F20 125i vs M135/140i

[Frosty]

Currently wrestling with this choice of used car for the missus.

Heart says go for the straight 6, but car will be mainly used for local driving, long trips will be in the D5.

Anyone have experience of either, for driving experience, servicing and any annoying niggles etc?

Cheers

Paul

[Yad3100]

Frosty

Can’t find a xd3 for the money?

I got a M135 on loan from Sytner Sheffield for a month (don’t ask about circumstances as it’s a long story). Me and Marc76 took it out on the back lanes around Holden and properly kicked it’s head in. It only had 35 miles on it! I was so impressed with it and the ZF that after getting the V8 M3 out my system I bought a M240 as a daily.

I owned the car for 3 years with no issues, the 240 engine is immense and I have run it close to M3 F80 on the road and also had it on the track at Snetterton. I did add a BMW plated diff and it transformed the car so much grip and traction for a rwd, it was easily faster than a e46 M3.

Not sure if your wife wants all that power, but it really easy to drive although the m sport suspension is a bit crashy, try to get one with the active suspension if you can.

[Frosty]

Thanks Adam,

I hear you on the power for the missus but I had heard the cars were an easy drive, so just needs to keep an eye on her lead foot!

We drove down to Kent and test drove a 125i today in F20 guise. Was quite impressed, just debating now if for similar money to get the M135/140 or get this loaded version, with cheaper running, servicing and insurance.

[ScooBeeFive]

Great minds Paul - I'm on the lookout for a nice 140i for my wife as well. We're in no hurry so can be picky. Needs to be a red 5 door manual, preferably with Pro Nav and heated seats. Amazing how many have zero options added, although the base spec was pretty decent.

I've been meaning to do some research and see what other options were available. Some have adaptive suspension and adaptive lights. I'd be tempted to just get standard suspension though and then swap it out with the Birds kit along with an LSD.

[Jonnywishbone]

I dailied an M240i from new for 4 years.

As Adam says the B58 is brilliant - it makes the car, is worth the price of admission alone and it even has a rather Alpina like character.

Engine aside it’s pretty much a 7-8/10 car in all departments bar practicality (which will obviously be partially remedied by the F20). Good to drive without being special; perfectly comfortable on a cruise though the wheelbase and suspension setup prevents it from being a waft-mobile; decent economy on a run given the power available.

I never drove a passively damped car but I would definitely suggest it’s worthwhile seeking out both setups. My custom setup was to put the steering and suspension in comfort with the drivetrain in sport because the stiffer adaptive mode was too crashy for me on most roads and that was wearing the standard 18’s on MPSS tyres. From what I’ve read the passive setup splits the difference between adaptive comfort and sport.

The car developed an undeserved reputation for lairiness partially on the back of Clarkson driving like a lead footed moron on a skid pan but the car is entirely safe if you don’t drive like one, albeit as someone used to driving powerful RWD cars it can be easy to forget some folk have never driven a car with those characteristics. My major bugbear with the car in OEM form is that it’s difficult to deploy the power unless it’s bone dry and the tyres are warm.

[Yad3100]

Gents,

For the money it’s hard to get anything with this amount of performance.

My car was well specced, but if I had the time again I would have waited for an adaptive suspension car, but it was a performance model with the 19s and carbon mirrors and spoilers. I also added a m performance back box with the carbon tips. The box deletes the valve and allows the exhaust to breathe from both pipes all the time, it makes the car sound a bit deeper. I also replaced the run flats with PS4 and this also helped both turn in feel and traction (255 on rear).

I spent a lot of time looking into lsd and decided to pay the extra for a genuine bmw m performance diff rather than the ATB the birds supply. I have lots of experience with ATB diffs in fwd fords and didn’t think that the torque biasing would be any good when I want the rears to lock.

Having driven the car for 12 months with std drive, the car felt limited by the TC, switch it off in wet or greasy conditions would just spin a wheel. With the diff it would squat like an old school cossie, and just push you in the back in all conditions. Surprisingly it almost eradicated the flashing yellow light.

I saw no point in buying an early M2 for more money with the same sort of performance but only comes with a dull black interior. I would recommend the 140/240 package to anyone who wants a “small” (as big as e46) fast saloon.

[Frosty]

We have gone for a F20 125i Shadow Edition.

Melbourne Red metallic and pretty well loaded with options, ex sunroof, useful as she does not like them anyway.

Will get some pics up at the week end.

[ScooBeeFive]

Sounds good Paul. They look great in Melbourne Red, I'm surprised they are so rare in that colour.

[Frosty]

Picked up from Barretts in Ashford, so nice road trip down in the Alpina, in sometimes atrocious rain.

Car was prepared very well and as you can see from the pics, does not appear to had much if any occupation in the passenger or rear seats. A little higher mileage than I would have preferred, but the missus only does about 4-5 pa.

Seems to be quite a rare car being a 125i, and especially with the adaptive suspension and Melbourne Red.

Inked125i_15 May 2021_LI.jpg (1.76 MiB) Viewed 1921 times

Inked125i_1_LI.jpg (2.01 MiB) Viewed 1921 times

125i_2.jpg (155.4 KiB) Viewed 1921 times

125i_3.jpg (121.75 KiB) Viewed 1921 times

125i_4.jpg (86.99 KiB) Viewed 1921 times

[Yad3100]

Nice, some cars look good in red, even though I’m not normally a fan.

What colour is the interior? It looks almost orange.

[ttrill]

Looks lovely, does that have active cruise as well? Very rare on an F20.

[Frosty]

It seems the 125i is quite rare anyway but to find one with the adaptive suspension was lucky, but also in this colour combination i think we have done well.

Options on this included:

Model ZMH1 F20 125i M Sport Shadow Edition 5-door S
Colour A75 Melbourne Red Metallic
Upholstery LCRY Cognac with Brown highlight Dakota Leather (Brown is the piping)
Option 2VF M Adaptive Suspension
Option 322 Comfort Access
Option 4LR Fineline Stream Wood with Pearl Chrome
Option 430 Folding Wing Mirrors with Auto-dimming
Option 488 Front Lumbar Support
Option 494 Front Heated Seats
Option 5AC High-Beam Assistant
Option 5DF Active Cruise Control
Option 552 Adaptive LED Headlights
Option 6NW Enhanced Bluetooth with Wireless Chargin (Apple car Play is included within this package)
Option 6WD WiFi Hotspot
Package ZNP Media package - Professional
Package Z0B Interior comfort package

[ScooBeeFive]

Wow that really is a find - very nice!

[Bob]

That's a veritable Christmas Tree, good find!

Love the Melbourne Red with Cognac, had to make do with Oyster Dakota when I ordered Melbourne Red for an F32.