RS Grant

Does anyone on here have any experience of these cars??

Seem to be a car which manages to cover most of the performance bases fairly well...

0-62: 6.9 secs
Vmax: 148mph
MPG: c55mpg combined

The 204bhp engine seems to take to a basic remap/dpf removal well too, giving figures of c270bhp and 400lb/ft after fitting and mapping.

I know there was a thread a few years back about these cars, but thought I'd post a more recent topic and see if anyone (inc those from original thread..) on here has lived with a 1er with the Twin Turbo 2.0D engine fitted?? What is the performance/economy like in the real world??


Cheers,
Grant

john banks

They do sound intriguing.

There was a review somewhere about (I think) the M version that said it had astonishingly good wet lap times. Obviously it has LSD and presumably no run flats, but it was interesting that the RWD wasn't a weakness in the wet.

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

My business partner has one. Compared to my m-sport 3 series the ride is rock solid. Goes like stink though. He says in the wet it's quite difficult to drive due to the sudden instant torque coming in coupled with the run flats.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I spoke to a guy that had one as i was interested in them, great in summer but you need a second car if it snows as he could barely get it off his drive and would not be having another.

john banks

Winter tyres would fix that if other BMWs are anything to go by.

zip106

Not sure about the 1 Series, but the same engine (tweaked a little) in an Alpina D3 is fantastic.

Can't see where they get 55mpg from, though.....

(and the ride is a million times better than any M Sport)

RS Grant

Well there is a used 123d M-Sport for sale at BMW dealer in Edinburgh, so I took it for a test drive yesterday and thought that it was quite an impressive little package. The ride didn't seem too tough, however, the ride in my current EP3 Civic Type R isn't soft enough to be called 'rock hard' to be honest; so compared to a more normal suspension set up then the 123d might well be quite a harsh experience.

Engine seemed very stereotypically 'diesel-esque' to start, with the low down grunt of torque... but as the revs rise, you feel the bigger turbo taking over and carrying you up the rev range towards the red line. I gave the car a reasonable work out on the test drive and having reset the trip computer as I left, according to the OBC the car was returning ~39mpg as I pulled back into the car park at the dealership.

Can imagine it being a nightmare in the snow on the standard tyres, however as John says, with some proper winter tyres on there I'm sure it'll help no end.


Cheers,
Grant

CREWJ

My uncle has a 120d coupe and I think it's awesome. The 123d must be better.

Reffro

Sorry but needed to correct this error. The Alpina D3 does not use the same engine as the 123d. Instead of the twin-turbo it uses a tuned single turbo unit from the 320d.

dukeoffenland

one of our firm cars is a 118d m sport, its a little rocket, great car and handles great too

zip106

In that case, my Bi-Turbo D3 has the wrong engine in it.


http://www.bmwalpina.co.uk/ww/models...owertrain.html


So, you best correct your error

RS Grant

I think the older D3 used a tuned single turbo engine but they've updated to the twin turbo engine in the later model... however, I could be wrong, so feel free to correct my answer.


Cheers,
Grant

zip106

100% correct

steve05wrx

Hi everybody
I am just about to sell my 123d 3 door m-sport after 4 years of trouble free motoring.
The twin turbo engine is amazing and actually returns an average of 45mpg in real world driving.
For the last two winters it was shod with winter tyres and these enabled the car to be used in all snow conditions (really amusing to see people try to follow you assuming that if a rwd BMW could get up a snow covered slope - they would also be able to!!!)
The ride on runflats and m-sport suspension is a bit firm but the handling is just amazing.
This car follows on from two Impreza Wrxs and two Skoda Octavia VRS's - all remapped. I can honestly say that in all round driving ability and fun it beats all of them - with a much more classy cabin environment (especially compared with the scoobies!)
Servicing is variable mileage and surprisingly cheap. Runflats are expensive but seem to last longer than ormal tyres so price per mile seems comparable.
Cheers
steve
p.s. - car not yet advertised so anyone interested- let me know!!