Hi everyone.
I've been using this site for research purposes so thought it would only be fair to write something which will hopefully be useful to someone.
So.... I was looking to sell my Superchared Z4 3.0 and E36 M3 Evo (Euro 321 bhp not US version) running just one car, a 135i. However after a couple of test drives and despite being amazed by its outright pace, it just didn't excite or have the character like the M3 does. So updated the master plan to keep the M3 for trackdays, Nurburgring trips etc and get something economical for the day to day stuff, but still fun.
This is where the 123d M Sport roles in and boy does it fill the role perfectly. It's quick, economical, fairly practical, looks great and most importantly RWD. This is my first modern diesel and I am very impressed how things have moved on, the twin turbo setup eliminates turbo lag. I picked her up with just 2700 miles on the clock and saved £10,500 on the new price
. Got her from a dealership in London and drove her 580 miles back up the north of Scotland. Done around 700 miles now. Car has 18" rims, folding mirrors, tinted windows, heated seats, leather seats, ipod kit & comfort package.
Two questions.
1) Can I set the car up so it automatically locks when I pull off, but not when unlocked and left unattended. Can just see my unlocking the car, throwing the keys on the seat before loading the bike on the roof and hearing the car lock up
2) What sort of mileage do these engines really start to loosen up for power and fuel consumption?
To save putting you guys to sleep I'll bullet point everything, any suggestions on problems would be great.
Positives
- 3 door looks much better than the 5 door, especially in Le Mans blue and M Sport kit
- Interior - Fantastic place to be, very good quality, comfortable, simple but has everything you need, quiet on the move, love the adjustable side bolsters.
- Great mid range, no turbo lag at all. Very nippy, hopefully got a lot more to come.
- Handles really well, steering is a little artifically heavy though. Loads of rear end grip even in the wet.
- Ride quality is perfect, good dampening. BMW have come a long way the suspension setup and run flat tyres, Z4 was terrible.
- Sound system, standard system better than I thought, but not good enough.
- Good boot size especially with the seats folded down.
Negatives
- Display for ipod on Business Head Unit is very poor, only display 10 characters or so.
- MPG varies a lot with just 10mph difference on motorway. Not talking silly speeds here.
- Still only averaging 46mpg on a 580 mile motorway trip home. Hope it will improve with miles, car only done 3k miles. What do you think?
- Need to stretch just to reach functions on the centre console furtherest from the driver seat. Very poor design.
- Could be user error, but when I stall it
ops: do you need to remove the guy and start again? Got stuck in the middle of a roundabout.
- Hard to keep car at a steady speed on the motorway, sensitive throttle.
Problems
- Gear Lever Vibrates a lot on idle and low rpm
- Engine light came on the other night, after flooring it through the gears, just orange thankfully and hasn't come back on since.
- Sometimes can smell something "burning" I step out the car and it's not the brakes. Clutch maybe?
- Head Unit sometimes loses it's bass\treble settings.
- All four hubs\rotors have surface corrosion on them where they meet the wheel. I feel it lets the car down, especially with the open wheels. Can these be replaced under warranty? Personally I'd prefer if BMW would power cost them black.
Future Mods
- Roof bars with bike racks to save damaging the interior
- Alpine kit audio upgrade
- Replace the dash trim with the aluminium accent trim (think that's what it's called, anyone want to swap?
)
- Pro Head Unit for better ipod display
- Fit Cruise Control
Woke up the next day looking forward to giving her a good clean and polish
