The insurance company totaled my beloved 135, may it’s parts live on for other lovers of 135s.
I will miss my 135. Every day I drove it, that car never failed to put a smile on my face. It was a bad assed wonderful peice of German engineering and was actually imported directly from Leipzig.
My complements and thanks to BMW and the people that built it.
The service people at BMW Riverside were all saddened to learn of the death of my 135. It was rare for a number of reasons.
It was a manual 6 speed, the first production year of the model, and it had an “M” sport package although it was not a full on “M”. Those didn’t come until later years. My 1 motored through a 140,000 miles with the original clutch and it had only been through one set of brakes. It (and I) weathered the fuel pump recall (3 fuel pumps) and the turbo recall (only one set) and all of those issues were handled by BMW with professionalism and alacrity. I was never without a car because BMW stood behind their product. I as a customer, always felt that I was important even though my car wasn’t from their top expense tier.
I’d entertained keeping my 1 until it was 20, After all it was almost halfway there and was still kicking strong. That all changed 6/4/2017 when a careless driver ran a red light at a significant speed.
I had hope that the damage was mostly confined to just the more cosmetic bits, and that repairs would be possible. But after careful consideration and talking with professionals who know their stuff, the general consensus was that the superficial problems would be easy, but the cooling systems for the turbos, the A/C, the radiator, and all of the sensors and intakes would probably rapidly increase the repair to beyond the value of the car.
So the pragmatic part of my brain kicked in and forced me to let it go. I was never going to get the value that the car had to me out of either the other insurance company or the other driver. It was time to move on.
If I’d had unlimited cash, I’d have replaced my 1 with an M240 custom built with all the touches that I loved in my 1, capitalizing on the technological improvements that 9 years provide. I’d also have paid for the 1 to be repaired. With unlimited funds I’d have sent it back to Leipzig and asked the builders to make the repairs.
But… I couldn’t pony up $60,000 to satisfy my car lust. I’m not wealthy. I know this is contrary to the profiling so common today that says White people are all rich, greedy, actively seeking to destroy the planet, and enslave everyone.
I’m scraping by, and looking at ever decreasing options. (This is White privilege?)
Which led me to BMW of Riverside and the CPO Program. As I was looking at other vehicles I noticed that for the prices of those other cars, I could get a very nice CPO BMW with a BMW warranty.
The folks at Riverside have treated me very very well over the years. It only seems right that I should purchase my replacement vehicle from them.
So allow me to introduce you to my new ride. This is a 2014 328i, it’s loaded with updated technologies. The engine is a 240 HP Turbocharged engine. The 135i was 300HP with Twin Turbos.
This is an automatic transmission and a very smooth ride. In fact it’s easy to forget that there aren’t 300 ponies rumbling under the hood.
This beast is very peppy and different enough from the 135 that I will be less likely to try to make comparisons between the two. This is a very different machine, and that’s a good thing.
I like the rear backup camera, and the parking sensors. I’ll miss the convertible, and this one doesn’t have a moonroof. 4 doors is something new for me. Don’t know if I’ll like that, but I don’t dislike it, the rear doors don’t totally destroy the lines of the car the way they do for some vehicles.
I like the lines, and sitting in it, the car felt right. It was like I was home. Starting the beastie brought all the computers online and the systems made sense. They were familiar and welcoming.
I’d been trying to adapt to the Mazda and Chevrolet technology packages. I completely failed. Nothing made sense and either I’m too German or the BMW systems are simply that superior.
Tonight, my new ride is secure in the garage, (After a brief programming issue) the car can actually open the door to it’s room. My iPhone is communicating with the car and I’ve already made a couple of phone calls on the road. My music plays right from my phone instead of needing to have the iPod installed. I still have the iPod and the cable from the 135i to integrate the iPod anyway.
I’m going to be learning more about the beastie over the next few weeks. One thing I think I’m going to like is the iPhone application that lets me lock & unlock the car from my phone. I can also tell the car to turn on the ventilation remotely so like my 135i I can ask the car to start venting at a specific time, (15 minutes before I leave work) the nice thing is that now I can program it from the phone, not a big deal, but if my schedule changes, I can update the settings without having to walk out to the car to change it.
One of the other nice touches is that the owner’s manual is built into the car. Yep, it’s all online and very well indexed.
I think the beastie and I are going to be happy together. Someday, maybe I’ll get that “M” whatever but for now… this guy is going to be just fine.
That is IF some moron doesn’t hit me!