Project 'Modern E36' - My 2009 BMW 128i

[Jake]

Mileage: 44,550

Maps took three days to update, and I had to re-burn Disc 3 because the first disc wasn't being recognized in the car. Anyway, now the car knows where Guapos in Fair Lakes is. Score.

Drove to the Cobetto's yesterday for their annual Christmas party. Decided to see how iDrive Maps would work for the drive. I didn't want to take 95 South because Google Maps had already told me it was a parking lot. The car does receive traffic alerts, so it should re-route you. And even if the first route is not correct and you drive the way you know you should go, it should recalculate, right?

It... well, it spent the first hour of the drive (as I went down 29 and 17 to bypass 95 traffic) trying to have me make a U-turn at every stop light and every exit ramp. At one point, the highlighted route looked like an ampersand. Finally, when I got a few miles down 17, it figured out "oh, you can go up here 20 miles and hop on 95, yeah, do that."

Stupid car

[.RJ]

This is why I perceive all in-car nav systems to be stupid.

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice my old TL-S accepted burned discs but most of the cars I have had since then won't. I'll have to see if the Jag does. I think I'm rolling on 2010 maps...which are a step up from the 2008 maps in the Cadillac :lol:

[FlaakCM]

My old Jaguar (04 X-Type) would read burned navi discs. You should be fine.

[Jake]

I got Lamin-X for Christmas, so now my foglights are yellow, like a true BMW ricer

[Jake]

All-seasons >>> summer tires in the snow and slush. Can't believe I ever drove on summers in weather like this.

With decent tires and the DTC turned down (it has "full stability" mode, "reduced" mode, and "all off, let's party" mode) this little BMW is really pretty good in the snow. Gentle throttle and acceptance of a little wheelspin from a stop and you're golden. Very predictable and easy to control. :thumbup:

[Stormtrooper135i]

Okay, okay, so after nearly a year of owning a hot hatch that was really only good at carrying an entire Ikea bedroom set home at 21psi of boost in a straight line, I decided I should look around and get into a daily driver that was a better fit for me. I wanted to feel very "at home" in it, wanted it to be simple yet new-ish, have three pedals, and cost less per month than the Focus ST did.

Enter: the modern E36 M3. It's a 2009 BMW 128i. Before someone claims blasphemy, lemme mention the power-to-weight of each car. The 128i weighs 3,252 lbs and produces 230 hp (motor). The M3 weighs 3,380 lbs and produces 240 hp (motor). So, the 128i has a PtW ratio of 14.1 lbs/hp and the M3 is 14.08 lbs/hp. Really.

This greatly helped my decision to buy the 128 over a 135. I had no desire to have a turbo BMW out of warranty (that sounded, frankly, horrifying) and while more power is always more better (thank you, Lord Clarkson), I really liked how the E36 M3 felt. So, why not get another one that's got modern safety features and newer electronics? And an interior that's not falling apart?

Porsche of Arlington gave me good money on trade for the Focus, and I paid a smidge under KBB for the BMW. It has 44k miles on it and the options list from BMW ETK is two pages long. Mostly-fully loaded with M-Sport, cold weather, premium and technology packages.

It's snowing, so my photos suck:











Also, iDrive is hard. It's got the newest version of it, and I still had to break out the owner's manual to figure out how to set my radio presets. I am hoping the learning curve will lessen as I own the car a bit. Graphics and responsiveness are both better than MyFord Touch, though.

Really dig the car so far. Here's hoping I keep this one more than a year.

The throttle feels like an E36 and it pulls like an E36, but it handles like an E30 with right suspension :thumbup:

[Jake]

The throttle feels like an E36 and it pulls like an E36, but it handles like an E30 with right suspension :thumbup:

Buh, throttle feel sucks, in all honesty. Drive-by-wire is less fun than a cable running to the TB. Apparently that can be tuned and fixed, though.

[D_Eclipse9916]

lulz at handles like an E30...does that mean it sucks? Ill take my multi-link rear suspension over a crappy trailing arm all day.

1-series actually handles very well, its suspension mimicks the E36 far more than the e30.

[Jake]

lulz at handles like an E30...does that mean it sucks? Ill take my multi-link rear suspension over a crappy trailing arm all day.

1-series actually handles very well, its suspension mimicks the E36 far more than the e30.

Yeah, if it truly handled like an E30, I'd be crashing the rear end into a tree every time I took an off-ramp quickly.

This thing really is a modern E36, no E30 resemblance from what I can tell.

[Jake]

Mileage: 46,500 or so

Just some ownership updates since it's been nearly two months of ownership, I guess.

The frameless windows are super cool, and truly suck with the 5° snow-and-ice-and-doom weather we've had lately. The snow freezes the glass to the window seal, so the window can't drop down into the door (and thus sneak out of the roof seal) when you open the door. Solution is to carefully chip the ice out of the window seal with your ice scraper and/or pour hot water on it. Kind of annoying but has only happened twice - it's fine once you get the "overnight snow" off of the car.

Gas mileage is "fine" - it'll do 30 on the highway and mumblemumble around town and commuting. Maybe 24? I dunno, I don't buy my cars for safety ratings or gas mileage, so... whatever.

It's a great little highway cruiser. Have taken it to Richmond and Virginia Beach by now, and both times it just soaks up the miles. Seats are more comfortable than the ST's Recaros were for long drives. Adjustable lumbar and bolsters really help.

Good lord this motor loves to rev. It winds out to 7k with no complaints (although you fall out of the powerband beyond 6k) and makes such a good sound in doing so. I might end up with an intake on it, just for more vroom vroom noises.

Real, grown humans do fit in the backseat. They need to be yoga masters to get there.

That is all. I still really dig it. That bodes well, I think.

[.RJ]

I demand a test drive when we move the couch

[Jake]

I demand a test drive when we move the couch

Okay, I'll make sure the motor is warm so you can rag on it.

Speaking of that. It doesn't have a coolant temp gauge, because apparently only 135i owners deserve to see their car overheat before the head warps like a crushed soda can. So the way you tell if the car is warm enough to beat on, is to click the on-board computer button to "Oil Level" and see if it will read the oil level. Because it doesn't have a dipstick. The oil level doodad only reads when the motor is at operating temp.

I don't really see what was so wrong about a gauge.

[Jake]

I never posted my new summer wheel/tire combo on here, how tragic!

For the sake of keeping the thread up-to-date, I bought Paul Newby's BBS CH wheels that are from his E46 racecar. They're 17x8.5 and I'm running a kind of goofy tire size on 'em. 235/45/17 Continental DW's - they grip very well, they ride great, they do well in the rain. But the sidewall is a liiiittle too tall if I were to lower the car. Thankfully, all it does on stock suspension is fill the wheel well :thumbup: The tires were cheap, so I can't complain. I'll just go with a skinnier profile whenever I buy the next set.

A 235 is the widest you can run up front without camber plates or pulling the fenders. I like the square setup and really dig how the wheels look on the car:

[V1GiLaNtE]

I like.

[Scott]

. I'll just go with a skinnier profile whenever I buy the next set.

Like you will keep it that long........

[Jake]

Mileage: 48,980

Given my schedule the past few weeks (busy at work, Summit Point, VIR, moving and then NJMP), I elected to bring the 128i down to VIR and just run pace laps in it. And then Felton IM'd me and said "you're winning TTD based on points for the season, if you keep driving, you'll stay ahead. You just have to turn a lap each day."

And the 128i is a TTD car. So... in theory, I could have thrown a transponder on the front of a black 128i that looked suspiciously like mine, turned two very slow laps each day, and giggled like a little kid the whole time I was doing it.



After theoretically turning some laps, I might have been handed a 3rd-place plaque on Saturday night, because only three of us showed up for TTD and thus, my stupid-slow lap times earned me a participation trophy

So, how does the 128 handle VIR? Eh, about as you'd expect a 100% stock car with tall-sidewall'd tires to handle it. Power is more than adequate (they dyno at 208 rwhp) and everything else is... stock, and soft. Suspension is a bit soft, there's too much body roll goin' on, the 340 TW summer tires howl if you even think about cornering hard, the rear subframe bushings are squishy and give the rear end a nervous feel through turns, and the stock seat lets you move around a lot. The brakes are good though.

Apologies to Dave, Justin and Garrett, who had to push the silly thing up on the scales on Saturday for impound. With me in the car, it's right at 3,400 lbs. What a porker.

I suppose the whole point of this exercise is to show that everything that makes a sporty car so great on the street, makes it not great enough on the track... and there does come a time when you out-drive the stock car's abilities. If I'm doing that, I guess I've learned some things since I started the track thing a few years back. So, yay!

Here, watch me take a 2:41 lap:

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[JustinG]

Apologies to Dave, Justin and Garrett, who had to push the silly thing up on the scales on Saturday for impound. With me in the car, it's right at 3,400 lbs. What a porker.

Not as bad as the gutted/caged GTO a couple years ago that still weighed 3600lbs.

[Jake]

Photos already up from VIR, because Chris Schutze is The Man.

Pacing:



Not pacing:



Third place because I showed up!

[Kaan]

Apologies to Dave, Justin and Garrett, who had to push the silly thing up on the scales on Saturday for impound. With me in the car, it's right at 3,400 lbs. What a porker.

Not as bad as the gutted/caged GTO a couple years ago that still weighed 3600lbs.

Richard and I pushed an Impala SS on the scales.... 4400lbs.

3,400lbs seems on par for the "modern" and "safe" sporty car... i still like to see them around 2,400lbs :twisted: