More tales from the dark side..

[gaz_l]

Well I've had enough of the Beetle going wrong. Having just shelled out the thick end of £500 to get the airbag light sorted and get it through the MOT, yesterday (a month down the line) the damn light comes on again!. So it's signed its own death warrant and I've had enough of running a beater.

I'd been looking out for a BMW M140i and my local dealer was advertising one. So I rang them today, it had only come off the the truck on Friday. A quick (but expensive) trip later and I've bought it. Apart from the fact that black wouldn't have been my first choice of colour, it ticks all my boxes - it's got a great spec and of course being the 140i it's a bit of a rocketship

Despite being registered in March it's got the princely amount of 12 miles on the clock so it is to all intents and purposes it's brand new, my first ever new car. Picking it up on the 3rd of Jan, can't wait!

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Abb]

Shame about the bug, congrats on the beemer!

Like a kid at Christmas as they say Look forward to the pics!

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Had one recently for a year and happy to answer any questions, my recollection is:

• Quick in a really pleasing way
• Fairly rowdy in sport settings especially on the over run
• Good seats
• Felt bigger than it is, or is it? The current 1 series can't be much smaller than an older 3 series
• Blends in, most people have no idea what it is
• Enough room in the back for a 3 week tour of Spain
• Subject to the usual BMW creaks around window seals
• Ride, in non adaptive suspension, just weird. Not over firm but bloody jiggly
• Hilarious on remote Spanish motorways in the hills and, of course, away from the toll booths

 

[SmartAmg]

Nice one, gaz, sounds great.

 

[John]

Great choice.

Ex-work colleague of mine bought a run out 140 earlier this year and is very happy with it.

When the weather improves I shall be having a go in it.

I imagine it is like driving a fast go kart.

I'm not sure I would do another beater personally. Last one I had in 2005 was a f nightmare.

Cheap, yes, so fine if you don't need to rely and you can fix your own things but otherwise just hard work.

I nearly bought an old 51 plate CLK to run around in last time I changed cars but one look at the condition and the MOT history and I declined.

The problem now is of course the cars that fall into that category are a lot more complicated than beaters of 10 years ago.

 

[gaz_l]

Indeed John. The 140 is a quick little thing, 0-60 in 4.6! That's not hanging around by anyone's standards and in fact beats my old SLK55 by a couple of tenths. It's a lot more tunable too if I get bored of the 340 BHP out of the box, another 100+ brake is easy apparently. I think it'd be frankly alarming with that much power.

Keeping an older car running now is a ballache, even the Beetle which I think of as relatively new. It failed the MOT due to the airbag light being on, I had to get the ECU removed from the car and sent off to a specialist as my friendly local garage couldn't reset it. The ECU is no longer available from VW and even it was, would have cost as much as the car's worth. Then a sensor needed to be changed which meant removing pretty much the whole front end of the car to get at it! Gets expensive quickly.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[John]

Indeed John. The 140 is a quick little thing, 0-60 in 4.6! That's not hanging around by anyone's standards and in fact beats my old SLK55 by a couple of tenths. It's a lot more tunable too if I get bored of the 340 BHP out of the box, another 100+ brake is easy apparently. I think it'd be frankly alarming with that much power.

Keeping an older car running now is a ballache, even the Beetle which I think of as relatively new. It failed the MOT due to the airbag light being on, I had to get the ECU removed from the car and sent off to a specialist as my friendly local garage couldn't reset it. The ECU is no longer available from VW and even it was, would have cost as much as the car's worth. Then a sensor needed to be changed which meant removing pretty much the whole front end of the car to get at it! Gets expensive quickly.

Cheers,

Gaz

Yes, my friend was telling me how little it would take to get it up to some serious power.

40KG lighter than my old E36 M3 Evo at 1545kg and potentially up to the mid 400s when 321 in my old M3 was fast!

He fitted a BMW LSD which Birds did for him - is very happy with the results.

He didn't have much choice on colour either and went for white but is considering wrapping.

Yes, when I stated cheap, I was of course referring to buying the darn thing. That's where cheap stops potentially. I spent £900 on the car and the same again in repairs in 2 years. OK you could say that was cheap motoring but the inconvenience and break down anxiety wasn't worth it. I suppose in hindsight I should have bought Japanese albeit no guarantees.

That car had nothing like the safety systems your Beetle had and this of course will only get worse as time moves on.

 

[KennyN]

Yes, my friend was telling me how little it would take to get it up to some serious power.

There is a tuner in the USA who has had just over 1000hp from the B58 engine , all-be-it from the new Supra.

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10m 30s for the big numbers

Mightily impressive from a 3L IL6.

I don't know if they do the MPPSK for the 140i but it is worth the money , not only for the extra shove but for the noise it makes in sport mode plus it keeps the warranty intact being a main dealer fit. If it is an auto then the ZF8 is a superb gearbox with super quick changes and light years ahead of the one I had in the CLS.

K

 

[gaz_l]

Well. I offered the Beetle to my niece as a freebie, as she'd previously expressed an interest in it, but after some investigation she couldn't afford the tax and insurance. Fair enough, her and her fiancée are saving for a house and a wedding so you've got to prioritise. Well done her for not taking on the extra cost.

So I chucked it up on eBay on Christmas Eve on a 5 day auction, with a £500 starting price on the grounds that I might at least get the money back for putting it through the MOT. Bugger me, it got knocked down for £1100. eBay's always a bit of a lottery, but the winning bidder turned up today, professed himself happy with it, put the cash in my hand and drove it away. I love it when a plan comes together. Pick up the beemer tomorrow..

Cheers,

Gaz