3 things I love and dislike with my M140i

I’m now (almost) 1000 miles into my M140i ownership… Yes, I’ve done 1000 miles in about a week, no my wallet isn’t entirely pleased…
Anyway, here’s 3 things I love, and 3 things I dislike about my M140i.

3. Love - The looks

The new LCI model of the car is far prettier than its pre-LCI brother. It’s lost the ‘Angry Birds’ piggy nose and the rear doesn’t looks like such an afterthought anymore either. But what I love most about my M140i’s looks is that it’s so underdressed. There’s no big wings boasting performance figures, or aggressive splitters that kiss the pavement under heavy braking. It looks, for the most part, like a standard M-Sport spec 1 series. There are a few differences, but they’re very minor and unless you’re paying attention, you won’t really spot them.

3. Dislike - A lot of stuff doesn't come 'as standard'

Now, admittedly this doesn’t apply to my M140i, as I was lucky enough to spec it up quite highly, however I can’t help but feel that cruise control, park assist and maybe the pro-nav package should come as standard on a car that costs around £6k more from standard over the other 1 series models.

2. Like - The little M140i motifs around the car

I opted to ‘de-badge’ my M140i from factory, as I wasn’t overly happy with how it looks on the LCI models, but even then, whenever I get into the car, I’m greeted by the sill plates, with M140i on them. The dash (Above) also has the M140i logo upon startup and shutoff, but it also hangs around in the lower right hand corner of the dials when driving too, just to remind you that, as you cruise along the motorway and there’s someone tailgating you as you overtake a truck, you have a 3L twin scroll turbo-charged engine about 2ft infront of you, ready to dispatch a rather large amount of power, very quickly.

2. Dislike - The lack of sound from the stock exhaust

Whilst I’m greatful that cruising along on the motorway doesn’t produce any droning from the exhaust, I’m always slightly disappointed when I pop it into Sport or Sport+ and there’s no real increase in sound. In the cabin, there is, but it’s the fake, pumped in sound. Outside again, it’s louder, but only slightly. I want the car to howl a little more in Sport modes, without having to fork out silly money to other companies to produce the desired effect.

1. Love - The pops and crackles in Sport modes

Yes, my last little segment was a complain about the exhaust, but here’s a positive one also. Putting the car into Sport or Sport+ allows the car to produce some crackles, pops and parps when letting off the throttle and changing gears, a noise that will fill you with a childish joy, and make you turn to your significant other, who will no doubt shake their head whilst also grinning. Bliss.

1. Dislike - The alloys

Now, prepare for a bit of a rant here, because this is the one thing that winds me up more than anything with the car. The actual look of the alloys is fine, I like them, they suit the blue a lot in my opinion. What I don’t like however, is the ‘gutter’ sitting behind the face. Look at the image above, you’ll spot the gutter, about an inch from the tyre. This is the BIGGEST PAIN IN THE ARSE to clean! I spend more time cleaning this out, than any other part of the car… What makes it worse is the BMW OEM pads on the M140i are very dusty. So every week, I have to sit there like some Victorian chimney sweep, trying to get all the dust out from this stupid gutter thing! Not to mention it also goes behind the spokes, which is literally impossible for anyone with normal sized hands to get behind. So it’s either you have to take the wheel off, or employ Donald Trump with his baby hands to clean your wheels for you… Not ideal BMW!!

Overall though, I love this car, it’s an epic little machine and I’d not have anything else right now!