[Crassus]

Originally Posted by chicagofan00

^Very nice, congrats! Wish it was offered here in the US.

Thanks. Nope. The USA isn't keen on hatchbacks, but they are very popular her in Europe where 300-1,000 year old cities have roads that haven't enlarged with the growing size of cars.

We have had an SUV and a hatchback the past three years and a small car is great for nipping out for errands, parallel parking and fun driving.

All my local roads are twisty B roads with undulations and blind crests.

I'm glad to have the M140i as although the G01 is superbly comfortble it's noticeably less sporty than the F25 I had and the steering feel is very detached too.

Originally Posted by TX3M

Congrats on both new rides, very sharp! Whoever bought your F25 got a real cherry!

Thanks. The F25 looked awesome in Deep Sea Blue and diamond cut alloys which we unfortunately couldn't swap over to the G01.

Originally Posted by BTS22

£26k?! Wow! How did you get it that cheap?

Originally Posted by mariopl

That is the price for 118i !
Here is ours 1 series in Sport line with M-Sport steering wheel, Alpine HiFi and 19" rims with red outline
Not a drag race demon, but for driving around the city, nursery drops and shopping is more than enough.

Originally Posted by mariopl

I know. I was just saying the price he gave for M140i I put on 118i.
Excellent moment to get M140i now as it is last six-banger for 1 series.

Sexy spec on that red 1-Series!

Right? Crazy price isn't it?

I don't know why but from March/April until June you could walk into any dealer and get an M140i Shadow Edition that comes standard with H&K sound, automatic gearbox, sun protection glass, extended storage and black grille at 26-34% discount. However I added several options so that the car is specced to keep me happy for a very long time.


I wasn't planning on buying a new car this year but it was a once in a lifetime offer I had to jump on. Thankfully the car it replaced, a White Skoda Fabia Color Edition, had depreciated less than expected and I was able to sell it for an awesome price to a dealer who wanted it because it was in high demand! He had three identical ones that all sold within two weeks.

[chicagofan00]

Originally Posted by Crassus

Thanks. Nope. The USA isn't keen on hatchbacks, but they are very popular her in Europe where 300-1,000 year old cities have roads that haven't enlarged with the growing size of cars.

We are the land of the big SUVs and trucks around here.

[Crassus]

Originally Posted by chicagofan00

We are the land of the big SUVs and trucks around here.

I was in Chicago for 5 days last week for work and saw countless of SUVs in Near North side where I stayed. 7 seater Escalades were everywhere and made the new X7 look small.

[Alias1431]

Originally Posted by Crassus

Right? Crazy price isn't it?

I don't know why but from March/April until June you could walk into any dealer and get an M140i Shadow Edition that comes standard with H&K sound, automatic gearbox, sun protection glass, extended storage and black grille at 26-34% discount. However I added several options so that the car is specced to keep me happy for a very long time.


I wasn't planning on buying a new car this year but it was a once in a lifetime offer I had to jump on. Thankfully the car it replaced, a White Skoda Fabia Color Edition, had depreciated less than expected and I was able to sell it for an awesome price to a dealer who wanted it because it was in high demand! He had three identical ones that all sold within two weeks.

I'm super jealous about the value proposition this is. It wouldn't work for me, I need the bigger X3, but DAMN that is a lot of car for the money. Enjoy.

[Crassus]

Here are some new photos of the pair.

[clivem2]

Congratulations on a duo of very fine cars! You'll be having a great time with them.

If I don't end up with a Macan then it'll be an M40i...I've always liked M Sport X3s in Alpine White - I think it suits the shape and works so well with black exterior trim. I was thinking Silver but AW does draw me. The safe interior option with AW for myself would be Tartufo but I really like Cognac. It's interesting that you have Cognac in the M140i, it goes well I'd say. It does though have more black on the doors than would an X3, I wonder it Cognac would work as well in the X3?

Did you consider Cognac for the X3 or was it always Oyster so you've not thought about pros and cons?

[Crassus]

Originally Posted by clivem2

Congratulations on a duo of very fine cars! You'll be having a great time with them.

If I don't end up with a Macan then it'll be an M40i...I've always liked M Sport X3s in Alpine White - I think it suits the shape and works so well with black exterior trim. I was thinking Silver but AW does draw me. The safe interior option with AW for myself would be Tartufo but I really like Cognac. It's interesting that you have Cognac in the M140i, it goes well I'd say. It does though have more black on the doors than would an X3, I wonder it Cognac would work as well in the X3?

Did you consider Cognac for the X3 or was it always Oyster so you've not thought about pros and cons?

Cheers! It's an extremly complementary pair of cars.

The X3 is brilliant for travelling in. Especially when you expect to be in bumper to bumper traffic. It has a relaxing ambiance, the suspension is superbly comfortable and you can see far ahead.

The M140i is a an absolute dream to drive. At 1,450kg is light but thanks to the ZF8 and adaptive suspension it has a pricelss Jack & Jill personality. It's comfortable in traffic but ferociously fast and agile when in Sport+.

Cognac is a difficult colour to photograph because it looks slightly different depending on lighting, just like cognac in a glass. The best way to describe it is tan with a hint on amber.

It's a talking point and anyone who's sat in the car or peaked inside it love it. Even the ladies at the car wash raved about it. Piano black is a sexy pairing for it.

Was it considered for the X3? Nope. My partner hated it and considered it the colour of baby poop. However she did a complete u-turn when she saw it in person and now prefer that we use the M140i when we go on dates.

Eitherway, we are happy with oyster in the X3 as our F25 had a beige interior and we discovered that a light cabin has a very positive effect on our mood when travelling as a family.

I have seen Tartufo and it looks terrific. It's a colour I would strongly consider.

Exterior colours for the X3 are unfortunately terribly boring compared with the choises for the Jaguar F-Pace and Volvo XC60. Having previously owned black and blue cars were were open to change. Silver looks amazing on the X3 however we were so disinterested in exterior paints that we decided to spend the money on options that would make a bigger difference between the wheels e.g 360 degree camera, adaptive suspension and acoustic glass.

[clivem2]

Thanks for describing your route to your choices. I have samples of Cognac and Tartufo sitting beside me. I understand Cognac fairly well as my F25 has Saddle which is just a very slightly darker / hint of orange version of Cognac. Without seeing Cognac and Saddle side by side it's hard to detect a difference. It might be the colour of baby poop but Tartufo is the colour of dog poop!

On an M40i with M Sport Plus the kidney grills are gloss back so that adds to the contrast with White or Silver. Also metallic isn't extra cost on the M40i so that's not a consideration. The oddity is that the M40i with M Sport Plus has Cerium just on the wheels. It's a bit of a mis-match.

[Crassus]

The X3 got washed today. I also used a £3 metal polisher for the first time and the result is amazing. The exhaust tips are shiny and look brand new. Unfortunately the metal Polish is designed for chrome and cannot be used on the tinted exhaust tips on my M140i. I need to find a product for them.

My most important update is on the oyster leather. It significantly more resilient to staining and wrinkling than Dakota leather.

I cannot stress how much of a surprise this is. The cognac Dakota leather in my M140i looks more worn than the vernasca leather in my X3 which looks brand new despite the X3 getting more usage.

Don't hesitate on choosing oyster even if you have young children.

[Crassus]

A few more recent posts of the car. The most recent update to any of the cars is AutoID TRE mirror assembly, Alcantara Steering wheel and a backbox mod on the M140i.