Plate took me a sec then
Also, I don't mind the M stripes in the grille, but not all the M badges elsewhere.

 

Love it and that color seems great! The cars definitely don't need more power, would turn them into a deathtrap pretty quick haha.

Congrats again and enjoy all the smiles per gallon this thing will bring you.

Also, it's astonishing how large the back seats are in these. Like you can fit adults back there without much issue.

Oh and agreed, remove all the ///Marketing badges.

 

The backseats are a mystery - I don't know how they got so much space in such a little car.

 

New license plate frame. My 135 is a Tardis

 

My theory is the miniscule gas tank.

 

Saw a clean 2er on the drive in, newer version of yours pretty much, but with an entire taillight failed...

Might've taken a look at the market on these E82 & F22
Shocked to see the 1er holds value better than the 2er does. Quite a few M235i for 'cheap'. Not many 135i/is out there, and on both, a lot more convertibles than coupes.

I haven't driven a manual BMW in years, and those were almost all Z3s & E30s. Might have me a bit curious...

 

- I didn't realize how hard it would be to secure a "clean" / unmodded manual 135i - I searched AutoTempest, FB Marketplace, every possible used car site and maybe found 2-3 within my budget that I liked.

Most of them were on the other side of the country - the clean examples are going for 15-25k. I paid $12,500 + $1250 for transport (Car has 107k miles).

I think I did well.

First wash / removed all the M upbadging nonsense.

 

Done

 

Thank you! I still want "sea men" as thread tags .. you know, SEO.

 

$13k for a fun car that clean, not a bad deal.

There's 4 135s on Autotrader, a coupe, 2 verts [1 is a 135is vert for $32k ] & one without photos.
14-16k for the others
235s seem to be 20-30k

 

Yup, if they're manual they will always carry a premium.

Have you considered the E84 Z4?

 

Nah, whatever I go with, has to have at least 4 seats.
My oldest will be 16 next year, so I've got the luxury of time, for now. She'll likely take the Subaru.

At that point, either my wife will get something new to her and I'll take the Expedition, or she'll keep trucking & I'll start anew..

 

I'm great sir, thank you! Come back to the chat

 

And manuals aren't all that common so they're hard to find in good, well maintained, and unmodded condition which drives the price way up.

 

Glad they snapped off, now paint the whole grille ///MMMMMMMMM colors

Congrats dude!

 

Cool Car, T.

 

Thank you!

I promised the wife I wouldn't touch the car until the house is done but I've already made a few orders

- Bimmergeeks ProTool, diagnostic & coding software for Android.
- Missing jack pad on front passenger side, replaced - I LOVE this design as opposed to using pinch welds that get destroyed after repeated use.
- I want to put some actual Bluetooth connectivity in the car eventually but I will use the OEM AUX 3.5mm stereo jack for now. Cable connected and sounds good.

First mods will be:

- Replace the cigarette lighter / change drawer with a wireless charging pad.
- Code out headlight washers

First fixes will be:

- Realign front & rear bumper edges a smidge, they're off. The bumpers have been repainted recently.
- Order missing underhood plastics
- Claybar and full paint correction.
- Replace windshield

First maintenance items:

- Inspect oil, if clean I will drive it 3,000 miles and send a sample to Blackstone Oil Labs
- Inspect & top off fluids

I think this list will keep me busy at least 6 months - the urge to tune it comes into play but I really need to get familiarized with the car and see if any other maintenance items need addressing.

I'll likely pair it with an intercooler and a new charge pipe .

Car arrived in it's new home:

 

In the Malibu I had a Ugreen-70601 which plugs into the Aux & a USB power source [both were on the stereo face in the Malibu].

Worked really well for BT audio

 

Why code out the headlight washers? I mean, I can't say I use them that often, but I'm curious why bother with that step?

 

Because the headlight washers are terrible, sprays water all over your hood, hate them so I never use the windshield washer.

 

And they also spray automatically when you do the windshield. I just unplugged the pump for the headlight washers in my E46, it's like coding for poor people lol.

 

I live in SoCal and my cars are always clean .. no adverse weather conditions here.

Headlight washers are going bye bye.

 

I hate headlight washers. Especially when you have no way to turn them off easily. You hit on it exactly. The only thing they do is dirty your car. My lights have never been dirty enough that I felt like needing to spray them while driving.

 

The only thing I really want to code out is the stupid fake engine noise, need to figure out how to do that. Comfort entry for the driver seat would be cool too.

 

Fake noise delete was on my to-do list in the FiST. Just a tube blockoff, not via the speakers. More of an induction amplifier to the interior.

 

Thanks for the tip here - I ordered a USB powered bluetooth module and it worked perfectly.

Now that the car is registered, I put some more miles on the car yesterday and I continue to fall in love with this thing.

Great manners on the highway, quiet, direct, with loads of low end torque - sure beats driving the Cayenne around when my gas mileage is averaging 10 right now .

I'm happy.

 

When are you swapping for big single turbski swap, downpipes, charge cooler, intercooloer, and a tune to boost it to the moon?

Stock brakes, tires, suspension, and open diff though...of course.

 

As much as I would love to throw power at it, I want to do exactly what I did in the S4.

Familiarize myself with the platform, maintenance, and make sure the car is healthy for some power adders.

Once I confirm the engine is healthy via oil analysis, I will be doing some autox for sure. There's really no safe ways of finding the limits of this car's handling lol.

 

Before you do a tune, upgrade the charge pipe to an aluminum aftermarket item. I blew up three of the OEM (plastic) ones with just a mild tune.

 

Looks so good! Solid starting plans. This platform is underrated.

 

I feel like I'm seeing more 1/2 series around here since T got his.

 

It always works that way I just bought a Tundra and my wife and I see them all over the place now.

 

Not seeing more Legacy around here though. Low volume seller, heavily outpaced by Outback/Forester/Crosstrek

 

Been getting more seat time and I am having a really hard time determining if this car is stock or not.

I only have my S4 as a true reference but, this car feels like it makes more power than stock. Maybe 350whp? I know BMW power is underrated but, this thing feels miles ahead of that "Stage 3" 335i I test drove earlier this month.

I really don't want to add power now lol - the car feels so planted and well rounded and the gas mileage isn't bad either.

LOVING this car so far.

 

Not the biggest fan of doing digs / quarter mile runs but, I could always do a quick Dragy run to see where it's ET lands - that would give me an idea if it's reflashed or not .

 

It's probably stock, the motors are usually way underrated. JB4 did a dyno run on a F87 M2 Comp and got something like 430whp when the motor is rated to 405hp at the crank.

The car is also relatively light and the size of a shoe so that amplifies everything.

I'm not sure why that 335i was such a turd but I'm glad you didn't get it.

 

Adding power would be the last thing I did on that platform. It's plenty stout from the factory.