I am willing to change my mind upon receipt of suitable information. All I want is a reasoned discussion, and for the most part people in this thread haven't been interested in reasoning, only emotional responses with no support or very poorly thought out support in the case of the guy with the Miata apocrypha. Thus far I have supported my position quite assiduously, but you will see now that it is as fluid as anything else.
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Originally Posted by asbrr
Ok so since I'm the OP, let me add my 2 cents to this conversation.
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Right on, a polite and well reasoned reply--at least as reasoned as my posts if not more. It looks like you have thought out your ownership in a very logical way. I can appreciate the idea of wanting a modern E36 M3, and I freely admit my criticisms of the platform are not relevant to your situation.
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Originally Posted by asbrr
(I'm not going to get into the list of higher maintenance points here, but my opinion is that it's more on a 135 regardless).
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I would prefer that someone DOES get into the list of higher maintenance points, because that is still something I do not understand.
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Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob
Shouldn't you be out driving your "sick" car?
Also, laughing at the idea that the "weight and balance are nearly the same" between the two cars because, you know, physics.
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The car is fun, but in the scheme of things it's not that sick. Honestly, my electric racing bikes and motocross bike are way, way more "sick" lol. And yes, I do ride and enjoy them frequently, with the bonus that it's always on a track or trails where the only liability is my personal injury and destruction of equipment! This is a false dichotomy anyway, why can't I enjoy my toys AND discuss controversial topics with people on the internet?
As for the physics, stock 135i is 52 / 48...a 128i is 51/49. That is rather marginal, and you had better be one hell of an experienced driver to appreciate the difference. The 135i does weighs a bit more overall, and if anything, THAT is a bigger issue than a practically nonexistent balance difference.
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Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob
So many assumptions being made in this one sentence alone - just curious, have you ever driven a 128i before and after the manifold, header, and tune conversion?
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Don't get angry, I am only giving my opinion...it only happens to be more complicated and better thought-out than any rebuttals anyone has given me, with exception of the OP who was not only polite but well-reasoned. I've seen the dyno sheets and for the money and effort (and the fact you've reached a dead end that can only be pushed by spending 10x more money) I just don't get it. I have driven NA cars more powerful than my tuned 135i. I like NA as much as anyone (ask me about my MX bike), but for me, a car is more than just an engine and I have no such attachment to "pure" NA platforms as the OP does. Clearly, in this case the issue is not as black and white as I have presumed, and I can only support the OP's ownership of the 128i.
Ultimately, I got my 135i for the combination of DI + turbo + DCT. The first two because I was interested in learning and remapping the ECU myself (ended up not doing this) to carry on my prior experience mapping DI turbo, and the DCT because I had prior experience with them and knew I had to have one in my car. If it hadn't been for my intention to do ECU remapping, I may well have gotten a 370z, DCT be damned. It's a much better car for track work stock vs stock...ask me about all the mods one needs to do to a 135i for "serious" track work...yikes.