Gadgetory

it might surprise you the BMW didn't always specialize in cars you can't really afford and this guy they get back to their roots of pretty affordable and highly delectable let's try the 2013 BMW 135i s and check the tech now before we talk about a 2013 anything we've got to take you back to 1977 when in the u.s. at least BMW is still a very niche very European car maker then along comes the original 320i and it captures a wide swath of the American public's attention great engine great suspension and grownup elegant lines plus it was big enough to look like something Americans could imagine driving it also didn't hurt that BMW 3-series arrived about the same time that yuppies did in the American cultural psyche and for better for worse BMW has been the official car of the American booze wah ever since but the real key to the 3-series back in the day was its simplicity its capability and its style and that's what we're seeking in the 1 Series today now you may think the 1-series looks almost comically small on the road but if I can paraphrase glorious once and it's the other cars that got bigger this is actually just about the same footprint as the original 3-series and it was not considered a tiny car now length is the most interesting comparison the two cars are less than an inch apart from their the height and width grow a bit on the one series yet it appears smaller on the road compared to its contemporaries the one series has two more cylinders a liter more displacement and almost three times the power moving 25% more weight from zero to 60 in less than half the time it took its ancestor all of this is a lesson in modern car trends not just BMWs spot a 135 is by its wheels aerodynamic KITT more monochrome body coloured parts outside and the best-looking exhaust tips this side of a Porsche in the back that's 120 horse powers made it up with 317 foot-pounds of torque nice numbers for a pretty compact car courtesy of a lot of Technology as I mentioned twin power turbo means one turbo but with two Scrolls inside it four different portions of the RPM range on top of that you've got direct injection you've got there completely variable valve train technology and you've got traditional front engine longitudinal rear wheel drive only not even an all-wheel drive available on this guy this is a six-cylinder in-line it's a pretty big piece of metal so they've done a good job of shoving it way back toward the cowl meaning you get some very nice weight distribution on this car it's about 49 51 which is pretty good considering how big a lump you've got up here in the nose now well this may be a rather compact car it's got sort of mid-range to good fuel economy you've got 20 28 with the manual but a significant haircut if you get the dual clutch automated manual then you go down to 1825 that's quite a delta and it's also unusual to see a manual do better these days now one series is not a tech tour-de-force in the cabin most of BMWs cool cabin tech not spoken here in fact on this particular car we didn't even have an LCD head unit navs not option and I like the fact that we've got the old-school orange and black display but they used to call the BMW business radio now what do they call it Oh professional it makes no sense at all but I like the look very stripped down and Spartan for a car that I think does best in that vein you've got all the sources you really need am/fm HD radio CD slot USB ipod an aux jack what you're missing is satellite radio if you want that you've got to get a big old fat option package that acts me it's not all a carton nor is it standard also not available here rear view camera forget it you can get Park censors it's about as good as it gets no driver assistance technologies none of the stuff that takes this car off mission or off price there's only one word that really applies to this it's not spacious it's not luxurious it doesn't have any real presence but it's possible and that's what a one series is all about especially with the big motor now I wish I didn't have the turbo lag there is some in there and when it kicks in there's definitely a sort of an e that you get to but you can push this guy around longer with that nice weight balance there we go that nice deep one less torque once you tap into it and it's a party on four wheels here we go diamond lean on it keep the speed up and let that rear end just hang up nice built the toss and don't say that now I've got the traction control off it's actually not too intrusive when it's on I'm putting it back on now throw into number three right here and it kind of catches you what is you're about to have too much fun very nice an autocross cream with the exception of the fact nice turbo boost it's not linear when it kicks in I would love to drive this car with the non turbo inline six and then you may have the perfect possible predictable one six the nice thing about a car that's a smaller form factor like this one is that you wear it more than drive it it's no BRZ or or Miata but it's definitely a car that feels like it's more tailored to you than one of the bigger BMWs that has equal prowess it's just more personal correct it's just hard to get this car angry action there aren't any tires laughs at the end of this particular video but that's BMWs brand in the end this is one of the most fun cars to push around a track front-engine rear-drive lots of power and a nice weight balance a forgivable little guy as well if you get in trouble with this car you were asking for 20:13 135 is top of the stack for the one series in the u.s. unless you want to convert 40 for one out the door with destination now to get it seen that style I'm gonna pass over the Premium Package that's 2,400 bucks I don't want to spend on a bunch of convenience features that just large the car up instead I'll take 20 350 and put that in the text package now we're talking navigation BMW apps and more although it does that an LCD head unit to the car and kind of take it off its purist mission that's the scene that style choice 875 for Harman Kardon audio good choice there and while I love the price I'm gonna skip that dual clutch automated manual only 450 bucks a blind steal but this car needs a manual gearbox so done up far away it's 40 for one closer to 50 then I want to be for the baby Beemer but this is a nice car that's as close as you'll get to the way it used to be