That is classic! Best TTAC quote yet.

’sorostitutes’…I knew I should have gone to an American university.

Oh yes, the car is damned ugly in person. A 3-series that’s been Abbott and Costello’d. BMW drops a turd.

I didn’t even bother reading the rest of the review.

I have a family member who just recently confessed that the family matriarch’s ‘06 Nissan Altima is a better drive and more comfortable than her newly-used Bimmer 3. Alas, she admits that, all pros aside, she could not be seen in her town in a Nissan because “it isn’t what successful people drive.”

While this might be saying a lot about her character that I’d rather not bother with (waste of time, really), it better explains to me, in a very 1st-person sort of way, the ideal Bimmer customer.

I first think, “How shallow can people get?,” shortly followed by a quick mental analysis of the Bimmer/luxury market, and conclude that the success of a car really has nothing to do with provided features, efficiency, uniqueness, or performance. The one, most important dominating factor, is name. Perceived value conquers all… and it makes me sad :-(

That REALLY explains things…

The automatic in the 335i is good enough that I would consider it. I would still most likely go with the stick, but that ZF is good.

The 135i/335i both utilize a fast-shifting 6-spd ZF Steptronic. The ’28’s garden variety automatics are sourced from GM.

I didn’t know that…

That would certainly explain things.

Yep, there’s something definitely wrong with the 128i’s automatic… it’s a completely different one than in the 335i! :-)

Yes, the 1 series is on sale in Europe since 2004 as a 5-door hatch.

Last year the 3 door hatch came along at the end of last year (together with a mild facelift for the 5-door version and ‘efficientdynamics’ with a start-stop gearbox and other fuel saving technology).

Then the coupe and the convertible were launched simultaneously with their US siblings.

The hatches are available as 116i, 118i, 120i and 130i (so not the twinturbo), as well as 118d, 120d and 123d, the latter being a twinturbo 4 cylinder diesel with European rating of 204 HP)

The coupe is available with the same engines as the US coupe (although the US 128i is called 125i in Europe), as well as the 120d and 123d.

The convertible is the same as the coupe, but also available with the smaller petrol engines, starting from 118i, and not as a 123d…

Those are 10 year old girls that have parents who let them out of the house dressed like they are very wild 23 year old girls on the prowl for a man. There is NO REASON for a 10 year old to look “sexy” in the mall…

Back to cars for the moment, I’ll take a 1-series over a 3-series any day. Not saying the 3-series isn’t nice, but I like the lighter weight and smaller size of the 1-series. I’d even like it with a turbo diesel four or a very small six (2.0 six).

I guess BMW doesn’t want to mess with the premium image in USA, but this car screams for a smaller engine from a price point of view, like you said. We did have a 318 version until I believe the mid, late 90’s… I see plenty of them still tooling around, probably more than I think because the “318″ is often replaced with a 325 badge.

I still prefer the manual, but it was a really good automatic.

North Americans would be amazed at how basic many BMWs are in Europe. The last time I was there I noticed more than a few E46’s with manual windows.

Brendino and JJ
I believe this car has been in Europe since about 2004. JJ can correct my points here, but over there BMW offers SEVERAL configurations, from a 2.0L basic model to the sequential turbo 330i version we also have here. Plus diesel from the “very efficient” to the “screamingly fast and still pretty efficient”

Plus, every Euro model I’ve ever seen in person has been the 5-door, which I’ve said many times offers something a little more unique compared to a 3-series coupe (it’s more like a mini-3-series-wagon in a tighter package).

Basically, I don’t see it cannibalizing the 3-series in Europe to the degree it will here…since our configurations are all basically 9/10-scale versions of the same thing in the 3-series. This just seems utterly stupid to me from a product planning standpoint. IMO, the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen BMW do, including the first Banglized 7-series a few years ago.

Brilliant!!

But what does haute carture means? I don’t get the joke on haute couture.

I don’t know exactly (now figures to support my perception) but I don’t think 3 series sales have suffered so much. Sales of the 3-series are still strong and the 1 series does ok (it operates in the most highly fought segment in Europe and considering the pricing you see an awful lot of them on the road).

I think the market is a little different here as well, as are the engine options on offer like mentioned above. By far the most 3 and 1 series on the roads right now are company leases, with small diesel engines (usually 18d or 20d, both in the 3 series and the 1 series) and not equipped with an overload of options.

In the US, the 1 is only on offer as a coupe or convertible and only with 6 cylinder engines, where in Europe obviously we have the 3 and 5 door hatch as well as a wide array of 4 cylinder petrol and diesel engines. The 3 series Touring is a lot more popular as well.
I think all this means that in Europe the 1 and the 3 both have a different place in the market, at least a lot more than in the US, where they both seem to operate in the same market segment (the 3 used to be the small BMW for ‘eurosnobs’/your kids but now the 1 is exactly the same thing).

What shouldn’t be neglected though is that the 1 series has definitley pushed the sales volume of BMW (lost 3 series sales or not)…and that helps them too.
It will be interesting to see what happens next now the new A4 and C class are out, because the E46 was mainly a strong seller because it put the competition to shame but now Mercedes and Audi have made a step forward in comparison with the E90/91/92. Maybe the cannibalisation will only begin to show as of now…

The 1-series coupe is a boy-racer, if there ever were one. It’s competing with the japanese drifting-crowd. It’s also a more stylish statement in the C-segment, competing with the Golf/A3, and also flirting with the lifestyle-crowd, with nameplates as Lexus IS, Audi TT, the Mini, perhaps the Beetle as well. The 3-series has grown too big, too expensive, too refined. It is actually too good a car for BMW, as its benchmarking qualities make a bad reputation for its smaller and less expensive siblings. But are the 3-series and 1-series competing for the same customers? They say about Porsche Boxster/Cayman, that it is only bought by people who could not afford a “real” Porsche, i.e. a 911. But is that true? Doesn’t they just all complete each other, filling in the gaps?

The only way the 1-series works is the 128i Coupe. It’s the cheapest, lightest BMW you can buy. If you can find a stripper, it’s 29375 MSRP including destination, and it’s still got pretty much everything you need. For some, the $1,200 Sport Package should be worth it. (also $475 extra for any color outside of flat black, white, and red)

So what are the chances that your local BMW dealer will have a 128i manual with only the sport package? Probably zero. BMW’s European Delivery would be the only/best way to get it. (also drops $2k off the price of the car) You deserve a trip to the land of the Autobahn and the Nurburgring, don’t you?

Of course, the most sensible option is to wait for a 135i to depreciate and buy one in 2011. Or perhaps a 335i in 2010? yep, there we go.

1-series has been out in Europe for awhile, no? How have sales panned out over there in terms of cannibalism and the like?