Bimmer Magazine’s Pre-Production 1M Road Test

Bimmer Magazine takes the pre-production BMW 1 Series M Coupe to a road test. The author reviews the exterior and interior design of the vehicle, power, weight, chassis, steering, and the tweaked N54 engine. Here’s an excerpt of the article:

One look at the 1 series M coupe tells you it’s dressed to kill! A new front bumper, larger air intakes and brake cooling ducts give it more presence, while aggressively flared fenders confer a wide and purposeful stance.

If the car’s appearance wasn’t enough to announce its purpose, the fact that BMW provided an original e30 M3 for me to drive alongside of the newest M car made the message loud and clear. The 1 series M coupe is aimed at the hearts and minds of hardcore enthusiasts who’ve bemoaned the absence of a compact sports sedan within the M division’s increasingly bloated lineup.

The one series M coupe promises to be a better driver’s car than that Z4, however thanks to three major factors. First of all its available with (only) a six speed manual where the Z4sDrive35is comes with a dual clutch gearbox only.

Secondly, if lighter is better, BMW says the M coupe has a relatively low curb weight of 1,500 Kg (3,300 lbs), as measured with a full tank of gas and no driver.

Finally, its chassis has been honed by M GmbH, which puts it in a different handing and grip league from any other model produced by BMW’s mainstream division.

An N54 tweaked for performance

So what effect does all his tweaking have on performance? As the M engineers explained, the 1 series M coupe has roughly the same horsepower and weight as the e46 M3, but the new car can lap Nuerburgring Nordschleife around 10 seconds faster thanks to its superior torque, more advanced chassis and improvements made in tire technology since the last e46 M3 left the line in 2006.

All of that suggest a car to be dynamite on the road. But as I quickly discovered during my test drive near Munich, the 1 series M coupe dispenses its performance in a well controlled explosion.
Superb steering, tremendous grip

No such criticism can be aimed at the chassis, however. The steering is superb, and so is the steering wheel itself. Just the right size and shape, it feels directly connected to the front wheels, with no slack and bump steer on less than smooth road surfaces despite the wide tracks and wider rubber.

The car has a full 80mm (3.1 inches) of additional track width compared to the 135i, thanks to use of a combination of M3 and bespoke suspension components. As the 1 series M coupe is roughly 400 pounds lighter than the M3 coupe but wears the M3’s “ZCP’s” 9.0 x 19.0 inch front and 10.0 x 19 inch rear wheels shod with 245/35ZR19’s and 265/35ZR19’s Michelins, its mechanical grip is awesome. With front end that delivers good communication bolstered by rear end sticks like crazy glue in fast turns thanks to the M differential, the M Coupe has rock solid stability that gives its driver immense confidence when pressing on.

A size smaller than the current M3, the 1 Series M Coupe isn’t much bigger than the original e30 M3, which makes it easy to thread down narrow country roads. It is therefore potentially faster on such roads than the more powerful mid-engine supercars whose greater physical width and reduced visibility restrict real world performance.

The driving experience tells me that the 1 series M coupe is going to be an extremely popular car, not the least because it effectively recaptures the spirit of the earlier M3 models(e30) that were small and light as a matter of course. Downsides? None that I can think of except that “1 series M1 moniker 30 years ago.

The car will make its formal debut at the Detroit Auto Show in early January, with its European launch scheduled for May, 2011. Only about 30% of the production will stay in the EU, however, with half slated for North America and the remainder for the rest of the world. Wherever these cars end up, they’re going to make enthusiasts happy, particular those who’ve been longing for a true successor to the original e30 M3.

Source: Bimmerpost

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