Topic: BMW 1 Series

[Ex-airbalancer]

pictures and a write up
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1186

[ovr50]

Thanks for that link, airb, truly awesome car, the new 1 Series - too many choices.......

[Ex-airbalancer]

1 to 7 , which series do you get ?
Have to win 6/49

[ovr50]

1 to 7 , which series do you get ?
Have to win 6/49

Everything will depend on the feelings on my 7 Series "donor"/friend. I will likely drive the 7 thru the winter, but come Spring, I'm thinking all Series up to 5 are on the table - a new 135i coupe, or a 335xi sedan, or (starting to really grasp here) a 535xiT or ??. What I get in the end will determine which existing Toyota goes - I want to keep the HL and sell the Solara. However, could have wife keep the Solara and get the 535xiT or even the 328xiT (wish there was a 335xiT but not in the cards yet in NA). Don't have a clue yet - don't get the 7 until sometime in Oct; but I'm sure having a lot of mental fun working on the "Problem". 

[Julie]

pictures and a write up
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1186

Love the compactness of this car - look at the way the driver fits in the cockpit with the shifter to his side....

Still think the 3-series coupe is better looking though... I know this coupe is coming to NA for the first time, but since the hatch has been out in Europe x 2004, think they'll do a facelift or redesign perhaps in a couple of years?

Also wonder how it will feel on the highway (re how vulnerable to cross winds?)

[ovr50]

pictures and a write up
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1186

Love the compactness of this car - look at the way the driver fits in the cockpit with the shifter to his side....

Still think the 3-series coupe is better looking though... I know this coupe is coming to NA for the first time, but since the hatch has been out in Europe x 2004, think they'll do a facelift or redesign perhaps in a couple of years?

Also wonder how it will feel on the highway (re how vulnerable to cross winds?)

Vulnerable to cross winds, Julie? I doubt it very much. Even a 1 Series will weigh more than the traditional smaller cars that winds might affect (Echo, old Pintos, those tiny GM-Korean things, etc). I had 3 2002s and none of them were vulnerable to winds, and they weighed a lot less than the new 1 Series, I'm sure. BMWs, regardless of size, are pretty well planted cars, suspension wise and that is as much a part of not having the "floaty" feeling as weight is. Let me put it this way - I had a 1968 Ford LTD 2dr HT with a 390-4bbl motor just before I got my 1970 BMW 2002. The Ford probably weighed 150% more than the Bimmer, maybe more, and the BMW was more "planted" on the road than the LTD was. Big/heavy American cars tended to be pretty "floaty" feeling at speed at that time. That switch I made in 1971 was part of the reason I went on to have 11 BMWs over time.

And working on #12. 

[Julie]

Thanks Ovr, makes a lot of sense.

EDIT: This extended promotional video makes it appear pretty "hunkered down" with a wide-ish stance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX8JrKfqqk8&mode=related&search=

Now if they could only stop using that same male model for all their driving footage! 

[G0dspd]

Love the compactness of this car - look at the way the driver fits in the cockpit with the shifter to his side....

Compact is good  but I just hope I can fit in the thing.  As long as I don't have to drive "gangsta" style and have enough room in the front (back seats are mostly a storage when you're 6'3), I would be very happy with a base 128i. 

[Mitlov]

From the 1Addicts.com write-up:

In the interior department, it's about on-par with the E46 3-Series. I was able to sit comfortably in the back seat with enough room for another adult to squeeze in the front seat. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I'm 6'4" so those of average height shouldn't find it too difficult to fit four people.

A 6'4" person comfortable in the back seat of this little coupe, with enough room in front for another adult?  That I find really hard to believe.  I wonder if they let their excitement for this car overcome their objectivity.

[G0dspd]

From the 1Addicts.com write-up:

In the interior department, it's about on-par with the E46 3-Series. I was able to sit comfortably in the back seat with enough room for another adult to squeeze in the front seat. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I'm 6'4" so those of average height shouldn't find it too difficult to fit four people.

A 6'4" person comfortable in the back seat of this little coupe, with enough room in front for another adult?  That I find really hard to believe.  I wonder if they let their excitement for this car overcome their objectivity.

  The E46 is ok in the front (could have more front thigh support) but even the back seats of the sedan are not comfortable for passengers over 6 feet.  I can't imagine the 1-series having that much space.

I found the official brochure on 1addicts.com and you can clearly see the rear seats.  In the first picture, the rear seats seem to be spacious enough but notice the seat belt on the B pillar.  In the seconde picture, the front seats are back to their normal position ... parallel with the B-pillar.  Probably the setting for the average driver.

[quadzilla]

From the 1Addicts.com write-up:

In the interior department, it's about on-par with the E46 3-Series. I was able to sit comfortably in the back seat with enough room for another adult to squeeze in the front seat. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I'm 6'4" so those of average height shouldn't find it too difficult to fit four people.

A 6'4" person comfortable in the back seat of this little coupe, with enough room in front for another adult?  That I find really hard to believe.  I wonder if they let their excitement for this car overcome their objectivity.

I even wonder if a 6'4" person could even get in the back of this thing.  I remember getting in the back of a friends 318ti and that was the day I learned my knees can touch my ears and I'm only 6'.

[Ex-airbalancer]

1 to 7 , which series do you get ?
Have to win 6/49

Everything will depend on the feelings on my 7 Series "donor"/friend. I will likely drive the 7 thru the winter, but come Spring, I'm thinking all Series up to 5 are on the table - a new 135i coupe, or a 335xi sedan, or (starting to really grasp here) a 535xiT or ??. What I get in the end will determine which existing Toyota goes - I want to keep the HL and sell the Solara. However, could have wife keep the Solara and get the 535xiT or even the 328xiT (wish there was a 335xiT but not in the cards yet in NA). Don't have a clue yet - don't get the 7 until sometime in Oct; but I'm sure having a lot of mental fun working on the "Problem". 

More choices, have you seen http://www.windingroadonline.com/windingroad/200710/?folio=1&u1=texterity they write about X6 and X4

[Julie]

I'm with with Godspeed and Mitlov. I recently sat in the back of the 3-series coupe. I am 5 foot 3 and a half.

I doubt the 1-series coupe backseats could comfortably transport people who are tall or larger than average.

I also had a hard time trying to get out of the back seat. Really inconvenient IMO, but I guess that's on par with most coupes. A car for really only 2 people. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised with the room and access to the back seat of the sedan. I guess I was expecting those things to be smaller. They felt better than in my TSX. But helas, I don't like the styling of the sedan rear.

[initial_D]

I can fit 3 average built people in the back of the E30s, both 2 & 4 door. None of them is over 6' tho. I don't know of any compact sized cars with a back seat that can fit people over 6' comfortably.

[Wolfe]

I'm with with Godspeed and Mitlov. I recently sat in the back of the 3-series coupe. I am 5 foot 3 and a half.

I doubt the 1-series coupe backseats could comfortably transport people who are tall or larger than average.

I also had a hard time trying to get out of the back seat. Really inconvenient IMO, but I guess that's on par with most coupes. A car for really only 2 people.

  It looks like a typical 2+2 seater, nothing more nothing less. This car isn't intended to be a people hauler so it shouldn't be a big deal. The +2 seats will likely be used as a parcel shelf more often than not.

[ovr50]

I agree with Wolfe, ppl looking to haul 4 adults on a regular basis probably don't look at the 1 Series and maybe not even the 3 Series. Not a big deal, there are lots of ppl who don't need 4 adult seating. Mazda has no trouble selling tons of MX5s, Porsche sells all their 2 seaters they make, etc, etc.

Why does every car have to haul 4 adults? 

[Mitlov]

I don't have any problem with BMW selling a 2+2 coupe.  More power to them.  There's certainly a market for it.  But I DO have problems with 1addicts.com claiming that this 2+2 coupe it can comfortably transport four tall adults.  That's inaccurate fanboyism, period.  They may as well claim that it can beat a Z06 in the quarter mile.

[Wolfe]

OK but if you want to prick their fanboy bubbleheadedness then why quibble about the stupid rear seats when they give you a ridiculous statement like this to attack?

Onto the 135i. With 300hp and 300 ft-lbs of torque you can expect this car to be an absolute rocket. I'll even go so far as to say that a slightly tweaked 135i should be able to keep up with the upcoming M3!
 

[Mitlov]

OK but if you want to prick their fanboy bubbleheadedness then why quibble about the stupid rear seats when they give you a ridiculous statement like this to attack?

Ooh, missed that one.

Basically, they've completely destroyed any sort of credibility they had with that review.  I'm surprised that they didn't say that the 135i cures cancer.

[Wolfe]

I'm surprised that they didn't say that the 135i cures cancer.

There are several hundred other threads in that forum already.... Ya never know