Jul 18 2011

2012 BMW 1 Series Five-Door

In yet another example of such forbidden fruit, we traveled to Berlin, Germany this month to drive the latest “F20″ four-door version of the car considered by many to be the first hatchback to take the premium European compact genre big-time. Admittedly, that judgment call is a bit of a toss-up between the 1 Series and the Mini Cooper and Audi A3, but the 1 Series has done BMW proud selling nearly 1.3 million units worldwide in a single generation since late 2004. This success story is not unlike that of the X3 compact crossover that is just now entering its more sophisticated second generation.

For this drive, we had a matte corral red 118i with 1.6-liter TwinPower Turbo inline four-cylinder at our disposal. The N13 engine’s 168 horsepower were ably complemented by 184 pound-feet of torque available between 1,500 and 4,500 rpm. This powerplant is actually a heavily adapted and retuned longitudinal version of the transverse N18 1.6-liter found in the Mini Cooper S. To go with this single twin-scroll turbocharged unit, buyers will need to choose between an optional eight-speed Steptronic automatic or the happy little car seen here with the same six-speed ZF manual found in the fantabulous 1 M Coupe.

Source: AutoBlog