New Car Time. Rwd Danke!

[Rich_p 23]

My daily for the last 10 years has been my trusty Civic 1.8 vti. It’s been superb.

 

I think I’ll put an add on here for it as it should do someone proud as a cheap ,lowish mileage, nippy, reliable run around.

 

It’s time for a change though so I’ve been considering various options from Focus St’s to Golf gti's to Mazda 3 MPS's

 

After initially wanting a 3 MPS and not being able to find a suitable one I’ve now gone down the route of a 130i M sport and am happy with my choice. It’s as quick as the Mazda, a lot less to tax, less to insure and should hold value a lot better. Plus it’s just generally better built I feel.

 

Oh and RWD of course!

 

Her she is, I’ll be picking her up on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

It’s in cracking condition and only has 35k on. Only downside is it doesn’t have xenons but I’d rather have a clean car with normal lights than a scruffy one with xenons.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Rich_p

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Nice

[nveeate 78]

Congratulations - looks very clean. Must admit I didnt like the shape of the 1 series at all when it first came out, but it's aged well. The 130i is meant to be a cracking motor too... quick, torquey, handles well and quite understated.

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Great motor.....I loved my old 120d and always hankered after the 'cooking' model. Great chassis but do chew bushes, there are loads on the rear 5 link suspension. Silky smooth 3 litre engine goes pretty well and can be economical too (for what it is).

 

BabyBMW is a good forum for info.

 

What do you think of the boot though?

[Rich_p 23]

The boot is admittedly a lot smaller than I'm used to but for day to day it will suffice. If I need to move anything bigger I'll borrow an astra or focus from friends or family.

 

I'm very much enjoying the car although the eleltric steering is something that will have to grow on me

[Anthony 1,003]

Good choice.

 

Be interesting to hear how you get on with it, as I've been pondering something along those lines as a sensible, reasonably priced "do everything" car for some point in the future if I ever need to downsize to a single car.

[mowflow 67]

Good choice. We had one years ago and it was a cracking car. The engine is so smooth, makes a lovely noise and is surprisingly economical, I averaged 32mpg.

[Rich_p 23]

A couple of weeks in and it's still got to fully grow on me. I think making the jump to a far more modern car is taking some time to get used too.

I still feel a little detached. I had a play last night and I think it just needs driving differently.

 

The engine is good thats for sure. I'm looking forward to the summer already as at the moment the traction control interferes too much and if you turn it off it spins up in 3rd-4th fairly often!

 

A few pics I took at the weekend.

 

Edited December 2, 2013 by Rich_p

[Batfink 201]

will it go sideways?

[Rich_p 23]

will it go sideways?

 

Yes.

 

Although I suspect it will be a lot more predictable with an LSD, it tends to spin up the inside rear wheel at the moment.

[dcc 855]

I was looking at these a while back, as well as the 335d. in the end I had decided to spend the money else where (read 205) and stick out what I had at the time. I have since been offered a little spin in a preface lift 130i and a 118d, neither have been 'spectacular' in terms of puttign a smile on my face, the 130 certainly was a good giggle, but felt a bit lazy, the 118d was certainly good on fuel, showing over 65mpg from the short drive I took it on around town. can't complain at that. with the 130 I got the feeling it could have done with 4wd of some sort.

[Rich_p 23]

Good choice.

 

Be interesting to hear how you get on with it, as I've been pondering something along those lines as a sensible, reasonably priced "do everything" car for some point in the future if I ever need to downsize to a single car.

 

Bit of feedback after owning it for a while.

 

I’ve not fallen for the car like I thought I would sadly. Obviously it’s reasonably quick and the engine sounds good but as someone else mentioned, I find it a bit lazy and feel a bit detached from it, plus I don’t find it particularly exciting, you end up doing silly speeds before it becomes interesting which isn’t ideal. But on the other hand if you try and push it a little on smaller roundabouts in the dry it understeers but in the wet there is naff all rear grip!

 

I don’t like the electric steering at all, I thought I might get used to it but it spoils it for me.

 

Overall it doesn’t feel special so Its a shame really. The trouble I have is I don’t know what else I fancy.

 

An R32 would be an option but I much prefer the more understated looks of the normal Gti. Plus running costs are more than the BM.

 

I could go all grown up as I like Jags a lot but wouldn’t want to live with one the size of an S-Type or XF on a daily basis just yet.

(small car park at home & work etc).

[welshpug 1,657]

Is it still on runflats?

[Rich_p 23]

Nope, it's on normal conti's

[Anthony 1,003]

That's a shame as it sounded so promising on paper

 

Indeed, the way you describe it is almost the exact sort of car that I actively dislike, which is surprising.

[Rich_p 23]

The chaps on BabyBMW love theirs.

 

Maybe if I had got an older one with Hydraulic steering it would have been a completely different experience. I was won over by the condition of mine compared to the others I looked at.

 

It may also be down to the roads they have in their area, I’ve had a couple of fun runs on long sweeping roads but the roads around here are smaller, tighter and bumpier so maybe not suited to a car like this, especially one with very little steering feel!

[nveeate 78]

 

An R32 would be an option but I much prefer the more understated looks of the normal Gti. Plus running costs are more than the BM.

 

 

 

Shame you've not enjoyed it - I thought about one of these as my daily driver. I went for a nice spec Mk5 Golf GTI instead, and really like it. If you're looking for one, hold out for leather interior - the tartan interiors feel a bit sparse somehow. PM me if you want any tips/suggestions!

[mowflow 67]

I view my 1 series as a tool to get me to work and back, nothing more.

 

What you are experiencing is the case with most modern fast (I refuse to call most of them hot because they aren't designed to the same philosophy these days) hatches. They are all a bit numb and dull unless you are doing potential death speeds +10.

 

The Mk5 GTi is better than the R32 in every department apart from noise. Hatches of that era i'd probably end up with an ST as I found the steering better than anything else.

[Rich_p 23]

I noticed a garage selling an R32 locally so took a look at lunch.

 

I did prefer the steering and the noise is quite distinctive but apart from that for a car that's up for £12.5k I wasn't overly impressed with it.

It had some factory option seats in it which were too wide for me and it rattled a bit. I didn't like the autobox either.

 

When I sat back in the BM it felt like a much better built car.

 

As for the comments above I actually quite like ST's, they sound great. My friend has had a couple and when driving them I didn't like the steering at the time, it had a weird deadspot in the middle and the feel wasn't all that. Looking back it's actually not bad and better than what I have now.

I can't get over the slightly chavvy stigma they have though!

 

Like you say modern fast hatches are just not as direct as cars of old.

 

I'm not sure what to do!

Edited March 13, 2014 by Rich_p

[Wallby 39]

What about an Alfa 147 GTA? Or the Alfa GT? Same sort of thing with the v6 in a small car, probably a bit older than what you have now though.

 

I have had mine for over 3 years now and love it! Although starting to get fed up of the amount of fuel it uses!

[Rich_p 23]

Funnily enough I was researching those online last week! I really want a 5 door hatch though. Plus the thought of buying a slightly older Alfa as a daily driver seems a bit risky!

Does yours have the uprated diff and brakes?

[nveeate 78]

Alfa 147 GTA was my previous daily runaround! Great cars but you need to buy carefully, and you need to fit a LSD....I had one with and one without and the difference was night and day. Fairly greedy on fuel in town too!

[Wallby 39]

Mine has been a daily for the last 3 years. It does now have an uprated diff as the original died on me, but still has the standard brakes which are not too bad.

 

They are getting on a bit now but values seem to have levelled off.

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

THought about buying a dull car for the commute and a fun fast car? TVR Chimerias are remarkably cheap for what you get, but I'd not run one every day!