Car review: BMW 1 series - A seriously hot hatch

Written by Damian Murphy
Wednesday, 08 February 2012 14:58

BMW pioneered the production of the luxury hatch when they first introduced the 1 Series all those years ago, and with well over a million units of the hatch sold, it was high time for a relaunch – enter the sexier and sportier new 1 Series.

The 1 Series’s great BMW pedigree is obvious at first glance. The first version was a standalone experiment, and BMW were playing on a field on which they had no prior experience. But they’ve learnt through the years. The new 1 Series has all the features that made the old 1 Series so popular, but they’ve now taken the best of the other BMW series and added it to the baby in the family. At a recent launch we were given a full day to experience and test the 1 Series in both an urban and out-of-town environment – and we were well impressed.
 

From the Da Vinci Hotel in Sandton where the launch took place, we put the 116i and the 118i models through their paces on road trip. The two versions share the same engine, a 1.6 litre petrol TwinPower turbo, but they are tuned differently, so the 118i is slightly more powerful and zippy off the line.
The cabin of the 1 Series is very comfortable, and you seem to forget that you are in a car when you slide into the driver’s seat. The symmetry, flow and balance of the cockpit have been designed with driver comfort and urban practicality in mind. The instrumentation styling is classic BMW, so we felt at ease from the moment we turned the ignition on to the moment we parked the car at the end of the day.
 

With the world evolving digitally every day, it is so important that you remain connected wherever you are. BMW Connective Drive is an innovative part of the new 1 Series – all new BMW series, for that matter – and it gives you access to emails and the internet all through a phone connection to the BMW driver system.
 

When it comes to driving experience, there are few cars that can beat the Beemer, and the 1 Series holds its own in the stable. You can set the mode to normal, eco or sports depending on what kind of mood you’re in.
 

The coolest feature of the 1 Series has to be the choice it offers – each car is customisable in thousands of different ways, so choosing a model to suit you may prove tougher than you think. The 116i delivers 100kW of power, 220Nm of torque and reaches 210km/h at the top end. The 118i may appeal to the petrol-head a little more – it delivers 125kW of power, 250Nm of torque and can reach a slightly sweeter 225km/h at the top end. Both have a carbon emissions weight of less than 140g/km, so your green impact is low enough not to feel too guilty. The new 1 Series costs anything from R268 500 to R323 000 depending on your choice of model.