Anyone with experience with a 1 series?

madtoady

madtoady

madtoady

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11 Feb 2006
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Kent
I've been looking for ideas on a a new car for a while now and I think I've decided on a 2.0L Diesel BMW 1 Series.

I'm just curious if any of you on here have any experience and have had any problems with this particular car? It's probably going to be in the 2008-2010 age bracket.

Cheers
 
My O/H had a '54 plate 120d for 2 years until a few months ago, so I can't compare it to the 'facelifted' version.

It was grey. Does that help?

What do you want to know about them?
 
Well I've heard that the push button start system is not that great and can be pretty expensive. I've also heard that the timing belt has been a very common problem and was even mentioned on Watchdog not that long ago. Interested to see if anyone where has had any issues or know more about them?
 
madtoady said:
I've also heard that the timing belt has been a very common problem and was even mentioned on Watchdog not that long ago. Interested to see if anyone where has had any issues or know more about them?
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It is a chain and it is not a common problem considering the engine is used in 1,3,5 series amongst some others. There are thousands of the engines out there and Watchdog showed 3 cases and had zero follow up calls with other cases. The only issue is the chain is inaccessible without removing the engine.

The wife has a 2009 2door re-mapped 120d and has had no problems at all with it, she loves the proper wheel drive. She likes the looks of it as well (unlike me as I think they are fugly) and there is plenty of space for four adults. Only thing she wishes she has is iDrive after using mine and her next 1Series will have it.
 
The chain problem is sadly not as rare as it should be on a car as popular as that. The chain should have an almost zero failure rate on a car that new and it simply doesn't.

However you can mitigate it with the BMW warranty which fully covers it and any other problems and is not expensive.
 
I have a 118D M-Sport, on a 60 plate. Only had it a few months after my 118D SE was written off by some nut job, which in turn I'd only had a few months. Both came out of the company pool and touch wood, no problems with either.

If this is a private purchase, I'd consider a 120D at least. 118D is fine, 143bhp and BIK favourite but the 120D is so much better if you don't have to worry about company car tax.

The only point worth mentioning is that the m-sport suspension is very stiff, combined with low profile run flats, you become very adept at pothole dodging :)

I'd suggest having a look at babybmw.net, lots of knowledge on there.

Rusty
 
Oh and by the way, they seem pretty tough as well. I walked away from this with concussion/bruises and burns from seat belts/air bags, the numpty that ran head on into me was cut from his Astra and had broken leg, lacerated liver and various other internal injuries.....I was doing 40mph, the other guy about the same or more (he actually pushed me back about 4 metres according to the investigating officer)
2013-04-13100331_zpsb17879c8.jpg


The Astra - n.b. despite how it looks, the car did not hit the wall, just me!
2013-04-13101627_zpsc5b0bcaf.jpg

Mine was a 60 plate 118DSE btw.
Rusty
 
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Rusty said:
Oh and by the way, they seem pretty tough as well. I walked away from this with concussion/bruises and burns from seat belts/air bags, the numpty that ran head on into me was cut from his Astra and had broken leg, lacerated liver and various other internal injuries.....I was doing 40mph, the other guy about the same or more (he actually pushed me back about 4 metres according to the investigating officer)
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l8/rusteh8989/Accident/2013-04-13100331_zpsb17879c8.jpg[/IMG

The Astra - n.b. despite how it looks, the car did not hit the wall, just me!
[IMG]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l8/rusteh8989/Accident/2013-04-13101627_zpsc5b0bcaf.jpg[/IMG
Mine was a 60 plate 118DSE btw.
Rusty[/QUOTE]

Hmm, I don't think that'll T-cut out :(
TBH unfortunately you can't draw a lot from the other driver's injuries in this instance since it sounds very much like luck of the draw here - could have easily happened to you if e.g. your seating position was different. And the only reason you didn't get cut out of yours is (I presume) because you got out before the Emergency Services got there :p
If the other car had disintegrated/collapsed like [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPpU5azjCB8"]this Chinese VW Transporter copy[/URL] I would have course agree but it looks like the other car damaged exactly the way yours did and is intended - with crumple zones in the engine compartment leaving the passengers protected.
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Spartacus said:
From what I can see on those pics the BMW took the impact better than the Astra. So.. was it a write off? :D
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Don't know what happened to either car, mine was replaced from company pool.

One thing I do remember, in my dazed state immediately after the impact, I put my foot on the clutch and the damn thing started up and ran! Not that it was going anywhere ;)

Rusty
 
I have a 116d 2009 model. It's been great and I haven't had any problems since I got it from new, 89k on the clock now. It handles like a dream with wider wheels. I have BMW 18/245 I think on the rear which help.
 
Rusty said:
Oh and by the way, they seem pretty tough as well. I walked away from this with concussion/bruises and burns from seat belts/air bags, the numpty that ran head on into me was cut from his Astra and had broken leg, lacerated liver and various other internal injuries.....I was doing 40mph, the other guy about the same or more (he actually pushed me back about 4 metres according to the investigating officer)

Mine was a 60 plate 118DSE btw.
Rusty
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At least it looks much better, I guess the astra driver was shocked by the ugliness of the 1 series :p

Ive never really seen the point of the Baby BMW. Its not a pretty car, its not particularly big in the rear and the boot is pretty poor. Ride is poor on the whole, and it has some truly depressing engines at the low end. And its not cheap for what you really get. But to be fair, with the right engine its a pretty sweet handling car.

Buy a Mini, it maybe a bit gay but at least it looks good.
 
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Participant said:
I got that bit, I was after details :p. Was he on his phone? Turning across him? Over taking? Etc...
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He was in the oncoming lane and I first noticed him as he had just started to veer across the white line, as people occasionally do when distracted with something or other.

I had lifted off, but by the time I realises that he wasn't going back to his side of the road and was in fact carrying on all the way across, it was too late and he smacked into me head on.

In the milliseconds before the crash, I can recall seeing him looking down and to his right. My thoughts in that fraction of a second, in no particular order were something like this:

1) This is going to be more than a scratched bumper.
2) This is going to hurt.
3) This guy has no idea what's about to happen.

I personally believe he had either fallen asleep or was doing something with his phone, the way he was looking down and to his right. I wonder if the fact that he didn't know it was coming, may have contributed to his injuries, over and above mine.

Police were treating it as potential fatal at one point and the air ambulance was called (for him I might add). Road was closed for several hours while a full accident investigation was carried out. I was a little disgruntled at the scene, as despite the fact that I had got out of my vehicle, I was far from ok, but the first responders seemed to ignore me and spent all their time with him. My dazed brain was annoyed because he'd caused all this but was getting all the help :) then I realised that no matter whose fault, they will go to whoever needs most help......

To cap it all, the other driver subsequently tried to blame me, saying I crossed to his side of the road, though the police say that all the evidence agrees with my version not his.

Suffice to say I'm impressed with the sturdiness of the little 1er and got another from the pool to replace it. I dread to think what the result would've been had I been in anything smaller :( or heaven forbid a Smart.

Rusty
 
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I'm booked an appointment to look at a car tomorrow. My budget was £9000 so it comes in just under. It will be my biggest ever purchase with my 1st car being a 1992 Citroen ZX 1.4 given to me for my 17th birthday, and a 2nd Citroen ZX 1.4 I bought 3 years ago for £450.

Here is the car I'm going to have a look at, duno if any of you are interested but I would like to hear your opinion on it:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201305226890691
 
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