[padders]

While a great laugh for a blast, fabric roof MX5s aren't all that nice on a long journey even in standard form, particularly the early 5 speed ones which have very short gearing. In fact they are noisy and harsh and mods make this worse. My BBR turbo was at 4,100 RPM at 80mph. My Flyin Miata turbo Mk1, a scarcely more bearable 3,700rpm. That car, which had ~230hp, could hit the redline in 5th at 145mph. Compare this to an M-lite Auto that is doing 1,800rpm at 80mph...

 

[Tegs200]

Went on the advice on another member to Goodwoods slip and slide skid pan and its the best £150 I've spent and would a 100% recommend 👌

 

[Henry Chinaski]

Went on the advice on another member to Goodwoods slip and slide skid pan and its the best £150 I've spent and would a 100% recommend 👌

Am I right in thinking they no longer use the M240i for this course, since the the F22 has been superseded b the G42, which is not RWD?

 

[msej449]

Their website shows the 2 Series Coupé G42, which is rear-wheel drive. Are you confusing this with the M235i Grand Coupé F44, which is FWD?

 

[Tegs200]

Their website shows the 2 Series Coupé G42, which is rear-wheel drive. Are you confusing this with the M235i Grand Coupé F44, which is FWD?

Yep exactly that the G42 RWD 2 series , great fun and priceless training IMO.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

Their website shows the 2 Series Coupé G42, which is rear-wheel drive. Are you confusing this with the M235i Grand Coupé F44, which is FWD?

Sorry, I wasn't being very clear. I meant that the G42 version of the M240i is X-drive, unlike the F22 version of the M240i, which is RWD - hence Goodwood is no longer using an M240i, presumably because it takes a RWD car to achieve the most fun and learning from their 'slip and slide' training. I've just had a look at Goodwood's website and I can see they've 'downgraded' from an M240i to a 220i M Sport, which does still have RWD.

 

[OBM]

Thank you so much for everyone's comments - you're all being massively helpful. Apologies for the delay in getting back to people (the new term at uni started, and I've been too focused on essays etc to reply). I'll start going through all the responses!

 

[OBM]

OBM, if you do decide to buy an m140i then please take it down the country roads for a little while so you can be sure you definately think its fun, its not a cheap purchase. Also FYI the LSD is roughly £1800-2000 fitted its not a cheap mod.

The car is good in many many ways but yeh in stock form they lack something. I know what its like having the blinkers on when you get your heart set on one car but if your taking out a 5 year finance deal and £2000 insurance just make sure your 100% about it.

Good luck.

Thank you - I appreciate all of this and I know where you're coming from. Considering the jump from my current car, it'll be a long time before I consider the 140 to be "lack[ing] something" - it'll be so much better than my current car; that said, I'll of course be taking a few for test drives though.

 

[OBM]

I was in the exact same situation 2 years ago.

I was 21, saved up 10k and got a 12k loan for 2% interest from the bank. Way way cheaper than PCP or HP.

As for the insurance, it cost me £700 first year at 22 so really not bad.

As for options, Heated seats and pronav are the only must haves. Wouldn't even worry about an LSD if your not on track or modifying it too much.

This is really helpful, thank you. Yeah the personal loan seems to certainly be the way to go. And I'm now not even considering those without pronav and heated seats

 

[OBM]

I bought my M140i at the age of 22, almost 4 years ago, insurance was £1000 with 1 fault accident a couple of years NCB. £1000 deposit, £364 a month, 14.2k balloon payment (PCP deal).
I was commuting just shy of 50 miles a day in it and it was great, will eat up miles for fun at relatively good mpg. I spec’d mine with pro nav, heated seats, front pdc and adaptive suspension along with standard shadow edition spec. Heated steering wheel would also be nice in the winter months.
When covid/lockdown hit in March 2020, I started to modify it. H&R Lowering springs, F80 lca’s and torsion struts, underbody brace and xhp were the first modifications. At stock power with these changes, the car was very good, loads of useable power. I chose to modify it as I was working from home and my mileage dropped from 14k a year to 4-5k.
I then went on to stage 2, stage 2+ and now stage 3 (pure800) & dorch stage 2 hpfp, which have been on the car for 9 months & circa 4000 miles. In the 26k miles I’ve covered, I’ve not had a single breakdown, the only 2 items that have needed replacing are a TPMS sensor (due to tyre changing) and one of the speakers in the drivers door card was rattling, bmw replaced this FOC under warranty.
If you add more power, it’s highly advisable to do suspension work in line. I have since added an M performance LSD, KW V3’s, H&R anti roll bars, white line subframe mounts, staggered 8&9J wheels to run 245/255 tyres & more.
Bang for buck they are great cars, I still smile getting in mine each time, it’ll still do 45+ mpg at 70mph, servicing is cheap & mechanically, there’s really not a lot to go wrong with them. The tuning potential is very good and with spend the money in the right area’s they are capable cars. Don’t let people tell you it’s too fast for a 22 year old etc, it was my first rwd car as well, just drive to your abilities, get used to the car, take it on track to find you/the cars limits.
Any questions will be happy to answer over PM.
Hope this helps.
Kenz.

Thank you very much for all of this - it's really helpful. I'll absolutely bear in mind to PM you if I've got any further questions. Really nice to have the view of someone who was in my position