BMW 135i – Straining at the leash

Finally, after sitting on a boring motor way doing 100kph for nearly three hours watching hundreds of trees and a ridiculous number of police patrol cars fly by, we’ve reached the last stretch of road to our three day holiday destination and it’s not straight, and not full of smelly old Landcruisers piloted by old people who feel its far too dangerous to do the speed limit while towing a caravan or while driving a Honda. A chance then to exploit my ultimate driving machine. Its dark, I know there’s a river to the right of me and a small cliff face to the left, this should be interesting.

I’m driving a BMW 135i M Sport Coupe. Long name, twin turbo straight six engine up front, seven speed double clutch gearbox in the middle, and drive goes to the rear wheels. All boxes ticked for a serious sports car then. The engine in this car is a masterpiece, it’s a 3.0l straight six, with two small turbochargers, it produces 225kw and 400nm of torque, 0-100kph is dealt with in just 5.2 seconds.

During the three hours I spent sitting on the motorway with this car, I learnt a little more about its engine, and what makes it special. Real world usable performance, overtaking manoeuvres are a breeze, it doesn’t kick down a gear like a ‘normal’ car might, just squeeze the throttle, the revs increase by a few hundred rpm, feel an encouraging push in the back and watch the speedo tick around to 125kph, and the mere mortals in your rear vision mirror disappear, there’s no fuss at all. The reason for this is those two turbos and the flat torque curve, the full 400nm of torque is available from just 1500rpm and sticks around until the engine is singing a straight six symphony all the way up to its red line of 6000rpm.

Inside, it’s a nice place to be, the dials are all very easy to read, and the seats are very comfortable as well as supportive, although some might find the lack of cup holders annoying – the main one is taken up by the iDrive control and the back seat isn’t suitable for adults. The ride is the firm, although we drove on some pretty poor roads and found it tolerable.

There’s always the question of value with these cars, its just over $100k once you get iDrive and the double clutch gear box and a few other options, that’s a lot for a 1 series, but still $80k shy of an M3 which I think needs to be considered because the performance is very similar. Taking that into account, I think the 135i is pretty good value, M3 performance for 325i coupe money.  

So what was the last 30 minutes of driving like? The 135i was in its element on the snaking road, the steering so alive in you’re hands, the throttle so responsive, and the car so flat through the bends. The car felt like it was on rails on this road, there was very little body role, and not a hint of understeer. The throttle was so responsive with very minimal turbo lag leaving no evidence of turbochargers underfoot, or to the ear, this car sings like a straight six should and has the pace to match. But for me, the biggest surprise was the steering, steering the 135i provides the same sensation you would feel if you were to open the driver’s door and run your hand along the tarmac. It’s communicative, fast, well weighted and alive in you’re hands, providing a good amount of feel for what the front wheels are up to. When you’re really pushing the cars initial tendency is to oversteer, it’s got a completely different character to any other 1 series. With the addition of the twin turbo six, the 135i is like a puppy on wooden floorboards scampering about, it’s small, full of energy, a bundle of fun and always straining at the leash. There’s a subtle refined rage to this car, you can almost hear it saying, ‘when I grow up I want to shred my rear tyres, and catapult my passengers towards the horizon with ridiculous speed, but in a fun way’ – German humour for you.

My only complaint came from the next morning when I went to start the car out the front of our hotel. Foot on the brake, press start, and the revs bounce all the way up to 3000rpm, this is fine when you’re in the garage, but in front of the hotel it can be a little embarrassing. People stared and probably said some rude things, but I couldn’t hear them over the loud exhaust. I found it hilarious, although I can’t help but think those around me might have thought I was a dick.

But I soon forgot about that, because I was off to have another go on that windy road and enjoy the car some more.