To buy an E87 or not...

Heya

I am thinking of buying an E87, 120D with the M package...

I am driving 95% of the time alone, and 4.5% of the time its with 2 more people for a max distance of 20 miles. I drive around 18k miles a year.

I rarely need to boot at all... so you think the E87 will be enough for my daily needs? I was comparing the E90 to the E87. The difference are around 4k US$. Thats not the problem. The problem is I am not sure if I really want a car the size of the E90 again if I am driving alone anyways all time.

My current car is an E39.

Lots of us in the US would love to have a 120D for our daily commuting needs. It seems to be a very good choice for you, but since we can't get them here, and I've only seen one from the outside (in Scotland), I am not qualified to give any advice.

Be careful of the quality - the E87/1 series has many evident signs of cost cutting.

Like you, I rarely have passengers in the car and seldom travel fully loaded, so thought that a 1er would be ideal since the new E90/3er has grown too large. So, I bought a 120d Auto and thought it ideal, until the kms piled up.

The car developed numerous rattles, creaks, groan and mysterious noises that the dealer could not rectify and also had many paint and trim issues. In short, it was a lemon!

I sold it after only eight months and got myself a used E46 3er as the new 3er is too large for my needs.

My 120d could have been a bad one, but if you go to www.babybmw.net and enter the "Problems" section, you will soon realise that there are just too many issues with the car that remain open and unresolved.

If you do go ahead with your purchase, good luck and I do hope that you have better luck than some of us did.

The E87 is a great car, I have the E87 130i with a 6 spd. Manual gerbox. I have made some mods to my car. If you get this car there will be a couple of issues that you will have to live with:

1) Wind noise in the car from the side windows and it gets worse when you open the sunroof.
2) The car is well balanced 50/50 but for some odd reason it is not as stable as my old 03 330i that I have in California. For some reason it will skip a bit or bounce a small bit on uneven surfaces especially on the highways. With the stock suspension the problem existed. It was better after the stocks suspension was replaced with the PSS9 unit along with the H&R bars but the problem still is still there ( better then it was stock but not completely gone!). I do not have these problems with my 2003 330i BMW.

Hi again,

Forgot to mention that the ride of any 1er is much harsher and less resilient than you will find on an E90 3er, thanks to the run flats.

The E90 also runs these tyres, but apparently, BMW was more successful in tuning the chassis for this range than they were with the E87.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Colin

Hi again,

Forgot to mention that the ride of any 1er is much harsher and less resilient than you will find on an E90 3er, thanks to the run flats.

The E90 also runs these tyres, but apparently, BMW was more successful in tuning the chassis for this range than they were with the E87.

Cheers!

The same things have been said about the runflats on the Z4, but I think the ride is just fine on my 2006. Even with the same chassis, I think the tires and the suspension have been improved to the point that ride quality penalties have been effectively mitigated, especially when compared to just one or two years ago.

Hey hey thanks a lot folks!

I really appreciate the input.

The named problems like quality issues, harsh ride and wind noises really bother me. Quality should be on the top...hmm.

I checked out babybmw site and its somehow frightening with the problems people seem to have.

So I made up my mind and have allready driven the 320d. It really has enough power for daily use and especially highway speeds (Im driving 50% highway on a daily basis). I read that they are starting to sell the 325d in september. A tuned down 3liter engine with 2 more cylinders. Should be more powerfull then the 2.0d, but that I do not really care for. The 2.0d has really enough grunt. Just the diesel noise is quiet irritating if its your first diesel .

Greets

The room in the back seat is adequate for your passengers. It's not coupe like but at least they have headroom too.

You thought of buying a 1 yr old car?

I've just got a 130i m sport at 1 yr old for £21,000, was £29k bradn new