[Pete.J]

I am currently in the market for a N54 BMW.

Considering an E82, E90, E92. Below are my personal opinion on all three cars acquired from my research and talking with mates that own them.

E82:
The Enthusiast pick of the bunch, small nimble, comes with a decent set of Brembo brakes for the track. Smaller bonnet, means same mechanical jobs are slightly harder to perform than on the E9X cars Because of the lack of space.

I am leaning towards the E82 because they can be had in manual too. I am not a fan of the stubby crammed look of the E82, but I think a few tasteful exterior mods could make it look a lot sleeker.

I also heard that you can fit much wider tyres on the E90 and E92 chassis than on the E82, because the guards (on the E9X) can accommodate for a wider tyre setup without scrubbing.

I am also not a fan of the single-sided exhaust tip, but I guess that can be fixed as well. 125i and 135i look exactly the same from the back loll

E90:
The jack of all trades and the most practical car here. I like the idea of having a 4 door sports sedan, that can carry 4-5 people comfortably and has a decent-sized boot. And can also hit the track and drags while doing that.

It doesn't come in manual, it's not big deal for me but I wouldn't mind rowing my own gears (my current car is manual). I also drive a lot in peak-hour traffic, so the comfort of having an auto in bad traffic equates the missed enjoyment of changing my own gear at the track or when going on spirited drives. I am 50:50 on this one.

Not the prettiest sedan out there, that's for sure, but it doesn't look stubby/crammed and I think with some exterior mods it could look really sleek.


E92:
The sexy good looking pick of the bunch, imo it looks better than both cars mentioned above.

I can't find any other positives to the E92 apart from its looks, it shares all the same running gear with the E90 sedan, and it's also offered in manual gearbox if I decided to go that path.

Negatives though; the E92 seems to be a lot heavier than the E82 and E90, not sure why. It's not that much bigger in size. I think from memory there's about 100kg weight difference when compared to the E90 and E82 of the same transmission. The extra weight it's carrying means it won't be as much fun for performance driving. The E92 is also the most expensive out of the bunch.

Was anyone here faced with a similar dilemma before pulling the trigger and purchasing their E82 135i? If you can give any insights to my comments above, that'll be great.

Thanks in advance!