Test drive: BMW 1 Series

By topgear, 22 July 2019
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Overview
The new 1 Series no longer has a RWD version. They’re all FWD or AWD, with transverse three- and four-cylinder engines. Just like any other hatch, then.

So now it’s got usefully more space, and less weight, and more efficiency.

After all only one in 20 of the old 1 Series sales were six-cylinders. And really, it was only those that saw much dynamic benefit of being rear-drive. Meanwhile the other 19, the 95-per centers, had to suffer the reduced space and extra weight. And it turns out most of those didn’t even know why, because they didn’t know which wheels were actually being driven.

BMW has understandably concluded that it’s not great business to give 95 per cent of 1 Series people a bum deal. This thoroughly conventional hatch then, is all about the detail.

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It’s a good-looking hatch (though are we unusual in seeing Volvo V40?). It certainly hides its nose-heavy front-proportions cleverly. The front is set into a shark’s mouth negative rake. Along the sides, light catches suggestive swellings in the metal above the wheels, and the windows taper rearwards. The Hofmeister kink is moved to the C-post.

Under the bonnet, the low-powered petrol and diesel engines are three-cylinder, while the 18d and 18i and above are four-cylinders. The 20d and 35i have all-wheel-drive – say goodbye to wet-roundabout understeer embarrassment!

The 1 Series shares its platform with the X1 and X2, the 2 Series Active Tourer, the Mini Clubman and Countryman. But you sense that they’ve saved the best til last, as the 1 Series has some clever traction-control tweaks and extra bracing in the chassis, just to make sure we don’t complain about the dynamics.

It’s also got multi-link rear suspension in every model, whereas Mercedes, Ford and VW put simpler torsion beams under the low-power versions of their hatches.

People who call FWD ‘wrong-wheel-drive’ (have they never driven a Golf GTI or a Mini Cooper?) are just going to have to accept that the world has moved on. Or they can wait a little for the new 2 Series Coupe, which will still be RWD and will still spawn an M2. No M1 will emerge.

The fastest of the new hatchbacks is the M135i, a 300bhp all-wheel-driven rival to the Mercedes AMG A35 and Golf R.

Driving
Let’s start in the 118d, probably the best seller. Its exhaust is clean, so it’d be unfair if it gets caught in the dragnet of anti-diesel fervour. If it is, then the sales champ will be the 118i. Despite those mild-seeming badges, they both do eight-and-a-half to 100kph, which, back when it were all fields round here, was a properly lively time.

The 18d is a pretty fine engine. It has two turbos – not BMW’s confusingly named TwinPower turbo system which is just one, but two actual turbos that spin up sequentially.

It’s remarkably quiet for a transverse diesel, and only if you stick like a muppet in the high gears will low-rev lethargy be an issue. It’ll also spin to nearly 5,000rpm, not that you ever need to.

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The autobox, with eight speeds in this case, shifts smoothly and doesn’t mind being over-ridden. It’s a manual or 7DCT for the base engines.

But you knew they can do powertrains. You want to know if they can they do a FWD car (that isn’t a crossover or people-carrier) that feels like a BMW.

Sure enough the over-riding characteristic of the 118d is balance. Scrabbling understeer or torque-related wheel fight is almost entirely written out of the script. The steering has some feel, and it’s very progressive. In the middle of a bend it’s all nicely balanced, and on the way out there’s lots of traction.

A novel arrangement of the traction-control components make that system both quick-witted and very smooth.

Ride refinement hasn’t been chucked overboard to get the handling. It rounds the sharp edges off any surface, though there is a bit of road noise. We tested with adaptive dampers; the engineers say the Comfort mode is similar to a regular passively-damped car. But really Sport doesn’t transform it anyway.

On the inside
As promised it’s a decently roomy cabin for everyone. In the back, foot and leg space are OK, but six-footers will run their heads on a strange structural rib ahead of the hatch hinges.

The colour and trim in here shows they expect it’s a car for younger BMW buyers. Not too silly and playschool mind, but just some slightly more vibrant colours than usual and fresh geometric textures. Quality is high.

It’s not as ‘wow’ as the widescreen Mercedes cockpit, but it’s honestly easier to use. Every model gets traffic-connected navigation. Praise be, standard kit gives you a big clear round speedo and rev-counter. If you want BMW’s less-legible polygonal virtual dials, they’re an option, as is the silly gesture control.

Spend that money instead on the superb head-up display.

BMW says it has put most of its big-car driver assist systems onto the list, but actually there’s little more than a Focus has, and it’s missing several of an A-Class’s options.

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Verdict
The 1 Series’s switch to transverse engines has meant the mainstream versions are super-competent. They’ve enough room now, and really you’d hardly know which end is driven anyway.

And that applies to all engines: unlike the base-model A-Classes, which have nasty engines, clunky transmissions and duff chassis, the 1 Series is a good car from the bottom up. The 95 per centers will be chuffed.