The 130i Thread

[Danch 42]

I appreciate the fun side of building a project car. I guess my question was more about why the 130i (I've edited my original question), over any other cars that's been designed as sports cars fundamentally. I have a 130i and I have nothing against 130i - just curious what others have considered when they decided to build 130i as a project car.

[BreakMyWindow 1965]

The 130i's are great bang for buck, for well under 10k you've got a great handling rwd manual with 190kw so it's very attractive as a base for a project.

[Jacko 2265]

TLDW; Keep the 130  

 

Edited Thursday at 01:32 AM by Jacko

[Hutty008 21]

9 hours ago, Danch said:

I'm just curious, what made you to invest so much into 130i when you can buy a m3 or m2 with that much money? Or choose a more sporty car as your base?

M3 is heavy and can be high maintenance, the M2 is overrated in my opinion and I also don't like turbo cars ( I also could never give up hydro steering so m2 is out ). Besides either of those car you would still have to put 20k into them on top of the 40-50k purchase price to even get close to making the most out of them. I have been fortunate enough to drive a good few cars and still haven't found anything that puts a smile on my face as much as my 130i. I'm only 18 as well so much easier to buy a 9k car and slowly drop 45k into it. I'm not a fan of financing a depreciating asset unlike most people my age so would have only just got the M2 or M3 now when I have already enjoyed my 130i for a year. Also try to get insurance for an M3 or M2 at 18, you would find the the cost laughable. Sorry for the rant but that's just my opinion on it.

Edited Thursday at 06:07 AM by Hutty008

[Hutty008 21]

I know most have already seen this but I will post it again anyway.

https://youtu.be/2cyBMqT-LNQ?si=x4v7yn4jkTHANSMH

[M3AN 4139]

Oft, this thread is becoming more and more difficult to read, if it were an emotional decision, rather than a practical one, I'd keep mine for sure.

It's hardly relevant but both my M3 and M2 are objectively better cars than my 130, but they're in different universes price-wise, and also have their own shortcomings. Unfortunately the 130 now feels slow, even in day-to-day traffic, the M2 has ruined that part of it for me. 😒

Edited Thursday at 09:56 AM by M3AN

[Jacko 2265]

9 minutes ago, M3AN said:

Oft, this thread is becoming more and more difficult to read, if it were an emotional decision, rather than a practical one, I'd keep mine for sure.

It's hardly relevant but both my M3 and M2 are objectively better cars than my 130, but they're in different universes price-wise, and also have their own shortcomings. Unfortunately the 130 now feels slow to me, even in day-to-day traffic, the M2 has ruined that part of it for me. 😒

Agreed, its all relative. The trick is to not buy faster cars, go get yaself a 2006 Toyota Ractis :D .. then the 130 feels like a supercar.

Even the Skoda, it pulls harder mid range and feels faster after initially putting ya foot down.... until its properly rung out and you run out of revs and turbo runs out of puff, but if you jump in the 130 its noticeably actually faster as it keeps pulling up top (and has WAY more steering feel, sounds much better, grips harder etc).

[M3AN 4139]

So true, and I've enjoyed such an experience. When I relocated back from Europe to Aotearoa I had mum's Swift for a few months and loved it. You don't need much horsepower to have fun.

Edited Thursday at 09:58 AM by M3AN

[MD13 554]

When ever my car starts feeling slow I get a mechanic service. They give me a loaner and after 10 minutes driving whatever pos that might be my car feels awesome again.