What's our opinion of BMW 135i's?

I drove past a used car lot on my way home from work today and spotted a BMW 135i. How do we feel about these things?

135i's are awesome. If you can swing for an m135i that is even better, however those things have climbed in price due to low volume m badge association. I've never driven one but have only heard good things. I imagine the dimensions are also similar to the e46 coupe line up. The newer m cars are just getting more and more bloated. I imagine the new m3 is more in line with e39 m5 dimension wise.

Ask Pseudosport... they are awesome. I've driven his in anger, and it's very quick. It's small on the outside, but there's plenty of room in front for the driver and passenger. The back seat is basically a shelf. It also has a usable trunk. I love the feel of it; the steering is heavy but precise, and the shifter and clutch feel great. And there's no annoying gadgets, iDrive, etc.

SilverFleet wrote: The back seat is basically a shelf that provides a place to connect your clip in harnesses.

a small addition

I drove one only once, at about 7/10ths. This is going to sound nuts but: The car drives BOTH bigger and smaller than it is. It weighs about the same as my e46M3, has only slightly less power. It feels less tossable than the M3, turn-in isn't as crisp. However, the brakes are WHOA, STOPRIGHTNOW boat anchors.

You'd think it would ride nicer than the M3, but it doesn't.

All that said: I'd love to have one as a daily.

Good-looking car, IMHO.

NY535iManual wrote: I drove one only once, at about 7/10ths. This is going to sound nuts but: The car drives BOTH bigger and smaller than it is. It weighs about the same as my e46M3, has only slightly less power. It feels less tossable than the M3, turn-in isn't as crisp. However, the brakes are WHOA, STOPRIGHTNOW boat anchors. You'd think it would ride nicer than the M3, but it doesn't. All that said: I'd love to have one as a daily.

Did you drive an M135 or a 135i?

No such thing as an M135i. There's the 1M, which is super rare and you won't find one for under $40k.

There's the 135i M-Sport which is a 135i with M-sport wheels and shifter.

Also, you could get one with iDrive (mine has it).

I love mine. Some things to be aware of though - the early twin turbo cars had high pressure fuel pump issues (although most of those should be fixed by now) and some also had a wastegate rattle which was very expensive to replace, and if the Turbos go you're looking at close to $5 grand all-in. The twin turbo cars (N54) are more tuneable than the dual scroll cars (N55) but the dual scroll cars are a bit more reliable and have a little less turbo lag.

From the factory, they understeer pretty heavily and you can't fit much more front tire on them without rolling the fenders. You can also only get -0.5 degrees of front camber without a camber kit.

In case you're looking at automatics, pre 2011 cars came with a regular 6 speed automatic and 2011+ cars came with a Dual Clutch automatic.

The water pump and thermostat will have to be done every 5-7 years.

The suspension is actually identical to the E92, but on a shrunken chassis. To compensate and make the large suspension fit on a smaller car they gave the 1 series very high offset wheels, so most BMW wheels won't fit a 135i well without modifications.

The 135i was not available with a mechanical LSD. That was reserved for the 1M. It does have an e-diff, but if you turn traction control off, it turns the e-diff off too. So when I autocross mine I leave traction control on but switch it to sport mode. You could get an aftermarket LSD, but they're spendy.

The rear section of the OEM exhaust is a boat anchor and you can free up a lot and lose about 25 lbs by just replacing it.

If you have any specific questions just ask, I've had mine for 2 years, and while I'm a lousy mechanic, I've done a lot of research on the car and learned a lot about it since owning it.

In reply to drdisque:

Thanks for the info. They don't have an online listing for the car yet but it's a 2009 with a stick, 85k miles and they want $16,000.

That sounds about right. 2 years ago I paid $18,500 for my '08 with 45k on it (but with California Mfr Buyback branding on the title - was due to HPFP issues that the factory hadn't yet identified). Maybe talk them down to $15k if they don't have documentation of the water pump being done.

I thought the 135's were fairly problem prone, and a lady I knew that had one had a LOT of work done under warranty - to the point there was almost 3/5ths purchase value in repairs.

I don't recall what year hers was, but along with the fuel pump and turbo, she had numerous injector issues, and a few other things (and I want to say it was multiples of same issues).

She dumped it as the warranty was running out.

I was thinking about 128s, since I couldn't swing the large repairs for 135's that I'd read about. Then I wound up with the Miata.

Purpose? I have seen two go boom on track. Not sure what the cause was other than the turbos went.

PMRacing wrote: Purpose? I have seen two go boom on track. Not sure what the cause was other than the turbos went.

Track days.

I'm looking at these too but I'm probably going to go with a 128i. Every BMW that I've ever owned has experienced those "common issues". There are a lot of common issues on the turbo version that I'd rather not experience.

The one that did it for me, when I was looking up how to replace the serpentine belt on my wife's 325i (E90), was a specific problem to the turbo version. Apparently the engine can move a bit too close to the subframe, shred the belt, causing it to wrap around things in an expensive way. That's on top of the already mentioned fuel issues and turbo issues. Nope, not doing it!

My plan is to find a 128i with the sports seats, change the intake to the 3 stage version, dink around with the suspension/exhaust and call it good. At that point the only stupid thing it should need is the inevitable water pump replacement. Oh and it will probably leak oil at some point - every BMW I have owned has leaked oil, but that's another discussion.

The 135 runs hot. Track days would be hard on it, especially on a hot day or long sessions. That engine produces a lot of heat and is packed in very tightly.

You'll have 90% of the fun for half the cost with a 128.

I bought the 135 because I like the 300hp (but who doesn't). I also don't need to drive to work and have a second car for the winter so it doesn't matter if it's out of commission for awhile.

Also, my car has fairly low mileage and I only drive it about 2k miles per year and don't track it, so I'm relatively easy on it.

My friend had one for a while. Awesome car, but it spent a lot of time in the shop for a 30k mile car.

I actually drove one tonight and I was reminded of how much I like them. That said, I got to drive it because it was dropped off at the shop for coil issues..

My opinion is that I need to test drive one.

I drive against one locally in FS. I haven't driven it but I've passengered and I like the car a lot. It's understeery but not more than most of the cars in FS. It's the guy's daily and it's a fantastic tool for that. For what it's worth, his has been reliable.

I looked heavily at the 1 series just a few months ago, when I was shopping for my new DD. The only thing that kept me from pulling the trigger was that it was just too small for my needs. Otherwise, I very likely would have bought one. EXCEPT...I would have gone 128i. It's got more than enough power for every day use, it's actually pretty quick. I didn't get to drive it in total anger, but it just felt right. Steering, brakes, clutch, etc...all just felt great. From all I read, the 135i is a reliability mess. It reminded me of the R56 Cooper S. The 128i seems to be rather reliable. Part of my still wishes I got one.

Maybe the real answer to his question is an e46 m3?

drdisque wrote: The 135 runs hot. Track days would be hard on it, especially on a hot day or long sessions. That engine produces a lot of heat and is packed in very tightly. You'll have 90% of the fun for half the cost with a 128. I bought the 135 because I like the 300hp (but who doesn't). I also don't need to drive to work and have a second car for the winter so it doesn't matter if it's out of commission for awhile. Also, my car has fairly low mileage and I only drive it about 2k miles per year and don't track it, so I'm relatively easy on it.

That's some pretty solid advice right there, especially coming from a guy who owns one. Maybe I need to take a closer look at a 128.

I love my Z3, but I really would have been happier with a car with a roof.

I love mine. It has 65k miles and I've owned it for 35k of that. I have replaced 3 injectors, plugs and a coil but that ran me about $550. Not bad for 3 years of ownership. It's my daily driver but it I do autocross it too.

Woody wrote: I love my Z3, but I really would have been happier with a car with a roof.

They made those you know:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Z3-Coupe-/262249336437?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3d0f474e75:g:zUcAAOSwpRRWnoFt&item=262249336437