|
the following considers just the acceleration and forgets about the mpg's, residuals etc.
i drove the 123d first - purely our of curiosity. the car was very solid compared with my vw vr6 (naturally, the vw is almost 15 years old). I've never driven any bmw before and was surprised how well the car responded to driver input especially at roundabouts. The diesel felt very quick, quicker than the vr6, there was a slight delay in power, but nothing major. It did have a diesel sounding engine (i dont know if that matters to anyone here!?). In general the acceleration was very good the suspension perhaps a little harsh on the bumpy roads.
In comparison the 135i was instantly a different story, yes the car's look similar but the performance was clear - any prod of the accelerator resulted in instant acceleration in any gear, i'm totally serious, very surprising cruising in 5th (perhaps 6th at your peril) on a 30 mph road. There is a little more understeer in the 135i at the roundabouts with dsc on, i assume this is due to the heavier engine at the front of the car.
both cars were manual.
in general the manual gearbox was - not as smooth as my vw, i felt the bmw was a bit notchy.
all in all i went for the 135i - and has made my mind up to buy the car way before even phoning the dealer for a test drive (some would say reckless?!), i took delivery last friday and am very happy with my choice - a manual variant.
|