2008 BMW 1-Series
You know when a new movie comes out and all the critics and your friends loved it? They rave about it, saying that you have to see it and that it’s the best movie they’ve ever seen. So, of course, you go see it. And the movie wasn’t bad; it just didn’t live up to your over-hyped expectations.
Well, the new BMW 1-Series is kind of like that.
2008 BMW 1-Series
Transmission: 6-speed manual transmission
Horsepower: 230 (128i); 300 (135i)
Torque: 200 pound-feet @ 2,750 rpm (128i); 300 @ 1,400 to 5,000 (135i)
Drivetrain: RWD
Wheelbase: 104.7 inches
Height: 56 inches
Length: 171.7 inches
Width: 76.1 inches
MPG (city/hwy): 19/28 (128i); 18/26 (135i)
Pricing: $29,425 (128i); $35,725 (135i)
It’s not a bad vehicle. Not at all actually. It’s small, peppy and fun. It has the driving dynamics you’d expect from BMW, and it has nice standard luxury touches. But after hearing things along the lines of “Once you drive the 1-Series, you won’t need the 3-Series,” you kind of get an inflated sense of what the car will be like.
So, I’ll state this up front: It’s no 3-Series.
But it’s not supposed to be either.
The 1-Series is the new entry point for the BMW brand in the United States with a two-model lineup: the 128i and the 135i. The base price for the 128i coupe starts at $29,425, and you can build a fully loaded 135i convertible for $53,570.
The 128i comes with a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine that delivers 230-horsepower. While I thought the 128i was very well-powered, it didn’t have the extra zing that comes with the 135i’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six. The 128i was fine, the 135i was downright fun. The 135i has a 0-to-60-mph time of 5.2 seconds (with the automatic transmission), and though I’m sure it could go faster, the speed is electronically limited to 155 mph. Not that we law-abiding citizens will ever make it up that high anyway.
I had two 1-Series test vehicles for a shortened test period: the 128i convertible and the 135i coupe. Both came with the optional Steptronic six-speed automatic transmission ($1,275) and the Sport Package ($1,000) that included sport seats and steering wheel paddle shifters. Standard transmission on the 1-Series is a six-speed manual transmission.
I liked the Steptronic transmission, and had fun playing with the paddle shifters from the Sport Package … especially when I needed to gear down quickly in order to pass. It took me a while to get used to the paddle shifters, however, because BMW’s shifters are different from pretty much every other manufacturer. Instead of having one plus paddle (shift up) and one minus paddle (shift down), both paddles shift up and down. The downside: I was habitually shifting down when I meant to shift up. The upside: You can do all your paddle shifting with one hand.
The new 1-Series is a rear-wheel drive vehicle with a sporty, spirited ride. Whether I was driving the 128i or the 135i, I had fun maneuvering around traffic, making quick off-the-line acceleration or powering through the wide round curves of on- and off-ramps.
The small size of the new 1-Series is perfectly suited to city driving with tight parking garages and the need to zip around slow moving traffic. But in terms of passenger and cargo space, well, small isn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s fine for someone like me who doesn’t have a lot of stuff or people to cart about. But someone who is taller or someone who actually needs to fit passengers in the back seat really is gong to have to bump up to the 3-Series.
Unlike the new 3-Series convertible, the 1-Series convertible is a soft top. It operates easily with a button in front of the armrest, but unlike the 3-Series, the windows on the 1 don’t go all the way up when the top is finished going up. There’s an all-window button on the door to take care of that. While I thought the top operation was easy, the one thing that was missing was some kind of a bling or ding to indicate that top operation was complete. I often sat there about 10 extra seconds after dealing with the top to ensure that it was fully up or down.
Driving the 128i convertible, I realized how quickly we can get spoiled. The convertibles I’ve driven recently from the 3-Series to the VW Eos to the Chrysler Sebring have all been hardtops. So, taking a turn on the Kennedy at speed, I was almost surprised by the noticeable wind noise coming in through top.
The interior of the new 1-Series is typical BMW and I liked the look and feel of the controls and gauges – both with and without the optional iDrive. On the 135i test vehicle with the iDrive, I liked that that the nav screen popped out of the dash and left the HVAC controls simple and on the center stack. The heavily bolstered optional front sport seats were comfortable, but I was surprised by the size of the seat bottoms. They had seat extenders, which are great for taller drivers and passengers, but with the extension fully retracted, the seats were still kind of big.
My favorite interior feature was the chrome ring around the push-button start. If you actually pay attention to that stuff, it says: “Year One of the One.” Which I thought was clever and special.
The optional (yes, optional) iPod input jack is located under the small armrest. Ingeniously, BMW placed a small Velcro-shut pouch underneath the armrest that will hold your iPod. So, when you hook in your iPod and stow it, you don’t have to deal with messy cords cutting across the gearshift or mucking up the dash. It’s all hidden under the armrest.
Speaking of the armrest … I feel like I’m on a cup holder rant lately, but since marathon training has officially begun, I keep one if not two bottles of water in the car at all times. In the 1-Series test vehicles it was hard to find a place for them because the cup holders were located under the flip-up armrest. So, I kept my water bottles in the back seat cup holders, which was quite a stretch to reach from my far-forward driving position.
Plus, while I think it’s great that there are standard features like dynamic stability control, Xenon adaptive headlights, retractable headlight washers and BMW’s front and rear head protection system, I’d still like to see the iPod/USB adapter ($400) and heated front seats ($600) as standard fare.
I hate to admit this, but (wait for it) I’ve finally started to get used to the optional BMW iDrive system. Don’t get the wrong idea, I still don’t like it, but it is getting easier to use. The 135i test vehicle came equipped with the $2,100 option, and I didn’t hit the wrong buttons like I have previously. I played with the voice-activated navigation, which actually worked pretty well. And I actually liked the split screen that would keep the nav map visible while dealing with your radio stations. I didn’t like how many screens you have to flip through to get to the map screen. And finding out how to stop guidance once you’ve set it is a maze of info screens.
I’ve driven a slew of eye-catching vehicles recently, and this was definitely one my neighbors were checking out. I was doing laundry one day and looked out my window only to see one of my neighbors standing by the car taking a shot with his cell phone.
The all-new 1-Series is novel, fun and attractive, creating another great option in the sport luxury segment. I certainly enjoyed my brief encounter with both the coupe and convertible, and I really wish I hadn’t heard a lick about it before I drove it.
The 1-Series is a great $30K entry into BMW, but I think it’s safe to say the 3-Series isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
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