hughjayteens – Member
and most recently a 130i

Would you recommend? considered many times

Kryton57 – Member
It could but my comment was slightly tongue in cheek. Never be envious of anyone’s possessions as you don’t know how they’ve achieved them. Big Salary or lucky break, well done to you. Credit card / loan, ok. Nice car kids in rags, not good.

Very well put, many people lose perspective in their quest to have such items

.. A modest 320i coupe here but quick enough really.. Accelerates to 60 sharpish but does require some revs and on motorways it just keeps going ..

It also does 46mpg on long runs if treated nicely

#slight tangent

hughjayteens – Member
and most recently a 130i

TimC – Would you recommend? considered many times

I`m just about to put my 130i M-Sport up for sale 🙁
Its being replaced with a 535D Touring so I`ll still get the grunt, but I have tried everything to be able to keep hold of the 130i, it is a fabulous car, and that engine is glorious 😉
The car is effectively 90% of an M3 with 50% of the running costs
Massively underrated car and I`m gutted to be letting it go

So why you letting go, private sale?

I’m running a 330i

bar Fuel, its no more expensive to run than any other family car. The oil service has come up once in 20K miles, its had a pollen filter and that’s about it. My old Octavia had to be serviced more frequently but cost a bit less (£120 vs £150 for the BM, but every 10k miles)!

Its currently on 83k miles. I run it down to surrey most weeks and get about 37-39 mpg out of it on the motorway**

**Town and country roads are considerably worse, think mid 20’s

As with the 130i, its a fine car, the engine is bullet proof and sounds sweet. far less likely to throw up problems than the 335d.

I am also selling, no other reason than I fancy a golf R

timc –
So why you letting go, private sale?

Mrs wants an estate, hence the 535D Touring, but I need the money back out of the 130i to pay for the 5
And yes private sale ;o)

email me info

Stop it you lot! You’re making me look at Autotrader….. :-/

Is this the right time to mention my 330i could be for sale / exchange? 😀

your 330i bin as you put it above?

Well yes. I needs tidy up but its not dirty.

Opportunity for a few more STWers to experience BM ownership…

timc – email me info

Will send you the details and some pics tomorrow fella 😉

I must stop looking at BMW’s website… there are some very nice looking 530d M Sports on there, surprisingly there isn’t much difference between 18 and 19″ tyre prices (They are still circa £200-£250 each)

timc – Member
email me info

Tim, Pics and details sent via email
Cheers
Dom

Friend had a 530d, lovely car but lurched its turbo at 70k – so make sure its had proper servicing, not just the BMW indicator one.

surprisingly there isn’t much difference between 18 and 19″ tyre prices

Keep in mind that normally, the bigger the wheel the lower the tyre profile and a corresponding drop in ride quality. I’ve got stupidly low profile tyres (25’s) on mine and the ride is abysmal – I’ll be swapping them back to 18’s when I get round to it. 19’s for show, 18’s for go…and don’t even bother with 20’s…

Dont forget also, that you are not compelled to run runflats. Therefore you can buy tyres at a much more reasonable price, about £140 a corner on my 18″ MV3s

Mt recent 255/45/18 was £121 + fitting, balancing etc…

IIRC my 2000 Ford focus 235/17’s were £130 all those years ago.

b r – Member
Friend had a 530d, lovely car but lurched its turbo at 70k – so make sure its had proper servicing, not just the BMW indicator one.

Makes no odds, my turbo went at 57k with full bmw service history

djglover – Member

Dont forget also, that you are not compelled to run runflats. Therefore you can buy tyres at a much more reasonable price, about £140 a corner on my 18″ MV3s

Agree, I got a full set of Michelin Pilot Sport 3’s from costco for said wheels for £560

Slight thread hi-jack, so apologies, but as people were asking about the 130i, I’ve had my 57 plate for 2 years now and still love it – great underrated car, though a bigger fuel tank would be nice :).

535msport on normal tyres has a lovely ride.

I was told in no uncertain terms by the dealer that if I fitted non runflats to my car then my warranty would be invalid!

There’s also an interesting article by one of the car magazines somewhere about the problems of fitting standard tyres to cars designed for run flats..

i have a 525d F11, the 6 cyclinder version and love it. its on 19 rims with RFT, i have had two punctures in the 7 months i have owned it. Luckily i had tyre insurance

RopeyReignRider – Member

I was told in no uncertain terms by the dealer that if I fitted non runflats to my car then my warranty would be invalid!

There’s also an interesting article by one of the car magazines somewhere about the problems of fitting standard tyres to cars designed for run flats..

Mine is out of Warranty so that doesnt matter

Any idea on link to article?

There is no issue with putting normal tyres on wheels which originally had run flats on them. Back in January I finally replaced my run flats on the 130i after getting another puncture on them. No issues with fitting regular tyres and I rang the insurance company to inform them and they thanked me for letting them know, but said I had not needed to. Ideally you just need XL (extra load) rated tyres and then either a spacesaver or a compressor and tyreweld like many other cars come with anyway. There are claims about the suspension set-up being specific to run flats etc, hence why it is best to go with xl tyres. My car is massively better over potholes and bumps now.

I can’t be sure, but I’m pretty sure there are no warranty issues regarding not using run flats, especially as many bmws do not come with them or are now optional. Dealers probably don’t like it as they lose out on the massive margins they make on them! Just look on sites like babybmw.net to see how many people give up on run flats with no regrets.

I can’t find the article but it showed the comparison between two bmw’s which normally have run flat tyres – on of which had standard and the other runflats.

Basically there was quite a scary stopping distance difference between the two which was put down to the suspension being tuned specifically for runflats ,

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/27406/run-flat-tyre-test

I notice they didnt perform a test with Bridgestone runflats vs Bridgestone conventional

Not a valid conclusion in my eyes as that braking distance difference would occur amongst different brands anyway.
It also focuses on one aspect of the tyres performance, ignoring the fact that the others may well have out performed the RF in the dry braking, or cornering grip, or noise levels, or ride comfort (More subjective but no less valid for some)

The only real way to perform that test is Runflat or conventional versions of the same tyres on the came car, on the same day under the same conditions.

There are various articles on non-runflat vs. runflat and many contradictions.

1) If the suspension is tuned for runflat tyres why is there an option for non runflat tyres, and do we really think BMW fits different suspension on depending on which tyres were selected?

2) Runflats give a horrible ride; my better half’s 1 series is currently running on non-runflat winter tyres and the difference in comfort is significant (this is an SE on 16″ tyres)

3) Runflats are expensive and can be hard to get hold of in a hurry; whilst you can drive on a flat you are limited to 150 miles or so and if on a long journey you are likely to be held to ransom by the nearest tyre place.

There is a reason why most other manufacturers have ignored the RFT technology; I’m a big BM fan but I believe they made a mistake in adopting and pushing the RFT technology.

cr500dom – Member

The car is effectively 90% of an M3 with 50% of the running costs

Well, maybe 75% of the M3 with 50% of the running costs. Fantastic car but it’s not an M. I thrashed mine around the Nurburgring and had a ball in it!

Have just gone a little silly and ordered a new M5.. Roll on March!! 8)

Sorry, off topic but rather than start a new thread thought I could tap into the BMW expertise here 🙂

Simples Q, actually on behalf of a friend LOL
Could you get 2 road bikes safely inside an E90 saloon assuming wheels off as a minimum?
If anyone has first hand info then what else would you need to strip down? Bars,stem, assumed seatpost etc etc

Many thanks

Am planning weekend trip, GF would need to keep our estate car at home for family duties and mate has E90 (320d) so need to get facts right before telling him he’s driving!

How many people going in the e90? If it’s 2, no worries – worst case you remove both wheels, bag up the frame/ forks and put them behind the front seats.
3 people should be doable too, but may need to put the split rear seat down

As Nicko74 says, if he has folding seats (rare in E90) even better…

Thanks
2 people, 2 bikes
Sounds a go-er then
🙂

Family friend has a 535d estate, very very quick car.

@hughjayteens I just picked up a 130i LE for a song, it’s fantastic. Can’t wait to get shot of the RFTs though. Looking at the tire sizes there doesn’t seem to be much out there in the way of replacements ( rear 225/40W18 and front 205/45W18) – do most owners choose slightly different tires?

I seem to be in the minority in terms of not hating the RFT’s.. but then maybe having 17″ rather than 18″ wheels and non-MSport suspension makes the difference? Didn’t seem too pricey at £120 a corner for original Contis either..