Need educated on BMW

bill

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bill
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I am looking at the BMW 1 series now they all have different diesel engines What does all this 116,118 125 mean i honestly dont have a clue never could afford a BMW so never looked at this before.
I know the BHP is different but why Are these numbers trim levels or what.
Some people have said buy the V6 but with a limited budget of around £7500 wife is getting a loan theirs no way i could afford one unless it has a million miles.
I like the 3 door and the coupe.
 

407_hdi

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407_hdi
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If I remember correctly, the 116, 118 and 120d are all 4cyl diesels with power ranging from around 120bhp on the 116d up to 150+ on the 120 The 130 is a 6cyl smoother and a good bit more power but a fair jump in money.
Trim is SE or M Sport with the sport getting the bodykit and nice seats and I think the one to have. If your not doing big miles try I wouldn't rush to get a diesel. The 6cylinder petrol isn't as hard to run as you might think. Driven with a bit of sympathy I can get 35mpg out of my 2.5 Z4
 

mcmurray

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The numbers are different models within the range. 116 being the entry level.

The diesel engines are all 2 litre turbo 4 cylinder engines, but are tuned differently. 123d gets an extra turbo.

116i, 118i, 120i are 4 cylinder petrols.

125i and 130i are 6 cylinder petrols.

135i is turbo 6 cylinder.
 

bill

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bill
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I will not be doing massive mile tops 4000 a year it just something fun midlife crisis sort of car.
 

AlpineF30

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Depends on year, from 2015 onwards the 116d was fitted with the 3 cylinder 1.5 B37 engine compared to the 1.6 4 cylinder N47 in the pre 2015 116d

118d, 120d and 125d have 4 cylinder engines and are essentially the same engine just with different tuning before 2015 came with the N47 engine and after 2015 came with the B47

Great wee cars my Mrs has a 116d the past 4 years and it has racked up the miles perfectly and never let us down once.
 
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AlpineF30

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greyfloppyhat

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Did one of the 4 cyl. diesel not give a lot of bother with the timing chain tensioners? And it was an engine out job to remedy.
I know we had to avoid ones before a certain build date.

Great wee cars, missus had one for 2 years and it gave no bother. Wouldn't mind one again for a daily but the seats agitated my hip for some reason :worried:
 

greyfloppyhat

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Lyons said:
Yup I thought it was the 20i that gave bother.
Click to expand...
Could well just be the petrols, I think at this age the majority of the affected ones are either fixed or dead

Fuel flap likes to break on them so it doesn't close correctly and just flops about. New one is £26 from BMW I think
 

Brennan

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My sister has just bought a new 118i shadow line M Sport, great little cars
 

Phil_EK9

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greyfloppyhat said:
Could well just be the petrols, I think at this age the majority of the affected ones are either fixed or dead

Fuel flap likes to break on them so it doesn't close correctly and just flops about. New one is £26 from BMW I think
Click to expand...

It was the N47 diesel with the offending timing chain at the back of the engine 🙄
I'm not sure if it was ever fixed tbh.

Not sure which petrols had the issue. The 6 cylinders are all safe though as far as I'm aware.
 

greyfloppyhat

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Some talk of it being ok post 2011. If it's a good service history it shouldn't be an issue, there was a recall apparently too

We never had any bother with ours, a friend of the OH had one that had the issue though. Wasn't worth fixing, but I doubt it was looked after
 

Nicky Glanza

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@bill
Great car as I have a 2013 one which is due a change im hoping my mum will take it
first off with the fact your only doing 4000 miles a year I would prob go for a petrol.. but not anthing bigger than the 1.6 or 1.8 as anything bigger wouldn't be great on petrol.
personal preference for me is diesel and even at 4000 miles which is prob the same as what I do in mine it constantly needs dpf regeneration which I can do as I have the computer for it.
one thing I will say is try and budget an m-sport, do not get confused with sport and m-sport as bmw do a crossover with nasty plastic chrome trims and they call it a sport, its nothing like m-sport where you get a nicer kit, steering wheel, seat etc its the small touches that make the car look well. when I purchased mine c.h said it was sold but got me the equivalent from England, when it arrived it was a sport and I told them to put it back on the boat lol
engine wise.

as touched the petrols arnt too bad timing chain issues with older ones, the diesels from I think 10/11 upwards have improved except for the new 16 diesel which are crap, the old n47 does have the odd timing chain issue but the newer I think there isn't same issues.

service history,
the service history is stored on the idrive menu, be very careful as boys can update the software themselves, so check to see if bmw have serviced the car if not then ask for service receipts and not just some halfwit stamping up a history via their software from ebay.

steering rack!
wild issues, mine was in CH three times they couldn't work out where the knocking was coming from, even though I said its the steering rack and they wouldn't listen, car was out of warranty and washed their hands of it which is why I wouldn't buy another of them.
to Bavarian who said the car needs a rack, 2000 plus fitting ,
bit of research and I found a fella from Poland worked out you can buy a part from BMW that will cure the rack,
spoke to a fella in Bavarian at parts who I reckon must manufacture bmw's in his spare time as he was that cheeky and told me this part wont cure bla bla bla
I thought at 25 quid I think all in its worth a shot, left it to rab at a-one autos who fitted part in under 2 hours and the result is that the car is driving like a dream,
no knocks from the rack at all which again put me off buying another bmw as in my opinion Bavarian are mainly about not helping the second hand bmws but selling new.

apart from these issues they are a relatively nice car to drive, the 116d is a bit under powered and just be careful what your buying but might be worth noting a second hand diesel is easier to sell and worth more trade in
 
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