BMW Style at a sub $30K Price? BMW 1 Series 2008!

Summary

For the 2008 Model year BMW is bringing the 1 series to the American market. With all the style, performance and features a driver could want at a sub $30K price the 1 series is an attractive proposition. Built around one of the best chassis on the market and the only one with rear wheel drive, the 1 series is certainly worth a look and certainly worth a test drive.

Full Review 2008

BMW already offers more different size and shapes of cars and SUVs than at any time in its history, and the North American debut of the 2008 BMW 1 Series signals another attempt to provide the sporty-minded buyer on a budget a car that he or she will really enjoy driving.

For its U.S. debut, BMW is adding a two-door coupe to the lineup, which will arrive at BMW dealerships in the first quarter of 2008, and a two-door convertible, which is expected to arrive just in time for summer weather. (The BMW 1 Series has been available in Europe and other markets for more than a year in three-door hatchback and five-door hatchback body styles.)

The 1 Series is currently offered with two diesel and three gasoline engines in most markets, but initially the U.S. will get only the full-dress, high-performance coupe, the BMW 135i, which offers more than 300 horsepower. The 1 Series is about seven inches shorter overall than the next car up in the lineup, the popular 3 Series. The 1 Series wheelbase is four inches shorter than that of the 3 Series, and it's slightly narrower in width. The 1 Series is meant to be a serious, sporty competitor to all the front-wheel-drive Japanese, Korean, and domestic cars in the entry luxury coupe class. BMW brings its highly developed rear-wheel-drive platform to the fight.

The 1 Series convertibles will feature soft tops expected to be of the level of quality of the previous-generation 3 Series, which is to say top quality with three-layer sound insulation.

Trims and Styling 2008

Initially, the BMW 1 Series lineup is limited to the 135i coupe, but it will soon be followed by a less-expensive, lower-performing 128i coupe. Both the BMW 128i and BMW 135i will be offered in convertible versions, but these will not be available initially.

The BMW 135i comes with a high-performance 3.0-liter inline-6 with twin turbochargers, with either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission with conventional floor shifter and wheel-mounted paddle shifters.

An AM/FM/CD changer will be standard. Options include bi-xenon headlamps, cornering lamps, premium sound systems, a demountable rear rack, and a choice of three interior and upholstery schemes, cloth, leather and cloth, and leather.

Safety features that come standard on the 135i include six air bags, ABS, electronic stability control, traction control, cornering brake control, and launch control for getting started on slippery surfaces. The 135i comes with run-flat high-performance tires. The brake lights include a panic-braking mode that lights up the entire lens extra bright whenever the brake pedal is stomped hard.

Exterior Styling

The best thing about the exterior appearance of the BMW 135i coupe is that this time around, it looks like a real car, unlike the late 318tii which was a cheapened, cut-off version of the 3 Series that attracted a small cult following but never sold well in the U.S.

Every major part of the car, the nose, the body side, the roof and the rear end, blends beautifully with the rest of the car to make a shorter, narrower version of the 3 Series with a different and special roofline.

We're particularly fond of the M Aerodynamics Package made standard on the 135i, including the huge air intakes in the nose, necessary for cooling the turbocharger intake air, and the very strong, sweeping upper body line than emanates from the front fender and carries all the way to the tail lamps.

The 128i, when it comes, will have a less aggressive front end appearance and will come with the smaller engine, smaller tires and alloy wheels, for a lot less money, if projections are correct.

Styling and Interior Features

Anyone familiar with the interior layout of the current 3 Series would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the BMW 135i and the much larger, more expensive 335i. The front bucket seats are very comfortable and supportive, with big side bolsters. The 135i steering wheel tilts and telescopes, helping drivers of different shapes and sizes to find the ideal driving position.

The iDrive system features a pop-up screen on the dash top for managing the entertainment, optional navigation, vehicle, and telephone systems.

All 135i coupes come with a 60/40 split folding rear seat than can provide almost triple the trunk room of 13 cubic feet. A storage package for the trunk area includes some tie-downs and straps and a 12-volt power point for external accessories.

The soft top takes up less trunk space than a convertible hard top would, which is partly why the design uses a soft top. They are expected to be high-quality, three-layer insulated soft tops.

First Drive 2008

Simple mathematics will tell you that driving a 306-hp, 3400-pound rear-drive coupe built on a short-wheelbase chassis adds up to a great deal of driving enjoyment, especially when the engine's torque curve is absolutely flat from 1300 to 5000 rpm and the engine redlines at 7000 rpm.

This 24-valve inline-6 packs two turbochargers and makes more than 102 hp per liter, which is considered engineering magic. Because the BMW 135i is essentially a scaled-down 335i, its ride, steering, and handling carry the same exemplary qualities as the larger car. Its smaller front steering tires are matched to the job of pointing the car while the fatter rear tires lay the power down in wonderfully linear fashion, and the car's weight is distributed just about 50/50 on the front and rear tires.

Electronic driving aids abound in the 1 Series, including antilock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and cornering brake control, dynamic traction control, dynamic stability control, and a switch that can disable the DSC system for track days or generally more involving driving through the woods. That's ABS with EBD, CBC, DSC and traction control, for those who prefer acronyms.

The brakes use massive six-piston calipers at the front and twin-piston calipers at the rear, with 13.3-inch front discs and 12.75-inch rear discs and a built-in brake drying and anti-fade feature.

We found the steering, cornering, and braking performance of the BMW 135i to be exemplary, perfectly matched to the huge acceleration power of the engine.

Conclusions

If BMW can keep pricing under control with the current negative fluctuations between the dollar and the euro, and bring the 128i version in for about $30,000 and the high-performance 135i in for about $35,000, we see a bright future for the 1 Series in the U.S. market."The 135i has a lot going for it: It's a slightly smaller and slightly faster version of the 3-series coupe, already one of our favorite cars. It looks cool and brings you BMW virtues for a lower price than that of a comparable 3-series sedan. What's not to like about that?" says Car and Driver " BMW's new 1 Series really is just that-the only one in its class" adds Motor Trend. It has all the style, performance and features a driver could want in a compact package built around one of the best chassis in the segment, and the only one with rear-wheel drive.