The 1 Series may be BMW’s smallest and most accessible offering, but does that mean it can’t have a change of heart and beastier sibling? The MY2017 line takes care of just that.
No, we’re not talking about the 116i or even the 184-PS 120i. No, this is something which has almost twice that! The M135i is no more. This is the new M140i and it’s as mad as Bavaria can get on a shoe-string budget. How? It’s easy.
Drop a new TwinPower Turbo straight-six with 340 PS and 500 Nm in there and throw away the heavier – and boring-er – automatic gearbox and put in an old-school six-speed manual instead. And while on the topic, save more weight by offering xDrive as an option. There you go: the manual-transmission, straight-six, rear-wheel-drive, M-badged 140i with a power-to-weight ratio of 235 PS/tonne and a claimed 0-100 km/h sprint of 4.8 seconds!
That’s right. The new car is not just more exciting, but even quicker and more appealing to a greater spectrum of buyers. Want an automatic? Want all-wheel-drive? Sure, you can add those too. The M140i starts from £31,875 (Rs 31 lakh approx) in the UK. What I absolutely love is that, in this day and age of making things smaller and getting more from less, there are some companies that give us stuff like this, and I know the whole ‘Joy is BMW’ thing seems like marketing spiel, but it’s times like these that add more to the definition.
We have the 1 Series in India – just a 118d, but still – and we could use this new 40i with the added ‘M’ prefix. Then, the money you save on the not specifying xDrive and the Steptronic auto ‘box can be used to pay for the optional M Performance kit, stripes and all, and tankfuls of petrol. Get it before it runs out! Come on, BMW India. We’re waiting.
Story: Jim Gorde
