RE: Driven: BMW 1 Series M Coupé

[amare32]

I was expecting BMW with their over inflated marketing heads that this was going to cost at least £70k. If they've doubled the base M3 price with the GTS then why not the 1M?

Pretty heavy at 1,500kg.

Edited by amare32 on Tuesday 12th October 12:28

[Matt_]

If this is filling a gap in the market due to the current M3 now being a V8 what happens when the next M3 goes back to using a 6 cylinder as that will inevitably end up happening?

[Mermaid]

Matt_ said:

If this is filling a gap in the market due to the current M3 now being a V8 what happens when the next M3 goes back to using a 6 cylinder as that will inevitably end up happening?

Maybe the M3 will carry on with the V8?

[GTEYE]

This will probably have a fairly short life anyway. The next 1 series range arrives in a couple of years, as does the next 3 series, so it may well be an exercise in boosting sales of the cooking models much like Audi used to do with the late arriving (in the model cycle) RS models.

Matt_ said:

If this is filling a gap in the market due to the current M3 now being a V8 what happens when the next M3 goes back to using a 6 cylinder as that will inevitably end up happening?

[havoc]

Hmmm:-

- Overweight? Tick
- Turbocharged, uninspiring engine? Tick
- Oversized alloys? Tick

Yep, the 1-M has been brought to you by the Marketing Department not the M-Sport department!

[Fittster]

inkiboo said:

Oh god I am so massively bored with everyone on PH going on about weight. If you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

No room for improved engineering or light weight materials?

[aeropilot]

Mermaid said:

Matt_ said:

If this is filling a gap in the market due to the current M3 now being a V8 what happens when the next M3 goes back to using a 6 cylinder as that will inevitably end up happening?

Maybe the M3 will carry on with the V8?

No, next M3 will have a twin-turbo ///M version of the N55 that the current 135i has.
This was what ///M were developing for first use in this 1M, but they ran out of time to meet the production schedule.... apprentley.... so the 1M now gets a further tweeked version of the 'older' N54. This was why it's also manual only, as the M-DCT and new ///M-N55 had issues as well that meant they ran out of time.....apprentley.

As the next M3 will go down to a TT 6 cyl, so the next gen 1M will get a TT 4 cyl..... apprentley.

[otolith]

inkiboo said:

f you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

I was reading something recently which claimed that the easy big wins in powertrain efficiency had already been made, and weight reduction was going to have to be the next battleground. So hopefully this trend is not going to continue indefinitely.

inkiboo said:

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

For now.

[aeropilot]

Fittster said:

inkiboo said:

Oh god I am so massively bored with everyone on PH going on about weight. If you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

No room for improved engineering or light weight materials?

Not without the price going through the roof. This is what the BMW boss has said in respect of questions about weight and the old E30 M3 and the CSL.... he said it would be impossible to do today.....at the projected market price set.

[8400rpm]

So, it's a parts bin special of a 135i and an M3...

[TheRoadWarrior]

inkiboo said:

Oh god I am so massively bored with everyone on PH going on about weight. If you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

Better get your skates on if you want a lightweight Elise... the way lotus are going, looks like the next one will be heavier than the BMW.

Edited by TheRoadWarrior on Tuesday 12th October 13:02

[mat205125]

Article said:

Only when you've gone up and down the gearbox a few times do you realise that there was never any danger of running into the rev limiter. The grunt tails off, making it more natural to change up and use the torque than eke out every last horsepower.

[Great Pretender]

Mermaid said:

DMC2 said:

...

Did they not learn anything from the CSL.

That the market for a hardcore car is small & therefore not profitable

Precisely

Which is why there won't be another CSL for a very long time.

I'm liking the sound of this 'baby M'. If they can keep the price sensible, I may be tempted to order one in a few months time.

[havoc]

inkiboo said:

Oh god I am so massively bored with everyone on PH going on about weight. If you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

I'd happily take a car with say 2000-spec levels of crash protection, NVH and interior trim quality (and kit - WGAF about all the latest gubbins?!?), if it meant saving 100+kg of weight.

But that will never happen, as manufacturers know they're judged by the press and by their NCAP score, and the press (in the main) seem absurdly bothered by interior trim quality and NVH, rather than important things like reliability and ergonomics*.



* inc. good visibility (A-pillars, anyone?) and ease of placing the car on the road - how many modern cars can you actually SEE all 4 corners from the driver's seat??!

[Speed_Demon]

Looks great to me.

If you don't like how much it weighs, strip some weight off it yourself.

If you don't like the wheel size. Buy some aftermarket ones.

If you don't like the power curve, get it remapped.

Maybe it should have all those things from new, but then other people would moan and it would cost more. I do believe the lightweight age is coming, not quite here yet (though suopercars are starting to go that way and it WILL trickle down).

Now excuse me, I am off to the bank to discuss loans.

[chippy17]

inkiboo said:

Oh god I am so massively bored with everyone on PH going on about weight. If you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

Porsche seem to manage it...why can't BMW

this car should weigh 1350-1400 not 1500

[Speed_Demon]

FesterNath said:

It'll have a delayed DBW throttle. OTherwise I'd have bought 2.

Hahahaha.

[Speed_Demon]

chippy17 said:

inkiboo said:

Oh god I am so massively bored with everyone on PH going on about weight. If you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

Porsche seem to manage it...why can't BMW

this car should weigh 1350-1400 not 1500

... Not notices that Porsches cost more?

[Toby C]

Dagnut said:

Am I the only one who thinks the wheels are too big? I think they look ridiculous. Why not just fit 18's they are plenty big enough for a car that size

Agreed, my first thought was that it is definitely over-wheeled.

[nickpan]

inkiboo said:

Fittster said:

inkiboo said:

Oh god I am so massively bored with everyone on PH going on about weight. If you want a car with a decent interior, good sound isolation and enhanced safety equipment then it is going to weigh more than the previous generation car.

If you don't want all that, buy a Lotus Elise.

No room for improved engineering or light weight materials?

Which would no doubt cost more and then we'd get posts along the lines of "OH MY GOD IT IS SO EXPENSIVE I AM NOT GOING TO BUY ONE INSTEAD I WILL GET A THREE YEAR OLD M3 BECAUSE I WOULD NEVER BUY NEW ANYWAY"

+1.

Also - sure this has been discussed to death but their unwillingness to adopt the M1 name suggest there's a BMW supercar in the pipeline?