New BMW leads from the front

1 SERIES: OFFERS BENCHMARK DRIVING DYNAMICS

Gateway to the premium brand gets a makeover.

Much has been said about the new 1 Series being frontwheel drive – mostly by people “turning in their grave” because BMW is normally rear-wheel drive – but the manufacturer maintains costumers will benefit greatly from the new design.

After a five-year development process which saw a transfer of technology from BMW i to the core brand, Munich insists that the new 1 Series not only offers benchmark driving dynamics, but also a more spacious interior than the second generation as a result.

“I encourage anyone who might think a front-wheel drive BMW might live up to his or her expectation to try out the 1 Series. They will we very surprised,” said BMW Group South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa chief executive Tim Abbott.

Of the two models initially on offer in South Africa, only the 118i is front-wheel drive as the M135i xDrive is all-wheel drive.

We only got to drive the 118i briefly during its official launch at the M Festival last week and the gentle drive from Kyalami to the Cradle of Humankind and back wasn’t really sufficient to make a proper comparison in terms of handling to that of the rear-wheel drive.

What we can say is that the ride quality and premium feel really were outstanding in a vehicle which at R480 898 offers the gateway to the BMW brand.

The 118i features a 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine producing 103kW of power and 220Nm, mated to a six-speed manual gearbox in standard guise, or as option, a seven-speed dual-clutch Steptronic transmission, like we had on test, which behaved exactly like you would expect.

At the heart of the M135i is a 2-litre four-cylinder turbo producing 225kW and 450Nm of torque, which is sent to all four wheels via the eight-speed Steptronic Sport transmission.

The benefits of the added interior space are found in the knee room for rear passengers, which has been increased by 33mm and the headroom that has gone up by 19mm.

Rear passengers have 13mm additional elbow room and front occupants 42mm more, while the boot space goes up by 20 litres to 380 litres.

The extra light provided from the panoramic sunroof available in the 1 Series for the first time also adds to the enhanced feeling of spaciousness all around the cabin.

The 1 Series is available with the option of two features that have previously only been seen in BMW models higher up the ladder: the BMW digital key and the BMW intelligent personal assistant