Buying advice 130i
Discussion
Hi all - short time lurker here 
I've been in love with 1 series cars since I had a test drive in one when they first came out. The lease on my current car (Yaris Hybrid - don't judge, I drove through the congestion zone a lot when I got it :lol: ) is coming to an end and now I'm looking for a replacement. I've set my heart on a 130i, since I've been in my friend's 135i and 140i but I don't have the budget for that - I'm looking to spend around £8k, which seems to be enough to get me a really good example. I'd really like the Limited Edition, but they don't seem to come up very often. It's going to be my weekend car so I'm only going to be doing about 5k miles a year. One of the reasons I'm looking at the 130i is that I live in a fairly high crime area and I think it'd make a great Q car with the badges off! I want a 3 door as well, which I think makes things a touch more difficult, as they seem to be much rarer.
Given the cars I'm looking at are going to be around 10 years old are there specific things I should be looking out for when I go to look at them, or spec items that are particularly worthwhile seeking out? I won't be looking until after the summer I think but I'm getting excited having made the decision to get one!
I've been in love with 1 series cars since I had a test drive in one when they first came out. The lease on my current car (Yaris Hybrid - don't judge, I drove through the congestion zone a lot when I got it :lol: ) is coming to an end and now I'm looking for a replacement. I've set my heart on a 130i, since I've been in my friend's 135i and 140i but I don't have the budget for that - I'm looking to spend around £8k, which seems to be enough to get me a really good example. I'd really like the Limited Edition, but they don't seem to come up very often. It's going to be my weekend car so I'm only going to be doing about 5k miles a year. One of the reasons I'm looking at the 130i is that I live in a fairly high crime area and I think it'd make a great Q car with the badges off! I want a 3 door as well, which I think makes things a touch more difficult, as they seem to be much rarer.
Given the cars I'm looking at are going to be around 10 years old are there specific things I should be looking out for when I go to look at them, or spec items that are particularly worthwhile seeking out? I won't be looking until after the summer I think but I'm getting excited having made the decision to get one!
Baby BMW is a good source for advice on all things 1 series.
I think they’re generally robust little things, aside from the usual bits the electronic water pump on the N52 fails and is expensive to fix so check to see if that’s been done. Other than that, I’m not aware of any specific foibles.
I think they’re generally robust little things, aside from the usual bits the electronic water pump on the N52 fails and is expensive to fix so check to see if that’s been done. Other than that, I’m not aware of any specific foibles.
Court_S said:
Baby BMW is a good source for advice on all things 1 series.
I think they’re generally robust little things, aside from the usual bits the electronic water pump on the N52 fails and is expensive to fix so check to see if that’s been done. Other than that, I’m not aware of any specific foibles.
Not really. A pierberg pump (OEM) for the N52 is £ 240 and its a couple of hours diy. Not very difficult. I think they’re generally robust little things, aside from the usual bits the electronic water pump on the N52 fails and is expensive to fix so check to see if that’s been done. Other than that, I’m not aware of any specific foibles.
I had one that did almost 100k miles over 9 years between a friend that owned if from new and then me that owned it from ~60k. In all that time it was extremely reliable, the only items that failed were a single coil pack and the DSC module controlling the ABS and stability control etc. The former was fixed under warranty, the latter is a fairly common fault (make sure all the dash lights go out and don't come back on after a few miles of driving) and a replacement unit is quite expensive, but I had mine repaired by ECUTesting for just over £200 and DIY'd removing and refitting so not a big issue.
3 door limits your options as they were only available with the 2007 > LCI (facelift) cars which you can spot with the narrower reversing light in the rear light cluster as well as nicer door trims etc. Worth bearing in mind though that the pre LCI cars had hydraulic power steering which a lot of people prefer over the electrical assistance the LCI had.
3 door limits your options as they were only available with the 2007 > LCI (facelift) cars which you can spot with the narrower reversing light in the rear light cluster as well as nicer door trims etc. Worth bearing in mind though that the pre LCI cars had hydraulic power steering which a lot of people prefer over the electrical assistance the LCI had.
Edited by LocoBlade on Friday 30th August 22:12
As above Babybmw has loads of great advice on what to look for.
Water pumps always get mentioned but don’t be scared of them, my original was still working fine when I changed it as a precaution at just over 150k miles. They are properly tough little cars.
Just sold mine with over 170k on it, the new owner is as delighted with it as I was for 8 years. Favourite of all the cars I’ve owned and very sorry to part with it.
Water pumps always get mentioned but don’t be scared of them, my original was still working fine when I changed it as a precaution at just over 150k miles. They are properly tough little cars.
Just sold mine with over 170k on it, the new owner is as delighted with it as I was for 8 years. Favourite of all the cars I’ve owned and very sorry to part with it.
The N52 engine is great, but you do need to budget for a new water pump every 60K or so miles.
I'm now on numbers 3 and 4 and keeping my fingers crossed!
My 1st one needed a water pump at 9 years and 60K miles and number 3 needed one at 12 years and 135K miles, which we reckon was it's 2nd.
But Pierburg pumps can be bought for about £250 (even though BMW charge over £500 for the same part).
I think the 3 door 130is only came along with the facelift, so slightly cheaper road tax but at the expense of Electric PAS instead of Hydraulic PAS.
My current pair are an E86 (Z4 Coupe) with EPAS and a 55 plate E90 330i with HPAS - if I was looking for a 130i I'd definitely look for one with the HPAS as it just has so much more feel (£30 or so a year on road tax is neither here nor there IMHO).
Good luck anyway.
I'm now on numbers 3 and 4 and keeping my fingers crossed!
My 1st one needed a water pump at 9 years and 60K miles and number 3 needed one at 12 years and 135K miles, which we reckon was it's 2nd.
But Pierburg pumps can be bought for about £250 (even though BMW charge over £500 for the same part).
I think the 3 door 130is only came along with the facelift, so slightly cheaper road tax but at the expense of Electric PAS instead of Hydraulic PAS.
My current pair are an E86 (Z4 Coupe) with EPAS and a 55 plate E90 330i with HPAS - if I was looking for a 130i I'd definitely look for one with the HPAS as it just has so much more feel (£30 or so a year on road tax is neither here nor there IMHO).
Good luck anyway.
DoubleSix said:
Doesn’t the LE suffer from the horrible chrome trim, or was that an option?
Think so. They were also all black, which ruled they out for me as I can’t be arses with the hassle of keeping them looking shiny.As someone has already said you’re best of looking out for an enthusiast owned car for sale in here or Babybmw. They’ve hit an age now where even the low milers will have issues if not maintained properly.
Things to note is that the pre-facelift ones have hydraulic steering whereas the post-facelift have electric. The interior on the post-facelift ones is nicer though.
Standard spec was pretty mean, so these can be very sensitive to options. I wouldn’t have one without Xenon headlights and upgraded stereo. Ideally I’d want cruise control and heated seats as well, although these aren't too hard to retrofit and used parts are relatively easy to get hold of as loads of the lower end models (some 118d and 120d came with loads of options) seem to be getting scrapped/broken now.
I had one for just shy of 18 months and found it to be a great all rounder, although mine was heavily modified (see Yonex’s 130i thread in readers cars). My only pet hate was that the electric seats sit too high, if I’d have kept it I would have swapped for manual (but still heated) ones.
Rear aero and Performance exhaust sorts the back end out.
Also, wouldn’t have it without the Xenons or a manual box.
Wife uses ours and it’s been no trouble at all other than hydro pump at 60k and a new bonnet catch.
Currently on 80k miles.
Edit: when she fires it up in the morning it sounds way better than my 340i
Edited by DoubleSix on Saturday 31st August 10:50
survivalist said:
Think so. They were also all black, which ruled they out for me as I can’t be arses with the hassle of keeping them looking shiny.
As someone has already said you’re best of looking out for an enthusiast owned car for sale in here or Babybmw. They’ve hit an age now where even the low milers will have issues if not maintained properly.
Things to note is that the pre-facelift ones have hydraulic steering whereas the post-facelift have electric. The interior on the post-facelift ones is nicer though.
Standard spec was pretty mean, so these can be very sensitive to options. I wouldn’t have one without Xenon headlights and upgraded stereo. Ideally I’d want cruise control and heated seats as well, although these aren't too hard to retrofit and used parts are relatively easy to get hold of as loads of the lower end models (some 118d and 120d came with loads of options) seem to be getting scrapped/broken now.
I had one for just shy of 18 months and found it to be a great all rounder, although mine was heavily modified (see Yonex’s 130i thread in readers cars). My only pet hate was that the electric seats sit too high, if I’d have kept it I would have swapped for manual (but still heated) ones.
Agree re the options. Xenon’s would be a must for me too (the retrofit is too expensive). There’s a really good supply of parts via breakers / eBay. It’s been handy on my other half’s 116.As someone has already said you’re best of looking out for an enthusiast owned car for sale in here or Babybmw. They’ve hit an age now where even the low milers will have issues if not maintained properly.
Things to note is that the pre-facelift ones have hydraulic steering whereas the post-facelift have electric. The interior on the post-facelift ones is nicer though.
Standard spec was pretty mean, so these can be very sensitive to options. I wouldn’t have one without Xenon headlights and upgraded stereo. Ideally I’d want cruise control and heated seats as well, although these aren't too hard to retrofit and used parts are relatively easy to get hold of as loads of the lower end models (some 118d and 120d came with loads of options) seem to be getting scrapped/broken now.
I had one for just shy of 18 months and found it to be a great all rounder, although mine was heavily modified (see Yonex’s 130i thread in readers cars). My only pet hate was that the electric seats sit too high, if I’d have kept it I would have swapped for manual (but still heated) ones.
survivalist said:
Think so. They were also all black, which ruled they out for me as I can’t be arses with the hassle of keeping them looking shiny.
I think the LEs were actually a dark blue metallic with Lemon leather seats, but they were all facelifts so had the EPAS.Prices for 130is seem to be going up if anything (probably due to threads like this) so not really in my budget for a daily sadly.
So I got an E90 330i (with HPAS and split/fold rear seats) instead.
I've now had mine for 18 months and covered 22k miles (car is now on 68k), and genuinely can't think of what I would replace it with, mainly because I can't think of any car at this price point which has an engine like the N52 - it's wonderful.
My example sounds along the lines of what you're after - it's an Alpine White LCI 3dr. Having lived with it for 18 months, I would say must-have options are leather, cruise control and xenons - unfortunately mine doesn't have xenons and the standard lights are pitiful. I've upgraded the bulbs which has improved them but they don't look anywhere near as good or give you the same level of lighting as the xenons do. Cruise can be easily retrofitted so don't worry too much if cars don't have it, but a xenon upgrade is £1k+ The iDrive screen looks nice but is pretty dated these days so I don't regret not buying one with it, but I did upgrade to a BMW Professional Radio which lifts the look of the centre console.
If you can find an LE they do look great (Carbon Black is a stunning colour) but bear in mind they only came with one spec - they had iDrive and xenons but weren't fitted with heated seats or cruise control, and they also don't have a middle seatbelt in the back whereas the standard 3drs like mine do, so worth bearing in mind if you want to carry 5 people on occasion.
Given it's going to be a weekend car, I expect fuel economy is not an issue, but FWIW I average 28mpg from 30% town driving and 70% B-road driving. It will easily do mid to high 30s on a motorway run at 70-80mph cruise.
Three things I've done to mine which I would recommend:
Bin the run-flats if it still has them - number one mod to improve ride and handling
135i backbox/Performance exhaust - makes it sound like it should have from the factory. Only trouble is finding the parts now
E92 M3 Lower Control Arms & camber pin mod - gets rid of the odd tyre wear the standard set up gives you and gives you a nice sharper turn-in.
My example sounds along the lines of what you're after - it's an Alpine White LCI 3dr. Having lived with it for 18 months, I would say must-have options are leather, cruise control and xenons - unfortunately mine doesn't have xenons and the standard lights are pitiful. I've upgraded the bulbs which has improved them but they don't look anywhere near as good or give you the same level of lighting as the xenons do. Cruise can be easily retrofitted so don't worry too much if cars don't have it, but a xenon upgrade is £1k+
The iDrive screen looks nice but is pretty dated these days so I don't regret not buying one with it, but I did upgrade to a BMW Professional Radio which lifts the look of the centre console.If you can find an LE they do look great (Carbon Black is a stunning colour) but bear in mind they only came with one spec - they had iDrive and xenons but weren't fitted with heated seats or cruise control, and they also don't have a middle seatbelt in the back whereas the standard 3drs like mine do, so worth bearing in mind if you want to carry 5 people on occasion.
Given it's going to be a weekend car, I expect fuel economy is not an issue, but FWIW I average 28mpg from 30% town driving and 70% B-road driving. It will easily do mid to high 30s on a motorway run at 70-80mph cruise.
Three things I've done to mine which I would recommend:
Bin the run-flats if it still has them - number one mod to improve ride and handling
135i backbox/Performance exhaust - makes it sound like it should have from the factory. Only trouble is finding the parts now
E92 M3 Lower Control Arms & camber pin mod - gets rid of the odd tyre wear the standard set up gives you and gives you a nice sharper turn-in.
Edited by chriscoates on Monday 2nd September 12:59
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