BMW 135i testdrive.....
 

Have a date to test drive the twin-turbo 3.0litre 135i tomorrow, :) will report back.....


S

I actually test drove this car a couple of weeks ago when it arrived here. I tested the 135i with sport and premium package. It was a slushbox :( but it was still very fun to drive. The car takes awesome corners and man does that torque plant you in the seat like nothing else. I gunned that thing and it was up to 90mph in no time. It was amazing. I thought about buying it but then I thought how much it would cost me to own a BMW(Big Money Wasted) and then I reconsidered jaja.

The only thing you will regret after the test drive is how light your wallet feels.

You guys are killing me... I can't go near a BMW dealership for a while.

What options? I'm curious how close the price will be vs. a decent option 335.

Dill, that's the problem we all have..
The way I want the car, it's 42.5k
You CAN get a 335i for that kind of money, but that's everything except Nav on the 135i and I'm even thinking of getting nav on it as it only increases my payment by about 30-40 a month.

The real problem is, you can haggle on the 335i. The best deal I usually hear about on the 135i is 500 under MSRP. There are a few guys on 1addicts.com who have done better, but not much.

Oh, and you must remember, the 135i has an M tuned suspension and it shows. The 335i does not.

The price dif from a 335 to a 135 is not that much, we are talking at about 2 to 3k difference, I think one of the magazines has already stated that. But to tell you the truth, if you are a real enthusiast you will prefer the 135. It is just much more nimble in terms of handling and it is lighter so yeah, I preferr it over the 335. Plus I find the 135 nicer looking jeje. But that's just me, other people hate the desing.

nah. if i ever buy a bmw, it would be the M Coupe... or maybe the M6.

the 335 comes with a lot of options standard, like premium stereo, moon roof etc. I dont know if 135 comes with it standard, Ajax would know. If 135 comes barebones standard like the 328 then 135 is not a good deal

AlienRX8, What is "jaja" and "jeje"?

I priced my own 135i. I think the only option I chose was the iPod option and it was still 36K and my butt will sit on vinyl.

asstease...

beers :beer:

My dad owns a dealership, and he brought home a 335i I drove a was able to drive a few times last week. It was automatic, but the power was pretty incredible and the manual shift mode was instantly responsive compared to the huge like 3 second in automatic RX-8s.

I would trade in my 8 for it in a heartbeat.

jaja = haha
jeje = hehe

get it? :banghead:

Not that hard :lol2:

their J's are our H's. Thus jesus = "hay suse"

Nice :lol2:

Test drive's not gonna happen:sadwavey: .

Being held in Calgary four hours drive away, with *6 inches* of snow forecast:uhh: .

I have my summer rubber on, but even with a quick boot change I can't risk getting stuck there if they close down the highway.

S

Maybe you should have scheduled an Evo X test drive instead ;)

Unless you want it barebones... The way I've priced my 135 it comes out to 35.5k, no options other than heated seats, and I might nix those. To some, less is better. I don't need two subwoofers 6 inches behind me, I don't need a computer to tell me where to turn, and I certainly don't need two inches less headroom.

Its the options that'll kill you in a BMW. After researching it seems that the 135 will have the same rear diff as the 335 (BMW likes to keep the lsd's in the M cars.)

All in all, if the 335i's are running 11sec quarter miles with ECU upgrades, tires, etc imagine what the lighter 135i will feel like.

youre missing out :p, join the 21st century!

I may also be attempting a test drive etc. here soon, if i do I'll be sure to chime in. I"m torn between spending big dollah's on repairing my transmission, or just saying f it and going with the 1 series (or something else, maybe even another 8). In the few shots I've seen of these cars lowered and fixed up a bit they look pimp and have the performance to match, just a few things keeping me from really pursuing one (namely $ and obligations with my current vehicle) :)

Never! If the computer could tell me the exact turn-in point and steer me towards the perfect apex I still wouldn't consider it ... Think Exige vs Evo.

I find this especially ironic since we are on a website for rx-8's, which at its core is celebrated as a bare-bones sports car. Doesn't need much power, doesn't need four wheel drive, doesn't need massive rims, doesn't need huge boost, its just a good car. For almost the same price you can get a stripped down 135 with 70 more hp and an m-tuned suspension.

sigh, old people are so stubborn :p

but the rx8 is far from a hardcore sports car like the elise... its great because its got plenty of room and soft suspension that isnt bumpy like the Z and Evo, nice interior, creature comforts, yet handles extremely well.. If anything the Evo or s2000 is closer to what youre talking about than a 8

I guess I'm the odd man out... I don't consider sporty sedans the same as sports cars.

are you referring to the evo? sporty sedan or not, watching that thing hang with a lambo on top gear was good enough for me to excuse the 2 extra doors ;)

I'm not refering to anything specifically. But I include the M3 in that classification.

There's nothing wrong with a fast sedan. But it's not the same kind of car as an Elise or miata.

ahh okay, I see what you're saying, had me confused there for a sec

I think all this terminology is pointless. I don't care if my car is a "sports" car or not. If it's "awesome" that's all I care about.

Don't worry, people confuse their vehicle with sports cars all the time. You should see my drive to work in the morning when a SUV drives around at 100 mph.

Yeah, they think they're awesome too :)

Haha, you got me there.

test drove a 135 today and was completely impressed, car just felt like it had so much power, and it handled pretty awesome too. I probably won't be getting one as the salesman said there's a 14 week wait, but if I could have one in a few days I'd trade in a heartbeat.

+1

BMW = teh overkill on the nanny-rig.


BMW could raise their bar by losing weight and some of the unnecessary and problem-ridden bullshit (mostly electronic).

Did you watch the rest of that segment where the massive turbo lag had it struggling against some econo box? Or how it couldn't make a u-turn on the runway?

It gets the same gas mileage as the 8 lol

that doesn't mean anything. I make better mpg now with well over 300 whp than I did with 180 stock.

I didn't say it was the greatest car in the world or anything, every car has its faults.

yeah, i know you didn't say that. but everyone seems to love talking about how the lambo lost to an evo without telling the whole story.

Put your RX-8 in 6th gear while going 30mph and mash the gas and see how that goes. Oh wait, who would ever be in 6th gear while going 30mph... Also, the turn circles are pretty big with the Evo but it's hardly something that is bothersome in almost all driving circumstances. Unless you're someone that needs to do illegal U turns regularly on a non-divided two lane road there's no issue.

I saw a fully loaded 135i and it was about 47.. i'd rather buy a 335 coupe for that price..

That's one of the problems. You're not going to see a 135i sitting on a lot for $36,000. A minimally optioned BMW is an oxy moron and if you want one without many options you're going to have to order it, and if you're ordering it you won't be getting any sort of deal for a very very long time.

I'm not everyone, and I didn't even say it lost, I said it could hang. The whole story is that a 150,000+ "sports car" was beat or almost beaten or whatever in a race to a "overdone econobox", there was some discussion over a "sporty sedan" or whatever, well I don't know of many other "sporty sedans" for less than 40k that can hang/beat/whatever a 6 figure exotic around a track, then turn around and be a practical daily driver (for the most part anyway).
That's the only reason I even mentioned it in the first place, I know Top Gear tried to shoot it down a bit with the start from 6th race and the turning circle fiasco, still doesn't make it any less of an accomplishment or the Evo any less of a sports car either.

/done

In fairness that's not an Evo that you could get for under 40k were it available here. However, it's still a hell of a lot cheaper than a Lambo. It also has horsepower levels that are quite attainable with basic boltons and a tune.

Anyhow... I agree with you, I judge a car by what it can do rather than how many doors or seats it has. There's more "sport" in an Evo or STI than most cars on the road. Much of their development came directly from racing, they handle wonderfully, they're pretty fast, and have very little fluff and filler.

That's definitely not true. There are plenty of people getting below MSRP on ordered 135i's on 1addicts.com. Maybe you don't consider that a deal, but I certainly do.

And I haven't checked out the BMW lots, but I would expect that the average 135i sitting on a lot may be less optioned than a 5 or 7 series just because of what it represents. Not only is it an "entry level" BMW it's also a more performance oriented version (seeing as how it has the same engine as the 335i with less weight and seats). It doesn't serve them well to over-option, and thus over-price, all the 135i's out of the factory.

200-500 below MSRP isn't much of a deal IMO, but I'm just taking a wild guess that's what people are getting.

I have checked out BMW lots because I'm considering the car. Within 300 miles of me there are about 50 135i's sitting on lots. Of those 50ish there are 4 cars with an MSRP below 42,325 those 4 cars have an MSRP of 41,850, 39,925, 39,020, and 38,070. In the entire country there are 300 listed 135i's sitting at dealers, 2 of those with an MSRP below 38k and both of them are over 37k. Also, of those 300 there is a total of 13 with an MSRP below 40k.

Sadly, we're seeing that a lot. I've even seen a few 128i's sitting on lots optioned all the way up to 42k. BMW really does kill you on options. If you could pay invoice for this car, I'd already have one on order. The first year, they're only claiming that there will be 12k 135i's in the US. So the price should be pretty close to MSRP until the 09's start showing up.

There are many people willing to pay MSRP and slightly below. However, there are more and more people that are getting much closer to invoice. One guy who just faxed his "demands" to dozens of dealerships in his general area was able to get about ~$3k off MSRP on an ordered 135i. Worked out to about $800 over invoice. Not that it should matter since it was built-to-order, but this guy got every damn option available. That to me is a bad idea, but different strokes for different folks I guess.

I'm definitely not shocked by what you're saying, though. There are way too many people who roll up to BMW lots and buy the one that looks prettiest. However, if you're willing to put in some minor leg work you can get a deal. Couple that with European Delivery and you can get a vacation out of the whole deal.

I just talked to my credit union and they're going through carquotes.com to get as close to invoice as possible.

The 335 was in pretty hot demand when it first came out also.

As pointed out, most of the 135's arriving in showrooms are LOADED and selling for $40K and up. As a practical matter, the difference between a 135 and a comparably equipped 335 is going to be around $5K and that could be $100/mo in a typical lease situation. Enough to make a difference if price is the final determining factor.

The 135 is overpriced IMHO, but the market will decide in the end. It's a cool idea. I just think it should be cheaper. Apparently BMW would rather sell fewer of them in some kind of scheme to keep demand high.

As for me, I just wanted more backseat this time. Plus I was able to order my 335 and get exactly the items I wanted, dealer was willing to negotiate on price. I did have to wait two months for it to arrive but I got exactly the options and color combo I wanted and none of the things I didn't want.

My local BMW dealer has managed to piss me off enough that I'm going to have to REALLY like the car to consider buying one. To buy one from them they'd have to give me the deal of a lifetime. They've fed me so many bullshit lines that I've had it with them. They told me that they won't have any avilable on the lot for at least a year to try to get me to order one. They had one the following week, though it did sell before I could testdrive it. They told me ED wouldn't be available for 2 years prior to the car being released to get me to order one, ED is currently available as far as I know. They also tried to get a $2000 non refundable deposit to have a shot at one of the first cars they got in. Most dealerships around the country were taking $500 refundable deposits from what I had heard.

They also fed me some bullshit lines about other cars they have that are on waiting lists for months to come. A few weeks later they had several of those cars sitting on their lot. Maybe it's just this particular BMW dealership but I can't help but feel a little disgrntled towards BMW as a whole after my experiences. I think BMW is shooting themselves in the foot with the way they're optioning these cars and they're going to have many cars sitting on lots for a long period of time once the initial "gotta be the first one on my block" buyers get theirs.