Keep or Upgrade?

[bodhi]

I have finally come to the end of the Finance Agreement on my trusty 125i Coupé, so the car is all paid up after 4 years and is now officially mine. It's been a fantastic little car, have taken it from 56k to 122k and all it's needed are a battery and couple of brake calipers in addition to the usual service items. I had an (alleged) 280bhp remap put on it, and whilst I haven't had that verified on a rolling road, it's definitely amusingly fast now, and if I'm honest I'm in no hurry to replace it.

However, grumbles from the OH that it isn't very practical (but she also grumbles when I talk about replacing it), and the usual urge for new shiny is making me look at M140i's. Ideally I'd like to go new this time so I can pick a particularly strange spec (Manual box and Alacantra seats, but Pro Nav, Harmon Kardon and a couple of other bits), but obviously the 1 Series is getting replaced early next year, so time to do this is running out. I'm not interested in a 4 Cylinder FWD/4WD BMW, so it would be the current shape.

Work pay me a Car Allowance but have made no indication that my 10 year old 1 series is unsuitable - generally as long as it gets me to where I need to be there are no issues.

So I guess my question would be this - keep the 125i for a while longer and enjoy the N/A goodness, or jump into an M140i? Is an M140i worth the extra £400 a month over a well sorted 125i Coupé? If I kept the 125i I'd be looking at doing a couple of jobs on it - new water pump, refurbished wheels and maybe the Birds Suspension kit.

[bodhi]

oop north said:

I might be wrong but (1) I don’t think you can specify an alcantara interior on the m140i - I don’t think it was ever possible (2) and you can longer order a manual one (or they are in runout). See babybmw.net for advice on this

Not sure if it's Alacantra, however they definitely now offer a non-leather option - however the fact that manuals are NLA, pretty much kills the idea stone dead for me. I'm sure the Autos are lovely, but I'd rather stick with Manual whilst I can, as I get a bit bored if I can't change gear

Lots to think about, but now the compelling reason to change now has gone, I think I will stick with the 125i for another 6 - 12 months and see what is available then. Must admit I'm very intrigued by the 2 Series Gran Coupé that's been spotted testing, if that turns out to be RWD, then an M240i GC will definitely be the way forwards.

Or wait and see what happens to M3 prices