Used car buying guide: BMW M135i

The steering is smooth, accurate and quick, providing a quicker ratio once you get off-centre than it does at the straight-ahead. It’s a common trick that gives straight-line stability allied to a feeling of agility once you’re on lock. The whole plot weighs 1545kg, yet the M135i turns with the willingness and accuracy of a car a couple of hundred kilos lighter, no doubt aided by the fact that only 52% of its weight is on its front tyres.

Typically, the M135i is quite pleasingly balanced and adjustable at the limit, but seemingly it would be overly tailhappy were it to wear the same width rubber on the front as the back. As it is, it’s a rather enjoyable steer down most roads, with just the right level of adjustability when you get serious.

Add in a classy cabin, decent practicality and a top-notch infotainment system and you’ve got yourself one dead-cert hot hatch page-turner, even if the cover won’t set you on fire.

What we said then

18 April 2012: “Nearly but not quite an M car. That’s what the M135i looks like on paper, and that’s what it turns out to be in practice: a car that retains the mainstream 1 Series range’s sensible appeal but with the wick turned up to cast a larger glow. It’s a compromise that works. This is a fine driving companion and a car with both a spectacular set of performance numbers and a determinedly alluring price.”

An expert's view

Kevin Bird, founder, Birds: “We’ve still got Autocar’s old modified M135i long-termer here from 2018. It’s running really well and hasn’t put a foot wrong. For my money, it’s smoother, more comfortable and quicker than any other 135i. On the whole, you’d probably be better off looking out for an M140i now, but find a good, standard M135i and you’ll enjoy it. Fuel injectors can be a problem and watch out for any warning lights. When buying, check all the gadgets such as the iController work. Those things can cost a fortune to fix.”

Buyer beware

Engine: Water pump and thermostat issues are not unknown. Coil pack issues are another occasional weak spot. Too many short journeys and not enough motorway blasts can coke up the internals, which puts the coil packs and ignition system under pressure. Scroll through the on-board service computer to check the car’s past maintenance and its future needs.

Transmission: Manual gearbox can feel a bit rubbery from cold but should ease up as temperature builds. The auto is supposedly sealed for life, but a 60,000-mile fluid and filter change is recommended.

Steering, brakes and suspension: Front- and rear-wheel bearing failures can happen. Front ball joints wear too. Check the rear brakes for abnormal wear caused by hard driving initiating the stability control to act on the rear brakes while under power. Feel through the steering wheel for vibration from bent wheels. Check the tyre life front and rear and that they’re a premium brand.

Body: Any rust is likely to be the result of poor crash repairs. On that subject, check the panel alignment and for overspray on window rubbers. Be suspicious of new front wing bolts, and check for rippling of the bonnet slam panel, rear cross-member and boot floor. Ensure the headlight dates correspond with the registration year.

Interior: On an option-heavy car, check that every last thing works. Electronics such as head-up displays and iControllers can cease to work properly, and it costs a lot of money to put them right.

Also worth knowing

The M135i is built on the 1 Series’ Leipzig production line, not by the M division in Munich. But the same had been true at that point of every important M car since the E39 M5. 

BMW describes it as ‘M Sport suspension’, which suggests that it’s not much different from that of a cooking 125i M Sport, for example. There’s an aluminium-rich MacPherson strut suspension set-up at the front and an independent multi-link rear end, all supported by model-specific springs and dampers. Adaptive dampers were offered as an option. Passive variable-ratio power steering was standard.

The car is rare in having rear wheels and tyres that are wider than those at the front. It’s to transmit the fat portion of torque to the road by the driven rear wheels, you suspect. But it has no mechanical locking rear differential, which in our view is a black mark against the name of anything with an M badge.