23 May 2025

The Baby Beamer has big shoes to fill

25 May 2025 | James Coleman

The leaves almost match the ‘Coral Red’ interior. Photo: James Coleman.

The letter ‘1’ is hallowed to BMW enthusiasts, and not because of the car it’s attached to now.

Lamborghini might be an offshoot of the Volkswagen empire today, but in the late 1970s, it was working with the other Germans over at BMW to help them build a racecar to tackle Porsche’s finest.

The result was the brand’s first – and only – mid-engined supercar.

Even if Lamborghini eventually backed out of the project after hitting a spot of financial bother, and it ended up being finished by a group of former Lamborghini engineers who had set up their own shop down the road from the Lamborghini factory, the BMW M1 came from the best stock.

It shared its chassis designer with the Lamborghini Miura, while the fibreglass body was the work of Giorgetto Giugiaro, the artist behind the DMC DeLorean, original Volkswagen Golf and more recently, the Alfa Romeo 159 and Brera.

Powering it to victory over Porsche, at least a couple of times, was a 3.5-litre inline-six engine, mounted right behind the driver’s head.

The BMW M1. (You’re welcome.) Photo: Mr Choppers, Wikimedia Commons.

Only 399 M1s were ever built for the road, making it one of the rarest BMWs ever made, too. You’ll have to find $1 million under the couch cushions to get one nowadays.

Standing in front of today’s 1-Series, you could say the number has fallen slightly from those heady heights. It’s a hatchback. With a three-cylinder engine (okay, and a turbocharger).

Don’t get me wrong, though. The new 118 is a very good hatchback.

Despite the M badges everywhere, it’s not technically an M. You have to pay $82,500 to get that one, called the M135, equipped with a bigger 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine and faster 0-100 km/h time of 4.9 seconds.

This one is classed as an ‘M Sport’. M-lite, if you like. Prices start at $56,500, and those three cylinders are enough to get it from rest to 100 km/h in 8.5 seconds.

BMWs have drawn some ire in recent times for their messy styling, but – dirty secret – I’ve never really liked the look of the 1-Series, even if the 2006 original was at least “characterful”. I do like this one. The proportions are perfect.

The interior is even better, especially with added swathes of ‘Coral Red’. For someone who’s still meant to be 26, I did find it quite awkward to get into, but once you have folded yourself in under the wheel, it’s a racy driving position – low, with firm but supportive seats, and both screens pivoted towards you.

Photo: James Coleman.

The only issue was at night when the patterned lights on either side of the dash reflected straight into the side mirrors. But in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, “looking good is more important than looking where you’re going”.

The designer might have been let a little too loose for other reasons, because when you select Sport mode, the whole centre screen is taken over by a photo of what appears to be the surface of Mars. Apart from looking red and angry, I’m not sure what point this serves.

Others, maybe with larger, manlier hands, have also praised the perfect … um, girth of BMW’s steering wheels, but I still find them a bit too thick.

Thoughts? Photo: James Coleman.

Moving on quickly, BMW makes a point of how they’ve “optimised” the “kinematics”, and “highly preloaded” the “anti-roll mounts”, and increased the “caster” of the front wheels by 20 per cent – things an Italian probably wouldn’t care to talk about, but all German speak for improvements to handling.

Apart from a slightly clattery noise from the engine when you start it, a grumble from within the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox when you set off, and a bit of road noise at highway speeds, it’s a joy to drive and very nimble.

It has oomph, too. Put your foot down, and the sudden dump of power is enough to make the front wheels squirm.

But this got me thinking. A few years ago, I drove a friend’s older 1-Series – back when they were rear-wheel drive and manual – and I feel like this new one has lost its unique selling point.

For years, BMW would bang on about how all was right and balanced in the world when the back wheels did the driving while the fronts were left to concentrate on steering. One famous ad showed a photo of a horse with its muscular rear haunches swapped for its piddly front legs and the words, “that’s why we don’t have front wheel drives”.

Photos: James Coleman.

Chances are, technology has marched forward to the point you simply won’t feel the difference most of the time. And being front-wheel drive is probably why the 118 starts from $57K and not $67K. But it makes me wonder why you wouldn’t just get a Golf GTI.

After all, they’re now both front-wheel drive, and one’s hotter.