[mowflow]

Shortly before TMP got his MLite I paid a rather ill advised visit to my local BMW dealership where I was astounded to discover that I really liked the F20 in the flesh. I had started getting the new car itch a few weeks before this visit when I started looking at MK6 GTi's.

The dealer ran some figures on a 125i for me and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was less than i though on their PCP deals. This got me starting to think that an MLite may well not be beyond my reach as spec'd up to a similar standard the 125i was only marginally cheaper. However, a bit of digging about on the internet revealed that the MLite has M fuel bills so with me doing around 15k miles a year it was out of the picture.

I continued trying to get a deal on a 125i when a local dealer told me they had a 125d in stock. The deal on it was crap but I was impressed by the car on the test drive. Looking at performance it was exactly the same as the 125i only a fair bit cheaper to run. The head heart battle went on and yesterday my head won.

Now ordered.

125d 5 door manual
Alpine white
Dakota leather - coral red
Visibility pack
Hi-Fi speaker system
Brushed aluminium trim - black high gloss finish
Heated front seats
Full black panel display
Driver comfort pack
5 year/60k miles service pack

I changed the spec at the last minute from estoril blue (nearly ever second Msport on babybmw or the AUC site is EB) and added leather instead of the paint. I then asked for the thrones to be heated out of generosity. I thought I got 11.5% off but maths has never been a strong point. The dealer told me it was more like 10.5% and they were covering most of the cost of the heated seats. In the end the dealer beat the Broadspeed quote by about £1500

I also managed to haggle a set of 17" style 380 light alloys with Continental Winter Contact tyres for £650 as opposed to the £1540 that they retail at. They had been on a demonstrator and had done 200 miles so not even scrubbed in and totally unmarked alloys.

[Sir_Pigley]

Should be great - good specification choice.

[rogerxp]

Damn I hate it when the head wins

Sounds like a great car, really decent spec, and good combo of speed & economy. Is it an M Sport?

BMW does seem to have got its act into gear on deals at long last. The offer to me of an M-lite at the weekend was £250p/m cheaper than the RoccoR (same list price with toys), Scott's deal on the X6, Tim's M-lite was good too from memory. Good time to buy maybe??

[BGM]

aye, what trim level please?

[mowflow]

The dealer told me that the low rates at the moment are ending at the end of December. Could be hot air to get me signed up but he did show me the statement on screen. I suppose the deals could even get better as the first quarter is always a bit crap for new car sales.

The 125 is only available in M Sport trim. In a very childish act I'm looking forward giving some hot hatches a bit of a fright

[Snooky]

Nice one OP!

Reckon that will be a cracking motor. How long do you have to wait?

[mowflow]

Don't actually know yet. The dealer was trying to get the last remaining build slot for delivery at the end of December. I'm just waiting on a call to confirm.

[mjh93sa]

Congrats!

Now comes the hard part...waiting.

[Vaheed1]

WTF is a M-Lite?

[mowflow]

When is yours due? I'm sure I saw a thread by you on babybmw.

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by Vaheed1

WTF is a M-Lite?

M135i

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by mowflow

When is yours due? I'm sure I saw a thread by you on babybmw.

Imminently... it was built last week and is in transit now!

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by Vaheed1

WTF is a M-Lite?

The M135i. Seems to be what everyone is calling it as it kind of is an M car but not really. The proper M car will be mental if the M Lite is anything to go by.

[Vaheed1]

Oh. OK. I'm with y'all now.

Mind, if Chris Harris' review of it is anything to go by......I think I'll have my cheque book waiting for one, once the bulk of the depreciation has come off it

[BanziBarn]

So, what's the Spec on this? BHP, 0-60, MPG etc?

[BGM]

Originally Posted by BanziBarn

So, what's the Spec on this? BHP, 0-60, MPG etc?

http://bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/pricesandspec...calSpec&isPGA=

curiously there is no 120d on the bmw specification page... that does exist right?

[chrisbmwcy]

Acceleration 0-62 mph (sec) 6.5

That is very impressive from a stock 2.0 litre diesel engine. Lets see what a remap can do in the future!

Cool choice of car!

[BanziBarn]

220bhp - nice. Is this an improved twin turbo jobby from the old 123d?

[xenon]

Single twin-scroll turbo.

[mowflow]

Someone on the 1 series site is claiming they can remap the 120d to 230bhp (which I dont actually believe) god knows what they could put the 125d up to. Some have said the problem may be that the gearbox wouldn't be good for the increase in torque as it's 450nm standard.

In terms of the actual MPG figures. Speaking to owners, the worst I've seen is 48mpg and that was from a guy that only really drives around town. Most seem to be getting mid 50s which is miles better than the old 123d.

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by BGM

http://bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/pricesandspec...calSpec&isPGA=

curiously there is no 120d on the bmw specification page... that does exist right?

The 120d is a bit of an oddity now. It's only available as a 3 door (f21) so if you go to build a 5 door in the configurator it doesn't show up. I think there may also be some other odd thing like it's manual only or nothing under the 118 is available as an auto. I can't really remember.

[BanziBarn]

Originally Posted by xenon

Single twin-scroll turbo.

Wonder if this is near it's max output? There wasn't much left in the old 123d for mapping, perhaps this is the same?