Be Excellent To Each Other

What difference does the number of doors make to the seating arrangement?

It means Mrs Hearthly has to 'climb' into the back rather than just open a door and get into the back.

When I had the 3-door Type-R (the FN2, not the FK2 I had last year), I did cop an unimpressed look as she folded the front seat forwarded and clambered in. It's a bit '80s' innit, when 5-doors was a luxury feature and poor people only had shit old cars with 3 doors.

Thinking about it the 335i probably has really compromised back seats because of the convertible shenanigans, and I believe the M135i isn't exactly spacious in the back. This is something that would need to be assessed when I totally don't go and look at them tomorrow.

The BMW Mondial warranty is one of the best in the industry, from what I gather - certainly saved my bacon a few times with the first M5.

M135i is indeed a stonking car to drive, but it's still just a 1-series innit? Fairly basic inside.

M135i all day long, every day. That’s what I call a great motor; “proper” straight six pot 3.0 power as befitting a sporting BMW, all wrapped up in a compact, rear drive hatch package. Awesome.

The 335 cabrio is a wobbly piece of shite, in my humble. You’d hate it almost instantly. Don’t do it.

My friend has a M135i and it's nice, comfy and fast. Looks dull though and I'm sure you'd be bored with it in a month's time.

Well it's a turbocharged six so not entirely 'pure' I suppose.

By all accounts they're quite cramped in the back so I'd definitely need to appraise the suitability of the rear seats, although the truth of the matter is that for the vast majority of the time it's just me in the car, sometimes me and Mrs Hearthly, and sometimes the three of us. (And Mrs Hearthly isn't very tall so she doesn't need loads of legroom.)



A mate at work has an E60 M5, the one that routinely eats its own engine and associated bits and pieces. He's got some sort of mega-warranty on it but it costs a huge amount of cash, like £150 per month or thereabouts. Not sure if it's a BMW Mondial warranty or something else, either way I'd expect the equivalent sort of thing for a 2013 M135i to be a hell of a lot cheaper than that.



I quite like a Q-Car sort of arrangement though, despite having owned the FK2 Type-R. The M135i looks pleasingly understated.

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I'm also slightly concerned that this particular M135i is a total base-spec model, in which case it won't even have rear parking sensors. Only BMW would sell a £30K car that doesn't even have parking sensors.

Again, I'd need to go have a look at it to assess that though. I note that 'parking sensors' is conspicuous by its absence in their description though. (Not that I'm wildly fussed about sensors on a smallish car like that, but their absence would indicated it's a boggo-spec model.)

That'll be the Mondial warranty. It is a lot of money (which doubles to £300 per month when you get over 60,000 miles) but when you consider that when said engine eats itself it can be upwards of £10K to replace, it is worth it for peace of mind. And unlike a lot of warranties, you can get an option that covers absolutely everything (as long as the car's not over 100,000 miles I think) and there's no quibbling, they just do it.

Hmmm right you can get a quote online, BMW want £510 per year for that M135i.

That seems like a reasonable amount to pay for total peace of mind, in all fairness.

Seems like a no brainer.
My bloody road tax alone costs £500/year...

Ah, I read it as H jnr would only sit in the front of a 3 door.

Yeah, eminently reasonable. Also, it may sound counter-productive, but go for the monthly option. If you pay for it annually they renew it every year (well, duh) but that means they take your current mileage into account and if there are any points where it goes up in cost, you get hit by them (the 60,000/100,000 mile marks on the M5, may be different on a M135i)

With a monthly premium, this doesn't happen (or at least, didn't when I had the M5s, may be different now) - you pay the same even if you tick over the mileage limit.

Now the one series is as big as a 3 series from 15 years ago the back seating isn't as cramped as you'd expect. Boots bigger too.

Apparently Jag sold the disco demo (dicks) and the person with the epace didn't bother bringing it back (dicks).

interesting to see that they're front-loading tax now so you pay more now if you change car within the first 4 years, after that you save with the 140 flat rate after year 1.

I'm amazed the government has managed to respond so quickly to changes in car ownership patterns.

The first year on either skoda is only 33% more than I pay yearly for the beemer, after that it's more than a fifty percent saving! Insurance is about half, too.

I think it’s disgusting; as if I’m not paying enough tax already. Still, got to keep the carbon fairies happy, huh.

I wasn’t bothered when I had her sidewise in the winter sunshine yesterday afternoon though, and it’ll be the same again in about 20 mins. Don’t ever let the killjoys win!

Oh yeah, the £450/yr for 5 years on expensive cars, hadn't seen that. Both jags tip into that with the desired/required options. Jesus, Skoda are looking like winners here.

Also, enjoy the drive, you git

Cheers buddy, I may post a pic later

Just been asked to “give it the beans when I go” by the cash wash lads

I know they're often considered a front for money laundering, but that's just taking the piss.

Many a true word spoken in jest I would’ve thought, they sure don’t seem too keen on card payments..... probably why my bloody road tax is so expensive

What's road tax?

What we used to keep under stone at end of road for whichever person was using their car that day.

How much for three months?

Are the cars that unreliable to warrant such a thing?

Hey Caveeeeeey

Fucking love that.

Well the chap who has the E60 M5 considers £150 per month very reasonable, but then again they are absolutely notorious for having all sorts of fearsomely expensive things go wrong with them.

On a wider note BMWs as a whole are considered to be 'troublesome', often it's nothing too major, but if you pick any model that's a few years old and look at the sort of 'known issues' list, you'll often find a list as long as your arm with regard to all the problems it's known to have and you'll have to be prepared to pay for if (when....) they go wrong. (Cooling systems are often a weak point.)

If I do end up going for that M135i, I'll pay the £500+ year for a Mondial warranty, as I'd have an expectation that the car could randomly cost me at least that much at any time for a repair to something or other. (Whereas I just wouldn't even consider it with, say, a 5 year old Honda. But then again Hondas never break.)

If I had put £500 a year to one side when I bought my BMW five years ago then as well as any repairs it would have paid for all the servicing and tyres and everything else it's gone through in that time. They aren't going to be losing money on these warranties. As long as you can afford a big bill if it does come in then this seems like a pretty bad bet to me.

They definitely lost money on the ones that were attached to my two M5s

The first one was in the workshop for all sorts of minor niggles while I had it (including a heated seat element that was overheating and literally burning my leg) but the big one was that the engine packed in about 2,000 miles after I sold it and needed to be completely rebuilt at what would have been £8-£10K without the warranty.

The second one was absolutely faultless for me, but the guy that had it after me would have had to pay £7K about 3 months after he bought it had it not been for the warranty.

I think, generally speaking, they just hope that people aren't savvy enough to take out a warranty or renew one that they have on it when it's purchased. They can be quite particular about handing them out too - if the car hasn't got a full BMW service history and been serviced exactly when it needed to be, chances are they'll refuse you.

I assume that some warranties are "loss leaders" though, as you're right, they wouldn't offer them if they weren't profitable. I assume that the more reliable cars in the range subsidise the least reliable ones to an extent.

@Hearthly
The warranty isn’t a nice to have, it’s essential. This is an expensive, complex, very high performance BMW that’s a complete unknown quantity, but because it’s an out and out super hatch you can bet it has been thrashed to death for a good few, or all of its five years. This isn’t some slow, cheap old junker you’ve had for years and know it’s been looked after; by all means ditch the warranty after the first year (assuming you’ll keep the car that long, which let’s be honest is extremely unlikely).

£500 is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the car, and the cost of potential, even likely repairs. Just look at it as adding £40 a month to the runnning cost, and enjoy piece of mind.

He'd be buying it from a dealer anyway. There is such a thing as being over-insured.

And do they do monthly warranties

The dealer should carry risk if it is selling cars that lunch themselves and they want the margin. The customer should not have to.

I totally agree Mali, but sadly independent secondhand car dealers can have a, ahem, less than optimal after sales response if thing go wrong, especially badly and expensively wrong. You ain’t gonna necessarily get a BMW approved repair and parts, that’s for sure. That’s just a reality; if you buy BMW Approved Used you will get a meaningful warranty but you’ll likely pay much more for the car in the first place. Them’s the breaks.

For me, the bet is clear cut, but it’s not my dice roll. (To be fair I am very cautious in situations like this)

I am meant Hearth getting one as he only has a car 2/3 weeks.

Not only that, but any warranty that you get from an indie dealer will be of the "you pay for the work and then claim it back afterwards, but we'll fight tooth and nail to not pay out" variety.

BMW never quibbled about anything on the warranties I've had (even with the 530d GT, which so far has had two door handles and a parking sensor replaced under warranty) - they just get on with it.

Hah, my indie dealer wouldn't pay out because they hadn't done the work themselves. The clutch burnt out 30 miles from Southampton and I had to get it towed to my parents' house and fixed there.

I'm confused. Can you buy a BMW from an independent dealer and then go to BMW themselves and get a warranty? Or is it just you can extend it if it's already got it?

Provided the car meets the requirements, you can buy a warranty from BMW at any point during the car's life.

Certain levels of cover become unavailable at certain points (I think after 100,000 miles you can no longer get comprehensive cover, for example)

Buying a used BMW from a BMW dealer will mean it's an Approved Used car, and will come with a 12 month BMW AUC warranty on it (which, for all intents and purposes, is as good as the comprehensive one) - and it's often possible to extend that to 24 months (and sometimes beyond!) when haggling during purchase - I wangled an extra year on mine.

If you buy a used BMW from another dealer, then it will either come with a warranty supplied by the dealer (which will be a "pay now claim later" type) or it may come with the remaining term of a BMW warranty on it. The initial manufacturer warranty is transferrable from owner to owner until it expires, and the paid-for BMW warranties can also be transferred in some circumstances too.

Got a first offer from the mini dealership that lost my number plate- £1000.
Given that GT14LEX is for sale for twice that I’m going to hold out for more.

Friends of ours flew to Belfast and bought their X5 from there as it had the BMW warranty (and was cheaper, too, apparently). Their S3 also has NI plates so I assume that was another economic purchase.

Anyone else cleaned a variable vane turbo with Mr Muscle? Tempted to give it a go as it's straightforward enough to do from the EGR end but there are other voices on the internet saying it can fuck you over down the line (can munch the seals).

Warranties! Where's you sense of adventure Cavey?

I really need to be not watching videos like this....

Harris reckons the M135i craps all over the Audi RS3. Better on the road, massively better on the track, and beats the RS3 in a drag race.

Didn't see the car today as couldn't be bothered driving into Douglas and the bedroom seemed a more appealing destination with Mrs Hearthly.

I shall wander over at lunch tomorrow, the dealership is only about a 5 minute walk from work.

Plenty of people on BRISKODA do it.

Yeah plenty of people do it, there's a fair few sucking air in through their teeth though...

Fuck it, I live for automotive adventure!

Makes your car smell like a clean oven too.

My brother has one. It's mental.

The new one so it's 322bhp.

That's the same as the one I'm (TOTALLY NOT) looking at, isn't it? In terms of engine power output, at least.

Watching the Harris video it was astonishing to see how much better sorted the BMW was on the track, where the Audi was just understeering like fuck the whole time.

GT1 is the name of a race series, or could be stylised as "GTI" so would suit a Golf GTI driver called Alex - that'll be why it's higher valued.

TD14LEX doesn't really have the same "cachet" I'm afraid, even for a Golf TDI driver. Most **14LEX plates are selling for £250.

Personally I'd take the £1,000.

RWD versus AWD innit?

My boss once loaned me her old S4 (2004 model) for a couple of days to see if I wanted to buy it, and it was a horrible understeery mess, as many AWD cars can be.