Oh, baby, 1-Series is (sm)all BMW

A baby Bimmer. BMW adds a new 1-Series in 128i or 135i coupe and convertible versions for 2008.

[jim]

Forgot to add the much better looking 3 Series.

[IMHO]

dan neil at the la times had a better write-up on this car.

http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/...

also, the layout of the trib web page is dreadful. i don' need all those tech specs in my face while i'm trying to read the main article.

[Apollo Creed]

To be honest, I think The BMW 1-series, is nice, Clarkson gave it a good review...the coupe anyway, he called it "The best car BMW makes, I have no hesitation giving it 5 stars" and trust me, it's not hard to see that Clarkson usually hates BMWs. Read some of his reviews and you will see. Clarkson has it in for BMW most of the time.

[archie 500]

Apollo Creed wrote:

To be honest, I think The BMW 1-series, is nice, Clarkson gave it a good review...the coupe anyway, he called it "The best car BMW makes, I have no hesitation giving it 5 stars" and trust me, it's not hard to see that Clarkson usually hates BMWs. Read some of his reviews and you will see. Clarkson has it in for BMW most of the time.

Now lemme ask you this...who REALLY cares about what Jeremy Clarkson has to say about BMW?

[Sean]

Until they bring the hatchback version over here, count me out.

[Bob]

IMHO wrote:

dan neil at the la times had a better write-up on this car.
http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/...
also, the layout of the trib web page is dreadful. i don' need all those tech specs in my face while i'm trying to read the main article.

And the tech spec rating its MPG? Not even there!

Oh, wait, I forgot. We are not talking about what our dependence on foreign oil is doing to our economy and country.

"What dependence? We don't got no dependence!"

J Mateja
April, 2008

[Garey Ris]

Sean, you're right about the 1 Series. I wish BMW would bring the hatchback version, too, but I think the company doesn't want another dud on its hands, as it had with the 318 a number of years back.
A 1 series diesel would be great. The 118d gets 51.5 miles per U.S. gallon (61.9 for an imperial gallon).
I read Dan Neil's piece in the L.A. Times a few weeks ago, and he didn't like the new 1. He called it ugly and heavy.
I also can't believe the 135 is $7,000 more expensive in Canada than in the U.S., especially when our dollar is close to par against the U.S. dollar.

[John Chicago]

Who (in their right mind) would pay $40K + for a car the size of a Toyota Corolla? This car makes no sense. And to top it off, only gets 18 MPG in the city! Again, BMW doesn't know what today's consumers want with $4 a gallon gasoline (It probably runs on premium fuel to boot). And finally, it's not an attractive car. Final verdict: A car that is not very functional (except for speed), is terrible on gas, is very small, and costs (with any options)$40K. I left the looks out because that is so subjective.

[Clark W Griswald]

This car sucks & will fail due to the (barely) measurable price gap with the 3-series.

C&D this month actually had one loaded up at $48K!

[Anonymuos]

John Chicago, if you don't get it, BMW doesn't want your business. Stick to your Toyota Corolla and leave the real toys to the real men. Based on your analysis of the situation, I think it's pretty safe to say that you're the one who doesn't know what BMW drivers want. Who gives a flying flip if premium gas is $4 or even $5 a gallon? If you can't afford it, you shouldn't be getting a Bimmer to begin with.

Clark Griswald, you're forgetting 2 things: the 135i is MUCH lighter than the 335i, and the 1-series convertibles are still ragtops whereas the 3-series are all folding hard-tops.

[Mutterer]

I hate it when bloggers bleet that if you can't afford the high costs of gas then you shouldn't be getting a "gas burner" Bimmer in the first place. It is nice that you can afford to pay the higher costs for gas but do you really have the right as a responsible citizen to use up all that extra gas so that you can drive a fancy car like that? I wonder if you were in the sub-prime mortgage lending business preying on poor and ignorant people and then selling all those risky packaged mortgage loan funds to people who thought they had a AAA holding. Oh, yeah, Real Men with tiny genitals, low morals and minuscule respect for their fellow citizens. Greed personified. No wonder you want to be anonymous!

[Sean]

Garey Ris wrote:

Sean, you're right about the 1 Series. I wish BMW would bring the hatchback version, too, but I think the company doesn't want another dud on its hands, as it had with the 318 a number of years back.

The 318 hatch was a dud for 3 reasons: 1) it was a wheezer; 2) it was ugly as hell, and 3) the rear hatch was so steeply raked that it nearly defeated any advantage a hatch provides over a conventional trunk.

The 1-series doesn't suffer any of these maladies: 1) it's a quick car -- or in 135i trim, a blazingly fast car; 2)the hatch is actually better-looking than the coupe, and by a long shot IMO; and 3 it's a proper hatch this time.

Hot hatches are the in thing right now: the Volkswagen Golf R32, the Audi A3/S3, the Mazdaspeed6, the forthcoming Dodge Caliber SRT-4, etc. BMW is missing the bus on this one.

[MR_West]

John Chicago wrote:

Who (in their right mind) would pay $40K + for a car the size of a Toyota Corolla? This car makes no sense. And to top it off, only gets 18 MPG in the city! Again, BMW doesn't know what today's consumers want with $4 a gallon gasoline (It probably runs on premium fuel to boot). And finally, it's not an attractive car. Final verdict: A car that is not very functional (except for speed), is terrible on gas, is very small, and costs (with any options)$40K. I left the looks out because that is so subjective.

Your kidding right? The BMW is fun to drive, the Corolla will wear you out when you drive. You want an ugly car, go ahead and look at the Corolla, it's a fat ugly pile of junk. So stop complaing and leave the BMWs to the people who can actually AFFORD IT unlike you.