Out with the new and in with the old; my 130i LE

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Following on from my thread on my M140i, here is the thread for my new car a 2007 BMW 130i Limited Edition. Apologies for the very long post. I collected the 130i on Friday in some pretty grim conditions.

The car has 102k on the clock and scrubs up pretty well although it ends a fits painting at some point. Mechanically it seems very good though and it has a good history and has been loved.

It’s carbon black with Boston yellow leather, electric seats, CCC nav and the all important xenons etc. Annoyingly there are no heated seats (can live with that) or cruise which is getting retrofitted soon.

The good:

Performance spoiler
Performance carbon air intake which re like rocking horse poo these days
Birds B1 suspension fitted at 96k
Four brand new Michelin PS4’s all round
Recent discs and pads
N52 isn’t leaking
Drives well
Style 216 wheels

The not so good:

Needs some paint; there’s a repair on the door which isn’t great, the front bumper has a few stone chips and 102k’s worth of gravel rash and the sill of the rear bumper has a few scuffs from having g stuff put in the boot.

The drivers seat squeaks a bit over bumps (will whip it out this week and see if I can lube it etc).

There’s a few other age related marks but it’s a 14 year old car.

Gear change is a bit sloppy, far more so than that of my other half’s 125i.

A few pictures from the dealer.









I’m pleased with the deal agreed; he took my 140i off my hands for the same value as WBAC and Sytner offered. The car was prepped really well and I had a good time picking it up; he rents a unit in a hell of a location with some serious metal kicking about (not his stock but cars he looked after).

I had a st drive there and back because the M1 was closed and I realised on the way home that manuals and traffic again! On a more serious note it’s a nice enough place to sit and drive. It’s obviously a fair chunk slower than the 140i was but it’s quick enough and makes a nice noise. By the time I got home, the car was minging. First job Saturday was to give it a clean.







I did my first mods to the car; I fitted a stubby aerial, a red starter button, my PH smiley and some coding.







I have a few more plans;

Sort the squeaky seat

I’ll get the CDV removed in the next few weeks and will pop in some E46 M3 gearbox mounts at the same time.

Once I’ve sold the parts from my 140i, I’ll be getting the steering wheel, binnacle cover, gear gaiter, handbrake and gaiter and dash insert done in black alcantara with grey stitching by Royal Steering Wheels.

M3 LCA’s and the camber pin will get done

Have the paint on the drivers door done

Fit a CarPlay solution from Integrated Automotive

Wrap the interior trim in carbon and ditch the ashtray for a cubby hole.

Other than that, I’ll enjoy it. It drives well, the Birds suspension is very good. It’s very firm but well judged; it’s never uncomfortable and always feels very controlled especially after the loose back end of the 140i. I’ve been impressed with the way it drives so far and am looking forward to sone fun drives out over the summer. After the 140i it feels really small, it’s so much smaller but it sits nicely on the Birds suspension.

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Mo28 said:

Bookmarked. Will be good to hear your thoughts on the car as you put some more miles on.

Have put one of these on the short list for when the search for a decent manual E46 M3 hits the fan, which is likely to happen soon as nearly 18 months have passed and I've got nowhere.

Thanks. There’s a fair amount of dross out there to sort through still.

E63M6 said:

Looks great!!! Welcome to the club. Had mine since Jan. Keep an eye out for a 135i backbox they sound brilliant alongside a res delete.

Thanks.

I’m keeping an eye out for a 135i exhaust but they’re proving tough to find. I might try and mod the stock one for more noise.

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B'stard Child said:

Oh that’s nice - will be following

Cheers. It’ll be nicer soon once I’ve had some of the paint dealt with. The drivers door bothers me the most, I can live with the chips etc on an older car for now.

F1GTRUeno said:

What was the limited edition for? What makes it different to a standard 130i? Just curious that’s all.

Looks in really good nick and looks great on those wheels. Like the colour combo a lot.

I think the limited edition was introduced as per of the facelift and the introduction of the three door E81.

It’s basically a fixed spec that you got; M Sport in carbon black but with the silver window trim, the lemon yellow seats, xenons, electric seats, nav and those style 216 wheels which were fitted to this and the 320SI homologation special. There were 600 worldwide with 160 in the U.K. This is number 095.

5mileofdeath said:

Really like that.. there’s something about the 00-10 cars that BMW created and a n/a straight 6 is always a great engine, even better in a small hatch..

Congrats!

I know what you mean about the manual gearbox and sitting in traffic. My E91 330d is manual and when I hit traffic on my 60 mile motorway commute it can be pretty crappy after a long day at work. Although pays dividends when you get to the twistys as it’s a hoot going through the gears with a torquey engine

Will be following this post

I really like the last of the E series cars. For me they’ve aged pretty well, are relatively simple to get stuck into yourself but modern enough not to rust and can be modernised relatively easily for CarPlay etc.


Few more things to add to my to do list…

Reattach the spoiler because it’s lifting slightly at the far edges
Mishimoto intake pipe
Debadge it
Fit white lights for the angel eyes

Going to tackle the squeaky driver seat tomorrow because that’s pissing me off now. The seat back comes off easily enough so hopefully I can lube the mechanisms to shut it up.

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The car came with a big box file of history which I’ll look at in more detail this week. Whilst scanning through, I found this which is kind of cool (it has Birds plates too)

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Mr Tidy said:

That looks lovely OP.

I have wanted a 130i for a few years, but never managed to find one at a price I could justify - so I've got an E90 330i instead!

Interesting that you find it more planted with the Birds set-up than your 140i was.

Thanks.

I tried to buy one a few times, this was the third so perhaps it was a case of third time lucky! First time around I ended up with an E90 330 too, second time I bought the E88 125i instead.

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cerb4.5lee said:

I've always really liked these and yours looks lovely.

I love the small car/big engine combo and I've always preferred a lighter interior too.

Really looking forward to following your journey with it. Enjoy it.

Cheers Lee.

I’m sure there’ll be plenty of updates.

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Did a few bits to the car today....

Sorted the squeaky drivers seat which was driving me up the bloody wall. Some silicon spray on the junction between the base and back rest seems to have done the trick for now.

The trim around the idrive controller was a bit manky. I spoke to Sytner who say they can be ordered but they’re on back order with no idea on dates, so I decided that I’ll do a diy fix for now.



The sticky, weird rubber finish came off easily enough. Ready for painting.



Painted with satin black paint...



Looks loads better.

With the trim removed, I cleaned the crap from under the centre consol. Yuck, can’t wait to see what horrors wait when I remove the seats,



Hopefully my new wiper blades will arrive tomorrow.

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J4CKO said:

Liking that, sounds like it’s going to get the works but is a good base to start from.

Cheers, mechanically it seems sound so I’m quite happy sorting the cosmetic bits and bobs. I have feeling it may end up getting a bit more love than I envisaged!

WhisperingWasp said:

Very nice. Mine below.

Be grateful if you share your Apple CarPlay solution when you do it.

That’s a great photo. I’ll drop you an email with the details.

beambeam1 said:

Wahey! Big fan of the small bunch of these cars on here, the wheels are just perfect for the car too. Will enjoy following the updates I'm sure.

Thanks. I love them, the two near side ones have a few nicks in them that have been touched in but I’ll see if I can sort a smart repair out. I don’t want to go for a full refurb because of the stickers as sad as that sounds!

I popped the repainted idrive trim in the car whilst breakfast was cooking. Looks loads better but now makes me want to sort the cup holder and tray behind it (annoyingly I don’t think these can be removed from the centre console).

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cerb4.5lee said:

That trim that you've done does look really good for sure.

Thinking about the stubby you put on it does the radio still work? I put a stubby on the 370Z and now the radio doesn't work! It doesn't bother me though because I haven't put the stereo on for the 2 years that I've had it anyway...because I enjoy/prefer the noise of the exhaust instead! I'm just interested to know.

Seems to still work although I don’t really listen to the radio so I’m not too fussed. I’d be happier with no radio and the stupid long riding crop aerial in the bin!

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WhisperingWasp said:

I think we have the same stubby (genuine BMW one?) and the radio reception is absolutely fine. Worryingly I do find myself listening to R4 more often nowadays

Yeah, it’s the genuine BMW jobbie. I fitted one to my other half’s 125i as well which seems to work fine.

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d_a_n1979 said:

Lovely looking motor; sits really well on those alloys too

I love the wheels. They’re supposed to be pretty light too.

ChapmanC said:

Lovely spec, still look great these do. Rare wheels too, great interior choice as well!

I’m a big fan of the lemon leather.

I’m thinking that when I get the alcantara bits done, I’m going to ask RSW if they have a thread in that colour. Rather than grey details like on my other half’s 125, I get yellow to match the leather.

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B'stard Child said:

That might look really good or it might look lost - I'm not sure

It works with the 1M and its orange stitching. I’ll speak to RSW and see what they say. They seem to use a pretty chunky thread so I hoping it’ll be Ok.

IAche said:

I was going to suggest leather coloured stitching, I reckon it would look ace.

I'd be half tempted to get the gaters and parts of the wheel done in lemon leather.

I think I’ll do the 12 o’clock marker in lemon to match the seats.

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IAche said:

I was thinking the bits that are perforated currently, maybe a bit smaller so they are just bigger than your hands. Then alcantara top and bottom, and possibly the centre Y piece.

You would have to keep on top of the cleaning, especially if its also perforated, but to call you anal when it comes to cleaning would be an understatement.

I’m not sure even I’m brave enough for pale coloured leather where I hold the wheel!

I prefer particular!

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MDifficult said:

This is fantastic, lovely looking thing and your to-do list looks great too.

Personally, I’d be swapping the chrome shadow line for a dark one, but otherwise it looks perfect.

Bookmarked

Thanks, I can’t decide what to do with the chrome. I’m coming round to it and it kind of denotes that it’s an LE. My other half hates it though. It’s might try getting it wrapped in gloss black. At least it’s easy to swap back.

The PH sticker is proving controversial on BabyBMW though especially with me wanting to remove the 130i badge.

Glad I’ve got this though…






It gives the car a lovely induction noise, especially in the upper echelons of the rev range. They’re like rocking horse poo to find these days too.

Edited by Court_S on Tuesday 25th May 22:24

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Bit more fiddling with my 130 LE...

• Fitted my roof bars and bike carrier inc. BMW gutter protectors
• Changed some of the interior bulbs for LED ones I had left over from my other half’s 125i, the missing ones will be here tomorrow hopefully
• Did a temporary fix on the spoiler which was lifting at the edges. It needs removing and refixing but getting the old 3M tape off is such a st job that it can wait for another day
• Did some more coding; true speed not corrected, reduced the headlight cleaning to the bare minimum because it does my head in, turned up the DRL’s

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anonymous said:

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The 140i is shed loads quicker; off the line, mid range especially but it gets to very, very illegal speeds all too easily especially with the very impressive ZF8. It’s a noticeably bigger car, but that doesn’t seem to translate in a vastly bigger interior. My long term fuel economy over two years was 28mpg. This is a shade under 26mpg at the moment. The 140i will be better on a long run with the tall eight gear and the ability to use eco pro which reduces the A/C etc.

I wouldn’t describe the 140i as a hit hatch. Sounds odd, but it’s far more a mini GT with slightly bouncy suspension. The engine is a masterpiece but I writes cheques that the chassis just can’t cash. It’s not as bad as the internet makes out, but the rear end especially falls apart on you average B road. Mine was better with B8 dampers, softer springs and the underbody brace but it was still very busy and could be rather disconcerting and not that confidence inspiring. On the right road it was good though.

It never managed to get under my skin though. As a fast, cheap to run daily I liked it but using it less I was a bit meh. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something was missing for me.

The 130i is lots slower, but it sounds better (my 140i had the OPF fun sponge) especially once it hits 5,000rpm and there’s a harsh but nice tone from the carbon intake. I appreciate that I’ve not quite had it a week yet but I find it more confidence inspiring on roads I know well, having taken it out fir a local hoon tonight. The Birds B1 suspension is really very, very good. Despite having a typical BMW manual gearbox, I’ve enjoyed the extra interaction over the ZF8. I’m hoping that a CDV delete and new white bush will improve the shift. I’ll get the gearbox oil changed at sone point. Much like her 125i, it seems to be working it’s way under my skin already.

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WhisperingWasp said:

Been toying with the idea of a roof rack for mine... Don't need it for anything but thinking about it all the same!

To partly answer question above I cannot compare to the M140i but can say that in the 4 years I've had mine I've averaged 31.41mpg. Not bad at all for the age of the car, performance, etc.

Edited by WhisperingWasp on Wednesday 26th May 20:46

That’s pretty good going, I’m a bit under that so far.

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Having spent most of my time cleaning and fiddling with it, I was bored tonight so I bought that I’d pop out for a mini hoon on some local roads that I know pretty well.

I’m definitely very impressed with it, it’s a bloody good little thing to drive. It’s obviously a lot slower than my M140i was but it’s certainly not slow. It sounds better too, especially once you hit 5,000rpm when there seems to be a much harder due to the induction sound.

The gear shift in true BMW style isn’t the best, and noticeably worse than that in the 125i. I’m hoping that removing the CDV and replacing the white bush will help. I’ll look into getting the gearbox oil changed at some point.

The suspension though is the party piece; it’s bloody brilliant. It dealt with some of the imperfections on my local rides unbelievably well, not upsetting the car too much (less than any of my previous BMW’s).

It’s far from perfect; needs a bit of paint, few creaks, an ever growing to do list but it’s already starting to get under my skin a bit. I seem to have a lot of affection for this era BMW.

Whilst I was out I stopped for a few pictures...













So far, I’m really enjoying the car and am pleased with the swap. Maybe my expectations were low, but I was really impressed with how it drove tonight.

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cerb4.5lee said:

Great pics Sam.

I'm over the moon for you and I'm really chuffed that you are enjoying it.

Thanks Lee.

I’m quite surprised at how much I like it, given that on paper it’s a pretty big downgrade. There is something about this era BMW that I really like. Hopefully it not st itself after the praise I’ve given it so far!

Mr Tidy said:

I can relate to that - I've had a 57 plate, 06 plate, two 56 plates and currently have a 55 and a 56 plate BMW!

Interesting to hear that you like the Birds suspension too. And those photos are great.

Fresh transmission fluid, a new bush for the lever and CDV removal worked wonders for my E46 325ti, so might hopefully improve your car.

This is my third N52, I do like them. Whilst I think the E46/39 era may have been prettier, the last of the E series cars seem a bit better made in my experience. CDV should be gone next week and I’ll pop some E46 M3 gearbox mounts in at the same time as they’re cheap and easy to do.

narbles said:

Great pictures there. I find the manual gear changes annoying at low speeds even with CDV removed, but get it going at speed and I find the gear box reassuring and satisfying.

The box in this doesn’t like being rushed, much like the one in my other half’s 125i was originally. Binning the CDV made quite a big difference. There’s a fair bit of play in it too, so I’m hoping replacing the main white bush will solve that. If not, you can buy an uprated rear bush which I’ll get done when the fluid is changed (the prop shaft is in the way apparently).

MrBig said:

In a world seeming full of chavved up 1 series slammed to the deck, with ridiculous splitters and popcorn maps, that looks superb.

The wheels, colour and chrome trim combo give it a decent level of class I didn't even know a 1 series was capable of.

Look forward to seeing more updates!

I’m not normally a fan of chrome trim on cars to be honest but it kind of works on this (my other half really dislikes it though).

I think the last of the E series cars are probably going through their bad period at the moment as prices fall, much the same same the E36 and E46 did. Once the stters have been killed the nice examples should be left.

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Few things ticked off this weekend....

Picked the car up from the body shop having had a bad previous repair dealt with on the drivers door. Sounds like whoever did it, did a pretty poor job. They’d used poor quality filler and hadn’t ground down the spot welds from the keys used to pull the debt out. All sorted now and looking loads better (the bad repair was only noticed in the sun and from certain angles but it made my teeth itch.

Popped over to help my mate Andy change the transmission fluid in his 5 series; messy, stinky job but it seems to have improved his ZF6 no end. Whilst I was there, this little sucker was removed.



It’s so restrictive; look at how small the hole is in the centre. It’s daddy compared to the rest of the hoses.





The original gearbox mounts were replaced with E46 M3 jobbies, they’re cheap and a fair bit stiffer than the old Oe ones which were pretty squishy.



I still need to change the shift bush but I forgot to buy a replacement retaining clip which is likely to be lost so I’ll pop to Sytner to this week to grab that a d a few other clips I need.

The next week or two is going to be pretty busy on the car....

I’ve bought a Colourlock kit to recolour the seats (starts tomorrow with the drivers seat)
My replacement trim arrived yesterday so that’ll be getting wrapped in carbon at some point.
I’ve paid my RSW bill so am expecting my wheel, dash trim, handbrake, gaiters a s binnacle cover to arrive soon
I’m hoping o boom Friday off to give it a proper polish and wax (bought some Soft99 Kiwami Extreme Gloss Dark Hybrid Wax to try)

Should look pretty good for an old girl when that’s all done.