Road Test
BMW 123d M-Sport
Test date 14 November 2007
Price as tested £25,915
For Superb diesel engine, improved ride quality, economy
Against Detached feel to steering, expensive, so-so styling
Diminutive sports coupés infused with quality engineering: vehicles like these form the bedrock of BMW’s revered tradition, and with the new 1-series coupé, the firm seeks a return to a sporting ethos it believes will produce the lowest average owner age profile of any car it currently makes.
Which explains why BMW is so eager to associate the 1-series coupé with the sports saloon/coupé models of the late ’60s and early ’70s, particularly the much-loved 2002 tii and 2002 turbo models.
So far the 1-series hatchback hasn’t quite managed to recapture their spirit, but with the 3-series growing in size with every evolution, there’s now room for the coupé to pick up the torch.
The new car is part of a comprehensive broadening of the 1-series range that began with the introduction of the three-door hatch and continues with the 1-series cabriolet due in the spring of 2008.
For the enthusiast driver, the signs are good. The 1-series is an inherently sporting drive; losing the hatchback body brings increased chassis rigidity and, of course, there’s the purist’s layout of choice with rear-wheel drive.
Under the bonnet, it’s the fitment of the superb twin-turbo straight-six in the 135i that has garnered much of the press coverage. But it’s the new diesel (the most powerful four-cylinder turbodiesel in the world) that we test here. This promises as much in the way of on-road fireworks as it does a reluctance to visit the black pump.
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