Gadgetory

the little one series has to fight this image of being a starter BMW adding a twin-turbo 305 horses and 19's on a help let's drive the 2011 BMW 1m and check the tech the modern m3 is about the size of the original five and outweighs it by 300 pounds so there's been some class creep if you want to set the clock back to a less ponderous time in BMW history look at the 1-series it fits into closed the 3-series hasn't been able to wear in almost 30 years this M example is called the 1m not the m1 because that was this car and that's another video one series especially in him but anyone is kind of cool in that it takes you back to what the free series used to be it was a much smaller car a lighter car an in blur car it's grown up a lot since the early 80s what we're looking at here is once again a small nimble car feels tighter inside of course but not dramatically so everything's a little bit smaller in scale you've got a little smaller instrument binnacle the wheel feel smaller in diameter although I'm probably imagining that because the damn thing is so thick on this M car we have a basic head unit here we don't have the hotted up one that has the nav screen the iDrive and all those features as a result you've got a simple but very effective system now our sources are am/fm with HD radio that is standard interestingly enough but Bluetooth hands-free is an interesting choice there by BMW single slot optical disc also optional right here under the console we have an aux jack and a USB paired together which go into a single cable to be an iOS device very simple interface for getting around but I've always been a fan of this one it's really straightforward you use out of the menu or the audio buttons and then the various buttons here become soft buttons to choose in the submenu here's what iPod stuff looks like again you don't have a lot of real estate so how does it handle it well let's take a look I'll hit albums now I'll scroll here aside from there being very little of an aperture you're looking at at once what it shows is very clear and notice how it reads really quickly now the interior stuff that relates to the drivetrain two key components and that's critical m-car one transmission one choice only it's a 6-speed manual there's no dual clutch automatic no automatic automatic just this gearbox very simple low options on the 1 Series M and then there's the M dynamics mode button here on the wheel now on other end cars you can tune that so that all the various functions of the car from suspension to DCT behavior are all kind of tailored to your way on this car it's real simple you either press the M button to get extremely aggressive throttle mapping or press it again to go back to basically aggressive throttle mapping oh here's tech for tech sake the wireless key fob has to be in the slot in the dash before you can use the push button starter that's an inch away some days you'd just kill for a plain old car key now of course being an AM the real story is under the hood not really in the cabin here is our three litre inline-six classic BMW stuff twin turbos on this guy and it's got direct injection stepless variable valve timing all the good stuff BMW knows how to do it's the engine you might know basically from a 335 but hot it up even more and twin turbos not a two-stage twin scroll single turbo not in this application the numbers 335 horsepower 332 foot-pounds of torque gets this little 3,300 pound car up to 60 in 4.7 seconds and with mpg that's 1926 once again thank you 3,300 pound kerb weight that power by the way goes out of this engine into a dual disc clutch to handle what's a lot of wind up torque and then goes out to a rear wheel drive only configuration which has a locking rear differential the 1m comes in just three colors they had to send us Valencia orange the others are black and white the first thing you get impressed by is how this car feels light on its feet because it's a fairly light car at 3,300 pounds it's not in today's mainstream of what cars are coming in at by several hundred pounds more than that of course they sprung it nicely you've got ample power but the responsiveness of the power is also coming on right as well I'd love second here in this car I can do just about anything in this car off the freeway in second gear and it's happy to play ball let's take a hard turn here and just stay on it steer with the throttle very nice oh by the way this car has the rear subframe the rear running gear rear differential and such and the tires and wheels off an m3 more or less nothing like taking a few hundred pounds off a car to make it handle the way you want it to without effort good exhaust notice ooh I'm not sure much that you can hear I got the windows up so our microphones don't get buffeted by too much wind but it's a nice muted note but Sirians Oh check it out I'll put it in the M mode Napa this next series of curves really kicks up the throttle response you really notice it when you're in a performance mode and you've got the road where you can use it in and around town is something but a head bobbing it's a complete pain in the ass for city driving but it's really nice when you got a little road you can unwind on without getting ridiculous okay let's try some 2011 1 Series M it's often a story of simplicity as we've seen that this model base price is 47,000 in any of its simply three colors I love them now here's where it gets non simple and kind of tricky it's doing it up seen that style you've got to grab too chunky packages and one all a cart piece the first package is the convenience package that costs twenty seven hundred bucks and gets you I drive hard drive nav live traffic Park distance control keyless access and an alarm system then you got to get premium to get iPod USB bluetooth hands-free automatic mirrors power seats and lumbar support and then you go all a cart 250 more to get the BMW apps it's kind of a lot to add onto a car that's trying to be an affordable M but the technologies were solid and I definitely want the apps package