Testimonial - F20 M140i - Suspension - Mr Morgan

Date 01/07/2021

 

Light-bulb Moment

 

Bit of a story this one but bear with me: Last year I was thinking of changing the car, looked at Golf R, Audi S3 and BMW m140i; did a lot of reading on all and decided to go for the M140i. The value item for me was the gem of an engine, I had read the reports about the handling not being the best but thought the other positives outweighed this for my purchase. I managed to find one locally, strangely in a VW franchise, just over a year old 7300 miles in 3dr being one owner. My first spirited drive in the car was an interesting one as I jumped out of the car and parked up and I can remember thinking, what was all the fuss about with the handling issues, I couldn't fault the car it felt completely planted with lots of great feedback. Then months on it came to its first service with BMW, on the assessment video the tech recommended I change back to the original BMW shocks, as it had Bilstein ones fitted. I immediately got under the car and managed to find the shock part numbers. I then jumped on the Bilstein site but couldn't find the shocks in their catalogue. Further googling pointed me to a picture on the BIRDS site, it was their B Series Sports Suspension Package. The following day phoned the really helpful guys at BIRDS. They confirmed that the previous owner had had the package installed by them a month after buying the car new.  Things really fell into place for me, the reason it was so good and felt so planted was the package, must admit it's the best handing car I've owned. If you have a stock m140i you really need to get this suspension fitted to turn an already excellent car into a very special one; every time I drive the car it puts a big smile on my face!

Neil