Viewing 38 posts - 1 through 38 (of 38 total)
  • BMW 130i, Thinking of buying.
  • Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    Thinking about chopping in the Mini R53 Cooper S for some straight 6 action, anyone got one/had one and offer any words of wisdom?

    LimboJimbo
    Full Member

    Had one as a company car a few years ago so can’t really comment on running costs, but was an absolutely fabulous drive. Sounds epic and mountains of linear power. I suspect lots of history would make a big miles less of a worry and I’m sure they are good value now. I didn’t ever get more than 25mpg out of mine though.

    jamj1974
    Full Member

    Nice – especially the coupé

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    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    Ha, I can only dream of 25mpg at present! MCS does between 19 and 27 at best blatting around.

    Prob should mention we only do around 4-5k a year in it so mileage not really an issue, Mrs commutes by bike, I have work van for day to day. No kids so no rear seats needed.

    TheGingerOne
    Full Member

    Yes I have one, a ’57’ plate 3dr which I have had for almost 4 years now. Absolutely fantastic car.
    Babybmw is a fountain of good knowledge.
    Mine has been faultless since I have had it and many people regard it as containing one of if not the best engines BMW has ever created.
    They are hard to find as there were not that many and a lot of people in the know do seem to seek them out as they are quite an unsung hero.
    I don’t hang about in mine, but also do little town driving and am averaging just over 32mpg which for a 3 litre engine putting out 265bhp is pretty good. Only issue is the slightly small fuel tank as I get a little over 300 miles to a tank which can be frustrating.
    Getting rid of run flats really helps the ride
    Facelift (57 plate onwards) are a little more efficient than the earlier ones and have a slightly better quality interior.
    Really lovely engine as can drive sedately putting it into 6th gear at 30mph without issue or use the revs which gets the power down with a lovely sound. It is very easy to overtake and do silly speeds in it if you want or need to.
    Even in 3 door can get 2 bikes and weekends worth of kit in for 2 people so just big enough for bike duties. Just take out the wheels and put bike in a bike bag to keep the interior clean.
    Mine is de-badged and quite a q car as it looks like any other M-Sport 1 series 🙂

    Edit – not available as a coupe, only 5 or 3 door. Coupe is the 135 which is a different engine with turbo or turbo’s depending on whether revised or not.

    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    That’s exactly what I wanted to hear! Thanks for taking the time. Is a facelift version I’m most interested in and will take my time to find a good one as I know they’re on the rare side.

    benji
    Free Member

    Nice drive, just check out tyre replacement costs the coupes used to run a funny size to all the other 1 series variants and were a bit pricey and hard to find, that might have changed.

    TheGingerOne
    Full Member

    Runflats themselves are expensive and do seem to be a slightly funny size, but changing to ‘proper’ tyres was fine as just went up a size slightly and paid about £550 for a full set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2’s.

    P20
    Full Member
    rickt
    Free Member

    You can lease a 135i for around £250 a month + 6. Clicky

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Putting a 3.0l engine in such a small car is bonkers in a petrol headed sort of way ! There is nothing quite like a BMW straight 6, if you’ve not had one you need to scratch that itch. I only had a 2.0l 6cyl in a 3 series coupe but I still remember the car even 20+ years later 8)

    timc
    Free Member

    Whats the +6 mean? £6k?

    rickt
    Free Member

    +6 equals 6 month lease payments upfront in the form of a deposit then you pay the monthly payment for the term.

    timc
    Free Member

    ahhh so effectively £7300 to rent it for 2 years, basically £300 a month?

    seems cheap

    rickt
    Free Member

    A lot of the big engines cars are cheap to lease at the moment .

    If you purchased the car new, you would lose that amount in 2 years anyway………

    jamj1974
    Full Member

    TheGingerOne – Member
    Edit – not available as a coupe, only 5 or 3 door. Coupe is the 135 which is a different engine with turbo or turbo’s depending on whether revised or not.

    Apologies – it was a 135 that a colleague used to run. Still a gorgeous car!

    timc
    Free Member

    Maintenance costs not included though…

    Still interesting though 8)

    rickt
    Free Member

    Timc – sure is interesting …

    timc
    Free Member

    considering my friends currently pay £220 per month (x48) +£1500 down for a Honda civic 1.4i & another friend pays £400 per month for an Audi A4 2.0tdi, it seems far better vfm

    dti
    Full Member

    I get average 30mpg from a 2005 5 dr.
    avoid the dealers for servicing and brakes etc.
    fantastic noise – just wind the windows down in a tunnel.

    ijs445ra
    Free Member

    I would second signing up to babybmw.net a lot of very knowledgable and passionate folk on the site, unfortunately i found it after buying mine 🙄

    There are a few 130s for sale at present as well as this mega-spec 135i coupe

    http://www.babybmw.net/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=54918

    Jason Barker at Birds is also worth looking at, quite often has the bigger engined cars available.

    http://www.jasonbarker.co.uk/bmw.asp

    TheGingerOne
    Full Member

    3 doors look better than the 5 door (In my opinion), but there are far fewer as only available from the update in 2007 until 2008 when production stopped. Most of those are the ‘LE’ special edition that was only available in black with Lemon dakota leather, different wtcc alloys and I think a set list of certain other options.

    Happy hunting if you do decide to go for one. Oh, and they seem to be holding their value pretty well from what I can see.

    TheGingerOne
    Full Member

    I’ll run out of things to say soon, but as you can see I’m really happy with mine.

    Also the most reliable car ever tested in Germany in this report Auto Bild Long Term Test

    bazzer
    Free Member

    I have a 57 plate 135i that I could be tempted to sell. Great car, I just don’t seem to drive it that much since I got the company van.

    130i is a great car too, slightly better throttle response than the 135i but the 135i had way more low down torque and of course a little bit more power.

    Also the steering on the 135i is hydraulic rather than electric so you get a bit more feel.

    Brilliant cars !!!

    djglover
    Free Member

    Does the 3 door have pillarless doors… they are cool.

    LimboJimbo
    Full Member

    Three door does indeed have frameless front windows. Mine was an LE. I actually enquired about buying it from work at the end, but Mrs LJ found the steering and clutch far too heavy to use as her everyday car so that was the end of that. They’ve long since changed the CO2 rules at work so the days of 3 ltr cars are sadly over. 😥

    edd
    Full Member

    I’ve got an 07 plate 130i SE 5 door. Most of the 130i cars came in “M Sport” spec. I was very determined to get an SE spec as it doesn’t have the sports suspension and has 17″ rather than 18″ wheels. My reasoning was that the ride on M Sport suspension and 18″ alloys is brutal. My car rides great even with the run flat tyres. I’m sure that it’s quicker in the real world (ie bad road surfaces) than the M Sport which tends to crash from pot hole to pot hole. Horses for courses though a “M Sport” with 18″ alloys looks better. Also the SE version was discontinued after the ’57 facelift.

    Really happy with the car, done just over 4,400 miles so far. Mostly on the motorway. The trip computer claims 34mpg, my spreadsheet (yes I’m a geek) tells me I’m actually getting 32.4mpg.

    Like TheGingerOne mine is de-badged and, especially in SE spec with 17″ alloys, is a complete q car as it looks like any other 1 series.

    Steering: I believe that post 57 facelift cars lost the hydraulic steering, which is one of the efficiency gains BMW made. Mine (pre facelift) has hydraulic steering – lots of feel.

    hammyuk
    Free Member

    bazzer – Member
    I have a 57 plate 135i that I could be tempted to sell. Great car, I just don’t seem to drive it that much since I got the company van.

    Interested 😉

    bazzer
    Free Member

    hammyuk – Interested

    Metalic blue 40K miles, FBMWSH, recent tyres all round, leather, bi-xenons, bluetooth, business stereo, rear parking sensors.

    Its nice !!!

    Is there a can’t find a personal mail option to send my number !!!

    cr500dom
    Free Member

    I Had a 56 plate 130I M-sport 5Dr in Lemans blue with full black leather, and there isn’t a day goes by when I don’t wish that I still had it 🙁 I didn’t have the weird steering in mine either and there was loads of feel. The engine is just glorious (Once you get past the switch from throttle to VVC just off Idle) and make a lovely sound right from start up.

    Just about perfect, except if you want to get 2 kids and associated guff in it.

    Got about 27-30 mpg average out of it but I`m not known as “digital dom” for nothing 😀

    I had a set of E46 17″ Steels (From Germany) fitted with winter tyres too and it was great all through last winter, and had that “Munich Taxi” look about it too.

    If I had kept it as “my” car rather than the family car, I`d have fitted non run-flats and a quaife LSD from Birds, but that’s just me

    In fairness, it just wanted feeding with good fuel and tyres and driving. Lovely, lovely car.

    I`m still considering either another decent 130i M-sport or an E46 M3 if I sell my Kadett.
    The 130 is supposed to be 80% of the car (E46 M3) but with half the running costs 😀

    Tempted by a new M135i in 5 dr form too, as that motor is so tunable

    johndoh
    Free Member

    friend pays £400 per month for an Audi A4 2.0tdi, it seems far better vfm

    He’s a mug then! I pay a little more than that for an A6 Avant 3.0 V6 Quattro TDi Auto Black Edition 😈

    bazzer
    Free Member

    I have driven a 130i, E46 M3, M135i and owned the 135i

    All I can say is they are all great cars but all quite different. The M3 is an animal and much more of an event to drive than the others. I would say the 135i is the next most “focused” car with the M135i being the easiest to toodle along in rather than full on Grrr mode 🙂

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    Bazzer, that is nice!

    hammyuk
    Free Member

    bazzer – Member
    Is there a can’t find a personal mail option to send my number !!!

    Click on username and email is in profile

    l0key
    Free Member

    They do seem to get a lot of love on the bimmerforums etc so go for it.

    I‘d prefer the coupe myself as thats what the m3 should have been (right size), but if you can get 2 bikes in the breadvan version then stick with that.

    If its just an occasional car, you could pick up a mint e38 750il (5.4 v12) for 3/4k space for 2 bikes on rear seats with plenty of room for kit and 24mpg? You‘d need the other 4/5k for maintennce as i‘m finding out :p

    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    Lots of useful advise coming out with non of the anti BMW hatred I was expecting!

    I actually like the ‘bread van’ shape so would probably opt for that although the coupe is a looker, the other reason so the bike would occasionally go in it and also the Mrs need to get the massage couch in it sometimes.

    Got used to having no back seats with the mini so that’s not an issue and the Mini on run flats was also terrible so I no problem ditching those for real tyres.

    I reckon 10k is my limit for buying but another angle has just arisen in that the father in law works for BMW and apparently can get us a family lease rate, not sure what that entails or costs yet though, think I just prefer to own it if I’m honest.

    loddrik
    Free Member

    They look great in M-sport guise, SE looks shite.

    Daffy
    Full Member

    I’ve been looking for a while, but am after a face-lifted auto…rare as rocking horse poo.

Viewing 38 posts - 1 through 38 (of 38 total)

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