| Archive for The Motor Forum talking cars since 2006 |
| ALF |
130i M-Sport Px runI had a decent length run in a 130 last night, owned by one of my old trackday friends. It was a nearly new 130i M-Sport 5 door, with a DMS backbox and the 6-pot brakes off the 135i (bought amazingly cheaply before the exhange rates changed). It also has non-runflats fitted, Eagle Asymetrics all round.The run included some dreadfully surfaced parts of the A31 that I know well, and my first impression was the excellent ride quality (by my twisted, GTA/S-line Audi-warped standards anyway). He said this was markedly better with the normal tyres. But in normal driving and hard cornering it was softer than I expected - about right for me even for a high-miles car - I'll probably look at M-sports now when I look at beemers in a little bit. I far prefer the looks. I was also impressed by the "big car" feel - it just immediately had the feel of a big front-engined rear drive GT, a million miles away from a typical FWD hatch. Hard to define, but BMW have differentiated it well. The engine is a peach. The chap never felt his previous E46 330 was that keen to rev, and said it was running out of puff before 6k rpm, and that the new ones revs better. In fact, it doesn't rev as quickly or crisply at the top end as the GTA motor and noticeably has a heavier flywheel effect (as all non-M beemers I've experienced seem to - designed for autos, I suspect) but it more than makes up for this with superbly linear torque and a lovely engine note. Response from low revs even in top gear was superb, and if driving like a saint on a long run he can push 40mpg - BMW know their engines, for sure. Other mass manufacturers make good engines but they are not as light or economical as BMW's. It also had great grip. He bemoaned it's traction a little - and wants a LSD - but to me it felt incredibly grippy and was less keen to tramline and far less busy under braking than the GTA. Overall it felt well balanced, as quick as I'd want, had a great engine and felt a quality object with much better refinement and more of a "big car" feel than I expected. I think I'll still focus on E92 330 coupes when I change my car as I want an auto and expect a high-miles 3 series coupe auto will hold it's value better than a 1-series with a slushbox, but I could certainly be tempted by a 3-door 130 M-Sport if any autos were available and the price was right... |
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| Nice Guy Eddie |
Interesting stuff. I think that putting non runflats onto the car seems like the thing to do. Having taken a ride in a mates Z4coupe on runflats I couldn't believe how badly the car rode. I'm still tempted by a 1'er when I change my car but much prefer the coupe. Trouble is the 135i is too punchy on a lease which means I can only get a 125i which might feel a little slow after the Golf.
Whats with the need for an Auto. Even if your doing high miles most of that is done on the motorway so therefore don't need to change gear. The only time I've ever been tempted by an Auto is when stuck in London for too long. |
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| ALF |
My problem is a likely 25k+ miles a year, and the fact most of my customers are the other side of London from me. So it's going to be M25 tastic. The office is also in London, shortly moving to Chiswick from central london so I'll probably be driving in there weekly rather than getting the train. Basically, I'm going to spend hours of my life in traffic jams and for some reason I get irrationally angry about having to change into and out of first hundreds of times to move forwards a few yards - not to mention what it does to my back.
I love changing gear, I love heal/toe, it will be hard to switch and maybe I'll change my mind - I reckon I'll be buying a new car at the end of the year at the earliest so will get a good feel for what I need by then. The Audi is much more relaxing than the Alfa to drive big motorway mileages in, day-in, day-out, and has a much lighter clutch/gearbox - perhaps that will seem sufficient. But right now I'm assuming I need an auto - and was well impressed by the 6-speeder in my friend's 335i Touring, having not experienced a very modern slushbox previously... PS - if you were buying it yourself, a 125i coupe and remapping the engine to get it's mojo back (assuming it's that simple, surely it is basically the 330 lump) might be an option? |
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| Eff One |
Re: 130i M-Sport Px run
...splutter... tea all down trousers... you what?! Did you drive the 130i or was it just a passenger ride? I wonder if the newer engines in post '07 130is have changed the character at all? My memory of both the Z4 coupe and 130i M I drove in late '06 is of an incredibly free-spinning, low inertia unit. In fact I remember it being quicker to rev from low down than the GTA, with nothing in it at the top end. Although I drove them several months apart so could be mistaken/rose tinted. |
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| PR |
I love the 130. Such is its torque it can be driven almost like an auto in traffic as you can creep right down to walking pace with a foot on the brake and it doesn't grumble. There seems to be some weird feature of the transmission that almost feels like it decouples to a kind of in-gear idle when it reaches a certain low revs when in gear. It will also happily roll along with no throttle in first and second.
The balance is good although it is quite soft as ALF says. Transition to oversteer seems very predictable, especially on the power. I find the ride perfectly tolerable and would not consider switching to non-RFTs. Stuntman had a passenger ride in mine the other day and commented how much better it rode than a Z4. And of course the centrepiece is that engine. I just love everything about it, from the hums and rumbles it makes at low revs to the searing howl you get as it closes on the redline. It's perfectly matched to a very heavy-duty feeling transmission. |
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| Gurney |
Good grief an auto...!
Still I can see your point, the M25 is enough to persuade anybody I guess. Still not experienced a 130i, 330i yes and no runflats. Superb engine, on a par with the GTA though in many ways different. Much more turbine like with less of the V8 beat that the Alfa produces. Too long ago to remember whether the flywheel had that much inertia but I do know I liked it lots. |
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| ALF |
The Alfa likewise - and the V6 Passat before that. You can hold it on the brake down to almost stationary in third then pull away briskly with no grumbles. A well-mapped petrol NA 6+ cylinder engine can be pretty relaxing in traffic as a result - but when it is genuinely stop-start rather than just down to a crawl, an auto is nicer - as it is when using a phone (hands free of course). Eff One - it was only a passenger ride - better in some ways for assessing ride etc, but I've no idea how it "talks" the the driver... Piers - do you think the 1-series M-sport is softer than the 3 series? It might partly be the runflats, but the 130 seemed to have a better ride, be less fidgety, and was definitely softer in terms of squat/dive and body roll than the 335i Touring I had a blat in. If I get a beemer, the runflats will be coming off - apart from anything else they cost a bloody fortune and can be next to impossible to trace. I can't be dealing with that crap. |
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| PR |
The 320d M Sport I used for a week before Christmas rode more quietly and smoothly than my car but it was on 17s - and they were Bridgestones rather than the Goodyears I have. I have driven a 335i coupe on 18s but it was a long time ago and I can't really remember what it rode like! The overall balance and feel of the 320d was fairly similar, though. The 130 has better small, high frequency bump absorption than the Compact did and also deals with uneven surfaces better, which I put down to the fact that the shell feels stiffer. Oh, and I had an experience yesterday that suggests a manual 130i will out-accelerate a 335i CC, possibly an auto, through second and third gear. |
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| Matt |
It's the same on the S-Type. I'd not driven a manual car with such a smooth first gear before that. | ||||
| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
So was the M3 surprisingly enough, given how highly tuned its engine was. Not the GT3 though, even if you're already rolling, it doesn't like second under about 15-20 mph. |
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| PG |
For me it's both my back and left knee that feel like they are going to explode after a few minutes stop start so that is why I always prefer autos. And with modern boxes the speed of change if you use the manual facility is excellent. The Jag J gate came in for a lot of stick, but if I'm in 5th and want to overtake, a quick flick over to 4th and we're past. I don't think I've ever used the kick-down. So, a switch to the truly dark side - a BMW and an auto.... |
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| Racing |
Interesting. Your thoughts are not dissimilar to mine here on the 135i: http://www.auto-journals.com/journals/BMW?model=135i&journal=102
Plenty of 135is seem to be being sold as autos and, as I say in the A-J report, I could imagine it being a good combination. Perhaps one of those would suit better than a 335i/330i - probably be cheaper 2nd hand. |
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| franki68 |
runflats are aweful.Wifeys z4 has them and the ride is horrific. | ||||
| Mark |
A mate has just ordered the new Z4 3.0 Coupe. Should arrive last week of May. |
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| ALF |
If I decide I don't need an auto next, then a 130 hatch will still be right up there - it was very much the sensible option for what I'd replace the GTA with next anyway, before the job change (a C55 AMG being the lower mileage non-sensible option!). If 135's are being sold as autos (130's don't seem to be) then I'd consider one, though I prefer the looks and practicality of the hatch. The 135 motor would certainly suit an auto, too, with all that torque... However.... two things put me off the 135/335 lump, despite having experienced it and liked it. Firstly Evo were not alone in having a turbo fail - already - and it's an engine out job to replace it. I'm looking to buy a car 2-3 years old then run it for 3 years/75k+. Unless I can economically warrant against turbo failure in a 100k+ mile car, I'm not interested. Secondly, the engine is so pokey at all revs it may be quicker than I want in a daily driver, from a license-keeping perspective 
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