Semi skimmed //M
05-06-2013, 01:07 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: sideways with an OWL!
Posts: 13,579
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Semi skimmed //M
High mpg is so last year. This year is about fun in a practical package.
My short list was :
C63 amg, lovely engine, no X factor
E90 m3 coupe, running costs put me off
New cayman (non s), no decent deals, couldn't afford the s that I wanted but a deeply brilliant car. Maybe next time?
But after much deliberation and a couple of test drives I went for a new M135i, 3dr, 8sp sport auto, adaptive suspension, pro nav, plus a few other toys. I picked it up on Friday with 9 miles on the clock, and 720 miles later I'm in the middle of the highlands and loving it more by the mile.
Full fat m cars are according to BMW about 80% modified from the base model, the m135 about 35%. So no new body work other than front bumper and rear valance. N55hp engine making 316bhp and 350lbft which is 3l with twin scroll turbo which is sort of off the shelf type item. Probably unreliable reports are that most engines are making at least that figure if not more, and certainly it actually feels quicker than my old e46 m3. Could just be the torque though.
It builds speed deceptively quickly. Sill not using the full 7k rev range, but the torque combined with the zf 8spd box means the only thing I'm missing is the top end noise. Which so far is a lovely bassy whuffle. Did 140 miles or so with blurter today in his e90 m3 in tow and there was a lot of mutual appreciation going on in both speed and noise.
I quite like the looks. It's not a great looker but in my colour combo it's a nice subtle look that doesn't attract too much attention which suits me down to the ground. I'm inside it more than outside looking at it and the interior is great.
But more important that all of that is the handling and the elephant in the room. The lack of LSD. If you want a drift car, look elsewhere, the ediff is shite. Power oversteer is not there. It needs inducement which is a shame. BUT! Outside of roundabouts and tight corners, you don't miss it. At all.
I do a fair amount of highland hooning and this is just about the perfect car. The suspension is supple enough on the shite roads, its not too heavy (in a modern sense), the grip on the Michelin super sports is immense, even in the rain, and the driver involvement is brilliant. The rear suspension feels like the pivot point (or wheel centre or cog or something) is just below the rear axle giving a lovely feel. Great high (ish officer honest) speed stability, steering feel is improved over the e80 1 series and shows the progress electric steering is making.
The adaptive suspension is pretty cool and I'm glad I got it. It irons out the nigglyness of modern sports suspensions, combined with the 18" non runflats gives. Pretty compliant ride without rolling too much. Stick it in sport + and the rides a bit rougher but it a gives a lovely taught response.
The zf 8sp auto, tuned specifically for this application is a revelation for an auto box, put it in sport and manual mode and its nearly as good as the dct box. Not quite but for a box with a torque converter it's pretty good stuff. If this is a weekend car you're going to want the manual, but this is my daily driver and it gives me the best of both worlds.
Bad points: fricken tiny fuel tank at 50l. Fuel light came on after 160 miles. The looks if they're important to you, you vain bastard. And the ediff. Let me spec an LSD or don't mention the ediff. Don't mind which, but don't try and lie to me. I'm not really missing it, but it's a nice to have.
To sum up, despite some reservations prior to taking delivery, this is a do everything road car. Big enought to carry 4 adults, or me and all my crap, including my bike. Comfy, premium feeling interior. Brilliant engine, fantastic handling for a road car considering everything else. It genuinely deserves the //M badge, albeit the baby semi skimmed version.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chilled_mark/8714415809/http://www.flickr.com/photos/chilled_mark/8714415809/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/chilled_mark/, on Flickr
My short list was :
C63 amg, lovely engine, no X factor
E90 m3 coupe, running costs put me off
New cayman (non s), no decent deals, couldn't afford the s that I wanted but a deeply brilliant car. Maybe next time?
But after much deliberation and a couple of test drives I went for a new M135i, 3dr, 8sp sport auto, adaptive suspension, pro nav, plus a few other toys. I picked it up on Friday with 9 miles on the clock, and 720 miles later I'm in the middle of the highlands and loving it more by the mile.
Full fat m cars are according to BMW about 80% modified from the base model, the m135 about 35%. So no new body work other than front bumper and rear valance. N55hp engine making 316bhp and 350lbft which is 3l with twin scroll turbo which is sort of off the shelf type item. Probably unreliable reports are that most engines are making at least that figure if not more, and certainly it actually feels quicker than my old e46 m3. Could just be the torque though.
It builds speed deceptively quickly. Sill not using the full 7k rev range, but the torque combined with the zf 8spd box means the only thing I'm missing is the top end noise. Which so far is a lovely bassy whuffle. Did 140 miles or so with blurter today in his e90 m3 in tow and there was a lot of mutual appreciation going on in both speed and noise.
I quite like the looks. It's not a great looker but in my colour combo it's a nice subtle look that doesn't attract too much attention which suits me down to the ground. I'm inside it more than outside looking at it and the interior is great.
But more important that all of that is the handling and the elephant in the room. The lack of LSD. If you want a drift car, look elsewhere, the ediff is shite. Power oversteer is not there. It needs inducement which is a shame. BUT! Outside of roundabouts and tight corners, you don't miss it. At all.
I do a fair amount of highland hooning and this is just about the perfect car. The suspension is supple enough on the shite roads, its not too heavy (in a modern sense), the grip on the Michelin super sports is immense, even in the rain, and the driver involvement is brilliant. The rear suspension feels like the pivot point (or wheel centre or cog or something) is just below the rear axle giving a lovely feel. Great high (ish officer honest) speed stability, steering feel is improved over the e80 1 series and shows the progress electric steering is making.
The adaptive suspension is pretty cool and I'm glad I got it. It irons out the nigglyness of modern sports suspensions, combined with the 18" non runflats gives. Pretty compliant ride without rolling too much. Stick it in sport + and the rides a bit rougher but it a gives a lovely taught response.
The zf 8sp auto, tuned specifically for this application is a revelation for an auto box, put it in sport and manual mode and its nearly as good as the dct box. Not quite but for a box with a torque converter it's pretty good stuff. If this is a weekend car you're going to want the manual, but this is my daily driver and it gives me the best of both worlds.
Bad points: fricken tiny fuel tank at 50l. Fuel light came on after 160 miles. The looks if they're important to you, you vain bastard. And the ediff. Let me spec an LSD or don't mention the ediff. Don't mind which, but don't try and lie to me. I'm not really missing it, but it's a nice to have.
To sum up, despite some reservations prior to taking delivery, this is a do everything road car. Big enought to carry 4 adults, or me and all my crap, including my bike. Comfy, premium feeling interior. Brilliant engine, fantastic handling for a road car considering everything else. It genuinely deserves the //M badge, albeit the baby semi skimmed version.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chilled_mark/8714415809/http://www.flickr.com/photos/chilled_mark/8714415809/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/chilled_mark/, on Flickr
05-07-2013, 12:44 AM
#4
Sounds a really good spec for around £30k and a good idea to road test/compare with the M3 (now worth not much more at 3 years 
) Interesting factoid about the proportion of different parts in an M machine: be nice to have a breakdown but you can see they would avoid body parts. I wonder if space underneath is an issue at the back end with 2 lardy German arses to fit in - small tank, no LSD option 
) Interesting factoid about the proportion of different parts in an M machine: be nice to have a breakdown but you can see they would avoid body parts. I wonder if space underneath is an issue at the back end with 2 lardy German arses to fit in - small tank, no LSD option
05-07-2013, 02:04 AM
#5
It's a 3er rear-ended; something has to give & it's the fuel tank.
Good report - it seems to me to be ideally suited to that role.
I think the e-diff is probably to stop heros trying to kill themselves; a 200 bhp 86 is basically less of a liability with an LSD. But will still rotate as easily as an S2000 if you turn everything off, apparently.
The semi-skimmed //M also solves one of my modern quandaries; what is the point of wasting all that M money on fitting racing parts to something the size of the Graf Spey? You could build quite a nice little car out of an E30 shell (despite its awkward top-heavy proportions) but it seems more like brand-oriented overkill these days. It's nice to get something optimised out of the box, but it's expensive & even expensiverer if you break it. And an optimised road car is far more useable than an optimised track car, since most of them will be leases.
Good report - it seems to me to be ideally suited to that role.
I think the e-diff is probably to stop heros trying to kill themselves; a 200 bhp 86 is basically less of a liability with an LSD. But will still rotate as easily as an S2000 if you turn everything off, apparently.
The semi-skimmed //M also solves one of my modern quandaries; what is the point of wasting all that M money on fitting racing parts to something the size of the Graf Spey? You could build quite a nice little car out of an E30 shell (despite its awkward top-heavy proportions) but it seems more like brand-oriented overkill these days. It's nice to get something optimised out of the box, but it's expensive & even expensiverer if you break it. And an optimised road car is far more useable than an optimised track car, since most of them will be leases.
05-07-2013, 05:40 AM
#7
Bad points: fricken tiny fuel tank at 50l. Fuel light came on after 160 miles. The looks if they're important to you, you vain bastard. And the ediff. Let me spec an LSD or don't mention the ediff. Don't mind which, but don't try and lie to me. I'm not really missing it, but it's a nice to have.
The looks are the one thing that I don't get.
The rest seems like a great package.
I've been contemplating my Scirroco change later in the year and this seems like a good replacement.
Trending Topics
05-07-2013, 06:00 AM
#8
I like it too.
It still looks a bit dull but it's the only hot hatch a grown man should buy.
It still looks a bit dull but it's the only hot hatch a grown man should buy.
05-07-2013, 06:07 AM
#9
I think that's a lot to do with it; I no longer like the term 'Hot Hatch' for cars this barge-like & think it really stops making sense at A or B-segment hooliganmobiles.
Golf GTis & whatever these things are called again are probably closer to Cavalier SRis or suchlike.
I know M-B do one that is so tasteless, it makes the Civic not look embarrassing, but that's partially the point.
Golf GTis & whatever these things are called again are probably closer to Cavalier SRis or suchlike.
I know M-B do one that is so tasteless, it makes the Civic not look embarrassing, but that's partially the point.
05-07-2013, 10:56 AM
#10
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: sideways with an OWL!
Posts: 13,579
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
This is not a hot hatch by any definition I've ever come across. Apart from the facts that it's hot and it has a hatch. Highland driving in the dry today and its phenomenally quick. Very composed yet fun, makes a brilliant noise, burbling, whuffling, howling, popping. I'm now decided that without question I made the right choice.
I got off the mountain after walking eight and a half hours, seven munros and didn't fancy my 50 mile drive to Applecross as I was shattered. 2 miles later and I am seriously pressing on, all signs of fatigue gone. And I now love the looks. Subtle, purposeful. And it's mine.
So where's the nearest petrol station....
I got off the mountain after walking eight and a half hours, seven munros and didn't fancy my 50 mile drive to Applecross as I was shattered. 2 miles later and I am seriously pressing on, all signs of fatigue gone. And I now love the looks. Subtle, purposeful. And it's mine.
So where's the nearest petrol station....