The 130i Is One Of The Best Used BMWs You Can Buy Right Now

If you want an affordable BMW with a great engine and chassis combo, you'll struggle to do better than a 130i

24 Mar 2016

The 130i Is One Of The Best Used BMWs You Can Buy Right Now

Whenever I have an idle moment, I head over to the classifieds and have a jolly good browse. But recently, there’s been one car I look for first almost without fail: the E87 BMW 130i. I’ve been tempted by one of these for ages, because they tick a hell of a lot of boxes. Great engine? Check. Good chassis? Check. Great looks? Well, this one will divide opinion, but I reckon it’s a handsome devil.

The big draw, of course, is the 265bhp, ‘N52’ 3.0-litre straight-six. It’s the most powerful non-M N/A straight-six BMW ever built, and it’ll get you from 0-62mph in an impressive 5.5 seconds, and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 155mph.

It’s one of the few rear-wheel drive hot hatches in existence, although there are a few handling upgrades I’d consider, namely a limited-slip differentially and perhaps new dampers.

The best part is they’re not all that expensive. The cheapest are currently hovering around £5000, and we found this tidy looking 2006 example for £7695. Sure, that’s E36 M3 money, but as we discovered recently, buying a car like that does have its pitfalls.. The 130i is a much less complex car, but is still bloody quick, so for this kind of money, we reckon it’s the used BMW to have.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

It says the ad is expired, do you have another link somehow?

The 130 is a much less complicated car than an e36 m3? You have got to be kidding me

Drift hatch ftw

What about the 330ci club sport?

Why not get a E46 330Ci for the money?

While E46 is awesome, it’s still older, probably more rust, more faults etc.
Plus the E81/82 has much smaller wheelbase, making it much more nimble ;)