2008 BMW 135i: It's Not All Wonderful

same problem with my Audi cupholders... I guess this is the joke Germans play on America...
 
I like your giant FAIL graphics. LOL

epic F41L!

Well, it's clear that those cupholders were an afterthought for the US market. The question is, what were they meant to hold in the European market?
 
Oh, that's right. Any excess Euro-brand™ smugness can be easily deposited in the recessed area. Methinks they need to expand those recesses a bit...

i dont understand how if the germans a so good with egronomics and all the other car stuff, they cant fix such simple problems

I am a fan of all things "car" but the 135i is by far my least favorite of the edmunds garage, too expensive. Wasn't this pocket rocket *$37145* wheres the crappy idrive?

When did the Germans EVER good with ergonomics??
 
They are excellent at suspension and brakes, but never at ergonomics.

The crappy i-drive is not included in this $37k stripper bare bone 135i.
 
A fully loaded 135i is in the $45k range.

"A fully loaded 135i is in the $45k range."
 
Which goes to show that BMW, amongst other German manufacturers who shall not be named, is selling the options - not the car.
 
I don't care what's in the 1 series whe it's full loaded. There is no way the car is worth that much after check-marking all the boxes on the order sheet.
 
This just serves as a big, fat exclamation mark that underscores that German options are overpriced. That, or the 1 series isn't that good of a value.

Or it fits right in with other racer-type cars current pricing schemes in the 300hp arena...(I'm looking at your evo and sti).
 
That brake dust is terrible, as usual. I'd love to see edmunds attempt a wheel wax product....
 
Germans, specifically BMW, Audi, and Porsche, tend to be excellent with driving ergonomics: seating position, wheel position, wheel size, texture, and shape, shifter position, e-brake position, gauge legibility, and usually the auxiliary controls like turn-signal/wipers. Aside from that, they tend to do poorly at designing ergonomic radios, climate control, cubbies, cupholders, and all manner of things not directly related to executing a driving manuever.
 
Those tan plastic cupholders look much better than the black plastic ones in the 135 I recently test drove...the black plastic was very very low grade in the cupholder region....one of the few times I think tan shows better than black.
 
Dude, take a picture of the visor from the edge of it. Show the cheapness. Or show a video of how the visor has no torsional rigidity when moving (I guess they saved all the rigidity for the chassis!).
 
Joe

My daughter's sippy cups fit perfectly in the rear cupholder with the armrest down. It is just a perfect family truckster, I tell ya.

I think Joefrompa has it about right: driving position ergo is generally very good, but the ancillary controls are prone to vigorous inhalation and result in owner's manuals that require a small forest to print.

Agree about the radio. Weird that they still haven't fixed that! This problem started with the e90 in 2005 (mid 2005 it hit our shores) and BMW just ignores it.
 
Don't care about the cupholders. Only use them to hold my cell phone. iPod goes in the console where the plug awaits.

Go out and bed the brakes. It will help them work better and should quell the squeal you're getting.

My MINI Cooper has both the brake dust problem and the radio display problem. I too wear polarized sunglasses, and I have to lower them on my nose to see whats on the displays. Thankfully the LCD in the tachometer in front of me is angled such that I can see it with polarized glasses on.
 
As for the brake dust, its a pain to clean thats for sure.

BMW's cupholders have always been a ridiculous afterthought. Just the price of admission.
 
As for brake dust, be glad you don't have to clean the wheels on an E46 ZHP package car. By the end of it I'm praying for death and it's an hour after I started.

Compliance is right. With BMWs, you have to occasionally go out on the highway and perform 4-5 hard stops at speed to get rid of the glazing of pad material and bed the pads in properly. It should get rid of the squeal as well.

I've had good luck cleaning brake dust by adding some simple green to my wash bucket after I'm done with washing the car. I take a soft bristled brush (Carrand part number 93039 works great) and scrub the rims with the soap/water/simple green mixture. The brake dust comes right off and the rims look great. I usually hand dry them (just a quick once over, nothing intense) with a terry cloth towel after the fact.
 
For keeping your ties black, Permatex makes a great product called Wet n' Protect. Its an aerosol, but it doesn't over spray, it doesn't sling, and it really keeps the tires looking black and wet for quite a while.
 
I have to test these products all of the time as part of my job, and I can honestly say, that Permatex product is one of the best on the market for a reasonable price.

get gray wheels, brake dust wont show up. problem solved.

Go search at e90post.com for a fix on the polarization issue.
 
There is some polorized film you can buy online. You get a sheet about the size of a piece of paper. Hold it up to the radio -- turn it until you can see the display with your polorized glasses on. Then cut a strip. The film has self adhesive backing, but I just kind of wedged mine in there.
 
This was a problem on my '06 325i. I can't believe they haven't fixed it yet.
 
BTW, the ergonomics of everything to do with DRIVING is perfect. The ergonomics of everything else suffers, but who cares...
 
nf

Waxing your wheels will help you clean brake dust. I used Zaino on mine and the brake dust is gone with a spray of the hose and one wipe of a towel. (don't use that towel on the rest of your car after that, brake dust is really bad)

I don't think Simple Green is good for waxed/polished surfaces. It may remove the brake dust but any protective coating will go along with it (I've tried it before). I just had my 2 front wheels repaired for curb rash and I just put 2 coats of Zaino on them to help keep the brake dust off. They are slippery smooth right now, which helps to wipe off the brake dust using a Swiffer cloth. I'm also installing new pads this weekend that supposedly dust less than the OEM BMW ones.

m thrizzle,
 
Agreed. If you plan to wax or polish your rims, you wouldn't want to use something like simple green. But for just regular alloy wheels, a little simple green added to the mix helps to cut the dust off.
 
I don't use a very strong concentration at all, just to be clear.

If you aren't going to track the car much, just go with PBR Metal Master pads and forget about it; they hardly dust at all.

The I Drive in my BMW is unaffected by my polarized sunglasses. Guess you guys shoulda got the I Drive!...

Exactly desmo... no problems here either, lol.
 
Seriously though, I don't get why BMW doesn't fix this long-running radio display polarization problem.
 
I am ambivalent about cupholders. Anywhere else in the world but here a "large" beverage is basically 8 oz's. Which fits in the BMWs cupholders nicely. I know I know, this is the U. S. of A. and BMW needs to cater to our gallon-sized beverage whims. Personally I think they're telling us to stop being such fat slobs. No, I don't drink (or eat) in my damn car, can you tell? :-)