1 Series Official: BMW Concept M135i 3-door

[martinbo]

klier, by no means am I comparing the BRZ with the F20. Wasn't the point. Merely suggesting that Subaru has emulated BMW's age old formula. So now, all BMW has to do is take the license to quickly correct frontal styling that can, at best, be referred to as unfortunate. Simple.

Just_me, I take no exception to the flanks and rear of the F20. It's that face; it looks sad and bleak and dopey.

 

[Levi68]

Sure it's not best contemporary BMW design, but surely not the worst (contenders: preLCI E83 X3- rear + front, preLCI E84 Z4 - front, preLCI E65 7er - as a whole, preLCI E46 3er Compact - front & rear, BMW Z3 coupe - side profile + rear etc)

Z3 Coupé E36 and Z4 Roadster E84 sould not be on that list.

 

[klier]

Compared to the epic fail of the F20 front, there's only one other Bimmer in that list: The E65 7er in it's original form. Nothing else comes close imo.

This here is the worst press photo EVER taken by BMW:

The F20 is on a similar level in some shots.

 

[SKY]

For God´sake, didn´t remember that pic. My reaction to both front ends is the same tho:

 

[EnI]

Yes, I agree. The E65 was not photogenic at all. Or eg. the original E85 Z4 - with orange turn signals.

Yet the E63 6er had even less photogenic front.

 

[klier]

Nah, Eni. You know that's not true.

6er E63 and Z4 E84 were loved by a lot of people when they came out. The E65 7er and F20 1er were pretty much hated by everyone when they came out.

The 1er will get a radical facelift in the front. 100% sure of that. Radical in terms of a whole new front, just like the E65.
But on the E65 the proportions were wrong from the start so it remained ugly after the facelift, just less so. The F20 has fantastic proportions and will be a stunning car after the facelift.

.......and this pic here almost makes me fall in love with the car all over again:

Beautiful!!! xxx

For God´sake, didn´t remember that pic. My reaction to both front ends is the same tho:

I can imagine why. The way the headlights bend away from the grille is the same on the F20 and E65. And it's ugly on both cars.

 

[SKY]

Bangle car could be nice from a designer point of view, but IMO that era gave us an important number of ugly BMWs. X3, 7er, 3er front end with milk moustache, the horrid E60 interior, the werid 6er and Z4... It caused me a faith crisis in BMW. Nowadays BMW designs are much improved and almost on par with the works of art of the past era, E32 and E38,7er, E34 and E39 5er, E36 and E46 3er... All of them amazingly good looking cars.

For the comming years, I hope BMW gives their car a more daring look, following the steps of the 3er. We talked about the 2015 7er the other day, and they aggressive look is what they need to follow, the concepts BMW is showing are always brilliant (VED, VCD, 328 Homage...), that the path to follow.

 

[klier]

Yeah, the Bangle era was a bumpy ride. It was almost scary when they were about to present a new car....

Nowadays you pretty much know again it will be beautiful (with the F20 being the stand out exception), but that sure wasn't the case a couple of years ago.

 

[K-A]

Hot damn BMW had some ugly front ends in the mid 2000's. I don't know where to begin, but that E65 just the king of grotesque mugs, I mean, I'm speechless.... no words can describe the visual.

The F20 is indeed BMW's best effort to bring back those front ends, but why?!

 

[klier]

The F20 is indeed BMW's best effort to bring back those front ends, but why?!

Hahaha, that seriously made me LOL!
I think there's some stealth Bangle ninjas left in the offices. And they change design drawings when the lights go out at the end of the day...

BTW, may I just add something to stay on topic:

The 1er needs change in the front, with new kidney, new bumper and new lights. The rest doesn't NEED changing. Different backlights (with L-shape) would be nice, though not necessary...
The proportions are great, the side profile is nice and the back is nice in it's Polo-ish simplicity. And the back of the M135i looks awesome, even.
I seriously think the F20 has much potential for a great second part of it's life, after the FL.

 

[K-A]

LOL. They refuse to let his legacy die.

Poor Bangle (not literally, I'm sure he's anything but "poor" ), he clearly is talented and has vision, it's just his infatuation with his ambition clearly cluttered his better judgement and blurred his vision.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bangle could design one of the most beautiful cars if someone said: "MAKE IT BORING, MAKE IT CLEAN, MAKE IT TIMELESS, MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL AND ELEGANT"! If they said "Do not reinvent the wheel".

 

[EnI]

@klier

When E63 & E85 were introduced there was a massive outcry over the forums, blogs & the press!

Forum members & bloggers & journalists all around the world were crying BMW had ruined the BMW roadster (E85 Z3 was a successor to beloved Z3), while in their opinion the E63 had dishonored the 6er trademark, and had not been the rightful & worthy successor to the classic E24 6er.

They were not loved. They still aren't by many out there.

Bangle-design appreciation came much later when other carmakers started to come out with Bangleized designs, and / or design elements.

 

[K-A]

I remember a friend of mine who owned an M-Coupe when the E65 came out, was LIVID, I mean LIVID with the E65. Not only him, but lots of people he knew via Message Boards, etc. Back then, I was a Muscle-Car freak, and didn't have near the kind of money to care so passionately about Luxury Cars, so I didn't pay much attention. But I just remember him literally talking about people "burning Bangle at the stake", and about how there were all these petitions signed by thousands of people, stating that it was absolutely abhorrent for BMW to allow him to work there anymore, etc. Simply put, I don't think such drama in the car world has ever been matched.

 

[south]

May I remind you all of the thread topic, the M135i. Thanks.


Best regards,
south

 

[klier]

May I remind you all of the thread topic, the M135i. Thanks.


Best regards,
south

Right!

So do we have anything about the power yet? 320 hp? 330 hp? 340 hp?

 

[EMpower]

BMW M135i (2012) scooped at the Nurburgring | Secret New Cars | Car Magazine Online

 

[speed_kills]

I want to see the Xdrive version that supposily is coming.
Because it's just an adaptation on a RWD layout, it's not a true performance AWD like Quattro, so I want to see if it actually improves handling.

 

[klier]

Because it's just an adaptation on a RWD layout, it's not a true performance AWD like Quattro

If xDrive is an adaptation to a RWD layout, quattro is an adaptation to a FWD layout. Don't make things more special than they are, the days of quattro being superior to BMW's AWD system are long past us

 

[Levi68]

I want to see the Xdrive version that supposily is coming.
Because it's just an adaptation on a RWD layout, it's not a true performance AWD like Quattro, so I want to see if it actually improves handling.

AWD based on RWD will allways be superior to AWD based on FWD, due to better balance of FR layout.

 

[tristatez28lt1]

Completely undisguised five door M135i: