White cars?

[Cristian]

I'm looking for a 125i specifically which are.. rare...finding them in the right colour with heated leather , pro hu, front and rear pdc and idrive is nigh on impossible...

I can't find all those options together in my budget and those that have most end up having bad service history or from Bradford or something.

I'm not barrel scraping my budget is 8-8.5k

The upside is that BMW a have a wide community of retrofitters and everything you mentioned there can be easily installed afterwards, whereas a colour change done to a decent standard costs a lot more and will raise certain alarm bells when you sell it on later.

I'm sure leather heated seats can be found on ebay, and Idrive swaps have been done a million times now. Same as PDC retrofits.

In an ideal world, you'd wait for the perfect one from the factory, but when buying second hand one has to make the odd concession or make a bit of effort.

 

[The Running Man]

The upside is that BMW a have a wide community of retrofitters and everything you mentioned there can be easily installed afterwards, whereas a colour change done to a decent standard costs a lot more and will raise certain alarm bells when you sell it on later.

I'm sure leather heated seats can be found on ebay, and Idrive swaps have been done a million times now. Same as PDC retrofits.

In an ideal world, you'd wait for the perfect one from the factory, but when buying second hand one has to make the odd concession or make a bit of effort.

I want xenons too

For some reason I can pick up a 3 series with everything I need fitted for less than a 1 series with half the kit(((


Maybe I look too hard.

I find a car, great colour, great spec, mileage, okay price

But then I do some research on the selling garage and get iffy reviews. And therefore I write that car off in my mind. As it's 3 hours away I can't just pop round for a quick look...

 

[Cristian]

Xenons can be done as well (I would certainly not buy a car without them) but it does tend to get a bit more complicated and expensive, especially if you want to do it legally.
To be honest, I really don't care how bad the garage / trader is. They are not the ones that have driven and maintained the car, so the fact that they have iffy reviews wouldn't put me off completely, especially if the car looks really good. At the end of the day, you go there, ask for some time to check / look at the car and ignore them until it comes to negotiating.

I bought cars both privately and from dealers - always made clear that I'm looking for a car ASAP and I'm seeing a few others, but I also have a return train ticket home. Usually this gets their attention and we get along just fine.

I for one am not willing to pay an extra £1000-£2000 premium just because they are polite and offer me coffee. I will only see them once for a few hours at most, so why care that much?

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Xenons can be done as well (I would certainly not buy a car without them) but it does tend to get a bit more complicated and expensive, especially if you want to do it legally.
To be honest, I really don't care how bad the garage / trader is. They are not the ones that have driven and maintained the car, so the fact that they have iffy reviews wouldn't put me off completely, especially if the car looks really good. At the end of the day, you go there, ask for some time to check / look at the car and ignore them until it comes to negotiating.

I bought cars both privately and from dealers - always made clear that I'm looking for a car ASAP and I'm seeing a few others, but I also have a return train ticket home. Usually this gets their attention and we get along just fine.

I for one am not willing to pay an extra £1000-£2000 premium just because they are polite and offer me coffee. I will only see them once for a few hours at most, so why care that much?

Its a good point on the dealers as long as you know in advance you are capable of being able to look/test the basics.
Older cars and higher mileage etc there is far more chance of a bodge repair to try to get it to last a few months, lower mileage newer cars they probably valet and try to make their margin.
Better/main dealers won't sell the cars that are iffy to start with so less to need to even attempt to hide.

 

[Cristian]

Its a good point on the dealers as long as you know in advance you are capable of being able to look/test the basics.

True, I always have my little check list of things to look at, these can be found online and I assume everyone does. There are numerous "buying guides" to help you out.
Also, for BMW's you can (and should!) get Carly - it's an app that will show you all the car's error codes and the like.

As for older / higher mileage cars - it really depends on what the bodge is. There is always an element of risk when buying second hand and that risk will be there regardless of where you buy it from. If you buy an n47 engined BMW and it goes bang after a month, I doubt much will happen regardless of how good the reputation of the dealer is. If on the other hand it is something unsafe / unfit for driving you do have the law on your side.

 

[Datamonkey]

Dont mind my Mustang GT in Oxford White,

Pain to keep clean, but i think it suits it

 

[paintguy]

Depends. The pearly white is a lot more time consuming as you need to spray a completely different colour down underneath to get the correct shade and depth. It has to be done perfectly or it will never match.

If you've ever had to have it repaired, it can take the painter a couple of attempts to get right.

I did specify "unless you are talking multi-layered effect colours"

I spray cars in those kinds of colours virtually every day so I'm well aware of the differences in the process, although with correct preparation and plenty of testing on sprayout cards first, I rarely need more than one attempt at the actual car.

The streetlights on my street have recently been upgraded to those new LED style ones. Now my motor (Focus in Frozen White) looks like it's had a photoshop filter applied to it at night. It's weird as hell.

See: metamerism

Happens to me regularly since our bodyshop "upgraded" to LED lighting. Colours that look fine when under the high-CRI daylight tubes of the spray booths can look horrific when out in the main workshop area, then fine again out in the sun.

 

[The Running Man]

Xenons can be done as well (I would certainly not buy a car without them) but it does tend to get a bit more complicated and expensive, especially if you want to do it legally.
To be honest, I really don't care how bad the garage / trader is. They are not the ones that have driven and maintained the car, so the fact that they have iffy reviews wouldn't put me off completely, especially if the car looks really good. At the end of the day, you go there, ask for some time to check / look at the car and ignore them until it comes to negotiating.

I bought cars both privately and from dealers - always made clear that I'm looking for a car ASAP and I'm seeing a few others, but I also have a return train ticket home. Usually this gets their attention and we get along just fine.

I for one am not willing to pay an extra £1000-£2000 premium just because they are polite and offer me coffee. I will only see them once for a few hours at most, so why care that much?

Found a nice one without xenons with 3x bmw stamps and 2x bmw specialist but 5 owners in 10 years...all mint though but that puts me off(

 

[Cristian]

Can't say I find that appealing to be honest. Is there any reason you're set on a 125i? Coupe I assume? You never know when a nice 130i or 135i crops up.

 

[The Running Man]

Can't say I find that appealing to be honest. Is there any reason you're set on a 125i? Coupe I assume? You never know when a nice 130i or 135i crops up.

Well they don't make a 130i coupe and the 135 is a bit more but I don't need the unreliability.

I hear the n52 in the 125i is a great engine, reliable, quite frugal, tunable to 260bhp.

I test drove one and really enjoyed it.

 

[Cristian]

Fair enough, although the turbos on the n54 are quite reliable, you might have issues with the odd actuator but apart from that I doubt it's a massive overall difference. The n54 is incredibly popular in the states and many have been tuned to ridiculous figures with stock internals.

Same with frugality and running costs, on similar driving conditions you'll struggle to notice much difference.

Also, £260 from an 120i implies a few bolt ons and remap, these will easily net you 400+ bhp from a 135i.

Last but by no means least, have you considered an e92 as well? Better built, same weight, hardly that much bigger and with tons to chose from, especially well priced 335i' s

 

[The Running Man]

Fair enough, although the turbos on the n54 are quite reliable, you might have issues with the odd actuator but apart from that I doubt it's a massive overall difference. The n54 is incredibly popular in the states and many have been tuned to ridiculous figures with stock internals.

Same with frugality and running costs, on similar driving conditions you'll struggle to notice much difference.

Also, £260 from an 120i implies a few bolt ons and remap, these will easily net you 400+ bhp from a 135i.

Last but by no means least, have you considered an e92 as well? Better built, same weight, hardly that much bigger and with tons to chose from, especially well priced 335i' s

I know I just don't like the look of the e92 it's too big and boaty for me.

The engine in the 125i is the 3.0 6 cylinder and I've read it can be remapped for £500-600 from 215bhp to 130i levels at 260-280bhp and maintain reliability.

It might be a bit irrational but hey no!

 

[sigma]

Highlights of the drive back home today include a white Insignia, Yaris and a brand new 320d. And vans too, lots of vans.

 

[Cristian]

It is 20cm longer than a 1 series but only 15kg heavier, hardly a boat!
https://www.parkers.co.uk/bmw/3-series/coupe-2006/325i-se-2d/specs/
https://www.parkers.co.uk/bmw/1-series/coupe-2007/125i-se-2d/specs/

Don't let the pictures fool you, the e92 is a very capable car - plenty of feedback and a well sorted chasis. With a 1% weight penalty but a longer wheelbase it will be a better driver than the 1 series, not a boat!

I understand you're set on a specific car, but a bit of flexibility goes a long way when buying second hand. I think those power gains are an absolute fantasy from just a remap, you'd have to look at intake manifold, induction kit, decat, exhaust remap etc to get there. £1500 at least, and that's if you DIY all the hardware and trawl eBay for it.

A 335i by contrast will cost significantly less and be in a completely different league even stock!

 

[The Running Man]

It is 20cm longer than a 1 series but only 15kg heavier, hardly a boat!
https://www.parkers.co.uk/bmw/3-series/coupe-2006/325i-se-2d/specs/
https://www.parkers.co.uk/bmw/1-series/coupe-2007/125i-se-2d/specs/

Don't let the pictures fool you, the e92 is a very capable car - plenty of feedback and a well sorted chasis. With a 1% weight penalty but a longer wheelbase it will be a better driver than the 1 series, not a boat!

I understand you're set on a specific car, but a bit of flexibility goes a long way when buying second hand. I think those power gains are an absolute fantasy from just a remap, you'd have to look at intake manifold, induction kit, decat, exhaust remap etc to get there. £1500 at least, and that's if you DIY all the hardware and trawl eBay for it.

A 335i by contrast will cost significantly less and be in a completely different league even stock!

I'll know but the n53 in the 2007 and later 3 series is a no compared to the n52((

Its all swings and roundabouts but I'll just keep looking out for a 1 series.

I dunno I don't want the 335 or 135 I just don't need it.

 

[sigma]

Good job, they were only officially produced in White although Ford did make a one off black example for the late Princess Diana.

Looks much better than white. S2 in red is nice as well

 

[Nasher]

It is 20cm longer than a 1 series but only 15kg heavier, hardly a boat!
https://www.parkers.co.uk/bmw/3-series/coupe-2006/325i-se-2d/specs/
https://www.parkers.co.uk/bmw/1-series/coupe-2007/125i-se-2d/specs/

Don't let the pictures fool you, the e92 is a very capable car - plenty of feedback and a well sorted chasis. With a 1% weight penalty but a longer wheelbase it will be a better driver than the 1 series, not a boat!

I understand you're set on a specific car, but a bit of flexibility goes a long way when buying second hand. I think those power gains are an absolute fantasy from just a remap, you'd have to look at intake manifold, induction kit, decat, exhaust remap etc to get there. £1500 at least, and that's if you DIY all the hardware and trawl eBay for it.

A 335i by contrast will cost significantly less and be in a completely different league even stock!

Would be even better if BMW made a nice looking one :/

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Owning a metallic white car, it is beautiful in the sun, but my goodness it gets dirty easily. Suits some cars more than others too.

 

[Richard_16v]

Pure white Golf R estate here, I think its nice but then it's only a company car so I'm not too fussed