (BMWP exhaust, BMWP brakes, Birds springs, Quaife LSD, M3 front arms) and it certainly does the dual role car bit quite well. I do nearly 20k a year averaging 30-31mpg, but it has a good lick of speed, handles well and is comfortable on long journeys, slightly more so with the Birds springs which actually softens the rear to give it better balance as well as improving the ride.
The 130i I am looking at is top money but has all the things you have (save the M3 arms) on yours. It's also the LE which has xenons etc. I am almost sold on the idea of na engines as well. No turbo, no temptation to mod the thing and less things to go wrong. Jasandjules said:
Do you know how much an RS4 terrifies me. 
yonex said:
The 130i I am looking at is top money but has all the things you have (save the M3 arms) on yours. It's also the LE which has xenons etc. I am almost sold on the idea of na engines as well. No turbo, no temptation to mod the thing and less things to go wrong.
How many miles p.a. will you do? A "top money" 130i will depreciate more than an M3 so the overall costs might not be that different?OP, a good friend had a very well spec'd 130 until recently that he sold to a friend. ...I wasn't impressed by them till I went in his - it was massively fast having been tuned, had a LSD, uprated BMW brakes & a full fast road setup by Center of Gravity. It was so impressive it kept a friends 911 3.6 honest on a Sunday morning breakfast run & was a real sleeper which really counts a lot of the time if you are using it as a main car.
Jasandjules said:
Get a 170 BHP Passat for 4k. Spend the rest on a toy for the fun days.
Good suggestion but have done the toy car thing. The NSX and SLR were great but hardly used, found myself in the daily car, which was ok but looking for something that offers a bit of a fun and a nice place to be yonex said:
The 130i I am looking at is top money but has all the things you have (save the M3 arms) on yours. It's also the LE which has xenons etc. I am almost sold on the idea of na engines as well. No turbo, no temptation to mod the thing and less things to go wrong.
Certainly the relative simplicity and lack of potential big bill grenades waiting to go off was a big reason I ditched my 123d for it, my mate owned the car previously from about 6 months old and only had one injector fail in 60k miles. Sods law 3 days I got it the ABS control box failed which necessitated a £200 refurb, but since then I've done a further ~23k miles with no problems at all. Bi-Xenons are definitely worth having though, my old 123d had standard halogens and they weren't a patch on the 130i which does have them.Have a look for an r36... Rare as rocking horse s#!t! 0-60 5.5secs 300bhp 4wd highly specc'd They come with most of the passat costs with a very good drive. If you can find one put in sport ...you'll not be disappointed makes the r32 look like a snail
Edited by R36vw on Saturday 1st November 21:52
LocoBlade said:
Certainly the relative simplicity and lack of potential big bill grenades waiting to go off was a big reason I ditched my 123d for it, my mate owned the car previously from about 6 months old and only had one injector fail in 60k miles. Sods law 3 days I got it the ABS control box failed which necessitated a £200 refurb, but since then I've done a further ~23k miles with no problems at all. Bi-Xenons are definitely worth having though, my old 123d had standard halogens and they weren't a patch on the 130i which does have them.
It's a funny thing as I have been running sheds since the Caterham went. Visited Brooklands the other month and it woke something up in me that had been dormant for a while. The car I am looking at has 40K on the clock, obviously not the end of it all as anything can cause issues but its a long(ish) term plan. I kept my DC2 for 6 years so... I know the M3 may be a bit quicker but it will cost a disproportional amount to do it, I also think that they attract a bit of attention. The car is at Birds now and the suspension will be brand new in the deal as well as the top mounts etc, therefore a good few years in it. The fact it's an LE seems positive for resale and although I am not going into it with that in mind to build a car with;
- big brakes
- induction
- mapping
- LSD
- B1 kit
- wheels
- various tweaky stuff
Overall whilst it's not everyone's cup of tea it is a proper straight 6, the last of them and has something about it. It seems to fit the bill of being comfortable enough to cope with trips and just about big enough for us, also kind of anonymous and not too shouty which is important and a big reason why I haven't gone for something like a WRX wagon.
I know the R32 sounds like God gargling but I reckon it'll be easier to drive and less fun. I think I have concluded that my initial opinion was the one to go with.
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