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This one pops up a lot in threads lately, I guess because it's becoming quite a popular company car choice. So I thought you might appreciate a little mini review.
I've had a 118d M Sport loaner since yesterday and soon after getting it I had to pop up to Southampton and back so I've probably covered about 350 miles so far on a mixture of everything from city driving to A roads, B roads and Motorways.
First impressions?
I've never been the 1 Series most ardant fan. Certainly my previous 1 Series experiences in late 06/early 07 told a tale of a fundamentally decent car ruined by awful asthetics and a little too much cheap trip on the interior, as well as a range of woefully powered engines. At that time, the 118d was something like 118bhp.
The car I have at the moment is the LCI model (BMW are not far too posh to have facelifts, instead they have Life Cycle Impulses). I've no idea what differences this brings but what I do know is that first impressions were much more favourable.
The doors closed with a thunk and the cabin was actually very nice. Reasonably well specified with half leather Sports seats with inflatable side supports, front and rear park distance control (Not sure this is standard fit though), aux port for stereo, dual zone climate control, nice M Sport steering wheel etc. Plastics quality seemed good for a small hatch - the focal point of the interior being the aluminium M Sport trim which certainly feels like aluminium.
A gaping omission from the spec sheet however is cruise control.
Initial impressions on the road were not so good. At low speeds around town the car feels very breathless and lethargic, it's not until the revs are beyond 2000-2300pm that you start to get any performance. Below this you get that amusing little diesel trait where you can jam your foot hard down to the floor, then release it again, and you get little if any change in response from the car to show your passengers what you just did. Obviously once you get going you can drive around this but it's a bit of a pain. It's an inherently diesely thing though so I'll stop.
Engine wise this facelift model is fitted with a 143bhp variant of BMW's ever popular M47 2 litre diesel. It is apparently good for 0-60 in 9 seconds and has a 6 speed manual box. It is also fitted with the usual range of BMW Efficient Dynamics gubbins, the most obvious of which is the auto stop-start, which one you get to feels great. Especially as it means you dont get that annoying diesely rattle through the cabin that diesel owners pretend doesnt exist when sat in traffic, as the engine simply cuts out and it's lovely and silent. Dab the clutch and bang, engine is back on. A fantastic system.
Out on the open road and things improve somewhat. Where around town it was frustating lethargic, get it going and its really not bad - there is reasonable mid range performance and you can - just - perform overtakes without feeling like death is an inevitability as with the older 118d. It gathers speed quite well - in the lower gears.
Did I just say that? Lower gears? In a diesel? But diesels are all about driving everywhere in 6th gear owning Porsches are they not? Not this one. As with every car in the universe these days it has a 6 speed box whether it needs one or not. I guess the 6th ratio helps with economy but it does mean you spend rather a lot of time stiring the gearbox, something i thought diesel owners were supposed to be allergic to. I'm not talking about when you are pressing on, even when driving normally on dual carriageways at 70-80mph you'll find the odd hill which will require a downshift to maintain progress.
When cruising the ride isn't that bad. It can get quite joggly over poorer road surfaces but never alarmingly so. It certainly isn't an ideally suited car for covering big miles - BMW make the 5 and 7 for this - but for the occasional longer trip, its acceptable. Ride quality around town seems ok so far.
What is not great, however, is the boomy resonance you get at Motorway speeds. 70ishmph, in 6th, on the flat, and you get a drone from the engine, constantly. Throttle off, it goes away. Back on the throttle, it comes back. It reminds me of sitting in a car with a chavvy exhuasts if I'm honest and it really suprised me that this was present.
The stereo..... shock. It's not crap. It's actually... perfectly acceptable for a standard car. It's only taken you 50 years BMW but my god, they've managed to put a half decent stereo into a car. Good times.
It handles really nicely. Not much bodyroll, tidy turn-in, loads of feeling through the steering wheen, it's pretty good fun to chuck around the lanes. Cries out for more power though, I reckon a 130i/135i would be a genuinelly brilliant hot hatch.
I covered quite a bit distance yesterday and by the end of it although the car was pretty comfortable (I love the seats) I did feel like I'd just.. covered quite a bit of distance, which is not something I tend to get with the 5 Series. I arrived home quite tired which is a new experience but I guess it simply illustrates the point - this is a premium town car/medium distance car not a long distance cruiser.
So onto the cars party peice. The running costs. Forget all that torque crap and high performance 6th gear drag races, 95% of diesel drivers (Sit down at the back 335d owners I'm not talking to you) do so to save money. Be it save money on fuel costs or, as is far, far more likely these days, save money on company car tax.
The 118d M Sport costs £22,685 on the road but I'd guess most are leased as company cars. It has CO2 emissions of 119g/km. This means £35 a year road tax and 13% BIK for company car tax. This is cheap. The road thing is utterly pointless - its a 22 grand car ffs, who cares what the car tax costs - but the BIK matters. Company car users pick cars based on BIK and the 118d scores fantastically well here. It'll be hugely efficient to run as a company car.
But what about fuel economy? Combined economy on the 118d M Sport is a staggering 62mpg with a fanastic 70mpg for extra urban and a scarcely beleiveable 50mpg on the urban cycle. These are great numbers.
Lets just take a small step aside for now and look at my car. I am not really comparing the 118d to my car but I know my car well and I often make the same journey. My car has a combined MPG rating of 29.7mpg, extra urban of 37mpg and urban of 22mpg.
I was expecting great things from the 118d. It did not, however, deliver in this area. The car was perfectly run in with nearly 10k miles on the clock.
From Plymouth to near Bournemouth it managed 47mpg - this is a mix of dual carriageway A road and single carriageway A road. I was not driving it like I'd had just stolen it, but wasn't driving like an old bloke either. Like a normal guy, infact. Like I drive my 530i on the same route. I'd have averaged about 30mpg from the 530i over this stretch of the journey (Bang on the combined mpg rating) yet the 118d was over 15mpg short of its claimed combined fuel consumption figure.
Hmmmm.
Next, just outside of Bournemouth (Bere Regis infact) to Southampton. This is a mix of A road with no real overtaking, dual carriageway and the M27.
52mpg.
This seems more diesely - yet still not even matching the combined. Infact, id had acheived just the urban MPG figures on this route. By contrast, had I only got 22mpg from my 530i doing the same drive, it'd be booked into the garage for a diag to find out whats wrong with it the next day.
On the way back - nice a quite the road to myself in places with a bit of overtaking, it managed just 45mpg (The 530i under similar conditions recorded 27mpg, so 3mpg less than combined versus the 118d's 18mpg behind the comined figure).
So, dissapointing. I do wonder whether the leaps forward in fuel saving technology are aimed at passing the tests which the cars are rated on or delivering real world results.
As a company car owner with a fuel card real life economy doesn't matter - just the BIK tax rating. For these people, the 118d makes perfect sense. Private customers, however, might well be wondering if they made the right move as the fuel economy just wasn't anywhere near the quoted figures. It was miles out.
I suspect if I caned the living **** out of my 530i all the way at ridiculously illegal speeds driving like a complete and utter moron it would probably still match the urban figure on a cross country drive - yet the 118d, being driven reasonably normally, couldnt.
A shame really - because aside from the shoddy looks and the slightly lacking performance (Easily cured by going for a 120d) this is actually a really good little car. The perfect town car, infact. Like a Golf, only better, because at least you get a properly built, premium brand car for your money.
The 118d offers all the performance your wife would ever need - but if its for you, make it a 120d.
Going to try it on my normal town jaunts over the next 2 days. This yeilds 21mpg in my 530i, or about the urban figure. I wonder how the 118d does..
I've had a 118d M Sport loaner since yesterday and soon after getting it I had to pop up to Southampton and back so I've probably covered about 350 miles so far on a mixture of everything from city driving to A roads, B roads and Motorways.
First impressions?
I've never been the 1 Series most ardant fan. Certainly my previous 1 Series experiences in late 06/early 07 told a tale of a fundamentally decent car ruined by awful asthetics and a little too much cheap trip on the interior, as well as a range of woefully powered engines. At that time, the 118d was something like 118bhp.
The car I have at the moment is the LCI model (BMW are not far too posh to have facelifts, instead they have Life Cycle Impulses). I've no idea what differences this brings but what I do know is that first impressions were much more favourable.
The doors closed with a thunk and the cabin was actually very nice. Reasonably well specified with half leather Sports seats with inflatable side supports, front and rear park distance control (Not sure this is standard fit though), aux port for stereo, dual zone climate control, nice M Sport steering wheel etc. Plastics quality seemed good for a small hatch - the focal point of the interior being the aluminium M Sport trim which certainly feels like aluminium.
A gaping omission from the spec sheet however is cruise control.
Initial impressions on the road were not so good. At low speeds around town the car feels very breathless and lethargic, it's not until the revs are beyond 2000-2300pm that you start to get any performance. Below this you get that amusing little diesel trait where you can jam your foot hard down to the floor, then release it again, and you get little if any change in response from the car to show your passengers what you just did. Obviously once you get going you can drive around this but it's a bit of a pain. It's an inherently diesely thing though so I'll stop.
Engine wise this facelift model is fitted with a 143bhp variant of BMW's ever popular M47 2 litre diesel. It is apparently good for 0-60 in 9 seconds and has a 6 speed manual box. It is also fitted with the usual range of BMW Efficient Dynamics gubbins, the most obvious of which is the auto stop-start, which one you get to feels great. Especially as it means you dont get that annoying diesely rattle through the cabin that diesel owners pretend doesnt exist when sat in traffic, as the engine simply cuts out and it's lovely and silent. Dab the clutch and bang, engine is back on. A fantastic system.
Out on the open road and things improve somewhat. Where around town it was frustating lethargic, get it going and its really not bad - there is reasonable mid range performance and you can - just - perform overtakes without feeling like death is an inevitability as with the older 118d. It gathers speed quite well - in the lower gears.
Did I just say that? Lower gears? In a diesel? But diesels are all about driving everywhere in 6th gear owning Porsches are they not? Not this one. As with every car in the universe these days it has a 6 speed box whether it needs one or not. I guess the 6th ratio helps with economy but it does mean you spend rather a lot of time stiring the gearbox, something i thought diesel owners were supposed to be allergic to. I'm not talking about when you are pressing on, even when driving normally on dual carriageways at 70-80mph you'll find the odd hill which will require a downshift to maintain progress.
When cruising the ride isn't that bad. It can get quite joggly over poorer road surfaces but never alarmingly so. It certainly isn't an ideally suited car for covering big miles - BMW make the 5 and 7 for this - but for the occasional longer trip, its acceptable. Ride quality around town seems ok so far.
What is not great, however, is the boomy resonance you get at Motorway speeds. 70ishmph, in 6th, on the flat, and you get a drone from the engine, constantly. Throttle off, it goes away. Back on the throttle, it comes back. It reminds me of sitting in a car with a chavvy exhuasts if I'm honest and it really suprised me that this was present.
The stereo..... shock. It's not crap. It's actually... perfectly acceptable for a standard car. It's only taken you 50 years BMW but my god, they've managed to put a half decent stereo into a car. Good times.
It handles really nicely. Not much bodyroll, tidy turn-in, loads of feeling through the steering wheen, it's pretty good fun to chuck around the lanes. Cries out for more power though, I reckon a 130i/135i would be a genuinelly brilliant hot hatch.
I covered quite a bit distance yesterday and by the end of it although the car was pretty comfortable (I love the seats) I did feel like I'd just.. covered quite a bit of distance, which is not something I tend to get with the 5 Series. I arrived home quite tired which is a new experience but I guess it simply illustrates the point - this is a premium town car/medium distance car not a long distance cruiser.
So onto the cars party peice. The running costs. Forget all that torque crap and high performance 6th gear drag races, 95% of diesel drivers (Sit down at the back 335d owners I'm not talking to you) do so to save money. Be it save money on fuel costs or, as is far, far more likely these days, save money on company car tax.
The 118d M Sport costs £22,685 on the road but I'd guess most are leased as company cars. It has CO2 emissions of 119g/km. This means £35 a year road tax and 13% BIK for company car tax. This is cheap. The road thing is utterly pointless - its a 22 grand car ffs, who cares what the car tax costs - but the BIK matters. Company car users pick cars based on BIK and the 118d scores fantastically well here. It'll be hugely efficient to run as a company car.
But what about fuel economy? Combined economy on the 118d M Sport is a staggering 62mpg with a fanastic 70mpg for extra urban and a scarcely beleiveable 50mpg on the urban cycle. These are great numbers.
Lets just take a small step aside for now and look at my car. I am not really comparing the 118d to my car but I know my car well and I often make the same journey. My car has a combined MPG rating of 29.7mpg, extra urban of 37mpg and urban of 22mpg.
I was expecting great things from the 118d. It did not, however, deliver in this area. The car was perfectly run in with nearly 10k miles on the clock.
From Plymouth to near Bournemouth it managed 47mpg - this is a mix of dual carriageway A road and single carriageway A road. I was not driving it like I'd had just stolen it, but wasn't driving like an old bloke either. Like a normal guy, infact. Like I drive my 530i on the same route. I'd have averaged about 30mpg from the 530i over this stretch of the journey (Bang on the combined mpg rating) yet the 118d was over 15mpg short of its claimed combined fuel consumption figure.
Hmmmm.
Next, just outside of Bournemouth (Bere Regis infact) to Southampton. This is a mix of A road with no real overtaking, dual carriageway and the M27.
52mpg.
This seems more diesely - yet still not even matching the combined. Infact, id had acheived just the urban MPG figures on this route. By contrast, had I only got 22mpg from my 530i doing the same drive, it'd be booked into the garage for a diag to find out whats wrong with it the next day.
On the way back - nice a quite the road to myself in places with a bit of overtaking, it managed just 45mpg (The 530i under similar conditions recorded 27mpg, so 3mpg less than combined versus the 118d's 18mpg behind the comined figure).
So, dissapointing. I do wonder whether the leaps forward in fuel saving technology are aimed at passing the tests which the cars are rated on or delivering real world results.
As a company car owner with a fuel card real life economy doesn't matter - just the BIK tax rating. For these people, the 118d makes perfect sense. Private customers, however, might well be wondering if they made the right move as the fuel economy just wasn't anywhere near the quoted figures. It was miles out.
I suspect if I caned the living **** out of my 530i all the way at ridiculously illegal speeds driving like a complete and utter moron it would probably still match the urban figure on a cross country drive - yet the 118d, being driven reasonably normally, couldnt.
A shame really - because aside from the shoddy looks and the slightly lacking performance (Easily cured by going for a 120d) this is actually a really good little car. The perfect town car, infact. Like a Golf, only better, because at least you get a properly built, premium brand car for your money.
The 118d offers all the performance your wife would ever need - but if its for you, make it a 120d.
Going to try it on my normal town jaunts over the next 2 days. This yeilds 21mpg in my 530i, or about the urban figure. I wonder how the 118d does..
