BMW M135i xDrive - Hottest 1 Series Lacks The Drive To Excel

Hottest 1 Series lacks the drive to excel

- Tim Robson

AHHHH, Marketing types. Swan in, create an entire language/direction/ concept, collect cheque and disappear, not worrying for a second about what kind of life your campaign/missive/ communique will have.

BMW has long used the ‘sheer driving pleasure’ tagline, along with the tacit claim that if it isn’t rear-wheel drive, then get off our lawn. Well, um… that’s awkward.

The third-generation BMW 1 Series, shown here in its hottest M135i xDrive guise, isn’t rear-wheel drive. In fact, it’s barely all-wheel drive. Yes, BMW has bowed to the gods of manufacturing economy and plonked the 1 Series atop the same UKL2 platform that underpins cars like the Mini Countryman and the fraternal X1/X2 twins.

Pricing has not been released yet, but figure it coming close to the $60,000 mark of its predecessor. For that kind of money, it’ll likely undercut the similarly powered but potentially better-equipped Mercedes-AMG A35 that’s due around the same time and shares exactly the same 225kW and 450Nm headline numbers.

The new 1 Series body is five-door only and has, unfortunately, morphed from distinctive to derivative in a single stroke. Up close, it’s possible to see finer body details that give those slab sides some depth and contrast, but really, this is a BMW that will fade into the background rather than step forward, whistling tunelessly.