Using Your M For Everyday Use (Poll)
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Absolutely! I use my Coupe as much as I can. Living in London means I cant use it for my daily commute but it's used for everything else. I even invent journeyspilchardthecat said:No point buying a nice car and then spending half your time driving something else. I hate being precious about stuff. Cars should be used, and maximum pleasure extracted from them. I find the whole notion of a crappy car for commuting completely baffling. I love commutingOwl wood said:
pilchardthecat said:No point buying a nice car and then spending half your time driving something else. I hate being precious about stuff. Cars should be used, and maximum pleasure extracted from them. I find the whole notion of a crappy car for commuting completely baffling. I love commuting
Firstly to the OP, there needs to be an option that says "I used to commute in my M but it p*ssed me off so much that I now use something else instead". That's me, basically.
Secondly the whole point of a crappy car for commuting is because commuting in traffic requires a totally different set of attributes than hooning it down a Welsh B road. I don't care who you are, an M is a tough riding heavy clutched bitch of a car to drive in traffic. You guys doing big miles in one each day may be made of sterner stuff than me, but I waved the flag and bought an auto with a big boot so that I didn't have to drive my M everyday. Now every time i get in it, which is at least once a week, it's a real event. I'm not doing it to keep it pristine, and I'm not doing to keep the miles off. I'm doing it because sitting in traffic is a total waste of its talents, where as my 285 round trip to the Cotswolds last month and next month's 1500 round trip to the Highlands will not be a waste at all.
Before I did this, I hated the stupid thing and I loathed the idea of having to drive it somewhere on the weekends as well as during the week - it just tired me out. Now of course it feels fab and I love it again. I agree though, having two cars is a bit silly, so full marks to those of you that drive yours everyday. I'd love to, but the quality of the roads and the volume of traffic and the frankly god awful ride quality mean that it was just driving me insane.
pilchardthecat
Active member
James_G said:pilchardthecat said:No point buying a nice car and then spending half your time driving something else. I hate being precious about stuff. Cars should be used, and maximum pleasure extracted from them. I find the whole notion of a crappy car for commuting completely baffling. I love commuting
Firstly to the OP, there needs to be an option that says "I used to commute in my M but it p*ssed me off so much that I now use something else instead". That's me, basically.
Secondly the whole point of a crappy car for commuting is because commuting in traffic requires a totally different set of attributes than hooning it down a Welsh B road. I don't care who you are, an M is a tough riding heavy clutched bitch of a car to drive in traffic. You guys doing big miles in one each day may be made of sterner stuff than me, but I waved the flag and bought an auto with a big boot so that I didn't have to drive my M everyday. Now every time i get in it, which is at least once a week, it's a real event. I'm not doing it to keep it pristine, and I'm not doing to keep the miles off. I'm doing it because sitting in traffic is a total waste of its talents, where as my 285 round trip to the Cotswolds last month and next month's 1500 round trip to the Highlands will not be a waste at all.
Before I did this, I hated the stupid thing and I loathed the idea of having to drive it somewhere on the weekends as well as during the week - it just tired me out. Now of course it feels fab and I love it again. I agree though, having two cars is a bit silly, so full marks to those of you that drive yours everyday. I'd love to, but the quality of the roads and the volume of traffic and the frankly god awful ride quality mean that it was just driving me insane.
Weird.
I suppose there might be a bigger difference between the coupe and the roadster than i thought, but my roadster (on 18" wheels) rides rather better than the 1 series M sport coupe i had previously. And the seats are more comfy too. I don't find the clutch at all heavy - it's lighter than the 330d I had before that.
I suppose i'm quite lucky in that my commute is about 30 miles each way but it's a mix of a and b roads with the odd dual carriageway, and not a lot of stop/start traffic.
pilchardthecat said:
That is odd as my fiance has a 125i Coupe in M Sport, so riding on 18" runflats which I drive probably about once a week. I find that both the ride and the seats are more comfortable and the clutch far lighter (although that's not really a surprise). It's this very car that makes me realise that my M is the daily grind struggle that it is, as she commutes 74 miles a day and seems to have absolutely no trouble at all. Sure, the ride would be better on non RFTs, but it's much less fidgety than the M. Ironically she loves driving the M and is always asking to borrow it. So maybe it's just me.
pilchardthecat
Active member
James_G said:
I had a 123d and despite the ride being a bit softer, it was also much crashier, and the damping was not well set up...it would 'skip' and fidget on bumps in bends much worse than the M does. The M manages to keep the tyres in contact with the road far better than the 1 series.
I haven't driven an M coupe so i suppose based on that we have to conclude that there is a big difference between the roadster and the coupe
thattallchap
Member
My M is my everyday car however i generally work from Home, or have a short commute to the Airport or Train Station.....
thattallchap
Member
pilchardthecat said:
I've had a 135i before i had my M and to be honest they're miles apart. the 135i was a very comfortable car to live with but its nowhere near as direct and tactile as the M, but the run flats don't help.
mightbefamous
Member
Nice to see the majority of owners are daily driving their M's. 
My trip to work and back is exactly 28 miles (most of this being on the motorway). So about 140 miles a week is purely commuting. Factor in joy riding and I probably do anywhere from 200-300 miles a week.
I also feel this car to be very reliable. I've owned mine since November '10 and I've put close to 6k miles on it. Very little issues whatsoever *knock on wood*. Every now and then the engine will drop down to 400-500rpm and studder when I am sitting at a stop light but it bounces right back to 900rpm. I've read other people have experienced this same issue so I deem it as one of the few quirks of the almighty S54. She sounds great though when I open'er up.
My trip to work and back is exactly 28 miles (most of this being on the motorway). So about 140 miles a week is purely commuting. Factor in joy riding and I probably do anywhere from 200-300 miles a week.
I also feel this car to be very reliable. I've owned mine since November '10 and I've put close to 6k miles on it. Very little issues whatsoever *knock on wood*. Every now and then the engine will drop down to 400-500rpm and studder when I am sitting at a stop light but it bounces right back to 900rpm. I've read other people have experienced this same issue so I deem it as one of the few quirks of the almighty S54. She sounds great though when I open'er up.
Weekend and fun for me (terrified my wifes father in it at the weekend)
I simply cant justify the cost of commuting in it, also it's a pain to change lanes in when there are motor bikes as I can't really see out of the back/sides.
7200 miles at 18mpg (that's being pessimistic as to being stuck in traffic) = £2600 in fuel alone.
I bought a Pug 306 HDI for daily use which does 55mpg, thereby reducing my commuting cost to £821 per year. The car will pay for itself in fuel saved in 8 months.
I simply cant justify the cost of commuting in it, also it's a pain to change lanes in when there are motor bikes as I can't really see out of the back/sides.
7200 miles at 18mpg (that's being pessimistic as to being stuck in traffic) = £2600 in fuel alone.
I bought a Pug 306 HDI for daily use which does 55mpg, thereby reducing my commuting cost to £821 per year. The car will pay for itself in fuel saved in 8 months.