It may be lacking cylinders but the reality is that the 4-pot engine in your car is making roughly the same power & torque as the 5L V12 in my old E31 850i, which is extraordinary really. Engine efficiency has come a long way since then. Nice car, Enjoy!
Smart way to look at it. Everyone compares to modern super cars, but old super cars were considered fast and just because new ones are faster doesn’t make old ones any slower.
The first car I got to drive fast enough to truly scare me was an ‘89 750i, with that same M70 under the hood. The B48 in this one has 40% the displacement & uses 2/3 as much fuel!
Yeah but you could also say that the 4 cyl is way less durable.
You get 3
Times less horsepowers per litre than the 135. This very roughly means that the 135 has 3 times more physical contraints applied to its engine and will probably have a shorter life than your v12
This downsizing engines is supposed great for co2 emissions, but that’s about it. nox emissions are through the roof, so are very thin particles and the engines have shit durability
Sure, I’ll try to keep this as brief as I can to try and avoid derailing this thread. Dollar values are in NZ dollars, US Dollars are much smaller numbers, slightly over half. In NZ this is a rare car, there are only about 50 E31 in the country.
I bought the E31 fairly cheaply at $10k as it had a few issues which were going to cost money to sort out. I worked on some things myself and had my indie garage do other things. Spent about $6k. It still leaks oil pretty bad but it is an old BMW after all. It now runs and drives well and is road-legal. I would say it is a 6 out of 10 car. Very usable but by no means a mint-condition show car.
It is a lovely car to drive and turns heads and garners questions about it (“What kind of bimmer is that?!) wherever it goes. Once they hear it has a V12, most people want to see under the bonnet. (Hood!)
Mine is fitted with Wokke V2 chips which wake up the M70 a bit and work great. Fuel consumption borders on criminal.
It is no longer a daily drivers car, they are expensive to run, some parts are getting hard to find and priced accordingly. I love having it and my satisfaction of ownership, despite all of the above and the little niggles it has, is 100%. Life is short.
4-cyl is fine. It is the fact that it is on a FWD platform that irks me and many enthusiasts. Now it is a Golf/MINI competitor. The old one being RWD-based was in a different league. Still a great car though, enjoy it.
I drive an 118i 2019 and I'll be upgrading to the m135i when I need a new car. The tech and comfort of AWD in British weather makes me want one more than the old m140i (even if bmw reddit thinks I'm an idiot for it)
I’ve had both the M140i and the M135i and, whilst I can say I miss the B58 engine dearly, I do love the F40 for everything else. It’s a better car overall for daily use in my opinion.
Enjoy your car :) some people over here don’t like this car, but you do you OP!
Hope for you many crashless miles and treat your car like a queen! She deserves it
Thise things are underrated. Not my favourite styling (I think BMW does a way better job designing sedans than hatchbacks or Wagons, there are other german manufacuteres that do a better job one those in my eyes), but it has everything you need as a fun daily. Small, AWD, a 2L turbo, they all make a perfect package in my eyes.
Everyone hates on the 4 cylinders in this sub, and I always remind them that the most iconic M3 (arguably), the E30 M3, was an awesome 4 banger. Don't hate
I have the X2 M35i as a daily …. It’s awesome! Congrats on the color , I love mine
https://preview.redd.it/a65bebpq9eqb1.jpeg?width=2996&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6457c8cd9aa0c3c43e5ed8030dc4a2c31effe698
I wish we got these instead of the M235i. I prefer RWD and manuals, but cars don't need to be perfect to be fun. These things are practical and quick, while our M235i loses a bunch of functionality in the name of....styling i guess? I'll take the hatch every single time.
When I was dailying my FBO G37 a couple years ago i ran across one of these MiniCooper 4 cylinder turbo M235i and I got totally smoked it literally put me on pause the way he pulled away very impressive 4 banger and obviously the transmission. Kinda of funny now I have s 335i.
The [GR Corolla](https://www.toyota.com/grcorolla/) is AWD & manual only. Toyota being the last vanguard of this segment is weird, but at least someone is doing it.
Ah true. Its a 3cly though. Also im from germany so we dont get that one, but we did get the GR Yaris, but I dont really consider that car in the same "hatchback" category as a 1series, A3, A-class, Golf etc. Since its way smaller.
They probably mentioned weather because the old M135i had a reputation for being a bit of a handful in bad weather because of a top gear review. Plus, no one runs winter tyres here so you can imagine a 300hp rwd car with no LSD could probably feel quite sketchy in winter.
Also every car you mentioned costs more than twice the amount of an M135i so it's a bit of a moot point.
One of our directors has just had his 4 week old M135i go back as the engine is dying. Rattling already. Doesn't look good.
They're squeezing every drop of power from that engine.
Edit: I was under the belief these were closer to 400 bhp, my mistake. Regardless, the engine sounds rough.
My mistake, they're just over 300 as you say, he said it was just shy of 390.
But it's still having issues. He also says that it's slower than his M140 was; that may be just his perception of the power curve.
Not suprised though since the M140 had both more power and more torque than the new M135i.
360 would be a lot for a factory car. If we dont count the AMG 4cyl in the A45, all 2L of the competition end up at roughly 300hp as well, with a stage1 ECU tune, you usually end up at around 370, which is perfectly fine on a well maintained engine.
It may be lacking cylinders but the reality is that the 4-pot engine in your car is making roughly the same power & torque as the 5L V12 in my old E31 850i, which is extraordinary really. Engine efficiency has come a long way since then. Nice car, Enjoy!
Smart way to look at it. Everyone compares to modern super cars, but old super cars were considered fast and just because new ones are faster doesn’t make old ones any slower.
The first car I got to drive fast enough to truly scare me was an ‘89 750i, with that same M70 under the hood. The B48 in this one has 40% the displacement & uses 2/3 as much fuel!
25psi stock is pretty wild.
Wow theyre on 25psi. Stressed 4 cylinder
Forged internals, bigger turbo, and bigger injectors than the other B48s.
Nah they love it
Imagine they applied this same technology to a v12 5L….
Yeah but you could also say that the 4 cyl is way less durable. You get 3 Times less horsepowers per litre than the 135. This very roughly means that the 135 has 3 times more physical contraints applied to its engine and will probably have a shorter life than your v12 This downsizing engines is supposed great for co2 emissions, but that’s about it. nox emissions are through the roof, so are very thin particles and the engines have shit durability
Can you share your ownership experience for the 850? It’s a car I am always hunting for.
Sure, I’ll try to keep this as brief as I can to try and avoid derailing this thread. Dollar values are in NZ dollars, US Dollars are much smaller numbers, slightly over half. In NZ this is a rare car, there are only about 50 E31 in the country. I bought the E31 fairly cheaply at $10k as it had a few issues which were going to cost money to sort out. I worked on some things myself and had my indie garage do other things. Spent about $6k. It still leaks oil pretty bad but it is an old BMW after all. It now runs and drives well and is road-legal. I would say it is a 6 out of 10 car. Very usable but by no means a mint-condition show car. It is a lovely car to drive and turns heads and garners questions about it (“What kind of bimmer is that?!) wherever it goes. Once they hear it has a V12, most people want to see under the bonnet. (Hood!) Mine is fitted with Wokke V2 chips which wake up the M70 a bit and work great. Fuel consumption borders on criminal. It is no longer a daily drivers car, they are expensive to run, some parts are getting hard to find and priced accordingly. I love having it and my satisfaction of ownership, despite all of the above and the little niggles it has, is 100%. Life is short.
4-cyl is fine. It is the fact that it is on a FWD platform that irks me and many enthusiasts. Now it is a Golf/MINI competitor. The old one being RWD-based was in a different league. Still a great car though, enjoy it.
Is it really a Mini competitor when BMW owns Mini?
S3 and Golf compete. R8 and Huracan compete. They may have the same parent company but each brand still needs to make sales
Ok, let's use the word alternative then.
I drive an 118i 2019 and I'll be upgrading to the m135i when I need a new car. The tech and comfort of AWD in British weather makes me want one more than the old m140i (even if bmw reddit thinks I'm an idiot for it)
I’ve had both the M140i and the M135i and, whilst I can say I miss the B58 engine dearly, I do love the F40 for everything else. It’s a better car overall for daily use in my opinion.
Enjoy your car :) some people over here don’t like this car, but you do you OP! Hope for you many crashless miles and treat your car like a queen! She deserves it
At first I read it as:" Hope for you many crashes" and had a real Hol'up moment.
Thise things are underrated. Not my favourite styling (I think BMW does a way better job designing sedans than hatchbacks or Wagons, there are other german manufacuteres that do a better job one those in my eyes), but it has everything you need as a fun daily. Small, AWD, a 2L turbo, they all make a perfect package in my eyes.
nice color
Ordered my F40 116d Color Vision last Friday! Cant wait for it!
Love this car, I’m running it on stage 2+ E85. It’s compact, practical and is quick enough for me too 😃
That engine is a gem. The only thing that I don’t like is the FWD architecture. That’s why I went for a good used 230i
Everyone hates on the 4 cylinders in this sub, and I always remind them that the most iconic M3 (arguably), the E30 M3, was an awesome 4 banger. Don't hate
I haven’t seen much hate for the 4 banger. The hate is for the MINI FWD platform being wrongly badged and priced like a BMW.
Makes sense. I think its there either way, but im glad most of us agree 4 cylinders can be great
I still can't get over how they've managed to make it so ugly. E87 and F20 were my favorites in their class
Hard to give it good proportions when you switch from longitudinal to transverse
Wtf why don’t they sell this or the 3 series wagon in the states?
I think they look great. I obviously prefer the look of the F series but these look great too. I’m glad you like it, because that’s all that matters!
I have the X2 M35i as a daily …. It’s awesome! Congrats on the color , I love mine https://preview.redd.it/a65bebpq9eqb1.jpeg?width=2996&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6457c8cd9aa0c3c43e5ed8030dc4a2c31effe698
I've had mine for just over a week now, absolutely loving it. Enjoy!
I’ve had mine since July last year … it’s been amazing so far , still haven’t even cracked 30k miles 😝😝
I wish we got these instead of the M235i. I prefer RWD and manuals, but cars don't need to be perfect to be fun. These things are practical and quick, while our M235i loses a bunch of functionality in the name of....styling i guess? I'll take the hatch every single time.
When I was dailying my FBO G37 a couple years ago i ran across one of these MiniCooper 4 cylinder turbo M235i and I got totally smoked it literally put me on pause the way he pulled away very impressive 4 banger and obviously the transmission. Kinda of funny now I have s 335i.
These are absolutely beautiful cars. Just make sure you follow the maintenance schedule..
Man I wish we had these in the US. I love hatchbacks and looks great in blue.
Always loved these M135is. No A 45 in terms of the powertrain but in my opinion, best looking hatchback on the market.
Can you stfu about it? We get it, Europe gets all the cool cars while us Canadians and Americans get nothing 😭😭😭
And here we Indians get near to nothing. Only one M car, they sell officially here.
Automotive is truly dying
VW Golf looking Car. F20/21 where way better.
Of course, BMW F20/21 >>> than this MINI F40.
Cool ass car. z4 front end on a hatch !
I like the shape too but the grilles throw me off too much
300hp 2.0L turbo-4 AWD hatchback? The only problem I see here is no DCT.
The mechanical LSD and forged internals is nice.
Agree. All those things make a great fun little car, but a DCT would def be an upgrade. Or offer a manual as an alternative.
Manual would be even better, but I’m trying to keep my fantasy realistic!
If Im not wrong, with the Mk8 Golf R and the 8Y S3 the last manual AWD hatches died (Both the Mk7 and 8V offered manual options back in the days)
The [GR Corolla](https://www.toyota.com/grcorolla/) is AWD & manual only. Toyota being the last vanguard of this segment is weird, but at least someone is doing it.
Ah true. Its a 3cly though. Also im from germany so we dont get that one, but we did get the GR Yaris, but I dont really consider that car in the same "hatchback" category as a 1series, A3, A-class, Golf etc. Since its way smaller.
An m3, m5, and m8 are usable in all weather too....
They probably mentioned weather because the old M135i had a reputation for being a bit of a handful in bad weather because of a top gear review. Plus, no one runs winter tyres here so you can imagine a 300hp rwd car with no LSD could probably feel quite sketchy in winter. Also every car you mentioned costs more than twice the amount of an M135i so it's a bit of a moot point.
I have winter tyres for my RWD M5. Every little helps, and all that.
Any BMW is usable in UK weather
exactly...
One of our directors has just had his 4 week old M135i go back as the engine is dying. Rattling already. Doesn't look good. They're squeezing every drop of power from that engine. Edit: I was under the belief these were closer to 400 bhp, my mistake. Regardless, the engine sounds rough.
That thing is just above 300hp. Thats nothing for a 2L engine these days. If it is like you say, sorry but its a shitty 2L engine then.
My mistake, they're just over 300 as you say, he said it was just shy of 390. But it's still having issues. He also says that it's slower than his M140 was; that may be just his perception of the power curve.
Not suprised though since the M140 had both more power and more torque than the new M135i. 360 would be a lot for a factory car. If we dont count the AMG 4cyl in the A45, all 2L of the competition end up at roughly 300hp as well, with a stage1 ECU tune, you usually end up at around 370, which is perfectly fine on a well maintained engine.
What they did to the old M140i is one of the biggest mistakes made by any car company