BMW 128ti
BMW’S first real mainstream-style hot hatch shows its hand in pre-production guise
BMW has gone for Michelin’s Pilot Sport 4 tyres, which are less aggressive than most in this class and offer more evidence that raw pace isn’t the aim here. However, the limited-slip diff is still very effective and BMW’S electric powerassisted steering rack predicts torque steer and applies countertorque. It seems to work well.
We can bemoan that the BMW 1 Series has swapped six cylinders for four and rearwheel drive for (mostly) front, but it’s not all bad. Eighteen months ago, work started on the 128ti.
In effect, this is BMW’S first proper hot hatch in the traditional mould and is simultaneously an odd and exciting prospect. It feels much like Porsche building an M3 rival, or Alpine trying its hand at an Up GTI: new ground is most definitely being trodden. The 128ti is also a reminder that things move quickly in this industry. Even five years ago, it’s unlikely the hot hatch front runners – currently Volkswagen, Ford and Honda – thought they might potentially have a Munich-flavoured problem on their hands so soon.
Of course, in the case of the 128ti, this is not entirely new ground for BMW. Plenty of the engineers who have worked on hot Minis over the years have been involved. And many of those cars have been very good indeed. Meanwhile, the name revives for only the third time the ‘Turismo Internazionale’ moniker first seen on the 1968 2002. It underlines the one fact that BMW is most keen to put across: this new 261bhp hot hatch is less about point-to-point pace and much more about the driving experience – or ‘easy manipulation of the physics’, in the poetry of German engineers. As such, there are plenty of detail changes on the 128ti, even if hardware is mostly recognisable from the range-topping M135i.
The 1998cc turbocharged petrol engine is shared, but with the wick turned down from 306bhp. As with that car, the only available gearbox is an eight-speed automatic. BMW’S defence for not offering a manual on this self-proclaimed driver-focused model is twofold. First, it claims uptake would be low, perhaps even less than one-third of sales. Second, emissions targets would necessitate long gearing for a six-speed manual, whereas the extra two cogs on the automatic mean the lower ratios can be usefully closed up for punchier acceleration. So as it stands, the 128ti comes with one engine tune, one gearbox and passive suspension only.
And it’s the chassis of which that suspension forms an integral part that is by far the most interesting piece of the puzzle. Our short drive on the roads around the Nürburgring made one thing clear, which is that the 128ti is comfortably more engaging and keen than its fourwheel-drive M135i range-mate. I can’t speak about its most obvious rival because I haven’t yet driven the Mk8 Volkswagen Golf GTI, but in broad handling terms, the BMW feels more mobile (if less feelsome) than the Honda Civic Type R, but not as outright playful as the Ford Focus ST, which the development team enjoyed driving during benchmarking.
As for how it all happens, there’s a combination of factors. In an effort to reduce understeer and improve turn-in, the underbody bracing at the front of the M135i has been chucked and the degree of toe-in reduced at all four corners. The springs are also considerably stiffer and compressiondamping rates higher, and crucially the distribution of stiffness has changed, migrating rearwards. Some of the personnel involved explained that these measures at first resulted in a car too alert and responsive – too ‘pointy’ – so the speed of the steering has dropped off marginally compared with the M135i’s. Without the stability of a driven rear axle, the locking ratio for the Torsen differential has also reduced from 38% to 31% for the 128ti.
Do you hold off from buying anything until you’ve test driven the 128ti in November? You’d be foolish not to. The main concern is that even on the nicely modest 18in wheels, ride quality on UK roads might be too lively for most. We’ll have to wait and see. The BMW is otherwise an impressive effort – seriously quick but neat and natural to guide along the road in a way even the old sixcylinder car wasn’t. It’s also balanced and the roll rates and steering response are conspicuously well matched, which helps disguise that the 128ti is tubbier than its rivals.
If BMW’S first proper hot hatch lacks anything, it’s that little bit of fizz – a defining attribute. The superb driving position of the Civic Type R, the rabid agility of the RS Mégane, the 2.3-litre engine in the Focus ST. Equally, it might just be the least flawed of any of them, which counts for so much in the hot hatch dogfight.