|
|
Post by alf on Aug 8, 2019 11:30:41 GMT
My partner is something of an Audi fan (and being German, quite a fan of all things German-engineered). She had had her Q3 for 3 years, and it has done over 100k miles now, causing a bit of itchy feet. What followed was - considering Mrs ALF's years of hand wringing before changing cars - an amusingly fast and male-style transaction. We poked around the local Audi dealerships a bit, looking at things like S5's, but she has had A5's before, doesn't love the look of the 5 door ones, and anyway it's much more performance than we need for her car, with mine also on the drive - hers ends up mostly on local trips with the kids in the back. She kept spending longer looking at TT's than anything else. Then she decided to try a low cost (£5k was mooted) convertible just for the summer, before realising they were mostly dogs at this price, to someone used to decent cars anyway. Next she said she'd lined up a test at Audi Basingstoke for the next (Saturday) morning - it turned out to be a £16k current shape TT, 1.8 FSi quattro, coupe. Random - though a potential "keep it a few years" choice. The kids - being 6 - fitted in the back far better than I expected, and have a better view as well with the rear screen extending above their heads. They went out with the salesman (while I drooled over an RS5 in the showroom) and then we had to get away to a kids party - I was fairly sure she was going to buy it.
However, she had also been looking at 1 series convertibles, mostly well sub £10k ones, and a nice one was nearby - white 118i sport edition auto, with black hood and wheels, and white and black leather that looks great in the flesh. We tested that later, and sure enough, as soon as the roof was dropped, the kids stopped saying "when are we buying the TT" and wanted that! Tina was very happy with it too, and that was that.
This was a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say I am surprised how much I like it - having never been a convertible fan (though never having lived with one either). It's a neat, compact shape without an unseemly bulge at the back, and more reminiscent of the old 1 series coupe than the hatch. It feels high quality inside, if low on tech being based on the original 1 series despite being a 2012 car. The steering and brakes are much weightier than in the Audi and have really good feel, and if the body flexes, I can't tell - it feels really low, flat, and tidy-handling, genuinely fun to drive. The packaging is superb - even in the back there is loads of space, it defies the car's overall size. With a 143bhp 2 litre NA petrol and ZF 6 speed auto, the drivetrain feels very grown-up (thank god - finally a partner without a manual car!!!!) and the engine gives enough urge at low speed to not feel like all these under-engined lag prone modern cars, becoming much more eager past 3k revs, if not sounding very special. It's immaculate, and has almost new Bridgestone tyres all round (my new employer, since they bought TomTom Telematics) - its amazing how many cars have budget tyres on these days, including the current shape, low mileage TT mentioned above at an Audi dealer! Given I now know tyre dealers make £30 on a £60 chinese tyre, and perhaps £15 on a £150 premium one, that worries me even more than it did before. And driving with the hood down - at sub motorway speeds - really is a pleasure, it is very different to normal driving.
Overall, it's a lovely little thing - totally unsuited to what I use my car for, but if I didn't do so many long drives, the 135i convertible would be a real weapon. It's nicely engineered, beautifully packaged, and very nice to drive. It does mean mine will be used even more for holidays and the like (car seat protectors duly ordered) but I like having big cars, and I like using them for what they were designed for - we are driving (all 4) to the west coast of France in late August, and doubtless more Germany trips beckon....
|
|
|
|
Post by johnc on Aug 8, 2019 11:41:10 GMT
Really pleased that life seems to be getting a bit of equilibrium for you James.
Nothing wrong with convertibles - I love them
|
|
|
|
Post by racingteatray on Aug 8, 2019 12:31:14 GMT
It's a neat, compact shape without an unseemly bulge at the back, and more reminiscent of the old 1 series coupe than the hatch. Well it would be - it's a 1-series coupe with the roof lopped off.
Congrats to her - good choice. I have more than once thought of trying to persuade Mrs RT of the benefits of a late 125i convertible. As an ex-135i owner, I've noticed that whilst the 135i goes like stink and sounds nice, the NA 3.0 six in the 125i actually sounds rather better and still has all the performance you'd realistically need.
Black and white leather sounds unusual though - I didn't recall BMW doing two-tone seats on the 1-series?
|
|
|
|
Post by PG on Aug 8, 2019 12:51:17 GMT
I bet the best bit was avoiding the months and months of angst about changing. Oh, and having another auto gearbox in the house.
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Aug 8, 2019 13:47:33 GMT
Another convertible fan here and well done on the swift decision making!
|
|
|
|
Post by alf on Aug 8, 2019 14:39:14 GMT
It's a neat, compact shape without an unseemly bulge at the back, and more reminiscent of the old 1 series coupe than the hatch. Well it would be - it's a 1-series coupe with the roof lopped off.
Congrats to her - good choice. I have more than once thought of trying to persuade Mrs RT of the benefits of a late 125i convertible. As an ex-135i owner, I've noticed that whilst the 135i goes like stink and sounds nice, the NA 3.0 six in the 125i actually sounds rather better and still has all the performance you'd realistically need.
Black and white leather sounds unusual though - I didn't recall BMW doing two-tone seats on the 1-series?
It does indeed look like the 1 series coupe with the hood up - I suppose I had never taken in the fact the convertible was not based on the hatch. Does that mean the interior is different? It's nicer than I recall the original hatch being, and nicer than I expected. I always liked the idea of one of the original 135i coupes - a bit small for me, but a lovely shape and a bit different. The leather is not two tone, I was just being lazy and mean that with the usual BMW levels of black interior trim (black everywhere with extra black in places, a feat only matched by VW usually) the white leather (which is in surprisingly good nick and still very white) looks better to my eyes than some of the cream/tan hues in cars with light coloured trim. I never much liked cream leather in XF's, for example, especially with wood and light coloured dash and headlining - preferring my combo of black leather seats/dash with silver headlining and carbon fibre trim. There are plenty of 125i around, and I think it's much the same engine as I had in my 330i - a good thing assuming the revised coils/injectors have been fitted! It may be well down on top end power compared to the "30i" version but the "25i" will indeed feel very potent in normal driving, pulling away and so on, when big engines feel so good, and it will sound amazing with the hood down. I was staying well out of the choice as I'm well aware being an enthusiast can mean some inappropriate advice vs the car's actual usage, but I was as pleased it was a petrol as I was it was an auto. I got used to diesels with the Q3, as a utilitarian motor for that sort of vehicle, but diesel convertibles still seem weird to me. There must be some money in being a small MOT/servicing garage, BMW specialist, and SH car sales place BTW - when they were out for the test drive I was chatting to one of the directors in the place (in Thatcham), who must have been 30 - if that - and he owned multiple M products including an E92 M3 and a 2 year old M5 with a lot of mods. I think an E46 M3 as well, among other cars. I'm in the wrong game!!!! |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2019 14:43:58 GMT
Looks like a great result all round.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tim on Aug 8, 2019 14:44:13 GMT
There must be some money in being a small MOT/servicing garage, BMW specialist, and SH car sales place BTW - when they were out for the test drive I was chatting to one of the directors in the place (in Thatcham), who must have been 30 - if that - and he owned multiple M products including an E92 M3 and a 2 year old M5 with a lot of mods. I think an E46 M3 as well, among other cars. I'm in the wrong game!!!! I would be fairly sure they're all 'stock' cars and financed as such, subject to time limits. |
|
|
|
Post by racingteatray on Aug 8, 2019 15:57:12 GMT
Well it would be - it's a 1-series coupe with the roof lopped off.
Congrats to her - good choice. I have more than once thought of trying to persuade Mrs RT of the benefits of a late 125i convertible. As an ex-135i owner, I've noticed that whilst the 135i goes like stink and sounds nice, the NA 3.0 six in the 125i actually sounds rather better and still has all the performance you'd realistically need.
Black and white leather sounds unusual though - I didn't recall BMW doing two-tone seats on the 1-series?
It does indeed look like the 1 series coupe with the hood up - I suppose I had never taken in the fact the convertible was not based on the hatch. Does that mean the interior is different? It's nicer than I recall the original hatch being, and nicer than I expected. I always liked the idea of one of the original 135i coupes - a bit small for me, but a lovely shape and a bit different. The leather is not two tone, I was just being lazy and mean that with the usual BMW levels of black interior trim (black everywhere with extra black in places, a feat only matched by VW usually) the white leather (which is in surprisingly good nick and still very white) looks better to my eyes than some of the cream/tan hues in cars with light coloured trim. I never much liked cream leather in XF's, for example, especially with wood and light coloured dash and headlining - preferring my combo of black leather seats/dash with silver headlining and carbon fibre trim. Channelling my inner Martin, the convertible (E88) is based on the coupe (E82). The interior is not, per se, different from a hatchback of similar vintage but the coupe/convertible versions didn't come out until late 2007 after the hatchback had been through the LCI process, when its interior was given a makeover that definitely improved perceived quality versus the original.
As regards the leather, I expect it's a shade BMW calls Oyster, which came with a black dash and black door-cards with a contrasting oyster leather insert that looked rather smarter than the beige option where the entire door-card was beige.
What year is it? Presumably 2011 or newer because I think the Sport Plus Editions were run-outs.
|
|
|
|
Post by michael on Aug 8, 2019 16:29:05 GMT
It does sound like an LCI which has a substantially improved interior. I always thought an 1M convertible would have been a great looking car.
|
|
|
|
Post by ChrisM on Aug 8, 2019 18:23:12 GMT
What does "LCI" stand for? Low Cost Improvement ? (facelift)
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Aug 8, 2019 18:35:55 GMT
What does "LCI" stand for? Low Cost Improvement ? (facelift) Life Cycle Impulse.....  |
|
|
|
Post by Roadsterstu on Aug 8, 2019 20:20:11 GMT
I saw a 135i convertible last week one evening, as I walked the dog. I was just walking by as hecstarted it up and put the roof down and thought it had a fair bit of appeal. A compact 4 seat convertible with a lovely 6 cylinder and a hefty chunk of performance.
EDIT: Might have been a 140i but either way, it sounded lovely.
|
|
|
|
Post by Roadrunner on Aug 9, 2019 6:56:56 GMT
Success on every level. Enjoy!
|
|
|
|
Post by racingteatray on Aug 9, 2019 9:22:44 GMT
I saw a 135i convertible last week one evening, as I walked the dog. I was just walking by as hecstarted it up and put the roof down and thought it had a fair bit of appeal. A compact 4 seat convertible with a lovely 6 cylinder and a hefty chunk of performance. EDIT: Might have been a 140i but either way, it sounded lovely. There is no 140i.
In terms of small six-cylinder convertibles, you either have the 125i or 135i from the first generation, or the M235i or M240i from the second generation.
The 2-series is, oddly enough, the less successful design, in my eyes. Fussier and with a tendency to look underwheeled.
|
|
|
|
Post by Roadsterstu on Aug 9, 2019 9:45:49 GMT
Sorry, yes, it would have been either M235i or M240i. I feel suitably ashamed!
|
|
|
|
Post by Tim on Aug 9, 2019 9:53:04 GMT
Sorry, yes, it would have been either M235i or M240i. I feel suitably ashamed! Racing's really taken to that anorak hasn't he  |
|
|
|
Post by Roadsterstu on Aug 9, 2019 9:55:03 GMT
I'm surprised Martin didn't beat him to it!
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Aug 9, 2019 10:12:33 GMT
He’s lost me.....
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer6 on Aug 9, 2019 12:36:25 GMT
Aye, right!  |
|
|
|
Post by bryan on Aug 9, 2019 13:10:41 GMT
I think Martin's detailed spec guides to BMW only start from 5, so the earlier numbers are missed out |
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Aug 9, 2019 13:16:46 GMT
I think Martin's detailed spec guides to BMW only start from 5, so the earlier numbers are missed out Spot on Bryan! |
|
|
|
Post by racingteatray on Aug 9, 2019 13:54:49 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by alf on Aug 9, 2019 14:30:29 GMT
It is a 2012. Sounds like there were some issues with air bags and hood wear (and of course coil packs...) on early cars but this was pretty late. It has very little kit, so what the "Sports Edition" means is anyone's guess! I like the black wheels on this car, as I do on mine now - having seen mine with both sets of wheels on it.
I don't see many of the newer 2 series convertibles around, and I prefer the 4 in the current line up - whereas I think the original 1 cabrio is a neater design than the E93 from a similar age. For sure, as Racing suggested, the sweet spot of car for your money for a play thing will be the many 125i models about the place. A detuned large engine tends to feel much like the more powerful one in normal driving...
Ours is not quick - but I'm really enjoying it. Last night I reversed into a tricky spot in an urban situation, and looking over my shoulder with the hood down the cyclist approaching from the side, pedestrian, and outline of the space were all very clear. It does in fact have amazing visibility even with the hood up - the best of any car I've driven - over the shoulder visibility is something many modern cars are very poor at, but the big frameless windows do a good job here.
And yes, Racing has become a proper spotter !!!!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by racingteatray on Aug 9, 2019 16:13:15 GMT
|
|
