BMW 1 Series F20 (2011-2015)

I am going to love my partners new BMW – Great car runs well like handling on road like luxurious, interior car is being serviced so only had a short drive so far. It is my partners car and is at the mechanics as I mentioned Black very smart and easy to park I have not yet had a highway drive at 100kph but my partner has and it ran beautifully.  Show details

Very suitable car for a young single person – Bmw has one of the best driving experiences. The engine is much more durable than that of Audi. My car luckily has the updated interior look (glass display) that is so similar to higher series. This is one of its best thing. It is nothing inferior to bmw 3 series. Mine has a Sport style package with black piano trim though. Everything of the car… Read more

is way more durable compared to my Audi A6. You can push it hard it doesn't break that easy. I have replaced the RFT with conventional ones and have more driving comfort and fuel economy. 4L/100km hwy, 7l suburban, and 8.5l city, 7.5 combined after I changed the bloody RFT. 118i is much stronger than 116i. The car is slow 0-30km, ok 30-45km but very fast 45km/h upwards. Twin turbo engine is a legend. The place I bought it was bad though.

An exceptionally accomplished car. Best in class – I used to work as a driver at Avis, so I have driven nearly every single car model in the world, including the original BMW 1-series. The original 1-series was ugly and very 80's in its interior. BMW has certainly fixed that with the F20 where the interior was the main reason I bought the car. Granted, there are a few areas of hard plastic (The… Read more

glove box in particular along with a panel under the middle console and the 1-8 radio buttons) but the overall feel inside the cockpit is really, really impressive and well beyond my earlier favourite which was the Audi A3. Black leather and black, soft plastic along with a string red Sport line, red stitching on the wheel and silver trimmings make the interior reminiscent of high end Bang & Olufsen designer audio - and that is exactly what I look for. It really is a work of art and getting into the car is like putting on a snug tuxedo.

My car has the sport package and the fantastic 8 speed auto which I can wholeheartedly recommend, although I usually prefer manuals.

The engine is cracking and has 220nm of torque. 0-100 in 8.5 seconds is ok, but the car is no sprinter. Instead, the torque allows your to overtake uphill effortlessly and at 0-60 the car is actually really fast if it is in Sport mode. ECO Plus is a fuel saving mode which I never use - the gas response is simply too slow to be of any use. I leave the car in comfort mode and switch into Sport when I get on a windy country road. I should note that the engine sound is pretty average, but the turbo can be easily heard in Sport mode - which helps.

The biggest drawback is the limited space in the rear seats, but I don't care as I usually drive the car by myself only. I did have to pick up my folks form the airport with my wife and with their luggage the car was completely full.

I have owned the car for more than a year now and couldn't be happier. As I mentioned in the beginning; I have tried almost every car out there and I can comfortably say that a BMW 1-series is the very best in its class. No doubt about it. Go for the 116i - Yes, the 118, 120 and 125 of course the M135 are all faster, but diminishing returns say that the best buy is a 116i with automatic transmission.

Get one with leather interior as it really lifts the whole quality of the car.

Very good car for one or two people – Handles exceptionally well - I test drove the a-class and the A3 before deciding on the 1 series. A3 had better interior but the front wheel drive skidded out during the wet and didn't feel as planted or safe on the roads. A-class felt cramped and the interior was a bit crap. 1 series felt much safer in the same conditions (tested back to back)… Read more

and cornered a lot better. Standard equipment is poor against rivals, must be heavily optioned to get a decent level of spec. Residual value takes a hard hit because of this. Back seat is really only for short journeys with the poor leg room and tiny windows. Servicing costs are average. Seems to get a lot of brake dust. Styling is kinda ugly.

Very good for some – Septmber 2013 I bought a F20 116i in September 2012 and have done about 26,000km in it now. If you can't tell if a car is being driven by the front wheels or the back wheels then you're probably better off buying something like a Golf or Focus. The car's strengths are the way it drives. Beautiful steering, a great motor and excellent handling and… Read more

ride compromise. It's not perfect, the pedals are too close together, I can't see all of the instrument cluster through the steering wheel and I think the conditioned based servicing under services the car. But every time I drive a front wheel drive car (work car, rental, friends) I congratulate myself for buying this car. It's wonderful to drive. No reliability issues so far, I get around 6ltr/100km using premium and I don't go to BMW for servicing and the costs have been the same as my old Subaru.

Update 31/01/2014 I now have 35,000km on it and no problems. I rented a Golf 90TSI MK7 for 4 days recently and it was a great car, excellent value. It beats the BM on price and features and has more of a luxury feel to it. It has the same excellent ride quality, but doesn't feel as planted on the road and loses ground on twisty roads with the heavier front-end. It is slightly louder with road noise from the hatch area and a coarser motor when pushed. The BMW iDrive is a much better interface and after getting a puncture recently I love the run flats. A warning came up on the screen that pressure was down in the tyres, I got out and saw a screw in one of them, drove to the local tyre dealer who repaired it in under 30mins and for $30. No need to sit by the side of the road putting a spare on.

Update 8/08/2014 Now have 50,000km and just had a service on it. Oil change, oil filter, air filter and brake fluid, $422 but not from a dealer. Seems like a reasonable price, I've been getting the oil done every 10,000km so it's not the BMW long life oil. Car has been running fantastic, fuel consumption averaging 5.7ltr/100 using 95 RON. Still not used to the 3 pedals being so close or not being able to see the whole instrument cluster, but have been having a lot of fun with it on twisty roads. It's a very well balanced car and steers beautifully.

Update 24/08/2015 I now have 75,000km on it and nothing to report really. All 4 Tyres were replaced at 70,000km and the tyre guy did say that it was unusually good mileage given they're performance tyres. I am mostly very gentle on the car. I paid about $290 each for the tyres but I didn't shop around and just went to the guy my mechanic suggested had a good history of doing wheel alignments on BMWs. Got the same type of tyres that came with it (Goodyear I think) and had no issues with the wheel alignment.

Update 15/10/2015 The car has 81,000km on it and I have had a problem with it. The computer told me twice it needed more coolant/water and I started noticing water underneath the car. The car was running fine and didn't let me down, so I asked the mechanic to have a look at it when I put it in for service. It turned out to be a problem with some water housing thing to do with the thermostat at the back of the motor. I had to wait a day for the part which cost $125 and looks like about an extra $200 in labour. Can't say for sure because I got the car serviced and new plugs as well so there was other work associated with the labour. Still, the pricing is not too bad I thought. Hopefully the car will continue to run fine.

Update 23/11/2016 Just under 100,000 km and all good. The hatch/boot wouldn't open back in August this year and I needed to get a new 'actuator'. That was $200. I do use the hatch a lot and open the boot about 4 times a day everyday. I also had a loud tappet sound from the motor which I was worried about, but it ended up just being a loose piece of heat resistor stuff around the turbo. It was vibrating and the mechanic just pushed his hand on it and the noise stopped. It drives like a sport/luxury car should Some minor design issues

Update 15/10/2020 Well, I got a bit lazy and stopped doing updates. But I traded this car in on a new BMW118i in December 2018. Between 100,000 and 136,000 when I sold it, no major issues occurred. The air intake had a crack in it, there was a slight knock on the front right suspension (hard to replicate it and others said they heard nothing) and the battery started to sound like it was going flat. The new one is the 1.5ltr 3 cylinder, but I reckon the 116i motor was better. The 3 cylinder gets a vibration in it around 1800rpm.

Get one now! – What a rocket. And steering precision akin only to a formula 1 car (I think as I've never driven one). As soon as you sit into the leather sports fully electric adjustable bolster seats (in the comfort package) you know that this thing is going to scare and exhilarate you. With four driving modes starting at Eco Pro which dials down the throttle… Read more

response, climate control and allows the car to "coast" to save fuel, then to comfort (the default mode) which has plenty of punch but softens the low end acceleration to ensure you don't have a permanent face lift from your drive to work. Then to the 2 sport modes, sport and sport plus. Sport sharpens the acceleration to scalpel and sport plus does the same but sort of kind of turns the traction control off. The sort of kind of is due to it really still being on but it will let you hang the tail out a little before ensuring you don't end up in the wall. The 8speed auto more than handles the power and has a few tricks of its own with a full Auto mode, a Sports auto mode and a "manual" mode where you can choose to change gears either with the lever on the floor or on the flappy paddles. In sports mode the gears hold to red line and there's a really satisfying thud each gear change. The audio system is great in premium spec with digital radio, DVDs and sat Nav with the only draw back being real time traffic info being an optional extra with the connected drive packages. If you don't purchase at the time from the dealer the package are currently not available outside of that although BMW says the online store will be available sometime in 2015.

Be prepared to part with cash at the bowser if you intend on going everywhere in sport mode however with the stop/start system on and in comfort or Eco pro mode the car is surprisingly efficient. Overall a great car which could be improved upon with only a few minor changes such as distance control cruise control ( which is now standard on the 2016 model). Highly recommend!!!

M135i - Best car I have driven – I'm very lucky to have purchased a low km F20 BMW M135i in 6 speed manual. Purchased April 2014. It's the best thing I've ever bought. 16 months after buying and I still get a smile every time I drive, I love driving to work, I love driving home, every time I'm in the car is a joy to me. I previously had a gutless BMW E87 118i (non-turbo in E87… Read more

hence gutless) which was flawless mechanically and handled very well so was very happy with another from BMW. I chose this hatch shape again as the car is so practical, rear seats folded flat I can fit in 4x road bicycles, I can fit in enough scuba gear for 4 including 8 tanks and have used it to move house (fits a full sized diswasher with ease) and amazingly fits a 9'6" full sized malibu surfboard inside the car. I've driven and owned my share of cars over the last 18 years including a 911 pre-991 and modified bridgeport RX7, bang-for-your-buck this car easily is the best of the lot. For a track car, the 911 may be better choice but I'm not sure I could live with the constant attention and shopping centre carpark fear plus its suspension to me was a harsher.

Highlights about the M135i: power delivery, gearbox, handling. The power delivery makes the car feel quick from a standstill, it easily pulls away from any non-GTS Holden (never been able to compare to a GTS), matches most modified Ford F6 turbos (pulls away from non-modified), never had an F6 pull away. I accept that the auto is slightly faster to 100, however I've sorted that out with a RaceChip Ultimate that boosts my power to ~280kW taking me to 100 well under 5 seconds. Once off standstill, my car with a RaceChip is faster than a Porsche 911 s-pack (traction is the barrier for speed from standstill). Once hitting 40km/hour you can plonk it in 6th gear and treat it as a two gear car, there's so much torque at 1200rpm that you really only need 2 gears 1st and 6th. Suspension is firm to bumps but pleasant enough to live with as a daily driver, and there is a mild amount of roll when pushing to the limits. If you were very keen, you could improve the roll with after market mods. If you were very keen, you'd easily out modify an F6 Falcon with increased boost and methanol and you'd have a car that didn't make you look like your knuckles dragged on the ground behind you.

To the naive the engine note sounds marvelous, although you need to accept that in cabin noise is partially manufactured by the speaker system. Externally I think it sounds great but to be honest I couldn't really care what people outside the car think of how it looks or sounds, I bought the car for my pleasure not theirs. I don't want a head turner or something that attracts attention. I don't really understand people that spend $1000s on rims, spoilers, body kits, in my opinion, throw the money on your interior and engine where you get to enjoy those dollars.

Mine is still under BMW warranty, so upgraded turbos, LSD, suspension, remapping chips, and increased intercooler size will wait another 12-18 months.

Petrol consumption: very surprisingly only about 10-15% more than the old 118i I owned. I get ~600km per tank and I generally give it some every drive and I have the RaceChip Ultimate, and once at highway speed I plonk it in cruise control. I get ~550km with a mix of highway and suburbia. For comparison, the 118i managed 600km around city and up to 800km pure highway, and ~700km with my current driving.

Reliability: flawless. Not a single hiccup, mind you only 16 months ownership so can't comment long term.

The current M135i I own costs me $397 to service (not had any parts to replace). I would highly recommend finding yourself a reliable Euro mechanic, that is not a BMW dealer. I learnt from my previous car that BMW dealers make you pay for those free-cappuccinos in their marble lobby through their servicing costs. Tyres can be expensive as they're not common and standard sizes and fronts are different from the rears. In my experience the 4 wheel alignment is sensitive to steep driveways (I chewed up 4x near new michelin super sports within 6 months due to a driveway throwing alignment out every day). I've sinced moved away from that driveway and onto Khumo tyres, very happy. But my girlfriend driving after I had a few, and her hitting a mild bump to a rolled gutter threw out my alignment again and started seeing edge wear within 2 weeks. My Khumos aren't quite as grippy as michelins and from cold temps do vibrate a little for first 5 minutes but would happily buy them again especially at half the price and they'll wear longer.

Negatives: Probably the only negative I'd comment on is traction in the wet. Due to the amount of power from low RPM you can get traction loss in the wet without too much effort. If you drove sensibly in the wet you will have no problems, but if you're a bit of a lead foot like me then expect a little wheel spin when shifting and taking off. The car doesn't get upset with this and generally stays in a straight line even in my non-LSD setup. I've never felt threatened by this car and I'm what I'd call an enthusiastic amateur without any training. The cost of LSD upgrade is $4500, and I don't think the occasional loss of traction in the wet and enthusiastic delivery power in dry is worth $4500 to me just yet. Actually one other thing, the USB port under the arm rests requires me to reinsert the USB stick whenever car is turned off/on. Seems to be a known bug.

Ride height: generally I don't hit anything except very step gutters and driveways that most sedans would also have issue with. Take it on an angle and you'd be fine.

Interior: very upmarket, clean and should age very well with charcoal leather and aluminium trim. I have only the intermediate sound system, if I had my choice I would have gone for the top level stereo. I'm 5'10", and my friends who've driven this being just over 6' are happy and comfortable (I guess they're probably blown away by the power and gearbox and wouldn't notice anything else anyway for the short drives they do). The low seating position can be a little tiring for very long highway journeys, but that's what co-drivers are for right?

Seat warmers! my car came with them by chance, and I thought what the hell will I do with those in Australia...??? Two weeks later in May and I was using them and very happy! I'd definitely option them if I bought from new!

So happy with this car that I currently plan to keep it for 10 years. I can imagine that in 10 years that I might be tempted to turn this car into a track car or weekend wheelspinner. I guess this car might be great in auto but perhaps I'd get bored sooner? In manual, the exhaust pops-and-crackles when easing off the power in sport mode, gives a bit of a fart when upshifting which I think sounds great, don't think you get that in the auto?

Update after almost 3 years of ownership:

Still love this car. Have put 45,000km on the clock since original purchase (bought at 5,000).

Suspension really softening up, will look suspension options when funds become more available.

If it was burnt to the ground or written off I'd by another (well an M140i instead) and also a manual again.

Mechanically only issue: blown turbo charge pipe but that's probably due to me running higher than standard turbo pressures. $800 to fix. Also front brake pads changed: ~$400 inc labour for pads only, discs good for another set of pads.

Otherwise flawless. Khumo tyres I'm running still well over 50% tread and that's after some 25000km.

F20 116i good prestige car but with flaws – I enjoyed the first 500 kms until the issues surfaced: rattles, AC noise, creaks all round when driving over uneven roads. Requires premium 98 for optimal performance otherwise lags. Poor standard equipment: no PDC, no auto lights nor climate control - all cost extra. Fuel economy is average 8 litres/100 km on 95 RON. Still waiting for first… Read more

service to have my complaints fixed. Otherwise comfort is great and no fatigue or backaches in the drivers seat. The automatic has four modes to select from: eco, comfort, sport and manual. Atypical look, comfortable seats, great auto transmission, long service intervals. Very little standard features, some noise inside cabin, requires 98 octane petrol.

Grips the Corners – I can't really fault the current model (from late 2011). With just 100kw the base model shouldn't perform as well as it does but a flat torque curve and great transmission deliver the goods. Economy is very good for the performance and considering this is a real BMW with RWD. Brilliant handling, performance, sufficient space and functionality. Needs better speakers and iPod connectivity on the base model. Run flats instead of a spare. Show details