[OBM]

Hi all!

This is my first post on the forum (after having used it a lot over the past few months!). This year marks the year that I’ll be purchasing an M140i Shadow Edition, and the TLDR is that I’d welcome absolutely any advice. I’ll give some info about myself and my situation below - I would hugely appreciate advice/tips on anything from the buying process to must-have options to how to handle the horsepower increase etc. Thank you!

Feel free to ignore everything below, but I thought I’d write a little about me to contextualise the situation:

• I’m 21 (will be 22 at the time of purchasing in around October/November this year). Now I know that your immediate reaction would be ‘DON’T BUY AN M140i AT 22!” for numerous reasons; however, I’ve made the decision to buy it after taking a lot into account, and I’ll be starting a graduate job with a salary that will allow me to purchase the car whilst saving for a house deposit, various other savings etc (plus zero rent as I’m living at home for a couple of years). The only reason I’m mentioning all of this is because I’ve previously seen young prospective BMW buyers asking for advice on the forum, and the discussion inevitably becomes about why they shouldn’t buy one etc.

• This leads me to mention the form of purchase (HP, PCP, etc). My current thinking - and I’d welcome any advice on this - is to go with a personal loan with a low interest rate (around 5% or so), rather than a finance deal with a crazily high %. Prices for the type of M140i I’m looking at (which I’ll mention in a sec) hover around £25k, so my thinking is a personal loan of around £20k. I plan on having the car for a few years, so I reckon I’ll go for a 48-60 month repayment to keep the monthly costs down, and can always repay it quicker.

• Next up: options/spec. I’m only looking at a black Shadow Edition. These are my two non-negotiables. As for everything else, this is where I would really appreciate input. It’ll also almost definitely be an automatic (which is a shame as I wasn’t expecting to give up manual driving just five years after passing my test, but an automatic makes the most sense). I’m thinking that pro-nav and heated seats should also be must-haves. I’ve heard very mixed views about the necessity of adaptive suspension (especially as models for sale rarely have this ticked). Do you have any other must-have recommendations? And what are some other options that you’d class as ‘would be very nice to have but not 100% essential’?

• My current car is a 2013 FWD <100hp 1.2 Vauxhall Agila SE - a car that is dramatically different to the 2017-19 RWD 340hp 3.0 6-cylinder BMW M140i. Do you have any advice for making the change between the two? Of course, take it easy until I’m comfortable etc, but do you have any more specific tips as to how to make the change from FWD to RWD, for example? As this will also be the first time I’ll be selling a car, do you have any advice for selling to get the best price?

• A questions about mileage: what would you recommend as the maximum to go for? I’ve been looking at sub-30k miles. I’m also a novice when it comes to knowing about servicing/service history.

• Finally, insurance…the dreaded word for someone of my age buying a car as powerful as an M140i, as it’s going to cost a pretty penny. I know that insurance costs are incredibly subjective, but do you have any tips on reducing the premium?

That seems to be all the info I can think of at the moment. I’m aware that there was a lot of info and rambling there - I just thought it best to be exhaustive. I’d appreciate absolutely any advice whatsoever, as it’s a rather daunting process buying (and selling) a car with zero experience.



Thank you ever so much!

 

[Simon Site Manager]

Hello and welcome OBD, have you run the insurance quotes company's yet? Also, get a quote from our sponsors on here, and also BMW. Please post what these outrageous quotes are. Do you have any NCD's? Get a female on your policy, will bring down quote.

 

[140ifan]

To be truthfully honest the car needs an LSD and needs either adaptive or aftermarket suspension.

Dont be suckered into the car just because of the power figures, it can rarely put full power down safely, only in the dry and with an LSD and good tyres can you actually use the power.

At 21 i would of personally looked at tons of other options, i ended up in the 140i due to my age (cheaper insurance) and the fact i needed an okay sized 5 door car for my son to get in and out easily.

 

[Nyxeris]

Welcome!

I'm really not a fan of the "young people shouldn't drive RWD cars"/"RWD cars are uncontrollable" myths. They're usually shared by people who have zero experience driving anything but a FWD kitchen appliance and want to feel better about their life, or once drove something RWD and ran out of talent, so they blame it on the car rather than their own smoother-than-average brain.

That doesn't mean it's a thoughtless transition, just that the buck stops with you, not the platform. The number one rule is simply to respect the throttle pedal. You can't just floor it out of a junction or off a roundabout, instead of understeering 'safely' in the direction you were already going, you'll lose the back end of the car and spin in a direction that is entirely up to chance. Be smooth with your inputs to all pedals, drive to the conditions (especially the cold/wet), and don't be tempted to play around until you've had some practice. Leave that traction control button well alone when you're driving on the public road (also because if you turn it down/off and have an oops, both insurance and the police can use that against you).

Paying £1-200 for a session on a skid pan will teach you more about handling an upset RWD car than you'll learn in a decade of normal road driving. Plus it's outrageous fun. If you book at Goodwood, they actually use M140i/240is so it’d be perfect.

Final bit on adjustment/handling is don’t skimp on tyres. Coming from a typical ‘budget’ car you might feel that tyres don’t make a difference, but on a car like the mlite they're probably the most important component of handling. Stick with premium brands like Michelin, Goodyear or Conti, don't mix them, and replace them once they hit the wear bars at 3mm rather than the legal limit at 1.6mm. The impact of worn or low quality tyres is hard to overstate.

On the insurance point, make sure you check any policy for terms like the famous "all factory options must be declared as mods" that the Admiral/Direct Line/Swiftcover groups like to sneak in and will use to avoid/reduce payouts. Cheapest definitely isn't best. For the first year, you're better off leaving the car unmodified. Once you've squared away a year's experience of RWD, specialist insurers are going to be much more willing to work with you, and they don't usually charge any extra for cosmetic/chassis mods, only power.

Speaking of mods, have a read of a few of the build threads on here. You'll notice that owners who are more focused on 'go' than they are on 'show' tend to modify suspension/brakes/chassis long before they turn up the power dial.

As for BMW specific stuff, bear in mind that absolutely any coding, remaps, tuning boxes etc. of any kind will be held to void all related warranties. Detection is completely automated nowadays, and there's yet to be any evidence of anyone being able to defeat it, just lots of people on the internet with very strong opinions. You'll get no judgement from me (or most others) for making those choices, but if you're going for an in-warranty car, it's something to bear in mind.

Mileage isn't the most important with 6cyl BMWs, but you definitely want a full service history, would be even better if you can find a car that's been maintained at better-than-factory intervals. If it was done at a specialist or dealership, it should be on the iDrive with indicators to tell you if it was on-time or not.

BMW Insured Warranty gets much more expensive to extend after 60k miles so that's something to factor in if you're likely to reach that point and want the cover.

Servicing is pretty much on-demand, the car will tell you what it want's/needs. Although BMW's spiel about gearbox/diff oils being lifetime fill should be ignored. That 'lifetime' refers to the fact that the oil will last the lifetime of the warranty, not the lifetime of the car. If you're keeping the car out of the warranty period it's worth paying for the diff roughly every 25k miles and the gearbox every 50k. I'm sure the ZF8 can do more than that officially but 25/50 is easy to remember/schedule!

Ended up writing a wall of text there

 

[Brexon]

Make sure you’re life insurance policy is up to date.

 

[OBM]

Hello and welcome OBD, have you run the insurance quotes company's yet? Also, get a quote from our sponsors on here, and also BMW. Please post what these outrageous quotes are. Do you have any NCD's? Get a female on your policy, will bring down quote.

Hi Simon - thank you very much. Insurance quotes come out with the cheapest around gulp £2,300 annually (always tends to be Admiral), with both my mum and dad on the policy. They've both got 25+ years of no claims and I'll have 5 by the time I buy the car at the end of the year.

 

[Davey M]

Agree with everything Nyxeris says.

Have you test drove one, I would also recommend you test drive a few cars, depending on need Toyota GT86 a great car.

re insurance many years ago I completed advanced driving test through IAM and got circa 30% discount, not sure if it will still be as high discount but worth checking which insurance companies take it into account.

 

[OBM]

To be truthfully honest the car needs an LSD and needs either adaptive or aftermarket suspension.

Dont be suckered into the car just because of the power figures, it can rarely put full power down safely, only in the dry and with an LSD and good tyres can you actually use the power.

At 21 i would of personally looked at tons of other options, i ended up in the 140i due to my age (cheaper insurance) and the fact i needed an okay sized 5 door car for my son to get in and out easily.

An LSD would certainly be top of the things to add, though I presume this then counts as a modification in the insurer's eyes, and hikes the premium up? As for the appeal of the car - it's more than just the power for me - the RWD aspect, reliability, sense of fun etc (though I know I'm preaching to the converted here). The car will mainly be used at weekends on countryside drives purely for the fun of it, to make a change from being in the office in London all week, as well as being used on the motorway to make the journey from London to Durham a lot; from everything I've watched and read, there are few other hot hatches that can provide anywhere near the level of enjoyment on country roads while also being a great motorway cruiser with a (relatively) good mpg all things considered.

 

[OBM]

Welcome!

I'm really not a fan of the "young people shouldn't drive RWD cars"/"RWD cars are uncontrollable" myths. They're usually shared by people who have zero experience driving anything but a FWD kitchen appliance and want to feel better about their life, or once drove something RWD and ran out of talent, so they blame it on the car rather than their own smoother-than-average brain.

That doesn't mean it's a thoughtless transition, just that the buck stops with you, not the platform. The number one rule is simply to respect the throttle pedal. You can't just floor it out of a junction or off a roundabout, instead of understeering 'safely' in the direction you were already going, you'll lose the back end of the car and spin in a direction that is entirely up to chance. Be smooth with your inputs to all pedals, drive to the conditions (especially the cold/wet), and don't be tempted to play around until you've had some practice. Leave that traction control button well alone when you're driving on the public road (also because if you turn it down/off and have an oops, both insurance and the police can use that against you).

Paying £1-200 for a session on a skid pan will teach you more about handling an upset RWD car than you'll learn in a decade of normal road driving. Plus it's outrageous fun. If you book at Goodwood, they actually use M140i/240is so it’d be perfect.

Final bit on adjustment/handling is don’t skimp on tyres. Coming from a typical ‘budget’ car you might feel that tyres don’t make a difference, but on a car like the mlite they're probably the most important component of handling. Stick with premium brands like Michelin, Goodyear or Conti, don't mix them, and replace them once they hit the wear bars at 3mm rather than the legal limit at 1.6mm. The impact of worn or low quality tyres is hard to overstate.

On the insurance point, make sure you check any policy for terms like the famous "all factory options must be declared as mods" that the Admiral/Direct Line/Swiftcover groups like to sneak in and will use to avoid/reduce payouts. Cheapest definitely isn't best. For the first year, you're better off leaving the car unmodified. Once you've squared away a year's experience of RWD, specialist insurers are going to be much more willing to work with you, and they don't usually charge any extra for cosmetic/chassis mods, only power.

Speaking of mods, have a read of a few of the build threads on here. You'll notice that owners who are more focused on 'go' than they are on 'show' tend to modify suspension/brakes/chassis long before they turn up the power dial.

As for BMW specific stuff, bear in mind that absolutely any coding, remaps, tuning boxes etc. of any kind will be held to void all related warranties. Detection is completely automated nowadays, and there's yet to be any evidence of anyone being able to defeat it, just lots of people on the internet with very strong opinions. You'll get no judgement from me (or most others) for making those choices, but if you're going for an in-warranty car, it's something to bear in mind.

Mileage isn't the most important with 6cyl BMWs, but you definitely want a full service history, would be even better if you can find a car that's been maintained at better-than-factory intervals. If it was done at a specialist or dealership, it should be on the iDrive with indicators to tell you if it was on-time or not.

BMW Insured Warranty gets much more expensive to extend after 60k miles so that's something to factor in if you're likely to reach that point and want the cover.

Servicing is pretty much on-demand, the car will tell you what it want's/needs. Although BMW's spiel about gearbox/diff oils being lifetime fill should be ignored. That 'lifetime' refers to the fact that the oil will last the lifetime of the warranty, not the lifetime of the car. If you're keeping the car out of the warranty period it's worth paying for the diff roughly every 25k miles and the gearbox every 50k. I'm sure the ZF8 can do more than that officially but 25/50 is easy to remember/schedule!

Ended up writing a wall of text there

Hi Nyxeris - thank you very much for all of this!

Very sage advice about respecting the throttle pedal - I intend on taking a while to get accustomed to it and have no intention of going crazy from the start. Luckily, I'm not one of those 20-somethings who think they're a perfect driver and then go head first into a roundabout; I'm completely aware that I've only been driving for five years and that I have a lot to learn, which is why I'm very excited, as someone who loves cars, to build new skills in a car like an M140i.

The skid pan suggestion is a great one - it's already something on my Christmas list! Have never experienced drifting yet (whenever I've been to Goodwood FoS, the F-Type drifting experience has either been fully booked or a four-hour queue...). I do have a Lamborghini track day in March, so fingers crossed there will be some sideways action, even if it's only on the passenger lap).

Are there any specific tyres you'd recommend? As they're the key component keeping the car planted to the ground, I'm not afraid to skimp out on them, both for safety and performance reasons. Great tip about replacing well before it reaches the legal limit - thank you.

On the insurance note - I do intend to leave it unmodified for the first year in order to get to grips with it, and power upgrades are not on my agenda at all for the first couple of years. Regarding specialist insurers, I know very little about this - I've only ever looked at the standard comparison sites etc. How do the specialist insurers operate? That they don't charge extra for cosmetics is fantastic, as I'd love to make some cosmetic upgrades after the first year, but I ran insurance quotes on comparison sites after ticking the modified box, and adding a spoiler would add £1.5k to the cost...

When you say that mileage isn't too much of an issue on 6cyl BMWs, why is this? Just due to good build quality? In that case, would upping my parameters from sub-30k miles to sub-60k make more sense?

Again, thank you very much for all of this invaluable advice.

 

[OBM]

Agree with everything Nyxeris says.

Have you test drove one, I would also recommend you test drive a few cars, depending on need Toyota GT86 a great car.

re insurance many years ago I completed advanced driving test through IAM and got circa 30% discount, not sure if it will still be as high discount but worth checking which insurance companies take it into account.

No test drive as of yet. As I'm still at university and won't be buying the car until the end of the year, I didn't want to waste dealers' time by testing a car now that likely won't be on sale when I come to buy it.

The discount regarding the advanced driving course is extremely interesting as this is something I am greatly considering (both because I always want to improve as a driver, and as my parents are petrified of me getting the car). I had no idea that the discount could be as high as 30%. I'll drop my old instructor a text to see if he happens to know which of the three main advanced driving tests lead to the biggest reduction in cost.

 

[Davey M]

Discount was 35 years ago and world has changed, but worth investigating. Back then a lot of trainers were Police class one drivers and taught road craft, how to read roads etc so as you say may help with parents. At the time you just contacted the local IAM group to get lessons and then test. I would start test driving now when weather is decent- warm and dry. Once you have decided what you want, then watch market to help decide what looks like a good deal. To be fair in normal times October and November would be a good time to buy a car of that type.

 

[dxnnyk]

Welcome to the forum, OBM!

I'm really not a fan of the "young people shouldn't drive RWD cars"/"RWD cars are uncontrollable" myths. They're usually shared by people who have zero experience driving anything but a FWD kitchen appliance and want to feel better about their life, or once drove something RWD and ran out of talent, so they blame it on the car rather than their own smoother-than-average brain.

This made me chuckle

When you say that mileage isn't too much of an issue on 6cyl BMWs, why is this? Just due to good build quality? In that case, would upping my parameters from sub-30k miles to sub-60k make more sense?

Historically, the B58 engine found in the M140i has proven to be quite reliable long-term. Much more so than the N54 and N55 it replaced. Sub-30k miles is, in my view, a little too cautious: personally the maximum we look for in a BMW is 45k at purchase (essentially to leave some leeway such that when coming to sell at roughly 60k, it is not viewed as 'high mileage.')

However as with all cars (but particularly performance vehicles such as the M140i), consistent servicing is the priority. I'd walk away from any car that looks good and sounds good but hasn't got the relevant service history to back it up. Ideally you'd find a car that has been serviced more frequently than the interval recommends (rare, but they are out there!) but definitely consistently at the interval as a minimum. If I were you I'd definitely purchase the BMW Insured Warranty Nyxeris alluded to; the peace of mind is simply invaluable. But be aware they won't let you purchase it if the service history is not up to scratch (when I purchased mine they wanted to see that it had all been done by either BMW or a 'big name' - in my case it was a mixture of BMW and Kwik Fit for example, which was fine).

Are there any specific tyres you'd recommend? As they're the key component keeping the car planted to the ground, I'm not afraid to skimp out on them, both for safety and performance reasons. Great tip about replacing well before it reaches the legal limit - thank you.

It depends on how you want your car to feel. Grip is a must, but 'feel and feedback' are optional and are totally driver dependent. For those wanting a more 'sporty' experience the Michelin Pilot Super Sport is a good go-to. For those who want something slightly more comfortable and willing to sacrifice a little bit of feedback from the front wheels, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (or PS5 if the appropriate size has been released - I'm not sure) would be the one.

 

[140ifan]

An LSD would certainly be top of the things to add, though I presume this then counts as a modification in the insurer's eyes, and hikes the premium up? As for the appeal of the car - it's more than just the power for me - the RWD aspect, reliability, sense of fun etc (though I know I'm preaching to the converted here). The car will mainly be used at weekends on countryside drives purely for the fun of it, to make a change from being in the office in London all week, as well as being used on the motorway to make the journey from London to Durham a lot; from everything I've watched and read, there are few other hot hatches that can provide anywhere near the level of enjoyment on country roads while also being a great motorway cruiser with a (relatively) good mpg all things considered.

See this is what i was getting at really.

This car isent a fun car as standard really, its too unnerving and unpredictable, it also isent a car you take out just for the sake of taking it out, its a jack of all trades and is a decent car but its not the type of excitement you might think it will be and i can think of tons of other exciting to drive options that i would pick over this, my old mk7 fiesta st was an absolute hoot, as was my swift sport, both perfect for country drives.

 

[padders]

Be aware that the elephant in the room here is that the car will range from a handful to borderline dangerous for parts of the year if you stick to the std MPSS tyres all year round. There are those on here that swear that they have a million horsepower and never get so much as the TC light flicker on MPSS, but most of us hate those tyres, which are M-Lite standard fit with a passion when it gets very cold. Indeed many, myself included swap to other tyres for the winter, something that might not appeal to someone at the start of their career when watching the pennies matters.

All RWD BMWs, not just the fast ones are crap in snow and not great in sub zero conditions even with better Summer tyres so depending on where you live, it might not be the best car for you in its standard form.

I'll be honest, you'll likely have more fun and kill yourself less in a fast, light FWD hatch. Or a light RWD coupe or convertible with half the power.

There I've said it.

 

[das68]

I would recommend an extended test drive in poor weather. With low experience of this type of car you may find all the power overwhelms your skill level and its hard to get the skill when the car is driving you rather than you driving the car.

I’ve always liked RWD cars, but would recommend you start with something easier to learn on e.g. GT86 or MX5 ( which you could get for the cost of your deposit and still keep your FWD car ! ), Caterham or Westfield would be ideal ( my first RWD car was a 190bhp Westfield I built myself ).

You should also be fully aware of the running costs, insurance will be astronomical, tyres, servicing, repairs and fuel ( expect high teens / low 20’s, on short runs or using the power ).

if your not put off then do some driving courses, i did some “creative car control” and drifting days which really help you understand the car dynamics and help get you out of trouble when things go wrong.

 

[un1eash]

As others have mentioned a stock M140i isn't really a fun weekend car, it's a 1 series with a very powerful engine. GT86, I didn't get on with mine but have had a lot of RWD cars.
At 19 I had a MK1 MR2, then by the time I was 22 I had a Z4 and 350Z. Nothing wrong with having fast RWD cars, just respect the car and don't allow other road users and friends push you into making mistakes.

 

[msej449]

Have you considered an M235/M240i In coupé or convertible form? the 1 Series is definitely a terrific 5-door multi-rôle vehicle but at the risk of offending some owners, the 2 has an arguably much more stable platform. And if you don’t need those extra doors and carrying-capacity, why compromise? I wasn’t initially looking at a convertible but that’s what I eventually ended up with and it makes a lot of otherwise mundane journeys much more enjoyable. And the top comes down more often than I expected in spring and autumn. Just a thought.

But like the M135i/M140i it also benefits a lot from a limited slip differential. It’s probably a bit less sensitive to the choice of tyre, but only relatively - you still need to do some research and in my case, I have a separate set of winter wheels and tyres. I’m not sure that as many 235i/240i owners bother with retro-fitting more than the LSD, or not to the same extent anyway. My impression from forum posts is that’s because the 2 is a rather more balanced package dynamically.

I think it’s good advice to test drive more than just half an hour with the salesperson sat next to you, although they may be nervous if this is your first run in a 330BHP car on a public road. And at least try an M235i/M240i just as a comparison. If you test a convertible make sure it’s on a nice day.

As for options, I’m a bit biased because I ordered every option bar the speed sign detector and lane warning. What I was pleased I’d forked out for was the heated seats and the electric seats, the Xenon Adaptive Headlights + high beam assist, and the comfort access. The electric seats are much more adjustable and if you’re sharing the car, you have a his ‘n hers pair of key fobs that remember their respective settings, including the wing mirrors. The Xenon high beam assist / adaptive headlights are an amazing tech that’s great if you do a lot of cross-country driving in the dark.

If you go for a 2 Series convertible you’ll really need the rear park distance control as the soft top has a more restricted view backwards. Some earlier versions of the 2 coupé and convertible had the fold-down rear seat only as an option and since this makes a huge difference to the usability of the car then you need to be sure it has this ’Through-load Facility’.

Finally, I wouldn’t say that the N55 engine is particularly inferior vs the later B58, more that the latter is an increment in development. But I may be biased of course. Personally, if an N55 car had everything I wanted, but a B58 lacked a lot of options, then if the price was similar I’d go for the M235i. But that’s very much a personal equation that others would weight differently.

 

[tweeky]

M240i is the better car out of the box. Handling is better.

 

[Nyxeris]

Replies in the quote below!

Hi Nyxeris - thank you very much for all of this!



Are there any specific tyres you'd recommend? As they're the key component keeping the car planted to the ground, I'm not afraid to skimp out on them, both for safety and performance reasons. Great tip about replacing well before it reaches the legal limit - thank you.

Check out the TyreReviews.com website/Youtube channel. It's basically a case of stick with the big names, then choose the tyre that you feel best suits what you want from the car based on the slight differences between each of their offerings.

Some people (me included) also keep a second set of wheels/tyres for the cold months. I fit CrossClimates to mine because I'm near the south coast, so full winter rubber doesn't make sense. But properly satisfying when you can go places in a RWD hatchback that people in their 4WD chelsea tractors on normal tyres can't.

The Pilot Super Sport is ancient tech from the early 2010s, is known for being a bit scary in the wet/cold, and is being phased out for the Pilot Sport 4S which is an objective improvement in pretty much every way.

Regarding specialist insurers, I know very little about this - I've only ever looked at the standard comparison sites etc. How do the specialist insurers operate? That they don't charge extra for cosmetics is fantastic, as I'd love to make some cosmetic upgrades after the first year, but I ran insurance quotes on comparison sites after ticking the modified box, and adding a spoiler would add £1.5k to the cost...

Specialist insurance brokers (i.e. forum sponsors @ChrisKnottIns, as well as others like Adrian Flux or Brentacre) focus on winning business from car enthusiasts. You tell them about you and your car, then they arrange a policy that meets your needs, not a bog-standard "you pay us as little as you possibly can, and in return we'll give you as little as we can legally get away with" policy you'd get from someone you'd find on the meerkats. Better valuations, fairer terms, mods actually covered not just permitted, and best of all less hassle because they know what they're on about. They aren't always the cheapest and might not want to cover your first year in a powerful RWD car, but their policies are usually good value for money and worth looking into.

If you're looking at approved used and fully standard cars, you could try ringing BMW insurance too!

When you say that mileage isn't too much of an issue on 6cyl BMWs, why is this? Just due to good build quality? In that case, would upping my parameters from sub-30k miles to sub-60k make more sense?

Yep - BMW does their best work with 6 cylinder engines. If they're treated properly and maintained well, they aren't likely to demand too much attention until well outside the mileage you're looking at. Put two cars side by side, one with 20k and one with 40k, both with full service history etc. and the same price but the 40k car had all the options you want and the one with 20k didn't, I'd be happy to choose the higher mileage car.

 

[dxnnyk]

The Pilot Super Sport is ancient tech from the early 2010s, is known for being a bit scary in the wet/cold, and is being phased out for the Pilot Sport 4S which is an objective improvement in pretty much every way.

Correct me if wrong Nyx, but I didn't think the MPS4S was available (in the UK at least) in 18" factory tyre sizes for the M140i? (Hence the typical port-of-call to be MPSS given lack of other options other than the 'boring' tyres i.e., MPS4/5!)

Personally I'd stick to a tyre you can get in factory sizes OBM, just to avoid complications re. insurance (as it'd be considered a modification).

 

[Nyxeris]

Correct me if wrong Nyx, but I didn't think the MPS4S was available (in the UK at least) in 18" factory tyre sizes for the M140i? (Hence the typical port-of-call to be MPSS given lack of other options other than the 'boring' tyres i.e., MPS4/5!)

Nah you're right, PS4S has very limited availability in 18". But they started phasing out PSS in 2016, and basically only sell it in sizes where it was a factory fit tyre now.

For some perspective, when the PSS launched in 2010 the normal Pilot Sport was only at generation 2. We've had PS3, 4 and 5 since then, but PSS is the same compound/design it was 12 years ago.

If OP wants a max performance tyre, it'd be better to go with PS4S (sizes allowing) or Eagle F1 SS, Potenza Sport or Conti WhateverItIsContact. PSS is fine if you know what you're doing, but for a first pokey RWD car it's far behind the others as a daily driver tyre.