First 1500 miles in the new 128i reflections...

[The Dowager Countess]

The girl and I took a road trip from Boston to Washington DC to see some friends. When we started the trip the new car had less than 200 miles on it and now it's got about 1500. I drove mostly on the highway- kept it around 80 almost the whole time and the trip was pretty uneventful. I do have a better familiarity with my car now though. Here are my random thoughts:

-These tires fucking suck. They ride horribly over bad pavements and accentuate any slop in the suspension. They need to go.

-The steering feel is great- Not quite as good as an e36 M3 or even my old e46 but much better than anything I've driven since those cars.

-The size of the car is much better than my old e46. I like a small car and feel far more confident cornering hard and finding gaps and the like with the more e36 proportioned 128i.

-The car could use just a little bit more hp and torque. It's almost perfect though.

-The M Sport suspension doesn't deserve the "M" label- it isn't M and it isn't sport....it feels a little sloppier than I would like and the whole thing is prone to more understeer than I'd like.

-The seats and steering wheel and shifter and all the ergonomics are pretty close to flawless. I don't think I'd change a thing there. The clutch could be a little bit tighter and shorter- it's a pretty long throw.

-Compared to my e46 I never found myself looking down on an empty road and going "oh, shit I'm doing a buck twenty"...part of that is the power difference and the slightly shorter wheelbase for sure-the e46 was also heavier and quieter- but most of it is the shitty tires and coupled with a sloppier suspension. honestly, i think the damping and the spirngs are probably fine- it's not that the thing isn't stiff enough- it's that there feels like there's some flex in the subfram and the stiff non-grippy tires exaggerate it.

I love the car though. It's better than I could have expected. It will be perfect after some of these nit picks are addressed.

oh- it's a 2013 128i in white with no options except for the M Sport package.

My girlfriend liked the ride in it too- and also would like everyone to know that of all the clear channel hip-hop stations on the east coast- new york has the best one- hartford has the worst one- and boston and philidelphia are tied for third behind dc.

oh- and the climate control system is kinda stupid and the car gets shitty mileage- but we knew that before and i could not care less about those things.

hey, thanks for reading.

[631twentyeighteye]

You hit the nail on the head in all regards. The rear subframe bushings are prone to slop and being soft causing that understeer feeling you talk about. As for power and torque, toss on a DISA manifold(x3/130i/330i) and a tune, and you'll be at about 275 crank horsepower over the stock 230.

The runflats are garbage, get rid of those ASAP for any decent set of summer tires.

Also, you can add a CDV(clutch delay valve) delete to get better clutch feel and more consistency, as well as a BMS clutch stop that gets rid of the dead pace at the end of the clutch pedal throw. These two mods make the biggest difference in regards to drivability.

[135ivert]

I believe the engine still has some room to loosen up (comparing it to my wife's 328xi). When I test drove a brand-new 128i, I thought it was a dog comparatively. I think it was around 4-5K miles when I thought "yeah, this is definitely faster than when we bought it."

[The Dowager Countess]

Originally Posted by 631twentyeighteye

You hit the nail on the head in all regards. The rear subframe bushings are prone to slop and being soft causing that understeer feeling you talk about. As for power and torque, toss on a DISA manifold(x3/130i/330i) and a tune, and you'll be at about 275 crank horsepower over the stock 230.

The runflats are garbage, get rid of those ASAP for any decent set of summer tires.

Also, you can add a CDV(clutch delay valve) delete to get better clutch feel and more consistency, as well as a BMS clutch stop that gets rid of the dead pace at the end of the clutch pedal throw. These two mods make the biggest difference in regards to drivability.

thanks for the advice! i already have the disa manifold i think because this is a massachusetts sulev car with the n51- so the compression is lower but i think it has the DISA manifold. i'm waiting for the evolve to figure out the tune for my engine....but i think the tires and clutch stuff should happen first anyway.

as for the engine "breaking in"- i have no idea about that.

[The Dowager Countess]

Originally Posted by 135ivert

I believe the engine still has some room to loosen up (comparing it to my wife's 328xi). When I test drove a brand-new 128i, I thought it was a dog comparatively. I think it was around 4-5K miles when I thought "yeah, this is definitely faster than when we bought it."

that'll be great if that happens!

[bozola]

m3 FSB and Michelin SuperSport and it will be a different car.

BMW PE.... I love mine

Congrats!

[barnsdale]

Nice write up - my old E46 had amazing handling and that's the only thing I wish was better for the 128i. It kills it in everything else though so it's hard to complain.

[Gray_Panther]

"These tires fucking suck"

LOL

[TheSt|G]

Sounds like you need Pilot Super Sports and E9x M3 subframe bushings ASAP.

Evolve is known for adding low end torque in addition to hp, the Supersprint headers add 15 ft/lbs across the entire range(as well as ~20hp), and the DISA manifold also makes excellent power.

[bimmer74]

Originally Posted by The Dowager Countess

thanks for the advice! i already have the disa manifold i think because this is a massachusetts sulev car with the n51- so the compression is lower but i think it has the DISA manifold. i'm waiting for the evolve to figure out the tune for my engine....but i think the tires and clutch stuff should happen first anyway.

as for the engine "breaking in"- i have no idea about that.

You can also check out the Active Autowerke tune. I have it on my N51 and really like it. It adds 15 HP & 12 ft lbs of torque according to specifications and sharpens throttle response. I like it a lot - the car feels livelier overall with it.

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by bimmer74

You can also check out the Active Autowerke tune. I have it on my N51 and really like it. It adds 15 HP & 12 ft lbs of torque according to specifications and sharpens throttle response. I like it a lot - the car feels livelier overall with it.

That's not a DISA tune, so why waste the money for a short term patch? Do it right the first time and never worry about it again.

[bimmer74]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

That's not a DISA tune, so why waste the money for a short term patch? Do it right the first time and never worry about it again.

Waste of money? I have been enjoying the tune for some time which in my book beats waiting for a DISA tune for an engine that' been out since 2007. I will have my tune, you enjoy your wait.

[631twentyeighteye]

Does evolve offer a tune for non-disa manifolds? I know it wouldn't provide nearly as much power over the range but I'm curious if the peak HP would be the same as a disa manifold. I check car-part daily to see if any Disa's pop up on the island that i can pick up one time.

edit: Stig already has a DISA tune from evolve installed..

[bimmer74]

I see. I thought from one of the earlier posts in this threat that Evolve does not have a DISA tune yet. They do list a stage 2 tune on their website for cars with DISA even though they state the same gains as stage 1. So, do they do anything with the DISA and if so, shouldn't the gains be more impressive?

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by bimmer74

Waste of money? I have been enjoying the tune for some time which in my book beats waiting for a DISA tune for an engine that' been out since 2007. I will have my tune, you enjoy your wait.

Easy there, talking about for the OP.

Evolve has a N52 tune, N52 DISA retrofit tune, and N52 Supersprint header tune for the 128i. The OP needs a N51 sulev DISA tune, which there are still working for. My point was that if wants the best performance(which I'm taking as a given as most people do), he is best off waiting and paying once instead of dropping money now on half a tune and then again later.

Originally Posted by 631twentyeighteye

Does evolve offer a tune for non-disa manifolds? I know it wouldn't provide nearly as much power over the range but I'm curious if the peak HP would be the same as a disa manifold. I check car-part daily to see if any Disa's pop up on the island that i can pick up one time.

edit: Stig already has a DISA tune from evolve installed..

They offer one for the 130i, so I imagine it would be similar. 15hp/10ft lbs.

Originally Posted by bimmer74

I see. I thought from one of the earlier posts in this threat that Evolve does not have a DISA tune yet. They do list a stage 2 tune on their website for cars with DISA even though they state the same gains as stage 1. So, do they do anything with the DISA and if so, shouldn't the gains be more impressive?

You should check the thread just below this one.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=778456