Wing & Windshield trip.

[Ewcmr2]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Sounds like she's a car enthusiast as well. Cool...

Yep, no automatics allowed. Even DCT was a hard no with her.

Lake Charles LA to Alamogordo NM today, arrived in time for fireworks. Beaumont to Houston was during some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen.

LR TPMS went off in West Texas. Stupid cars without spare tires! It was only down a couple pounds so I aired it up and continued. 30 miles later warning came back, this time I drove to an exit and looked closer. There was a piece of steel in it. Pumped it up to 45psi and drove 80 miles to Fort Stockton where O’reilly auto was open and hadn’t a tire plug kit. Final 300 miles of the day passed without issue.

Loving the 135. 965 miles today, not sore or tired. Texas’ 80 mph speed limit pulled trip mpg down to 25.5 and mph up to 70.6. 330 mile cruise range is disappointing.

[Ewcmr2]

Cool shadow, sunset over White sands missile range, fuel stop.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Ewcmr2

Yep, no automatics allowed. Even DCT was a hard no with her.

Yeah, I've always been a manual guy as well but a hiking accident up Mt Baldy stopped me from ever working a clutch again.

Had a 475hp supercharged '06 Mustang GT 5-speed at the time. Loved that car but had to replace it. No more clutch for me.

That being said, the DCT is totally fun. I always drive in manual mode with the sport button pressed, and the shifts are faster than I could ever pull off.

Hope your wife enjoys her new (to her) car.

Nice pics, btw...

[Ewcmr2]

Originally Posted by Esteban

That being said, the DCT is totally fun. I always drive in manual mode with the sport button pressed, and the shifts are faster than I could ever pull off.

Hope your wife enjoys her new (to her) car.

I’ve driven many DTC, PDC, DSG cars. On the track they are all great, on the street you start feeling that it’s not a torque converter auto. VW/Audi seem to have the street details dialed in the best.
We tend to keep cars forever so the simplicity of a manual has big benefits. No sensors, electronics, hydraulics, just replace a clutch every couple three hundred thousand miles

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Ewcmr2

I've driven many DTC, PDC, DSG cars. On the track they are all great, on the street you start feeling that it's not a torque converter auto. VW/Audi seem to have the street details dialed in the best.
We tend to keep cars forever so the simplicity of a manual has big benefits. No sensors, electronics, hydraulics, just replace a clutch every couple three hundred thousand miles

Yeah, I plan on keeping mine as well. When things break, they'll get fixed. Had it since new (Oct 2010). Been pretty trouble free so far. There will be repairs, though. No big deal and no regrets. I actually prefer the DCT now that I've had it for a while, and I drove manuals all my life.

There are plenty of electronics and other things to go wrong on a MT 135i as well. Especially on your N54, which is known to be less reliable than the N55, which is what I have. The N54 is more tunable though, if you're into that. I do have a small tune on my car that I'm happy with.

Good luck with the 1er. Lots of good info here, so read on.

[Matticus91]

Glad things are going well!

[Ewcmr2]

And Home!
Spent a couple days at kids house in NM. Mad Jacks BBQ in Cloudcroft is worth the trip. Fixed kids MR2 ball joint and IAT sensor, while he fixed 135’s L & R cornering light malfunction.

Las Cruses shooting range and final trip stats.

[Gangplank]

And what does she think of the 1er?

[parnet17]

Live in South Carolina, bought my 08 and 11 135's in Atlanta and then found a 135is vert in West Palm with 2,900 miles on it so had to buy it, boy am I glad I did great 8 hr drive back home. Welcome and enjoy

[Ewcmr2]

Originally Posted by Gangplank

And what does she think of the 1er?

This is the wife jumping on here.

He THINKS we don’t do His car—Her car, but that was (a) before he bought a wagon and (b) before he brought this car home.

Love my new car, and although BMW did the Wagon as well or better than any company, just not into them... so this is definitely her car.

[Gangplank]

Lol!!

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by Ewcmr2

This is the wife jumping on here.

He THINKS we don’t do His car—Her car, but that was (a) before he bought a wagon and (b) before he brought this car home.

Love my new car, and although BMW did the Wagon as well or better than any company, just not into them... so this is definitely her car.

[Ewcmr2]

Wife is behind the wheel now. Talking about inline six, turbocharged, intercooled, direct injected, 6mt, rear wheel drive, loads of torque at 1500rpms...





Sorry about the non-BMW content, she driving our Dodge Cummins dually 😜

Seriously, the similarities didn’t sink in until I parked the 135 next to the truck.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by Ewcmr2

Wife is behind the wheel now. Talking about inline six, turbocharged, intercooled, direct injected, 6mt, rear wheel drive, loads of torque at 1500rpms...





Sorry about the non-BMW content, she driving our Dodge Cummins dually 😜

Seriously, the similarities didn’t sink in until I parked the 135 next to the truck.

Hahaha yeah these cars act (and sometimes even sound) like big diesels!

[Ewcmr2]

Two month update/observations.

Cruise control stalk doesn’t activate turn signals.
Coupe doors are longer than sedan doors.
Idrive is as clunky as the rumors suggest.
More numb than E46, much more than E36.

Much better power, no need for revs.
Trunk is plenty big, haven’t needed to fold seats.
Active headlights are cool.
Zero wrench time required*.

*I did swap in a Homelink rearview mirror. Probably needs suspension bushings, bumps & corners results in strange chassis movement.

[Matticus91]

Cruise control stalk doesn’t activate trunk signals. - this one made me lol
Coupe doors are longer than sedan doors. - makes sense, they need to leave room for people to get in the back seats with the coupe.
Idrive is as clunky as the rumors suggest. - certainly not the best system
More numb than E46, much more than E36. - also makes sense, considering the sad path of less and less connected cars that BMW has embarked on

Much better power, no need for revs. - gobs of torque!
Trunk is plenty big, haven’t needed to fold seats. - with the seats down i've fit more than i'd like to admit in this car
Active headlights are cool. - still trying to decipher exactly how the "automatic highbeam assistant" works
Zero wrench time required*. - don't worry, it'll happen lol

[chris_flies]

No need for revs...not a thing in my car, it loves all the revs!

Glad you're enjoying the car! Unfortunately, the stock suspension isn't up to the sports car image these things project...

[Ewcmr2]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

[
Active headlights are cool. - still trying to decipher exactly how the "automatic highbeam assistant" works

I didn’t know car had it, until I drove it down a heavily wooded twisty road. Then I was just sawing at the wheeel to watch the headlights go back and forth.

[________]

Originally Posted by Ewcmr2

I didn’t know car had it, until I drove it down a heavily wooded twisty road. Then I was just sawing at the wheeel to watch the headlights go back and forth.

Are you not confusing the adaptive headlights with what you're calling high beam assistant?

I don't believe these cars ever had a camera for high beam assistance.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by OnerDriver

Are you not confusing the adaptive headlights with what you're calling high beam assistant?

I don't believe these cars ever had a camera for high beam assistance.

My car has both:

Adaptive Headlights turn the lights into corners as you turn the wheel

Highbeam assistant detects head/tail lights of other cars and automatically turns on/off your highbeams as applicable

You can see the camera unit quite well here on the mirror mount:

20180216_124930 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

[________]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

My car has both:

Adaptive Headlights turn the lights into corners as you turn the wheel

Highbeam assistant detects head/tail lights of other cars and automatically turns on/off your highbeams as applicable

You can see the camera unit quite well here:

20180216_124930 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

Interesting thanks!