BMW had a great idea in the early 80’s, a small, fast luxury coupe. This was the BMW E30 3-series. Like anything, as the years went on the young little 3-series grew bigger and fatter. Now the 3-series is far from a sporty coupe, it is no more then a mini 5-series. Simply put its relatively expensive and pretty boring to drive.
As the 3-Series moved up market, BMW wanted to go back to there roots and build a cheap, fun car that will bring young drivers back to BMW. So BMW shoehorned there award winning 3.0 liter turbocharged engine into a small, nimble chassis creating the 135i. This engine produces 300 horse power which will take this car from 0-60 in about 5 seconds.
This all sounds great but the BMW 135 really shines in the twisties. BMW wanted the 1-Series chassis to be extremely nimble so they designed a rear wheel drive car with a 50:50 weight distribution. This allows the car to really handle much better than the over grown 3-series.
This car also looks great. With its sporty lines it is just begging to be driven hard.
Although the 1-series is a small car, there is still more then enough room one the inside for four people and their bags for a road trip to Vegas for the weekend. Once the traffic clears, you can get there fast with the 135. And after the long weekend, it is still a BMW with a tame, comfortable ride back.
This all sounds too good to be true, right? Well it might be. BMW wanted to design a cheap, fun car to attract a younger crowd to their brand. Unfortunately, they failed to do so. The BMW 135i that we would want is $42,500. For this kind of money there are definitely fast and more nimble cars out there.
Although we absolutely love this car, we think BMW missed the point. It was supposed to be affordable to young adults who are moving up in there career not to middle aged men who have already made it.
