Decided on a 120d

Skidder

Skidder

Skidder

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I've posted spec me car threads twice this year and both times had a change of heart and have not gone ahead with the purchase.

I have a double cab Navara D22 which I've had since new in 2004 and at one point I was planning on selling that and getting a x-type estate or 320d. At another stage I was looking just to add a small fun car for messing.

I've decided that both of those plans were not the best for me. The Navara is staying, I like it and it's paid for and worth more to me as a tool than the going value for it. I've decided to keep it forever and it will probably outlast me.

So I want to add a second car that will be fun to drive (keeping in mind we've always had a truck - before that an escort 1.6 as a first car). As such pretty much anything car like will feel pretty nippy and agile. Adding to that the truck covers off load space for me and I want something that will fit on my parking space in front of my house which my truck doesn't fit and a saloon or estate would be very tight (couple of cm for a 320d). I've got small dogs so hatchback is good.

So with all that in mind I've found myself with the 120d in mind. Seems like it has a good engine that should feel pretty epic to us even if it wouldn't compared to many of your cars. Should also give us a reasonably luxury feel, which we haven't had before.

So that's the background now some questions. How do people feel about mileage on these? I have in mind that I wouldn't want one with more than about 50k on but is that rational?

Budget is flexible, would like facelift or whatever BMW call it so I guess talking 05/06. Any advice for what to look out for? Sport spec or not? Any views on the car? (and the wife and I quite like the look of it, so not so much on that!)

So looking for 120d manual, 5 door, leather, circa 50k miles - any tips? what should i be looking to pay?

Cheers
 
Thanks, I did a search for 1 series threads last week, but that's obviously newer. Seems like that guy didn't get much of a break for his impulse buy!

At what point did the last model revisions go through?
 
( |-| |2 ][ $;15315849 said:
Are you buying diesel because you do massive mileage or you just like the smell first thing in the morning?
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tbh if the OP can't stretch to a 123d or a 130i, a 120d is the next best thing.
 
Skidder said:
Thanks, I did a search for 1 series threads last week, but that's obviously newer. Seems like that guy didn't get much of a break for his impulse buy!

At what point did the last model revisions go through?
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2007, and thats when the engines got a power bump too!
 
The 1 Series was introduced in very late 2004 so the facelift was not until 2007. You want a 2007 LCI (Life Cycle Impulse, BMW's posh name for facelift) model.

There are 4 trim levels, ES, SE, Sport and M Sport. The one to get is M Sport. I've driven a great deal of 1 Series and every engine bar the 135i and 123d and in the right spec, they can be decent little cars.

Recently I had the 120d M Sport for the day and my overwhelming feeling was that with a proper engine, it would be a fun car to drive. The performance offered by the 120d is fine, infact its resaonably quick as far as diesels go, but the power delivery style is not conducive to enjoyable driving. There is nothing below 2000rpm then you get a surge of power and its all over by about 4000rpm. This makes for economical driving and get it in the power band and its quite quick but thats about it really. They are fitted with 6 speed gearboxes and even the 120d is breathless in the upper gears, you cant just nail it in 6th on the Motorway and benefit from a surge of torque. You find yourself stirring the box quite a lot to make decent progress.

I then had a 320d M Sport for the week and whilst the engines annoyances remained it impressed me far more and felt like a far more complete car.

I'd want a 130i unless I was doing big big miles.

Tell us more about your expected usage pattern?
 
Thanks for the input so far, have been out so didn't see the posts until now. Mileage will be low, probably only 10k or so a year with a fair mix of motorway vs town.

Thinking diesel just because I had read good things about the diesel engine. No particular constraint on budget so if a higher spec engine would make a massive difference to the car, that's fine by me. I've also had in mind that we've only had my truck and therefore this would feel pretty nippy. Obviously we will test drive but I think they will all feel good after the truck so if we should be setting our sights on a different engine because of later boredom, so be it.
 
The diesel engine is good from a practical perspective but after living with one for a week or so I just can't see it being a drivers choice. I get the feeling most 120d M Sport drivers drive one because its the best they could get on the company car list so end up convincing themselves the engine is superfastandfun. It's not.

A 130i though is a genuinelly fun car. Take one for a test drive, with your annual mileage you'd be daft to suffer the 4 pot oil burner.

130i's are reasonably priced as well.
 
I just had a quick look around the internet after reading this thread, the newer Coupes look really quite nice (Wasn't a huge fan on the hatch), and the 335 looks epic in terms of performance, especially since you can have them at 350bhp and 480Nm for less than £500, and even over 400bhp for not much more.

One thing that would always put me off owning a BMW is the maintenance and repair costs, though :/
 
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An old E36, which is just used for off-road competition and most parts can be had from a breaker.

But even parts for that are expensive.

That's a bit different from a 2 year old BMW with lots of fancy electronics, turbos and the like.
 
[TW]Fox;15321564 said:
The diesel engine is good from a practical perspective but after living with one for a week or so I just can't see it being a drivers choice. I get the feeling most 120d M Sport drivers drive one because its the best they could get on the company car list so end up convincing themselves the engine is superfastandfun. It's not.

A 130i though is a genuinelly fun car. Take one for a test drive, with your annual mileage you'd be daft to suffer the 4 pot oil burner.

130i's are reasonably priced as well.
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thanks, will have a look at the 130i and try one. As you can probably tell, I don't know a lot about cars but I want to make the right choice. (i'm 34 by the way, not a kid after a new toy)
 
[TW]Fox;15322200 said:
You sell it and buy a Corsa.
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So yet again, you have no argument, so you resort to an attempt belittlement/insult.

I've noticed this is a common and somewhat annoying trend with you.

BMWs are ridiculously expensive to maintain and repair, you know it, I know it, so why question my comment in the first place?
 
Well what do you expect? If you can afford to buy a £30,000 BMW then I don't think the running costs are going to trouble you that much are they?
 
MikeHiow said:
BMWs are ridiculously expensive to maintain and repair, you know it, I know it, so why question my comment in the first place?
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BMWs aren't ridiculously expensive to run, they're just not cheap.
GT-Rs are ridiculously expensive to maintain and repair :p

BMWs aren't £15k hatchbacks
 
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