Intro with photos

[Kkuba]

Hi all,

Recently I purchased a 135i, as I mention in a previous thread, but I said that photos would come later.

So the story:

I am from Melbourne, I bought the car from a chap up in Brisbane, it was his wife's car.

After a long time searching for my next dream car and having discussions with my dad, my dad came across this car (he was helping me look for cars in his spare time). After negotiating a price, I flew up to have a look at the car one Friday after work, instantly loved it, it was in amazing condition, I couldn't believe it.

Apart from a couple of stone chips on the bonnet, it was perfect! no dings or dents, interior was also amazing.

Signed the papers there and then, in the coming weeks, all payments and documents were finalised, the car was put onto a truck, and shipped down.

Once again:

2008 Sapphire Black 135i 6MT M-Sport, with BMW Performance wheels (269s) with RE050 Runflats, Lemon interior and iDrive.

I have to say, I LOVE the sound it makes, it is amazing. But then I always knew it would be, but didn't realise it would be so addictive. I have come from Japanese import car (Nissan 180SX), which was my first car, and that was a turbo 4. Definitely had a lot of poke, but it never sounded that good, I guess it's well known that 4-bangers can only sound mediocre at best.

The car is oh so smooth and satisfying fast. I think the first modification I might do will be the CDV delete, as I have heard this is a really good mod.

After that, I'm still undecided if I want to modify it, I managed 8 years without modifying the 180SX. Just changed the suspension. But with such a (comparatively) well refined car like the E82, I am a bit skeptical about modifying the suspension, as it is my daily, and I don't want to mess too much with ride comfort.

Now for the photos:

[froop]

Congrats on the purchase! Looks real clean.

Despite what you say, let the modding begin!

[duongma]

8 years without modifying a 180! Thats some self control Nice buy congrats!

[OzJustin]

Congrats on your buy. Looks like a great car.
I hope to end up with one similar to yours when the prices come down a bit.

PS - I know you're not looking to modify but go for a tune like JB4/Procede/Cobb at bare minimum. You'll have a 220rwkw stock car with mountains more torque than your SR20 had

[UR25IO]

Congrats and welcome to the forum.
its been so long that ive seen a stock looking 135, that whole baby cute looking thing.. cant wait to see it mature.
hahaha

Thony

[bsm135]

Welcome!
Exact the same combo as me.
Sapphire black/Lemon White leather.

(Y)

[Kkuba]

Thanks guys

@duongma
Part of that was to avoid police attention, standard exhaust was my saving grace many times i think...

@OzJustin
Yeah, the JB4 is something i have been considering. Just plug and play as far as I've read. Seems to be really easy to install then remove later when selling. Just need to do some more research on what the differences are between the JB/Cobb/Procede

But before any of this, I am also thinking about doing a walnut shell blast on the intake ports. The only reason is because I have seen what other people have at 40,000 mi, so I can only imagine what I have in my intake ports... Though, I had noticed once, after starting the engine from stone cold, and letting the idle settle after first stage of cold start is finished (30ish seconds?), while I was standing near the exhaust, I heard the occasional pop of a mis-fire. It is very subtle though, as you cannot hear or otherwise tell inside the car. Either that, or it doesn't happen at all once the car is partially/fully warmed up. Not sure if that's related to intake ports, but I would guess that would be one of the first symptoms...

On that note, have any of you guys had the walnut shell blast done? If so, where and how much? Preferably in Melbourne, but keen to hear prices from anywhere that does it.

@UR25IO
Haha, not quite sure what you mean by that, but I assume you mean aesthetic modifications? Like wheels, front/rear bumpers, lips and spoilers, and maybe ride height? Because I think I would be even less inclined to be doing visual mods, than I would be doing performance mods. Not that I have anything against it, but I just like the stock look, it suits me better. I like subtlety, and the whole idea behind a sleeper. Not that I'm saying a 135i is a sleeper, but visual mods take it further away from that.

[arthurtwp]

Congrats on the car! looks beautiful. re cosmetic reckon things like LED angle eyes and the blackline LCI LED tail lights make a massive difference (both plug and play for the e82). Having said that those two together would cost close to 8-900 bucks including install..

[drjekl]

Congrats on your new ride mate she looks neat!

I never liked the sound of the nissan 4 banger turbo's, whereas the subaru boxers sounded great back in the day!

You're right though the bmw six sounds pretty damn good!

[ATSE]

Good stuff! See you around and let the modding begin.

[Kkuba]

Originally Posted by arthurtwp

Congrats on the car! looks beautiful. re cosmetic reckon things like LED angle eyes and the blackline LCI LED tail lights make a massive difference (both plug and play for the e82). Having said that those two together would cost close to 8-900 bucks including install..

Ah, I see.

On that note, the tail lights, from what I understand the blackline LCI LED tail lights are basically tinted versions of the LCI tail lights (characterised by the two L shapes when illuminated?). I like the look of them, I don't like them $400 more than the standard ones. I was actually looking at mine the other day and comparing them to the LCI ones, and could not justify the spend.


Regarding the front lights, I have seen people talking about upgrading these to have 'white light' angle eyes. Is that what you are talking about? In this case, actually prefer the yellow light that is standard (and I just replaced one of the angel eye globes a couple of days ago! not cheap). I think the yellow light looks good, because it is a bit more subtle (see above), and also, with the low beams on (at night), you can still see both angel eye rings, as there is a colour contrast, otherwise, in the case of the white light, the inboard ring gets drowned out.

But I guess both are just a matter of opinion.

@drjekl

Yes, i agree, the boxer four (as long as it's the turbo version) does sound good, but it's rather unique, so other than that.....

[fly_inverted]

looks very nice.

one of the best mods i've done so far was a carbon fibre rear diffuser....no, not genuine $2k bmw.....but ebay $350 from honkers.....delivered in under a week and installed in 10 minutes.

[m4xm1l10n]

Congrats, and love the wheels .
Got my car 4 months ago and said the same thing as how I wanted as stock as possible, so as of now I'm heading to a dyno this weekend looking to breach a close as possible to 450whp lol

[Kkuba]

Originally Posted by m4xm1l10n

Congrats, and love the wheels .
Got my car 4 months ago and said the same thing as how I wanted as stock as possible, so as of now I'm heading to a dyno this weekend looking to breach a close as possible to 450whp lol

Thanks!

I was a bit unsure at first about the wheels, as I quite liked the standard 135i wheels, because you could see the big brakes etc.

But ever since I picked up the car, they have grown on me, and now I love 'em, especially the concave on the rear and the slight contrast this gives to indicate staggered offset/width.

We shall see about mods hehe. You might be right though.