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      05-05-2023, 03:26 PM   #1
rexlex
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'15 M235i or '08 135i....

I recently sold my truck and have been looking to get something fun to drive. I've been looking and waiting and I think I've narrowed it down to two prospects:

2015 M235i coupe with 69k for around $25K
2008 135i coupe with 72k for around $15k

This car will be my spirited drive car, possible track car, and occasional daily when the wife and kids need the other car. I'd say no more than 7500/yr on the car. I can pay cash today for the 135i and I would have to finance 8-10k for the M235i. If I go 135i there will be immediate moded for more fun and the M235i will probably remain stock for at least the first year before I mod it.

Those that have driven one or both help guide me in the right direction. Which is the better "fun" car that would also be good as a daily if needed?

Thanks!
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      05-05-2023, 04:13 PM   #2
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How much is an F22 LCI M240i? B58 all the way!

Out of the two you’ve listed, the N55 in the M135i will likely be more reliable and be a better daily option. Depending on how much you want to mod, the twin turbo N54 likely has more headroom to make power.

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      05-05-2023, 05:08 PM   #3
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So the M240s are around the 33-38k range. If I jump to that might as well add another 8-10k and go for M2. The wife wants to stay at under 25k so we can pay it off in a year. I already told her if we are gunna finance something more than that I’m going to get a g8x M3 or M2.

I would prefer the late model 135 but I’m not finding any decent ones without bad history or high mileage under $20k. Which lead me to look at M235’s. If I end up with n54 135i it’ll be tuned and at a min full bolt on’s; if it’s kept long term maybe even do the 1M replica conversion to it.
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      05-06-2023, 12:36 AM   #4
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Before my M4CX, I had a modded N54 135i. It was a blast to drive and a great weekend car. You will need to modify the suspension to get the most out of that platform. Also, the short wheelbase is a negative for track duty.
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      05-06-2023, 09:55 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rexlex View Post
I recently sold my truck and have been looking to get something fun to drive. I've been looking and waiting and I think I've narrowed it down to two prospects:

2015 M235i coupe with 69k for around $25K
2008 135i coupe with 72k for around $15k

This car will be my spirited drive car, possible track car, and occasional daily when the wife and kids need the other car. I'd say no more than 7500/yr on the car. I can pay cash today for the 135i and I would have to finance 8-10k for the M235i. If I go 135i there will be immediate moded for more fun and the M235i will probably remain stock for at least the first year before I mod it.

Those that have driven one or both help guide me in the right direction. Which is the better "fun" car that would also be good as a daily if needed?

Thanks!
is e9x an option?

1 and 2 non m have limited/narrow wheel wells and weird wheel offsets. e9x is a great platform to mod and have a dual purpose car fun/dd and also have hydraulic steering. You will need to mod suspension and add lsd for big power.
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      05-06-2023, 10:15 AM   #6
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I’ve never driven the 2 series but I bought my 135i new in 2008 and have loved it so much I’ve kept it all these years*. Small, light (for a modern car), well balanced. A few mods is all it takes to make the 135i into a real drivers car. Plus… it’s cheaper!

*im actually prepping my 135i for sale to help fund an e91 n54 swap
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      05-06-2023, 10:42 AM   #7
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is e9x an option?

1 and 2 non m have limited/narrow wheel wells and weird wheel offsets. e9x is a great platform to mod and have a dual purpose car fun/dd and also have hydraulic steering. You will need to mod suspension and add lsd for big power.
I’ve looked at a couple but at that $25k price point they are either over 130k miles or driven hard and put away wet. Also trying to find a coupe and not a convertible has proven to be harder than anticipated. I thought about just holding out and seeing if one pops on the market but we’ve been a one car family since January and it’s starting to wear on me lol
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      05-06-2023, 11:32 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rexlex View Post
I’ve looked at a couple but at that $25k price point they are either over 130k miles or driven hard and put away wet. Also trying to find a coupe and not a convertible has proven to be harder than anticipated. I thought about just holding out and seeing if one pops on the market but we’ve been a one car family since January and it’s starting to wear on me lol
understand … my 2c would be to find one and you will be happier long term. more stable, gazzilion mod options, million wheel and suspension options, better dd and fam car, etc just a great platform to work with. I have driven all of them and have 2011 e90. The prices will only go up with all the garbage cars coming out.
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      05-06-2023, 12:33 PM   #9
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The M235i is a sold car. I had one and loved it. Much more of a stable platform than the 135i. The M2 is superior but much more expensive.
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      05-07-2023, 07:48 AM   #10
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I’ve driven both many times because they kept giving me an M235 as a loaner for my 1M when it first came out and I owned a 135 in the past—-NO question the 135.

To me the M235 always felt very detached and boring to drive. Horrible steering and really no sense of feel for the car.

It may be faster than a 135 but it isn’t worth it to lose basically everything that makes a small BMW fun. I also think the 135 is a much better looking car—a more classic 3-box BMW design and smaller.

This is a win-win for you—-get the more fun car cheaper!
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      05-07-2023, 09:03 AM   #11
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Can the OP DIY? I like the 135i, but it will almost certainly need more work and sooner than the 235i. I have changed turbos, oil and coolant lines, coolant pump and thermostat, valve cover and oil pan gaskets, rod bearings, alternator, ignition coils, fluids, etc. on the N54. It can all be done and there are plenty of threads and videos. But if you have to pay for labor, it will add up fast.

I drove a 135i not long after they first came out. I have an E36 M3 and the size and fit reminded me of the E36 M3, but I already had something similar so the 135 did not interest me. My E36 M3 is turbocharged and on coilovers so there was no performance benefit for me with the 135i.

I had a friend with an N55 engine 135 or 235 - can’t remember which. He modded it nicely with an exhaust, coilovers, tune, intercooler, bigger turbo and I thought it drove really nicely. It was smooth and quick and handled well. He sold it and bought an M2CS.

I drove a stock M235i on an auto cross and around a track years ago and was not at all impressed. But maybe I could have modded it to make it more my kind of car. M2 would have been closer to what I like.
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      05-07-2023, 09:28 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by pbonsalb View Post
Can the OP DIY? I like the 135i, but it will almost certainly need more work and sooner than the 235i. I have changed turbos, oil and coolant lines, coolant pump and thermostat, valve cover and oil pan gaskets, rod bearings, alternator, ignition coils, fluids, etc. on the N54. It can all be done and there are plenty of threads and videos. But if you have to pay for labor, it will add up fast.

I drove a 135i not long after they first came out. I have an E36 M3 and the size and fit reminded me of the E36 M3, but I already had something similar so the 135 did not interest me. My E36 M3 is turbocharged and on coilovers so there was no performance benefit for me with the 135i.

I had a friend with an N55 engine 135 or 235 - can’t remember which. He modded it nicely with an exhaust, coilovers, tune, intercooler, bigger turbo and I thought it drove really nicely. It was smooth and quick and handled well. He sold it and bought an M2CS.

I drove a stock M235i on an auto cross and around a track years ago and was not at all impressed. But maybe I could have modded it to make it more my kind of car. M2 would have been closer to what I like.
Maintenance isn’t an issue I can do all the work myself and pretty capable wrench turner. I am leaning more 135 or even a 128 over the M235. I was worried about power but I figured if I’m going to do some mods the. It’s almost a moot point. Once I decided that my wife sent me a ‘08 m3 with 89k at $24k. She just through another wrench into the mix. The M3 that was just listed isn’t perfect but good enough just need to go find out more about it to see if I need to factor in rod bearing replacement or not
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      05-07-2023, 12:54 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by rexlex View Post
Maintenance isn’t an issue I can do all the work myself and pretty capable wrench turner. I am leaning more 135 or even a 128 over the M235. I was worried about power but I figured if I’m going to do some mods the. It’s almost a moot point. Once I decided that my wife sent me a ‘08 m3 with 89k at $24k. She just through another wrench into the mix. The M3 that was just listed isn’t perfect but good enough just need to go find out more about it to see if I need to factor in rod bearing replacement or not
You are entering a higher tier of maintenance on any M car—especially one with a V8 IMO.
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      05-07-2023, 01:39 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rexlex View Post
Maintenance isn’t an issue I can do all the work myself and pretty capable wrench turner. I am leaning more 135 or even a 128 over the M235. I was worried about power but I figured if I’m going to do some mods the. It’s almost a moot point. Once I decided that my wife sent me a ‘08 m3 with 89k at $24k. She just through another wrench into the mix. The M3 that was just listed isn’t perfect but good enough just need to go find out more about it to see if I need to factor in rod bearing replacement or not
I had an 08 E90 M3 for 10 years. Really liked it. Fantastic driver's car -- good feedback, modern enough for some comfort and convenience, fun to rev it to 8400. The exciting power is 5500-8400, but it is perfectly adequate to drive gently at lower rpm. The stories that it does not have torque are not fair -- it has more than an older M54 equipped E90 at really low rpm like 2000, and it has really short gearing from the factory. My 6 speed has a 3.85 diff, which means great torque multiplication. If you are not used to a high rpm motor, though, it will take some getting used to. You have to keep the rpm up to keep it at maximum performance and that means a lot of rowing gears if you have the 6 speed. You may not enjoy that work. And the pulls can be really long if you don't row the gears -- you might run 4000 to 8400, for example and since the torque curve is pretty flat, the car does not seem that fast.

With a few mods, they wake up. I ran an X pipe with resonators in place of the cats, air filters, Bilstein with H&R springs, a tune, and water/meth injection. The 12.5 CR port injection S65 likes octane. 91 is not great. 93 is good, but more is better. Vishnu used to make a piggyback that raised timing while the meth was flowing, but it is NLA.

The DCT might be the better match for the motor. Certainly easier to drive and it will do shifts that you probably would not do, and do them better and faster than you. It is also closer ratio with 7 speeds.

Maintenance takes some care and patience. I had nothing expensive fail in 10 years and the car has 110k when I sold it. I did replace throttle actuators, valve cover gaskets, starter, alternator, ground cables, injectors, etc. I also did rod bearings, a known weak point that can ruin the motor. It took me a long day. I recommend using the ARP 2000 material bolts -- the torque sequence is much easier than with new factory bolts. Cost me about $600 in parts back then. Maybe twice that today. There are DIY guides.

If you are a lazy driver, a turbo motor or larger displacement V8 might be the better choice. For most of the time I had the E90 M3, my wife had an E61 535xi with N54 and I also had my turbo E36 M3. I love turbos. Replaced the E90 M3 with an F90 M5.
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      05-08-2023, 07:47 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by pbonsalb View Post
I had an 08 E90 M3 for 10 years. Really liked it. Fantastic driver's car -- good feedback, modern enough for some comfort and convenience, fun to rev it to 8400. The exciting power is 5500-8400, but it is perfectly adequate to drive gently at lower rpm. The stories that it does not have torque are not fair -- it has more than an older M54 equipped E90 at really low rpm like 2000, and it has really short gearing from the factory. My 6 speed has a 3.85 diff, which means great torque multiplication. If you are not used to a high rpm motor, though, it will take some getting used to. You have to keep the rpm up to keep it at maximum performance and that means a lot of rowing gears if you have the 6 speed. You may not enjoy that work. And the pulls can be really long if you don't row the gears -- you might run 4000 to 8400, for example and since the torque curve is pretty flat, the car does not seem that fast.

With a few mods, they wake up. I ran an X pipe with resonators in place of the cats, air filters, Bilstein with H&R springs, a tune, and water/meth injection. The 12.5 CR port injection S65 likes octane. 91 is not great. 93 is good, but more is better. Vishnu used to make a piggyback that raised timing while the meth was flowing, but it is NLA.

The DCT might be the better match for the motor. Certainly easier to drive and it will do shifts that you probably would not do, and do them better and faster than you. It is also closer ratio with 7 speeds.

Maintenance takes some care and patience. I had nothing expensive fail in 10 years and the car has 110k when I sold it. I did replace throttle actuators, valve cover gaskets, starter, alternator, ground cables, injectors, etc. I also did rod bearings, a known weak point that can ruin the motor. It took me a long day. I recommend using the ARP 2000 material bolts -- the torque sequence is much easier than with new factory bolts. Cost me about $600 in parts back then. Maybe twice that today. There are DIY guides.

If you are a lazy driver, a turbo motor or larger displacement V8 might be the better choice. For most of the time I had the E90 M3, my wife had an E61 535xi with N54 and I also had my turbo E36 M3. I love turbos. Replaced the E90 M3 with an F90 M5.

So all the options I have to look at are going to be DCT as the wife refuses to learn to drive a stick, and if I need to drive the mom-mobile with the kids and she has places to go I need her to have a car she can drive.

I love turbos too and enjoy the quick acceleration and the better power curve for when I am lazy. The only thing I don't enjoy about the turbos are all the owner induced issues that happen when I end up mod and trying to push more power than I should. I use to have a F80 335 that had a catastrophic engine failure due to irresponsible modding. Learned my lesson but I know myself too well and will end up pushing the limits again...
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      05-08-2023, 10:18 AM   #16
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So new update the 08 M3 dealer just got back to me and has all the paper work that the rod bearings and throttle actuators have been replaced. Only negative to this car was that the car fax states dmg reported twice. It is looking more like this might be the one to get if everything else checks out.
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      05-08-2023, 12:05 PM   #17
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Depends on where the damage was and how well it was repaired. Could be good as new or potential problems. Did airbags go off?
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      05-08-2023, 12:36 PM   #18
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Depends on where the damage was and how well it was repaired. Could be good as new or potential problems. Did airbags go off?
No airbags that are stated on the carfax. I'll have to see if the dealer has any info on it when I see it. The first dmg reporting is right side and the second doesn't state. Both categorized as minor.
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      05-10-2023, 02:00 AM   #19
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I love my M235i, it’s all stock except for charge pipe and the power is more than enough to both put a smile on my face and get yourself into serious trouble. It handles great, yes my e90 has more steering feel but at times it almost feels too stiff
The n55 is decently reliable and I’ve learned to work on it, it’s not easy but with patience it is diy friendly

If you are tracking the car, the N55 needs an oil pan baffle at minimum or you can spin your bearings
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      05-10-2023, 05:35 AM   #20
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Kind of in the same boat. But this will be a 50/50 daily and track car. I'll DD it to work when the weather is nice, take the truck otherwise.

Went from looking at turbo models(and higher budget), and settled on either a 128 or 328. Picking up a 128 this weekend for under $10k; and I'll be using the rest of the money I budgeted on good 2-ways(JRZ,MCS etc) LSD, Bushings, Wheels, Maintenance etc.

I'll track the car quite a bit and reliability is king for me, as well as cheap/plentiful engines. 200-250 whp in a somewhat light chassis is a lot of fun, and you won't be spec Miata slow
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      05-10-2023, 06:39 AM   #21
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If you are okay not having stuff like CarPlay, the 135i is a magnificent drivers car with room to modify it. It’s easy to get 400hp with no other mods and is a very analog car to drive. If it’s a manual, and we’ll cared for I’d get it and use extra cash to make it more yours.
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      05-10-2023, 10:53 AM   #22
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Whether 135, 335, 535 or M3, you can swap the head unit display for an aftermarket that has a touch screen and CarPlay and a rear view camera can easily be added. I did this in my M3. Some will say the sound is not as good since it will be through the aux port but I am not an audiophile and did not notice. My biggest complaint was increased glare but an anti glare tablet cover helped. Cost was about $300 a few years ago. For audiophiles or those with big budgets, newer idrive can be added, even the NBT.
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