BMW and M Power Owners
- Thread starter panthro
- Start date
The more I see of the rear the more I can't stand looking at it! The front is completely amazing though, just a shame the rear looks flat and unrelated to the rest of the car.
On another matter, booking now fully confirmed for the wet sanding to remove the orange peel. It's in late May though, such is the way with busy body shops... Does mean everything is gonna be mint just in time for the summer, and then rolling into August for the North coast road trip!
Best get the Inspection 1 due soon out of the way then. Fun times.
On another matter, booking now fully confirmed for the wet sanding to remove the orange peel. It's in late May though, such is the way with busy body shops... Does mean everything is gonna be mint just in time for the summer, and then rolling into August for the North coast road trip!
Best get the Inspection 1 due soon out of the way then. Fun times.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2004
- Posts
- 32,578
- Location
- Rutland
Those winglets are very important on the school run, not sure how anyone copes without them.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
BMW M Performance tat is everywhere now - usually on a 520d or a 320d complete with M PERFORMANCE side stickers. Sigh.
Btw, YHM Minstadave
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Mar 2010
- Posts
- 3,566
- Location
- Exile
My main question is about the power, I think the most powerful car I've driven is around 200bhp and I don't want to get one and wrap it around a lamppost on the first day... Are they ok to drive normal or does the slightest press of the accelerator produce instant high speeds? I'm aware that it may sound weird worrying about speed when considering a 135i, I'm just trying to make sure there isn't a massive culture shock in store for me. I currently drive a r reg Slk 230 kompressor if that helps.
Lease wise, I don't know whether buying maintenance is worth it, how much am I likely to pay out in 2 years on a brand new car?
Deals I've seen have been around 2k initial and 270pm.
Last edited:
I find myself a bit underwhelmed by the M2, I'm sure its a good car but when you see them priced up for £61k I just think its poor value for money. The A45 AMG gets slated for its high price, endless 'its just a hatchback' comments, to me the M2 is just an awkwardly proportioned coupe with fat wheel arches and a souped up M135i engine as well? Nothing about it seems special enough for it to be worth that sort of money to me.
Given the pricing and discounts available on the M4 I'd be buying the bigger car every single time.
Given the pricing and discounts available on the M4 I'd be buying the bigger car every single time.
Could you elaborate on "they rarely fail" at all?
Have you ever known one to fail for instance? I'm searching around at the moment, on the Google machine.
Nothing lasts for ever, but I've never known one to fail.
Permabanned
- Joined
- 9 Jun 2009
- Posts
- 11,924
- Location
- London, McLaren or Radical
That's part of the point though... smaller & lighter is usually better when it comes to handling characteristics and basic "fun"...
So I'd normally choose the smaller car.
But then it depends on usage... big and heavy = great for motorway cruising
It's a powerful engine in a small and fairly light car. It rapidly gets to license losing speeds, but it'll happily mosey along as normal speeds too.
The biggest difference you'll notice in a car of this level of performance compared to what you've driven in the past is that when "pressing on" you'll easily be doing 100+ mph whereas in lower powered cars you might be going 80 mph.
On a wet road if you don't respect the torque it'll try to spin, but in comfort mode and sport mode the traction control is fairly aggressive. Turn it into sport+ mode and the car will get pretty well sideways before the traction control reigns things in. Turn the traction control completely off (which puts the mode back to comfort by the way) and the back end will overtake you if provoked. It'll still get the back out on a dry surface too, but frankly unless you're behaving like a complete tool behind the wheel you shouldn't lose it.
As for the lease deal we'd need to know what the terms are before we could tell you if it's good or not.
Wouldn't worry about the power. 300 bhp is surprisingly easy to get used to.
With respect to the M135i, it's a nice little package. I had decent test drives of an M135i and an M4 back to back a few months back, and in all honesty, for on the road, I preferred the M135i. Yes I'm sure the M4 would be a weapon on the track and all that, but I would never take one there so I can wrap a £55k+ motor around an armco or something. So it would be used on the road.
And when it came to the M135i, I found it heaps more fun. You could really just get on it all the time, without having to worry too much about spinning the back wheels and throwing you through a hedge (granted it was a damp day). But it jest felt more enjoyable, as you could get far closer to the limits in it than the M4, where the TC system was fighting my right foot far more than I would have liked.
I'm sure I'll get slated for that opinion though, since there is a lot of M love on here.
He's saying there is some vibration up through the clutch pedal and he read that it could be the DMF. Not sure if he's saying that to shut me up or not, but if not then I guess I'll leave him to it.
Sounds to me like he thinks he knows more than BMW's R&D department, DMF's on BMW's generally are not a known weak spot (like on a Mondeo diesel for example) leave him to it and just smile at him when he's ruined it completely.
If the car needed a lighter flywheel, it would have had one from the factory.
Associate
- Joined
- 23 Oct 2013
- Posts
- 1,212
If you're talking the BMW service pack, it all depends on whether you think you might keep the car after the pcp term. AFAIK the service interval on the M135i is about every 15-18k miles determined by the ecu and your driving. So, on a 8k mile pcp it's roughly the end of year 2 and year 4. The service plan is about £470 (I really cant remember the exact £) and a BMW service is over 1/2 that - so it only pays for itself if you have 2 (or more). So, if you plan to keep the car more than 4 years, or do mega miles, then go for it, otherwise I think it's cheaper not to.
it all depends on the options...
Best place (i know) for M135i deals:
www.coast2coastcars.co.uk/ - online broker that gives a good idea of how all the options affect the pcp prices. And good to use as a bartering tool with your local BMW dealer.
but, for the best price, it's probably TRL on the baby bmw site: http://www.babybmw.net/viewforum.php?f=80
He works at the BMW garage near Heathrow and (for me) could beat the coast2coast price. But, I don't think he's happy being used as a bartering tool with a local BMW dealer as I get the impression he could get grief from other dealers for undercutting them. So, if you're happy buying from Heathrow then try him, otherwise stick to the Coast2Coast price.
Standard service pack on M135i is £550 for 5 years / 50K miles. It's condition-based-servicing, so all depends on how you drive it. Mine requested its first service at ~22K miles (about 9 months old!) It's about to turn a year old and tick over 30K miles!
It's also something you can negotiate into the deal. I got it thrown in when I bought my 5 series, as well as matching broker prices, and getting an extra £800 on the px.
If you are having to pay for it, it is only worth it, to you, if you need more than one service. In reality, it is a 2 service package though, as that is all you will likely get in 50,000 miles or 5 years. Either at years 2 and 4, or at 20k and 40k (roughly, depending on how you drive).
If you are having to pay for it, it is only worth it, to you, if you need more than one service. In reality, it is a 2 service package though, as that is all you will likely get in 50,000 miles or 5 years. Either at years 2 and 4, or at 20k and 40k (roughly, depending on how you drive).
Exactly, but it's still a good deal over this term. You get the services done at a lower cost, and the dealer gets the money for it up-front...win-win!
Associate
- Joined
- 23 Oct 2013
- Posts
- 1,212
This year the M135i service pack has been dropped in price to the same as the standard 1 series, so it's now £475 (for 5 years or 50k miles, as you've said).
A standard service from BMW is apparently about £260 (plus any extra bits that are required, e.g. discs, pads, etc.). So, if you're going to need 2 or more service in the "ownership" then the pack is worth it.
But, given Rebel Rebel mentioned lease, I'm guessing he'll be bound to far lower miles as the standard pcp lease is only 8k miles/year, so I still can't think it's worth it for most pcp deals. (Yes, I know you can get pcp deals with far more miles, but I think the standard BMW is 8k).
if it's a 3 year & 10k mile pcp then the car will go back before the 2nd service.
if it's a 4 year & 8k mile pcp then the car could be on the tipping point of needing its 2nd service, but if you trade it in early (even if it's just a month) then it should be before that 2nd service. So, the pack is only worth it if you're planning on keeping the car.
As a side note - I'm amazed by the M135/235 service intervals. No oil change after run in and then a 2yr/20k mile max interval is just amazing for a "performance" car. If i was buying/keeping the car I'd do an oil change after run in just for piece of mind as there will surely be some swarf/crud in the oil from the engine.
Also, according to the babybmw site the M135 may not be available to buy from June/July time as the M140i might start to be available from Sep. Whether this means the prices might change and the amazing deals will stop for a bit, dunno...