M135i - Estoril Blue Loveliness

[497adam]

So i had a week without the M135i :dapprove:

As per this thread: http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=59323&sid=327c6afcb0afc52a67ade91922fda865 mine had the "fan on & limp-mode" problem which has affected all the Jan/Feb/Mar '14 build cars, ie a faulty aux fan thinks the car is overheating, so turns all the fans on and drops power back to 114i levels of rubbishness.

On the flipside, i got to swan around in a 320d M Sport xDrive touring and a 520d M Sport for a few days. Both VERY nice cars, although the 5er was just on a different planet from a build quality/comfort/ergonomics perspective, it also made the derv engine almost silent, whereas the 3er sounded ver much like a transit delivery van. The ZF autobox is quite simply amazing, i almost regretted not ordering it for the M135i tbh.

Some comparison pictures (3 series, then 5 series):

Id happily have a 530d M Sport next, not sure on the 3 series, it was a little too much like the M135i on inside for my liking.

Got back in my car this morning to be reminded that 320bhp it considerably better than 185.

The 3 series looks better, but I like the idea of the extra size of the 5

 

[C.J]

^ That was worth quoting.

 

[JD]

I was just typing the same.

Dave, mini sounds good. Nice way of justifying it. Ha.

 

[497adam]

Sorry mum

 

[Sir_Dave]

Had to take it back to BMW again today - the new drivers seat cover is for a 5dr M135i not a 3dr. As such, its too narrow (the seatbelt fits onto the seat on the 5dr, but not the 3dr), so there's a large gap down the side of the seat. How they thought i wouldnt notice i have no idea

Luckily for me, RealOEM works very well on iPhone, so i was able to show them the error of their ways in front of some other customers.

 

[Scrooge]

Why can't people just do f*cking things properly?! Stuff like that proper winds me up.

 

[MarkCup]

Oooh, not the best start to brand new BMW ownership Dave! At least they're responsive.

With a few more miles under your belt how are you finding the gearbox now?

 

[Sir_Dave]

Why can't people just do f*cking things properly?! Stuff like that proper winds me up.

Tell me about it!! Speaking to the fitter, he even mentioned to the service dept. that the part was wrong - but it fell on deaf ears apparently.

Oooh, not the best start to brand new BMW ownership Dave! At least they're responsive.

With a few more miles under your belt how are you finding the gearbox now?

Gearbox is lovely, in fact the whole car is very good, albeit rather "wallowy" from a handling perspective - a stiffen damper/spring setup would be my first change if i bought it at the end of the lease, which to be honest, isnt that likely. Re: brand new car ownership, it has put me off i think, not just BMW, but anyone, i simply dont like having to rely on muppets to solve my problems, id rather just have an older car and diagnose/fix it myself, at least then i know its been done properly.

 

[RDH]

Whenever I've dealt with BMW I've found their service/customer care very poor at best. It was only when said dealer realised my grandad was a very well known customer that I actually got anywhere.

 

[Crybert]

Yeah bmw are pretty shocking in that department as well as sales, half them don't have a clue about anything. I remember going in and talking away about one. I started talking about the auto box and his reply was.

'oh it seems like you really know what you're talking about, all I know is that it has 6 gears and you can pull the levers behind the wheel to change it if you like'

then I said what sort of trim comes standard, is it brushed aluminium

then his reply was

'oh you're getting all technical on me now'

eh? What a tube

 

[DanielJames]

Yeah bmw are pretty shocking in that department as well as sales, half them don't have a clue about anything. I remember going in and talking away about one. I started talking about the auto box and his reply was.

'oh it seems like you really know what you're talking about, all I know is that it has 6 gears and you can pull the levers behind the wheel to change it if you like'

then I said what sort of trim comes standard, is it brushed aluminium

then his reply was

'oh you're getting all technical on me now'

eh? What a tube

I think they're just used to "normal" people.

If I was a car salesmen, I'd hate having enthusiasts come to look at my cars lol.

 

[RDH]

Surely it isn't too much to ask for them to have atleast a slight interest in cars? More so the brand they sell. At the end of the day they are the ones who earn the commision on the sales.

 

[Crybert]

I think they're just used to "normal" people.

If I was a car salesmen, I'd hate having enthusiasts come to look at my cars lol.

Id expect them to know how many gears the autobox has and what type of trim is specced lol

 

[Rob]

Tell me about it!! Speaking to the fitter, he even mentioned to the service dept. that the part was wrong - but it fell on deaf ears apparently.

Gearbox is lovely, in fact the whole car is very good, albeit rather "wallowy" from a handling perspective - a stiffen damper/spring setup would be my first change if i bought it at the end of the lease, which to be honest, isnt that likely. Re: brand new car ownership, it has put me off i think, not just BMW, but anyone, i simply dont like having to rely on muppets to solve my problems, id rather just have an older car and diagnose/fix it myself, at least then i know its been done properly.

Whenever I've dealt with BMW I've found their service/customer care very poor at best. It was only when said dealer realised my grandad was a very well known customer that I actually got anywhere.

Yeah bmw are pretty shocking in that department as well as sales, half them don't have a clue about anything. I remember going in and talking away about one. I started talking about the auto box and his reply was.

'oh it seems like you really know what you're talking about, all I know is that it has 6 gears and you can pull the levers behind the wheel to change it if you like'

then I said what sort of trim comes standard, is it brushed aluminium

then his reply was

'oh you're getting all technical on me now'

eh? What a tube

I've got a great one for you three, I'm still trying to help him get it sorted infact.

Someone I know off of the z4 forum has taken his Z3MC in for a brand new key, paid the mega £140 for one.

Bloke takes the new key out and tried to sync it, it doesn't work, and now his other key doesn't work either. So he no longer has central locking.

Their response:

"We can put it on the diagnostics for £99 to see what's wrong with it"

I've told him to go batshit, the service manager has said "he should have told you syncing this key would disable your old one" but still won't accept liability.

I've told him to just dump it infront of BMW this Saturday in a proper awkward place and inform all passers by/annoyed that he can't move it it because BMW have broken his key.

 

[497adam]

Whenever I've dealt with BMW I've found their service/customer care very poor at best. It was only when said dealer realised my grandad was a very well known customer that I actually got anywhere.

This has been my experience on the mini side too. Until I complained to BMW uk, then all sweetness and like

 

[Crybert]

I've got a great one for you three, I'm still trying to help him get it sorted infact.

Someone I know off of the z4 forum has taken his Z3MC in for a brand new key, paid the mega £140 for one.

Bloke takes the new key out and tried to sync it, it doesn't work, and now his other key doesn't work either. So he no longer has central locking.

Their response:

"We can put it on the diagnostics for £99 to see what's wrong with it"

I've told him to go bats**t, the service manager has said "he should have told you syncing this key would disable your old one" but still won't accept liability.

I've told him to just dump it infront of BMW this Saturday in a proper awkward place and inform all passers by/annoyed that he can't move it it because BMW have broken his key.

f**king hell that's shocking haha! They make great cars but apart from that they are piss poor

 

[Sir_Dave]

"We can put it on the diagnostics for £99 to see what's wrong with it"

I can believe that 100%.

The first thing they did this morning when i went back in to get the seat fixed was ask for the key so they could pull the codes off it

 

[Silent_Scone]

Awesome machines! Best colour for it too


Why do the dials only go up to 160?

 

[Waitey]

Awesome machines! Best colour for it too


Why do the dials only go up to 160?

I wondered that too as mine is only limited in 8th. In 7th people have done over 170mph on GPS.

 

[Munson]

My experience with BMW so far has been exceptional. Treated like a Lord right from the beginning. After sales and servicing has also been flawless.

 

[497adam]

My experience with BMW so far has been exceptional. Treated like a Lord right from the beginning. After sales and servicing has also been flawless.

Dealer to dealer seems quite different

 

[SOHROB]

Its quite rare you will get a car sales man to be as clued up as forum geeks, think about it logically performance based vehicles make up a small proportion of the cars sold.

Most people who come in want to know MPG,emissions,does the car have iso fix etc etc.

Its very rare I get to chat to people about performance cars at work, on top of that after being around cars 60hrs a week the novelty wears off.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Gave it a clean the other weekend:

Then parked it next to the other hot hatch of the moment, Ollie's Fiesta ST-2, as we packed for Le Mans.

Both brilliant cars. Mine is a nicer colour though

 

[MarkCup]

Agreed. Flat paint is pants.

 

[_Tom]

It really is such a nice colour. I saw a black one the other day and I really don't know why anyone would do it tbh..underwhelming or what.

 

[Gally]

How did you enjoy the ST Dave?

 

[Herr Flick]

Is the Fiesta big or is the 1 series small?

 

[Sir_Dave]

How did you enjoy the ST Dave?

Havent driven it yet, just sat in in & failed to reach the pedals. Ollie is a lanky fecker!!

Soon.

Is the Fiesta big or is the 1 series small?

Fiesta is taller than the 1er, BMW is slightly wider/longer though. Camera angle is slightly odd though, it is a smaller car than the BMW.

 

[Sir_Dave]

So last Tuesday the fan came on again

Pulled over, switched it off, then back on again (used to clear it), but no such luck, car stayed in limp-home mode.

Unfortunately, that is where it stayed until this morning when i took it into BMW. The fan design has been updated again apparently - there is issues with the temp sensor, so it doesn't turn the fan on properly at 90oc. Instead it gets too hot, then all hells breaks lose and the fan goes into overdrive. As such, mine needs to go back in on the 23rd October for 2 days to get the new parts fitted/big software update. My concern is (& BMW didnt seem too worried by this), is that as the fan seems to have failed completely, the coolant temps are getting rather high imho!! This is shown by the "hidden menu" below:

On the flipside, they cleaned the car for me.

In 7 months, ive cleaned the car once, BMW have done it four times ... considering its been back to the dealer 8 times now (7 to replace the seat base lol), my thoughts are that it'll just get it cleaned once a month by them when it has its monthly tantrum/breakdown

 

[Gally]

BMW living up to the recent reputation then?

 

[Jon.G]

How does a BMW so new STILL have cooling issues.

 

[Sir_Dave]

BMW living up to the recent reputation then?

I think most new cars are built to a low cost tbh, certainly with BMW the quality has been reducing with each new model!

You just have to compare an e36>e46>e90>F30 - yes, the dash looks prettier, but its made of much poorer materials

How does a BMW so new STILL have cooling issues.

Yes, i must admit, i was amused. Still, the engine in the 135i is essentially a 330i lump with a turbo attached, so not surprising lol!!

 

[Jon.G]

I think most new cars are built to a low cost tbh, certainly with BMW the quality has been reducing with each new model!

You just have to compare an e36>e46>e90>F30 - yes, the dash looks prettier, but its made of much poorer materials



Yes, i must admit, i was amused. Still, the engine in the 135i is essentially a 330i lump with a turbo attached, so not surprising lol!!

From what I researched a while back, they're actually quite different. I was mainly looking at why the 130i was 30bhp on the 330i. Quite interesting to see how they got 30bhp.

But yes, essentially it's not far off.

 

[Martin.]

From what I researched a while back, they're actually quite different. I was mainly looking at why the 130i was 30bhp on the 330i. Quite interesting to see how they got 30bhp.

But yes, essentially it's not far off.

Tell me more...

 

[_Tom]

That's pretty shocking. No doubt in 5 years time head gaskets will go left, right and centre..lol

 

[Chapppers11]

How's this ticking along Dave? Any updates/mods/issues?

Looking at leasing something new for next year and these look so impressive all-round.
@Sir_Dave

 

[philmots]

Can't belive all the issues you've had, never realised so many!

 

[Ian_182]

Cant believe how bad its been for you @Sir_Dave ,but I've also read about seat/gearbox/cooling/turbo issues on the tinter web.

 

[Sir_Dave]

To be fair, most of the visits were due to dealer ineptitude (seat base), since the fan was fixed for the 2nd time its been perfect!!

Would i recommend it to anyone? Yes. Best overall car ive had by a long shot, cheap to lease/run, goes like stink & drives great. Keep looking at e92 M3's & Z4M's, but twice the running costs for not much more performance!!

Seriously tempted by a 235i, estoril with oyster leather would the modern equivalent of the M3 Evo that i never ended up buying lol ...

 

[Bluebeard]

Please don't get a 235. They are as awkward to look at as a Merc CLA.