C&D Short Take Road Test: BMW 1M

[FJUNO78]

Originally Posted by pyrat

+1

Many people act that the M3 is an un-dethrownable king, yet when a car borrows parts, it degrades the car? Blasphemy.

Without getting your panties in a bunch.. given the choice, you would not have wanted the ///m division to have engineered the parts specifically for the m coupe?

[flux]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

Yea, this may make sense for alot of new buyers, especially after the price jack.

But for the guy who already has a 135i with this stuff, it is hardly going to be an amazing difference.

I do agree makes sense. New buyer yes not just to upgrade if you already have it.

Although factory is always safer! That's my problem or solution.

[fastauto]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

Yea, this may make sense for alot of new buyers, especially after the price jack.

But for the guy who already has a 135i with this stuff, it is hardly going to be an amazing difference.

i agree for the guy who already owns a 135. my deal was i went to go buy a 135 about a year ago and ended up taking my money back when i found out about the 1M. When i found out the price of the 1M it was clear that was the car i would purchase. I would have upgraded the brakes, wheels, susupension, software and even added a LSD on the 135 so as it stands i am now getting all that from the factory with a factory warranty for less than the price of the total monies i would have spent. plus i am getting a wide body kit that looks bad ass! everyone says it should have a norm asp engine or a special m engine, i say f that. a twin turbo charged 6 has sooo much potential! if you really want to get deep with it, this is bmws first attempt at the new upcoming m3. this is their first turbo charged m car.

[fastauto]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

Without getting your panties in a bunch.. given the choice, you would not have wanted the ///m division to have engineered the parts specifically for the m coupe?

FJUNO, i understand where you are coming from however dont think the M division did not test the shit out of this car before coming to market with it.

[adrean8j]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

odd? I think the author hit the nail on the head. It is a nice car and all, but it's a 135i with a tune and a bunch of m3 parts... stuff that alot of people have been doing on here for a while. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's true.

I am not one for modding cars, but if you were, it would be a tough sell to go from a lightly modded 135i (JB3 or proceed) and a few suspension goodies to this thing.

I think the car looks nice and all, but i bet it will be forgotten about in a few years... this is no ///m3, and for the price, you really can't expect it to be.

I opened a thread a couple weeks ago on this very subject....it is really worth it IF you already own a 135i? Maybe, maybe not....for me personally I tuned my car from day 1 (meaning certain parts of my warranty weren't that big a deal for me). Now that I am out of warranty 50k miles later do I seriously want to buy a new 1M for less power and better handling that I could just swap the parts out for on my 135i(LSD, Suspension bits)? Nah...I will keep my 135i....the only thing that I REALLY want on the 1M is the wide-body...thats it....sorry *note* This is for existing tuned 135i owners...a new buyer...by all means get the 1M...I would...

Originally Posted by fastauto

i dont understand how everyone can love the 135i and then say this car is no good. this car is far better than the 135 in any/all aspects. its a wide bodied, RWD, Twin Turbo, LSD sports car. Its going to be amazing!

Far better? That 0.3 sec to 60mph and the 0.1 sec in the 1/4mile does not equal far better...sorry (esp. against an even lightly tuned N54 135i ie, SSTT). The LSD is better but your other points are a push.

Originally Posted by Remonster

It's simple, people are morons.

Its not that the car ISN'T good...many are saying that it isn't enough of a separation from the 135i. You DO realize this is the first M-badged car in the last 25 years without a true M gmbh sourced engine??? That in and of itself is disappointing.....seriously the suspension stuff was figured out by people on this forum looong before this 1M came out (Berk, HPAuto, etc, etc..). C'mon man...its simple...some people are sheep

[FJUNO78]

Originally Posted by fastauto

FJUNO, i understand where you are coming from however dont think the M division did not test the shit out of this car before coming to market with it.

agreed. it will outperform the current 135i's.... it has to... that doesn't mean there is no room for improvement.

like I said, I would not be surprised if the next gen 1 series perform real close or even beat this thing.

[fastauto]

Far better? That 0.3 sec to 60mph and the 0.1 sec in the 1/4mile does not equal far better...sorry (esp. against an even lightly tuned N54 135i ie, SSTT). The LSD is better but your other points are a push.

its not just the LSD. you said yourself you want the wide body. the wide body allows you to run a larger/wider tire which will in turn make the car handle better. the suspension itself has beeter components. the brakes from the 1M are also better than that of current 135. the LSD is a given. the tranny and those parts are not the same at all. the cooling hardware is not the same also. the only thing similar is the power plant and i bet you i can get more power out of a chiped 1m than a chiped 135.

[Raine]

Try slapping on aftermarket LSD, Suspension, Wheels, Wide Body Kit, Tune/Software, Brakes, Cooling with a 4 year warranty + labor to install and the cost easily surpasses the 1M.

I can see where people are coming from though, the 1M feels kind of rushed, sort of like a 135i + M3 parts bin + an already existent engine slapped on.

How they managed to add all that stuff and keep the weight at 3,300 lb w/ all the safety regulations is beyond me though. Also, remember the car is stock, you can still tune the 1M.

[adrean8j]

Originally Posted by fastauto

Far better? That 0.3 sec to 60mph and the 0.1 sec in the 1/4mile does not equal far better...sorry (esp. against an even lightly tuned N54 135i ie, SSTT). The LSD is better but your other points are a push.

its not just the LSD. you said yourself you want the wide body. the wide body allows you to run a larger/wider tire which will in turn make the car handle better. the suspension itself has beeter components. the brakes from the 1M are also better than that of current 135. the LSD is a given. the tranny and those parts are not the same at all. the cooling hardware is not the same also. the only thing similar is the power plant and i bet you i can get more power out of a chiped 1m than a chiped 135.

Originally Posted by Raine

Try slapping on aftermarket LSD, Suspension, Wheels, Wide Body Kit, Tune/Software, Brakes, Cooling with a 4 year warranty + labor to install and the cost easily surpasses the 1M.

I can see where people are coming from though, the 1M feels kind of rushed, sort of like a 135i + M3 parts bin + an already existent engine slapped on.

How they managed to add all that stuff and keep the weight at 3,300 lb w/ all the safety regulations is beyond me though. Also, remember the car is stock, you can still tune the 1M.

You can tune the 1M up to N54 standards.....which means it can be tuned to make the same/similar power to existing N54's..

..What I am saying is to EXISTING 135i owners it is NOT that huge of a jump...trust me it isn't...only things I don't have is the LSD, wide-body, and M3 susp. bits(and those parts are a "push" because the are readily available for existing 135i's)....instead of buying a brand new 1M I could get those parts at a fraction of the 1M's cost (yes i am fully aware of the no-warranty aspect...). Already have the performance bumper kit which has the brake cooling built in.

Remember guys I don't think it is bad...but it isn't enough of an improvement for me to sell the One I have (pun intended) just based on performance numbers.
On a sid

[eisenb11]

Originally Posted by fastauto

this is their first turbo charged m car.

Actually, the first M3 had turbochargers on it, so this has been done already. However, what has some people upset, is that this is the first M car that takes its engine from a non-M car.

[fastauto]

Originally Posted by eisenb11

Actually, the first M3 had turbochargers on it, so this has been done already. However, what has some people upset, is that this is the first M car that takes its engine from a non-M car.

sorry, i should have said somewhat recent m car. as far as the engine is concerned, i understand where people are coming from. i just think that the n54 is a great engine and for a limited production car it would make no sense to create a brand new engine. if they did the car would not cost what it does. i think a twin turbo charged 6 is a great power plant and i am pretty excited to drive it.

[rjwojcik]

Originally Posted by eisenb11

Actually, the first M3 had turbochargers on it, so this has been done already. However, what has some people upset, is that this is the first M car that takes its engine from a non-M car.

Which one?

(Ooooo 6 posts now, does that mean I can send PM's soon?)

[FJUNO78]

Originally Posted by eisenb11

However, what has some people upset, is that this is the first M car that takes its engine from a non-M car.

Give the N54's track record with the HPFP, I would be nervous to buy one of these things.

Im on my 3rd fuel pump (counting the original), and I have under 10k miles on my clock.

[adrean8j]

^^^That sucks man...I am still on my original (MY2008) with over 50k miles on the odo....

[FJUNO78]

Originally Posted by eisenb11

Actually, the first M3 had turbochargers on it, so this has been done already. However, what has some people upset, is that this is the first M car that takes its engine from a non-M car.

the e30 m3 was turbo charged? really?

[FJUNO78]

Originally Posted by adrean8j

^^^That sucks man...I am still on my original (MY2008) with over 50k miles on the odo....

it's all good. I lease this thing. It really is not a huge PITA, just a day or 2 to fix it. It's a crap shoot. I put 93 octane in all the time, only Shell or Sunoco.

Luckily, I have not have any other problems... Either way, I would never own an n54 out of warranty. 3 people I personally know with this engine and a total of 8 fuel pumps.

[fastauto]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

Give the N54's track record with the HPFP, I would be nervous to buy one of these things.

Im on my 3rd fuel pump (counting the original), and I have under 10k miles on my clock.

yeah man, i am a little worried about this as well. is the HPFP something that the factory warranty will cover?

[stefan]

You can't mod your way to an M car. That is also true for this car. You'd have to sink a ton of money into your 135i to get to near-1M performance and even then you wouldn't have the widebody.

For all those who are scratching your heads over this, take into consideration that this car costs less (MSRP) than a 335is. Here in Canada, at least, it costs the same as a 335i. And for that you're in a slightly smaller car but with a massive performance advantage. It's a good deal. Don't bother comparing to other cheaper cars, because it's a BMW and we already know we spend more than these cars are technically worth.

[FJUNO78]

Originally Posted by fastauto

yeah man, i am a little worried about this as well. is the HPFP something that the factory warranty will cover?

eventually, if bmw decides to cover the car, you get a letter saying there is an extended warranty on the pump. I believe its like 10yrs/100k miles... I ignored it being that I lease, and it I will be out of this car in a year and a half.

You have to wait for BMW to acknowledge you via letter.

If buying, and planning on keeping for a long time, I would be more than just a "little worried".

[fastauto]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

eventually, if bmw decides to cover the car, you get a letter saying there is an extended warranty on the pump. I believe its like 10yrs/100k miles... I ignored it being that I lease, and it I will be out of this car in a year and a half.

You have to wait for BMW to acknowledge you via letter.

If buying, and planning on keeping for a long time, I would be more than just a "little worried".

how much are we looking at each time you replace it? $

[adrean8j]

Originally Posted by stefan

You can't mod your way to an M car. That is also true for this car. You'd have to sink a ton of money into your 135i to get to near-1M performance and even then you wouldn't have the widebody.

Apparently you can since that is what M gmbh has apparently done....did you even read the article? Have you even seen what is being done with the modded 135i's on this site? LSD...been done, Wide body...been done, M3 suspension parts (wishbones, various links, bushings, swaybars) been done....I ONCE AGAIN reiterate....for EXISTING 135i owners this is not a BIG jump in performance...at least not IMHO....

[adrean8j]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

eventually, if bmw decides to cover the car, you get a letter saying there is an extended warranty on the pump. I believe its like 10yrs/100k miles... I ignored it being that I lease, and it I will be out of this car in a year and a half.

You have to wait for BMW to acknowledge you via letter.

If buying, and planning on keeping for a long time, I would be more than just a "little worried".

BMW already sent out recall letters concerning this issue