1 Series Convertible

T

The Badger

Active member
 Manchester U.K.
Evening Guys,

Looking around for another BMW something a little more practical (4 seats)
I really like the look of the 120i M Sport Convertible - does anyone have any info on good / bad points ?
Hoping to keep the Z as am just having a double garage built so she can then stay nice and snuggled up in the winter and I would use the 1 for work etc ?

Anyone got any pointers ?

thanks
:)
 
How old are we talking? I had a E88 just after launch. I had a 135i and then a 120i in an auto. Was a decent car, had to have all the coil packs replaced under a recall they had been fine.

The 120i had to have a new hydro unit which cost me £500 to have replaced, car was two weeks out of warranty at 14k. I diagnosed the fault and got the dealer to sort but one dealer wanted three times as much!

Had a new steering rack at 1200 miles, it was the active steering rack. Must of just been a dodgy one as never had any issues after that. All round car was pretty good. Never had an issue with the 135i and only changed due to changing offices and thought I'd get something more 'economincal' so went for the 120i which did less than the 135i and even my Z'd

Needed a new roof on the 120i because there was a 'design issue' which they fixed in 2010 I believe buy basically everytime the roof folded it rubbed from the inside and would eventually put a hole in the roof. BMW recalled the cars in the U.S. And South Africa but not Europe. The warranty manager told me it was due to the fact that convertibles aren't used that much so they didn't expect too many owners to suffer this issue, just unfortunately I had my roof down almost everytime I went out.

All in all its a good car with a decent boot. It's 4 seats but it's pretty cramped in he back due to the design. The car is only 19mm shorter than the E46 convertible but less comfortable in the rear than the E46. I wouldn't want to be on a long journey in one.

Is there any reason you want the convertible and not the coupe? Apart from j think the convertible looks better than the coupe but the coupe can have the back seats folded down for transporting larger items.
 
I used to be on the BMW management scheme and had a few different 1 series, never had any problems but only had them for 7k miles.

I'd buy one :)
 
The E88 also isn't a 'small car' like the hatch. It's quite deceptive, parked next to a R32 GTR there wasn't much difference in length and width which confused folks.

Oh and I also had an issue with the boot sensors they started playing up and sometimes it wouldn't shut and then it would but the dash would tell you the boot was open when it wasn't. Knock on effect if it was playing up the roof couldn't go down. It happened quite a bit but only started after I had the roof replaced.



 
Big advantage for me is that it's a cloth roof so you can tour easily with it - you don't loose most of the boot to a folding metal roof don't know so much about them but I don't think it would be a bad buy at all - in some respects it's taken off where the E46 convertible left off.
 
I would stay away from the 4 Cylinder engines if possible a few issues with them and they are not great on fuel either.

Go for a 125i or 135i if you can :)
 
I have also been considering doing this in the future.
Before I owned a Z I never really found any BM all that appealing except the Z and the M3.
Now I have one, they all seem to look much nicer ;)

Will defo keep an eye on this topic ^^
 
Thanks guys I will have a look around and see what's about ....
Realy like the look of the 1 series would hope to get a 2012 + will have a new garage in the next few months so will have a warm nest for the Z so the 1 may have to sit under the car port ? Might even consider the coupe ?
As always thanks for all your comments they are brilliant thank you x
 
domsz4 said:
what about a 123d? it was the car i was looking at instead of a Z in coupe guise
Click to expand...

Watch out for timing chain issues, the 2.0 N47 Diesel engines are known to have timing chain issues.
A post 2009 car is better but still not gaurenteed to fail.
 
hopz121 said:
I would stay away from the 4 Cylinder engines if possible a few issues with them and they are not great on fuel either.

Go for a 125i or 135i if you can :)
Click to expand...

I have to say my 135i was great and the economy was much better than the 120i. The sound was also very nice indeed.

Still either engine was lovely to drive
 
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