2014 116i auto. Avoid, buy or things to watch for?
Discussion
We're considering downsizing my wife's car from a Mercedes C200 auto on a 2016 plate and looking at smaller autos for around 2/3 the price we hope to get from WBAC or similar. There are few likely looking 116i and 118i autos on Autotrader, so I'm interested in what to look out for, or even if they should be avoided all together?
Having had a 61 plate 320d as a company car when new, which my wife drove regularly, the 1 series appeals and would still be big enough for our occasional longer trips to visit family. We currently use my shed Ka for most local journeys so the Mercedes isn't getting used, partly as she feels it's big and harder to squeeze into car park spaces and the subsequent worry about it getting scraped. Short local trips aren't great for it anyway, but the idea is that downsizing will mean we don't have such an expensive car sat on the drive most of the time and something smaller would get used more. We'd still use my shed (or it's replacement) for the shorter local trips, but I'd hope we balance things out a bit more.
FWIW I do as much DIY repairs and servicing as possible, bar removing engines and gearboxes since I have to do the work on our drive outside as I have a project car in my garage.
My 320d was a 6 speed manual, but this car would have to be auto. While she does drive my manual Ka it tends to get left in 3rd half the time and 5th never used even on a motorway due to lack of mechanical sympathy...
Having had a 61 plate 320d as a company car when new, which my wife drove regularly, the 1 series appeals and would still be big enough for our occasional longer trips to visit family. We currently use my shed Ka for most local journeys so the Mercedes isn't getting used, partly as she feels it's big and harder to squeeze into car park spaces and the subsequent worry about it getting scraped. Short local trips aren't great for it anyway, but the idea is that downsizing will mean we don't have such an expensive car sat on the drive most of the time and something smaller would get used more. We'd still use my shed (or it's replacement) for the shorter local trips, but I'd hope we balance things out a bit more.
FWIW I do as much DIY repairs and servicing as possible, bar removing engines and gearboxes since I have to do the work on our drive outside as I have a project car in my garage.
My 320d was a 6 speed manual, but this car would have to be auto. While she does drive my manual Ka it tends to get left in 3rd half the time and 5th never used even on a motorway due to lack of mechanical sympathy...
Court_S said:
TwoStrokeNut said:
Make sure you get a later one with the B38 engine.
The earlier N13 engine has plenty of well known issues.
The earlier N13 engine has plenty of well known issues.
The age mentioned by the OP will be a four pot. The B series engines came in just after the facelift.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210010...
A few months ago I had the chance to buy a friend's 116d as the dealer offered him a pittance for it so I could have offered more and still got a decent deal. Then I found out it would need a timing chain doing due to age/mileage and it was an engine out job, the cost of which totally cancelling out any saving I might have made over buying a better example (his was very scruffy too). Just trying to avoid something like that, especially as we're talking much bigger sums of money.
The specs in the example seem decent enough too, even heated seats (which she likes) and proper climate. I don't know how realistic 39mpg urban is (I usually get midway between urban and combined figures on most cars I've used/owned). Even so, given the low mileage it's not the end of the world if it's lower round town/shorter trips and it will get used to go to our eldest's house fairly regularly which is about 10 miles down a dual carriageway so at least a little bit of a run there and back.
rosejem said:
That one is 1.6 , you need to be looking at a 118i to get the B38 1.5 65 plate & newer.
Ah OK then. Cross that one off the list then as a 65 plate will be too much money. Pointless getting rid of the C200 and then spending nearly all the money on a replacement as I'd hoped to syphon off some of the excess to upgrade my shed.I guess that's the same engine as the 1.5 Mini Cooper? They are in budget, but are only a 4 seater which might be a problem on certain occasions, hence looking at the 1 series. Diesel not worth looking at either, though probably a similar issue anyway, since my wife has a strong aversion to diesels for some reason. Odd because all my company cars since about 2005 were diesel and she never complained about driving them...
Court_S said:
TwoStrokeNut said:
Make sure you get a later one with the B38 engine.
The earlier N13 engine has plenty of well known issues.
The earlier N13 engine has plenty of well known issues.
The age mentioned by the OP will be a four pot. The B series engines came in just after the facelift.
TwoStrokeNut said:
MY15, so available in the Autumn of 2014. Worth stretching to, if possible.
Not sure what 'MY15' means? Basically I need to look for one with a 3 cylinder/1.5 engine? Easy enough to check on AT in the specifications, though I know they are sometimes wrong.
Likely to be over budget though as I don't want one with stellar mileage: Our reference is my wife's SLK that had 42k on it when we PX'd it for the C200, so it's a hard sell much more than mid 50k. Probably keep it 5 years at about 5k a year, so under 80k by the time we get rid.
OldSkoolRS said:
Ah OK then. Cross that one off the list then as a 65 plate will be too much money. Pointless getting rid of the C200 and then spending nearly all the money on a replacement as I'd hoped to syphon off some of the excess to upgrade my shed.
I guess that's the same engine as the 1.5 Mini Cooper? They are in budget, but are only a 4 seater which might be a problem on certain occasions, hence looking at the 1 series. Diesel not worth looking at either, though probably a similar issue anyway, since my wife has a strong aversion to diesels for some reason. Odd because all my company cars since about 2005 were diesel and she never complained about driving them...
The 5 door Mini Hatches are 5 seaters. Won’t be a comfortable experience for 3 adults in the back of course, depends on how far you’d be going and how often I suppose. I guess that's the same engine as the 1.5 Mini Cooper? They are in budget, but are only a 4 seater which might be a problem on certain occasions, hence looking at the 1 series. Diesel not worth looking at either, though probably a similar issue anyway, since my wife has a strong aversion to diesels for some reason. Odd because all my company cars since about 2005 were diesel and she never complained about driving them...
M47 said:
The 5 door Mini Hatches are 5 seaters. Won’t be a comfortable experience for 3 adults in the back of course, depends on how far you’d be going and how often I suppose.
It's more an outside possibility; in the unlikely case that we'd need to pick up the two grandkids (car seats) and their Mum. As my wife says though that's a fairly unlikely scenario, so probably a red herring. Therefore 4 seats would be fine. Also my wife is on the insurance for their 'tank' if need be.Not keen on the 5 door looks to be honest, though neither version is an oil painting.
It's the auto requirement that makes it harder, but I think for my sanity and not sitting in the passenger seat listening to a car still in 3rd gear when I'd be in 5th it's a requirement.
OldSkoolRS said:
Not sure what 'MY15' means?
Basically I need to look for one with a 3 cylinder/1.5 engine? Easy enough to check on AT in the specifications, though I know they are sometimes wrong.
Likely to be over budget though as I don't want one with stellar mileage: Our reference is my wife's SLK that had 42k on it when we PX'd it for the C200, so it's a hard sell much more than mid 50k. Probably keep it 5 years at about 5k a year, so under 80k by the time we get rid.
It just means model year. Have fun looking. Yep go for the 1.5 if you can.Basically I need to look for one with a 3 cylinder/1.5 engine? Easy enough to check on AT in the specifications, though I know they are sometimes wrong.
Likely to be over budget though as I don't want one with stellar mileage: Our reference is my wife's SLK that had 42k on it when we PX'd it for the C200, so it's a hard sell much more than mid 50k. Probably keep it 5 years at about 5k a year, so under 80k by the time we get rid.
TwoStrokeNut said:
It just means model year. Have fun looking. Yep go for the 1.5 if you can.
Oh of course, sorry I was being a bit thick there. 
Had a drive out in my wife's car today and was reminded how nice it is to drive/be in, which has kind of thrown a spanner in the works a bit. Coming to the conclusion that we maybe just need to make a point of using it more rather than going everywhere in the shed. Still avoid parking at supermarkets and the like, plus use the shed for the very short local trips and maybe get some value out of her car. Maybe by the time we're ready to change it we could downsize a bit then.
Sorry everyone...as you were.
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff