18i - #36

RickyBobby · Tuesday at 3:53 PM

Sold the 35is at the beginning of the month and bought this 2015 18i MSport in Mineral White over black leather.

I'd convinced myself the 35is was to much car for my needs and was looking at a couple of Z3's and another E86 before this 18i came up on the radar.

I do like a white E89 and this one was well specced for a 18i and had done less than 50,000. The only issue was that it had virtually been stood since the previous owner acquired it back in 2021 covering less than 3,000 miles ahead of me collecting it and it was overdue a service.

So not the ideal situation but it's not like I've not been here before and I do like a challenging purchase scenario.

On the plus side it was only a 90 minute drive away which must be one of the closest collection journeys I've ever had for a Zed.

So off we went with the dogs and combined the pick-up with a walk on the beach.

Not far in to the journey home and just after I'd stopped to fill up with petrol the engine warning light came on so I pulled over to plug the code reader in.

Nothing overly concerning and I assumed a function of the lack of use so we continued on our journey and the car performed fine.

So let's see how long this one lasts.

RickyBobby · Tuesday at 3:54 PM

Service & Maintenance record:

RickyBobby · Tuesday at 4:11 PM

So my first job, after calling my mechanic to get it booked in for a service, was to wash the car and give it a good once over. The car had cobwebs all over it and clearly hadn't been washed for a while but it came up really well and being a 2015 car all the rubber seals and plastics were in very good order.

I've gotten in to the routine of stripping out all the boot trim when I get a new E89 to check for water ingress and ensure the rear brake light grommets are fitted correctly.

On this occasion everything was in order so I cleaned under the boot seals and replace all the trim.

This must be the first E89 I've owned where that rubber seal hasn't started to split on both sides of the boot so I treated both with some SwissVax Seal Feed to hopefully prolong their life.

RickyBobby · Tuesday at 4:24 PM

The other job I like to do becuase it's quick and easy is to remove the kick plates, give them a good clean underneath and replace any broken clips before refitting them.

On this occasion I only needed to replace one of the clips and forgot to take an after shot of the passenger side.

RickyBobby · Tuesday at 4:31 PM

The passenger wing mirror has the auto dipping function when reversing which I find very useful when pulling on to the drive.

However I'd noticed that the lens had discoloured compared to the drivers side mirror.

I'd never seen this before but after a bit of searching it turns out the car has auto-dimmng mirrors and the monochromatic glass had failed requiring replacement. I asummed this was related to the mirror heating error code that had previously shown up on the code reader.

Not a problem I thought so I fired up eBay to sort out a replacement. Much to my dismay a suitable replacement was coming back at over £350.

Suffice to say I sourced a non-dimming replacement for £15 - if nothing else it will give me an ability to compare the auto-dimming functionality of the drivers side mirror with the non-dimming capabilities of the passenger side.

But let's be honest it would have to be seriously impressive for me to pull out over £300 to retain it.

RickyBobby · Tuesday at 4:53 PM

Having retained the 3D printed cupholder my next job was to get that fitted.

This car does have the storage compartment option which provides cup holders under the armrest but I find it really annoying to drive with the armrest in the up position.

However, if anyone does fancy these OEM cup holders I'd be happy to remove the tray and swap it over for their standard oddments tray that comes on cars without the storage compartment option.

Fitting the 3D printed cupholder would appear to disable use of the storage compartment between the seats but I've found you can access it from the boot. Which is ideal for storing the air freshener and any other items you don't need direct access to.