Living Dangerously.... new TDI replacement for DD usage

Point and laugh as I went against the grain of practical and prudent advice for a new DD. I drive a lot, I have two kids, I should get something simple/reliable/good mpgs...

What did I buy?

A twin turbo inline six N54 powered BMW 135i! A 2010 M-Sport with a proper 6-speed to be precise.

But what about failing fuel pumps? injector problems? carbon buildup? premature turbo failure and wastegate issues? exploding water pumps? !!!???

At least you bought a stock one right?

NO!

This one has Dinan goodies. Lots of them. Intercooler, carbon intake, exhaust, oil cooler, and their stage 2 tune!

Ugh, that's a terrible idea.

Right?! But it should make over 375HP. ...and it's already got Bilstein/Eibach suspension... and brand new 2-piece ECS rotors and Hawk pads and (blah blah blah).

So, after a decade+ of driving long commutes in cars that either were dirt cheap, econoboxes, or high mpg machines, I'm going to attempt a year of boosted RWD high maintenance shenanigans. This is either the best idea, or the worst idea, I've had so far. Regardless, for the first time in a looooong time, I'm actually really excited to go get in the car sitting in the parking lot after a long day of work.

Sweet!! How many miles? Do these have LSD?

OH that should be fun

Slippery wrote: Sweet!! How many miles? Do these have LSD?

~81K on it. HPFP replaced and walnut blasting done recently.

Sadly, no LSD was offered as a factory option. Plenty of aftermarket options should one decide to do so though.

Rock on! My most recent commuters have been an S2000 and now a Z06. It is great therapy! I just rented a 116i in Germany, the incredibly slow hatchback version.

Also, have a friend who commuted in a white one like yours for years in Pittsburgh, which has a fair amount of snow and hills. He loved it!

I think that I'm going to start adding a LSD to my list of must do mods when I buy a performance car.

Your decision also seems to be to go for broke, it will be really fun, or it will be fun, yet miserable.

Have fun.

Bravo on your purchase!

I've reached a similar point with my daily appliance- I am just plain sick of it!

I very much want to go a similar route as you, but am rather afraid of the thing breaking. The money it would cost if I can't fix it myself...

Good for you! Have fun with it... And let us know how it works out...

Nice ride! I'm doing something similar. My friend's dad is giving me a deal on his 2011 135i and I almost passed after thinking it had more power than I needed. Once I actually said that out loud, I called him up and said; "I'll take it!"

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: Your decision also seems to be to go for broke, it will be really fun, or it will be fun, yet miserable.

True, hopefully more of the former. I figured my mk6 TDI was worth $10K... and VW is giving me over $16K for it, so in my mind I got a free $6K head start on repairs/maintenance.

kilgoretrout wrote: Nice ride! I'm doing something similar. My friend's dad is giving me a deal on his 2011 135i and I almost passed after thinking it had more power than I needed. Once I actually said that out loud, I called him up and said; "I'll take it!"

Ha! Nice.

Nice choice!

Weather report is in: looks like it will be hailing balls of fun with a slight chance of financial agony. Plan accordingly by entering many autocrosses, track days, and the occasional melting of tires on the daily commute.

Also: love the color combo (I am partial to the stormtrooper look).

Very cool. Are all the problems you listed true/likely to happen? That honestly will be the only reason this isn't a good idea. If it leaves you stranded all the time you will hate it.

I too am at a point in my life that I have enough dough for some semi expensive toys. my plan is to buy used and keep for a short period of time and sell to move on to the next thing that I need to try. BMW is high on the list to find out what all the fuss is about.

D2W wrote: Very cool. Are all the problems you listed true/likely to happen? That honestly will be the only reason this isn't a good idea. If it leaves you stranded all the time you will hate it.

Partially true. They all are relatively highly likely to happen, but I also think the internets makes impending failure of all of them seem almost mandatory, which I'm hoping to be more exaggerated.

From my reading, the underlying N54 inline 6 is very stout. Guys are doing single turbo swaps and making stupid power in excess of double the stock output. I'm not trying to mod to that level (yet), but essentially most of the failure points seem to be ancillary external pieces.

The HPFP fails, but BMW ended up doing an extended recall/warranty on that, and this one has been replaced/updated. The waterpumps are highly likely to fail, as they're a fancy electric unit, but if they last 60-80K, I'm willing to accept that service interval.

The biggest thing I see with the fears of these cars are owners who quote everything at dealer prices, and have no ability/idea to spin wrenches. Wastegate failure on the turbo is a very real problem, but the aftermarket has taken care of it with upgraded turbos (even at stock output) with stronger components, and there's a DIY adjustment that can be done when they start to rattle for free that can extend their service life before actual replacement is needed. Yes a dealer will happily take $5K off your hands to replace both turbos, but I've found lower mile used turbo sets in the $400 range if you just wanted to get your car back on the road and can DIY.

So, we'll see how it goes. So far this thing is an absolute riot.