[jimmybell]

Hi All - First post (also just posted this in the wrong forum so moved it.... amateur..)

Test drove an m135i LCI recently, a nice little 3door - was surprised at how good it was, especially the ride and the ZF auto. I can definitely see how there's become such a following for them! I'm looking for a car to take some miles off my Z4MC, and be more of a fast-daily for local + longer distance trips.

I was contemplating a new order, but at ~£10k less (including a reasonable discount on new LCI cars), a few years old with low miles is pretty tempting, and wouldn't require involving BMW Finance's terrible rates.

My question - what's the major differences between pre- and post LCI?

Having only sat in the LCI one, and driven it reasonably hard - what would i expect to lack on pre-LCI aside from exterior styling? (Interestingly, whilst the front is nicer on the LCI, i like the quirkyness the more i look at pre-LCI, and the rear i prefer too!)

I'd want the dynamic chassis control to replicate the ride i experienced, a decent colour contrast combo for interior/exterior, and all the tech toys possible. The 5 door is more useful, but 3 door looks nice, undecided here.

Also - is the MPE easy to add, and how much does that cost usually?

Thanks!

 

[VO_M135i]

MPE is £800ish fitted. With regards to changes only really cosmetic although some say suspension was tweaked but not according to BMW. Agreed you can get a low mileage with all the toys at about 2 years old for around £22-£24k but you can also get brand new with lots of toys for low £29k but guess if you prefer pre LCI that is probably your best option. To go for and save a few pounds as your bound to start modding!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sunshinewelly]

For me the saving of £8000 swung me to pre lci. Internally they are almost identical. Externally the front on lci is marginally nicer but they ruined it with that rear. The pre lci rear is much nicer. I actually think in 3 door guise the pre lci is overall a nicer looking car than the same lci model.

I got a 63 plate immaculate one with 8600 miles on the clock for just over £20500 with plenty of extras and auto too which is a must. I would also suggest that if yiu have no kids that the 3 door is more comfortable as the wider doors are much easier to get through with my lanky frame and the frameless doors are lovely. Also with car loans as cheap as they are now a fail to see appeal of BMW finance rates.

The power has been bumped for the lci but in reality you are not going to notice any difference

 

[jimmybell]

Interesting on the price of new - i got a pretty hefty discount offer (38.5k down to 32k), wonder how low they go.

I suspect for power difference between pre-post-LCI i'd just JB4 + MPE to add the smiles per mile. Is the satnav any different between the models?

Can a dog (bigish) cope in the back of the 3door?

 

[frazzle]

I've got a pre-lci and have an lci on order which is currently on a ship.

Looks - subjective but I prefer the front of the Lci and initially disliked the rear of the lci. However I'm really coming round to it, and in particular, with the rear lights on, it looks really sleek to me.

Equipment - there are variations but generally speaking, I think the lci has black panel, extended storage, tyre pressure monitoring, bluetooth streaming, standard business nav, LED headlights and the later steering wheel. (Some of these were already on latter pre-lci cars).

Optional equipment- I think the pro nav combines with the auto box to predict the right gear for the terrain, while coasting seems to be on the new cars.

Handling/power / drive train- lci has a few extra bhp but I can't imagine it will be noticeable. Some owners are reporting a mildly improved ride, and the autotbox seemed to have a software update last year sometime which made the changes smoother, and raised the initial start up revs - sounds amazing

Not sure if all above are 100% correct but most should be right.

 

[br0wny]

Whichever you get your gonna love it

 

[hiccy]

Hey Jimmy,

I'd definitely recommend having another look at new, I was looking at 1/2 year old cars until I found out about Coast2Coast on a thread on Pistonheads and there didn't seem that much more to get into a brand new car specced the way you want it with no wear, warranty etc.

Then TRL posted on the same thread in PH linking to here, and now he's got my deposit and I'm posting here!

 

[General Zod]

Can a dog (bigish) cope in the back of the 3door?

My 3 cockers fit in no bother, so should be fine

 

[Lehn]

Can a dog (bigish) cope in the back of the 3door?

Is the boot space very different from the 3-doors to the 5-doors? If not, you can easily fit a big dog in the bag. We carry our Rhodesian Ridgeback 42kg/92lbs with no problems at all, he can even lay down comfortable and turn around. I drive a 5-door non LCI.

I have fitted the Roadmaster Dog Guard from zooplus.co.uk in my car and it works like a charm! Pretty easy to fit and you don't have to detach it completely to lay the seats flat. Just let me know if you want some pictures.

 

[Crafty]

Early pre lci cars get a different steering wheel, they also don't get audio streaming via bluetooth - I think they can do it if they have the advanced bluetooth option? Not quite sure on that.
Early cars also won't have the extended storage unless it was specced as an option.
LCI also get xenon lights, option on early cars.
If you are considering tuning the early cars are pneumatic waste gate, later ones electronic.

I think I'm right in saying that late lci ( say March '14 ) are the same as an lci bar the visual changes.

 

[Menace]

Early pre lci cars get a different steering wheel, they also don't get audio streaming via bluetooth - I think they can do it if they have the advanced bluetooth option? Not quite sure on that.
Early cars also won't have the extended storage unless it was specced as an option.
LCI also get xenon lights, option on early cars.
If you are considering tuning the early cars are pneumatic waste gate, later ones electronic.

I think I'm right in saying that late lci ( say March '14 ) are the same as an lci bar the visual changes.

Crafty long time no hear… how are ya / car situation?

 

[sunshinewelly]

Hey Jimmy,

I'd definitely recommend having another look at new, I was looking at 1/2 year old cars until I found out about Coast2Coast on a thread on Pistonheads and there didn't seem that much more to get into a brand new car specced the way you want it with no wear, warranty etc.

Then TRL posted on the same thread in PH linking to here, and now he's got my deposit and I'm posting here!

£7500 to £8000 is around the price difference which to me is a fair bit of loose change (probably a bit more as well when you factor in the higher finance interest through BMW)

If you are keeping for 2 years then a PCP deal is the way to go

However i plan on keeping mine for 4 years so owning a like new model was my best option

 

[sunshinewelly]

Early pre lci cars get a different steering wheel, they also don't get audio streaming via bluetooth - I think they can do it if they have the advanced bluetooth option? Not quite sure on that.
Early cars also won't have the extended storage unless it was specced as an option.
LCI also get xenon lights, option on early cars.
If you are considering tuning the early cars are pneumatic waste gate, later ones electronic.

I think I'm right in saying that late lci ( say March '14 ) are the same as an lci bar the visual changes.

I believe that cars from around September 2013 will have the EWG rather than PWG (dont know if thats a good thing or not)

 

[jimmybell]

Thanks for the info chaps, much appreciated and v helpful.

Regarding new deals - i'm not sure what's expected from TRL but even with 6.5k off (almost 20%) list of a top spec new LCI - the cost of ownership per year is roughly 3x that of buying a second hand one, primarily due to the initial depreciation hit and the cost of PCP financing, (vs £20k from Sainsburysbank at a tidy 3.3%!). I'm still playing with numbers but seems to make more sense to get second hand if i can get all the toys on one. I was looking at 36month terms in these calcs.

I'd definitely consider tuning, JB4 + MPE most likely - is the Electronic wastegate preferable then?

Not too fussed about bluetooth streaming as long as i can make calls via bluetooth and somehow wire in Spotify from my iphone, extended storage seems a must though - i cant imagine not having some of the pockets listed in the pack - they seem pretty standard!

 

[Crafty]

Crafty long time no hear… how are ya / car situation?

Hello, I have been lurking a little recently.

Not an m135 owner currently. I am waiting for a pick date date though, should be soon.

 

[sunshinewelly]

Thanks for the info chaps, much appreciated and v helpful.

Regarding new deals - i'm not sure what's expected from TRL but even with 6.5k off (almost 20%) list of a top spec new LCI - the cost of ownership per year is roughly 3x that of buying a second hand one, primarily due to the initial depreciation hit and the cost of PCP financing, (vs £20k from Sainsburysbank at a tidy 3.3%!). I'm still playing with numbers but seems to make more sense to get second hand if i can get all the toys on one. I was looking at 36month terms in these calcs.

I'd definitely consider tuning, JB4 + MPE most likely - is the Electronic wastegate preferable then?

Not too fussed about bluetooth streaming as long as i can make calls via bluetooth and somehow wire in Spotify from my iphone, extended storage seems a must though - i cant imagine not having some of the pockets listed in the pack - they seem pretty standard!

I do not miss bluetooth streaming - i use a 128GB usb stick so have literally all my music collection on hand which is great. I think the iphone does have some connectivity over and above android and i think that you can threfore stream spottify.

i also took the sainsburys low interest finance - best on the market at the moment - (last time i bought my 2007 530I the best loan apr was 9.9% so saving money overall with the M135 purchase.

As for toys i have the following on mine
1. Heated seats - very handy in this weather - i have a dodgy back and its great for that.
2. Black panel display - not necessary but i do like it on mine - great being able to change tracks without leaving wheel and it looks cool as well
3. Split seats 40/20/40 - never used it yet so dont know how handy it will be (my daughter does like the extra storage space you get though on the middle seat)
4. Sun glass - again looks nice especially on my white car and it may be handy when we get some sun
5. cruise function - only cruise function that is actually good to use (had it on other cars but never used it but its great on the M135)

As for other toys i would suggest some form of audio upgrade - the base system is ok but i am looking at getting a set of door mids and tweeters to fit (cost £220 for this aftermarket setup so may want to factor that in your car search)

the sat nav is neither her nor there. Over christmas whilst my car was having a o2 issue fixed i was given a brand new 330D with the pro nav - it was ok but i actually found the sat nav on my phone was better. the wide screen display was nice and i also liked the way it would display album artwork - but the sat nav itself was nothing i feel i have missed out on

adaptive suspension would also have been nice to have - there is nothing wrong with the ride of the normal suspension and some reviews have said that the adaptive is nothing really special but it would be nice to have.

to me though my priority was that the car had a low mileage and was immaculate all over which mine was. It looked new and smelt new

good luck on your quest

 

[sunshinewelly]

Just to say that my pre lci has an ewg. Sep 2013 build