6 min read
When I’m ever on the hunt for the next car or have a few that are on my wish list it becomes a daily routine to check online and see what’s been freshly listed. Every morning when I fire up the PC, Google chrome loads my saved start-up pages, and I get a little excitement to see if there is something new. For several months I was on the lookout but nearly every day nothing really stood out from the crowd. Finally, something! It’s surprising how often I see cars listed with the incorrect details, from wrong year, wrong model to wrong body type! As a result, you tend to see cars listed where they don’t belong. A trick I like to use when looking for cars is searching outside of what I’m looking for. If I’m looking for the facelift or LCI model car I will also search for the pre facelift or non LCI models. It makes sense when selling a car to make the price competitive with what else is for sale. So, you tend to see the pricing represent other cars within the same search results. That can have its pros and cons. For me in this situation it was the former as I happen to find a BMW 1 Series E82 135i LCI in a non LCI search.
After thoroughly checking over the ad images and description I knew I could be on a winner. One owner, full-service history, only 26,000 km on the clock, coated in Alpine white with black leather interior. At this point, before getting too excited I like to run a few checks. I believe everyone should do these simple and inexpensive checks when buying a used car. This will avoid the risk of being in possession of a car that has been a repaired write off or stolen. Number one is a rego check, mainly to get the VIN number for a PPSR (Personal Property Securities Register) check. The PPSR will check if the car has any money outstanding against it from finance and if it’s ever been written-off or stolen. A PPSR literally only costs a few bucks. Next is a VIN decode to check options and see what goodies are fitted. So far all checks out.
The car was at a dealership interstate and with Melbourne about to go into yet another lockdown I knew I couldn’t organise a viewing time, so the plan was to call and try to seal the deal in one phone call subject to a pre-purchase inspection. Being listed in the wrong section the price was well below others on the market, so I knew I would be happy to pay the asking price and anything cheaper would be an absolute bonus. From years in a previous employment buying cars sight unseen from auctions only viewing images, I was confident that there was no major damage or previous repairs. The phone call was quick and ended with an agreement subject to a clean bill of health from a pre-purchase inspection. The seller was a little surprised as the car was only listed for an hour before I called. No time to waste! It was only early in the day, so I managed to organise a pre-purchase on the same day for early in the afternoon. The inspection came back with a two minor issues. Gutter rash on two of the wheels and it needed two front tyres. The inspector said they looked like the original tyres from when the car was new. I tend to agree, the photos he sent with the inspection report show cracking from age and were Bridgestone Potenza run flats. Same tyres fitted from factory for Australian delivered cars. With only 26k on the clock it could be true but its only speculation in the end. With the pre purchase inspection report I was confident buying the car sight unseen.
Shortly after the deal finalised transport was organised. CEVA logistics picked up the car within a day and had it safely transported to their Melbourne depot only two days later. With the car collected and driven to the OE warehouse I could take some time and have a good look over to find out if I made the right decision or not. And happy to say I did. The cleanest low kilometre all original 135 I have seen! To be expected with such a low kilometre car the under body is not far from the condition it would have been new. The paint has unfortunately been neglected over its life, no major scratches but a large amount of iron fallout. Based on the service history the car must have lived near Bankstown southwest of Sydney and would explain the paint being contaminated with iron fallout. Luckily the paint was still okay and hadn’t caused any corrosion or pitting. My guess is the cars paint has never corrected as the average paint thickness is 157 microns. BMW's are known to have between 130 and 165 microns. The wheels have also been neglected with a build-up of brake dust resulting in some major detailing work needed.
From what I can see the interior condition matches the kilometres, but I don’t think I have ever seen so much Armor All used in my life. The leather seats, dash and all the trim covered in that shiny junk! Fairly typical of dealership or car yard to overdo it. You can’t beat the look and feel of BMW leather when it's in the OEM condition. A nice and soft feel with a matte finish. Lots of TLC needed to bring the 135 back to its former glory but I’m looking forward to the work knowing that the result will be highly rewarding.
With the roadworthy booked I knew the front tyres would need replacing so I was lucky enough to get them fitted and balanced the same day as well as a 4-wheel alignment. Not having a clear plan for the project, I decided to go with the factory Bridgestone Potenza run flats. Within a few hours of dropping the 135 off for the roadworthy inspection I was not surprised when I picked it up with not one item needing attention. Next is a VicRoads appointment for registration. Already having custom plates set aside being used as a decoration in my office the second OE car in the fleet will wear the OEURO plates.
I was specifically looking for an E82 135i Coupe with the N55 engine. I wasn’t too keen on the N54 due to reliability concerns, even though it’s a strong engine with a forged crank and rods. The 135 is a great car to keep stock and have some weekend fun in but also has huge potential for power gains with heaps of bolt on upgrades available. The 135 project plan at this point is to bring it back to the condition a 26k car should be in. Starting with the interior, wheels, and a paint correction. Stay tuned for the next instalment when we tackle the interior detail.
Below are images from the Carsales ad.
