Tuesday 23rd March 2010

1-series Buyers Think Their Car Is A Front-Driver

BMW boss reveals disturbing factoid during conference call

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Where are those driven wheels again?

It seems that BMW need not worry about polluting its 'ultimate driving machine' identity with the planned introduction of a front-wheel drive hatch - 80 per cent of BMW 1-series drivers already reckon their car is front-wheel drive.

For a company that has for so long been obsessed by the 50:50 weight distribution and uncorrupted dynamics that rear-wheel drive can provide, this little stat must have initially come as quite a blow.

Still, if you can't beat 'em, you may as well join 'em. According to US website Automotive News, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer revealed this shocking nugget last week, after an analyst suggested that a front-wheel drive BMW might confuse customers.

Reithofer admitted that BMW bosses were surprised by the findings of their 1-series survey, but at least it proves that there is some sense in BMW's ambition to get a million front-wheel drive new BMW and Mini models on the road by 2015.

[RacingTeatray]

Frankly speaking, 80% of drivers, whether or BMWs or otherwise, probably have no clue which end of their car is the driven end.

[Luca Brasi]

Lots of people with nice cars don't know how good their car really is, shame actually.
And since BMW isn't the company it once was, I wouldn't be surprised if they did a FWD, I'll stick to their old models.

[Graham E]

[awaits link of the guy with a mondeo putting towels under the rear wheels in he snow]

[Rawwr]

Yeah, I'm fairly sure this isn't limited to the 1-Series and not even limited to BMW. I bet if you asked most people which wheels of the car provided the power, a lot of people wouldn't know for sure.

[Trusty Steed]

What can you say to that! The ultimate driving machine being driven by the ultimate ------!!!

Do you get indicators as standard on BMW's yet?

[PascalBuyens]

Shame they give in to the FWD malarchy though.

It's one of the "features" that I always liked on BMWs, the RWD setup...

[Scott330ci]

Luca Brasi said:

Lots of people with nice cars don't know how good their car really is, shame actually.
And since BMW isn't the company it once was, I wouldn't be surprised if they did a FWD, I'll stick to their old models.

They will be - 0 Series based on a mini platform - have a google!

[RacingTeatray]

You mean the little orange flashy things? Never worked out what they were for.....although obviously I must have known back when I had an Alfa...

[Twilight1]

Graham E][awaits link of the guy with a mondeo putting towels under the rear wheels in he snow said:

Please let me see that.

[The Wookie]

I still stand by the notion that most drivers might not know the ins and outs of how their car works, but can still tell the difference without knowing why it's there.

I'm normally one to stand up for front wheel drive, but if BMW are switching then diversity is being eroded.

[philmots]

I completley agree, my girlfriend doesn't know which wheels drive her Clio. She had no idea what i was on about and what the difference was when i had m 330i/d's..

...and a mate a fair few years back swear blind that he did a 'wheel spin' in his dad's 51reg Vectra 1.8 and smoke poured out of the rear wheels! he wouldn't have it that it was fwd. lol

[simonrockman]

Most BMW drivers only care about the badge. It doesn't matter how well the car goes or handles.

[glazbagun]

I realise the 3 will probably always be RWD, but if they changed the 1&3 to FWD, wouldnn't they risk a pasting from Ford? Since the Puma/Focus, they've been making pretty well-regarded FWD cars. Surely it would only take a couple of "the new 1 is good, but loses out to the new Focus/Civic R(maybe not in the latters case) for drivability/interior quality/whatever" reviews for BMW's to lose that "premium" aura they have.

[emicen]

RacingTeatray said:

Frankly speaking, 80% of drivers, whether or BMWs or otherwise, probably have no clue which end of their car is the driven end.

I work in a engineering design office with someone who I have heard talking about designing cars, and said person didnt know what wheel drive their Mondeo was.

If ever there was a place you'd expect people to know...

In all fairness though, I'd be bloody impressed if 50% of Porsche buyers these days know that their 911's engine is behind the rear axle whereas the Boxster's is infront of it, not just their 911 has rear seats and the Boxster doesnt.

[Ginger goblin]

Graham E][awaits link of the guy with a mondeo putting towels under the rear wheels in he snow said:

<Pedant mode> on

It was a vectra

<Pedant mode> off

[patmahe]

BMW must feel a bit sick, you go to all that effort to maintain your RWD ethos and only 1 in 5 of your paying customers notices.

Quite scary to think too that in most cases if something goes wrong, most 1 series drivers wouldn't know how to control their car properly.

[Luca Brasi]

simonrockman said:

Most BMW drivers only care about the badge. It doesn't matter how well the car goes or handles.

Amen. I drive a BM because it's puts a smile on my face every time I drive her out of the garage, because of the all the driving pleasure you get for this amount of money. Not because it says BMW on the badge, if KIA would make a car that handled and sounded like my Bimmer, I'd buy that too.

[Escort Si-130]

Why should they be suprised.Most 1 series drivers are cocks that only buy the car for the badge and nothing else. If the same car was made by Kia to the same exact standard, Im sure 95% of them would not buy it. IMO its the worse BMW ever produced.

[Gizmo!]

Weird. I drove a 1-series a little while ago and you could definitely tell...

[RDSTP]