130i - First drive

I was waiting with more anticipation than usual for January 'Motor' to arrive in my mailbox knowing it would beat the 130i I had ordered some 3 weeks earlier to my possession. Like the premature ejaculating teen in American Pie my anticipation turned to disappointment not once but twice. First when I discovered I had already read the STI v. VR6 v. 130i article in a European magazine; damned syndication. Secondly on page 26 you 'promised' I would have my 130i before finishing the article yet I had to wait another fortnight. Seriously though... Coming from a Y2 Maloo R8 I was afraid the Beemer would be short on grunt. A month in a Corolla hire car helped alleviate that no doubt, but the power and torque of the light Beemer coupled to a well geared, slick gearbox makes them surprisingly similar to drive in traffic.

In the 'twisties' the only similarity is that both cars are 'white knuckled passengers' quick. The Maloo was your mistress where as the Beemer is your wife. You could throw the Maloo into corners knowing it would be nose heavy moving the weight to the back using the throttle. You could over step the line doing this but like a good mistress should it would let you know when you were getting to the line, when you were at the line and even allow you to cross it briefly if you knew 'how to handle er'.

The Beemer needs to be stroked, caressed, even 'sold' into a corner with its low weight and kidney jolting suspension making it skip across any inconsistencies in the road. The other obvious differences can be summed up in a bevy of abbreviations; DSC, DTC, CBD, EBD and like a wife these cunningly sniff out any mere kindling of fun and smothers it completely before it turns to fire. The Maloo had none of this and I have not yet adapted my driving style to adapt (read: I hate it). It is like every driving input I perform is reviewed by committee before allowing to pass with no notification of decision given. Normal mode couldn't raise a smile from person just released from 4 years of sensory depravation and DTC is more yawn than ya hoo. Turning the whole thing off gives me the confidence of landing the space shuttle manually mainly due to tyre quality. I had S03's then Eagle F1's on the Maloo that leave the Beemers 18" Eagle NCT5's for dead. The S03's are out as the 130i needs run flats to account for the lack of spare wheel but I think a car of this capabilitity deserves the (run flat) Eagle F1's.

This mug loves his 130i, it delivers fun beyond my high expectations with a great level of luxury, function and amazing safety. Like the hill start mechanism where, even in the manual, when you take off on an incline the brakes stay engaged for a few seconds, or until you move forward, ensuring you don't roll backwards effecting a perfect hill start every time.

I find great value in its $70k (half an M3 in price only), and it uses about 10L/100km with 25,000km service intervals.

Dis ride is pimped!