TTAC 2008 BMW 135i Review

qweasdzxc submitted on 04/12/2008 Official Bell & Ross Timestamp: 4:13 PM
from: www.thetruthaboutcars.com

Tags: BMW 135i

BMW 135i

TTAC 2008 BMW 135i Review

My paranoid-delusional theory: BMW intentionally botched the 135i. The new car has the same engine as the 335i, meets the same American crash requirements, and satisfies the [marketing] need for four seats. If executed properly, the chances that the 1-Series would have eaten the 3-Series cash cow's breakfast, lunch and dinner. So The Boys from Bavaria took a 3-Series, screwed it up a bit, and said "here is your entry level car."

Even a simple glance tells you that BMW doesn't believe in reincarnation. The 2002's huge greenhouse dominated its exterior design; the airy cockpit made the car feel a lot smaller than its dimensions indicated. The 135i is the exact opposite. The new car's beltline rides absurdly high; an accurate indication of submariner visibility from the driver's seat. The front end is contempo BMW, but the headlights are more cubist X3 than sleek 7-Series. The trunk looks like it's taller than it is deep.

In fact, the overall exterior looks like someone stuck a 3-Series coupe in a trash compactor. Yes, the 135i continues Chris Bangle's axles of power flame-surfaced design theme, and some elements are distinctly appealing. The base of the rear pillar has a lovely retro curve to it. But there is nothing iconic or beautiful about the 135i. It's a rolling caricature of a virtually identical car.

The 135i's interior offers a welcome return to basics. Bargain hunters will be pleased that the materials deployed throughout the 135i's cabin are virtually identical (in quality) to those found in the 3-Series. The 135i's dash design is considerably better. The center stack is oriented toward the driver– a BMW interior hallmark I've missed in the years since BMW realized the orthodontists leasing their cars didn't give a damn.

The 135i's front seats are horrendous; they get negative five stars. Each. We're talking inverse side bolstering; you sit on top of a leatherette covered hill. Continuing a less noble BMW tradition, righting this ergonomic wrong costs you big bucks. It's $1500 for leather and another grand for sport seats– which come with Shadowline Exterior Trim, an M-Leather-Wrapped Steering Wheel, Increased Top Speed Limit and all-caps spelling.

The 135i's back chairs will not accommodate anyone: you, me, children, smaller children, junior members of The Lollipop Guild, or Jay Shoemaker's chihuahua. Not that it matters. The front seats are mounted so close together you can't reach into the back seat. The rear accommodations are barefly sufficient for a decent-sized backpack, never mind a homo sapien.

Thanks to its 300 horsepower turbocharged inline six, the 135i is a Flüssigkeitsrakete. Ramming the tach needle into the redline is as addictive as a cherry bomb to a juvenile delinquent. Zero to sixty takes just 5.1 seconds (says BMW) — and time well spent it is too. Red-blooded drivers are left wanting more gears, more space and a higher speed limit (see: above) to thrash the daylights out of this mighty mill. It's too bad the rest of the car is just luggage.

Pistonheads have focused on the 135i's weight– and for good reason. The 135i tips the scales at 3373lbs. And boy, does it feel like it. When BMW and Edmunds described the 135i as the 2002's successor, they must have been talking about the 2002 model year 330i. The 135i's overall driving impression is "piano like." By this I mean it drives as if there's a piano strapped to the roof.

The 135i's steering is unnecessarily heavy, even artificially so; helming the 135i is a ton of work (literally). The 135i's manual transmission is typical of latter day Bimmers. It engages with rubbery imprecision and the clutch is a two-footer. And while the 335i has an excellent ZF automatic transmission, the 135i does not. The smaller car's French-made six-speed auto is jerkier and more dim-witted than its big brother's cog swapper.

With the 135i, BMW had its cake and ate it too. Maybe that's why the 135i is so fat. Anyway, I guess BMW couldn't offer an affordable, beautiful, spirited entry level car below the 3-Series, but not have "a" car that's below the 3-Series. Rather than "make it fun" or "make it practical," BMW built a slightly smaller, marginally less expensive, much less attractive 3-Series. How great is that? Read Article

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EL34 - 4/12/2008 4:35:19 PM

-1 Boost

BMW is unstoppable and what the hell else is new :-\

BMW 1-Series Autospies favorite car!

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kthor - 4/12/2008 6:17:12 PM

-1 Boost

This "article" is laughable. Not worthy of two seconds of time of any intelligent person. It contains so many patently false statements that they must want to get sued. "Inverse bolstered seats"...asinine. "The clutch is a two-footer"...this review must be an underweight toddler.

If it was funny or witty it would be worth a read, but it is not.

kthor - 4/12/2008 6:21:18 PM

-1 Boost

reviewer

LexusKindaGuy12 - 4/13/2008 12:55:19 AM

+1 Boost

interesting.

and here i thought TTAC were biased towards the germans and against anything toyota makes.

so i think we can agree that nobody can really take any of their reviews seriously, because they make the same sarcastic jokes about lexus cars

dlin - 4/12/2008 4:37:27 PM

+5 Boost

Wow.

Truth is ugly. :)

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06STI - 4/12/2008 4:46:03 PM

+3 Boost

Interesting counterpoint to all the glowing accolades the 135i has received from virtually every auto publication.

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JRobUSC - 4/12/2008 5:40:29 PM

+1 Boost

I like reading TTAC's reviews because they're usually pretty funny, but I take anything they say (specifically about BMWs) with a grain of salt. Last year when they basically launched a verbal assault on the 535i, a car that every single other source has heaped nothing but praise on (just as they all have the 135i), I stopped paying attention. Oddly the BMW TTAC has given the most praise to recently is the X6. Apparently mainstream BMWs just don't appeal to the folks over there.

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JRobUSC - 4/12/2008 5:49:07 PM

+1 Boost

on this review he lost me at calling the handling "piano like, as in, it handles like there's a piano on the roof".

Either he just hates BMWs or didn't actually drive the car. There is absolutely nothing "piano-like" about the handling, the 135i handles better than every BMW sold except the brand new M3. That's saying something.

Plus the backseat thing is stupid. You don'y buy little coupes for rear seat space. Plus they're more spacious than the rears in the G37, the car most likely to be cross shopped by 135i buyers. And the front seats, which he gave "minus 5 stars to. Each." have been highly praised in every other publication. Plus they're the same as the seats in a 3-Series, another car that has garnered pretty universal praise for the seats.

But overall still a humorous, though baseless, review.

JRobUSC - 4/13/2008 5:33:09 PM

-1 Boost

I'm the same height as you, and I can sit in the back of the 1-Series. I've actually been in both cars. Neither have a lot of room in back, legroom or otherwise, but the slope of the greenhouse in the G makes sitting back there impossible without hunching over. I wouldn't want to ride long distances in the back of the 1-Series either but it's more comfortable back there than in the G.

g12a12b64 - 4/12/2008 5:48:43 PM

-1 Boost

WOW!!!!! this article has J E A L O U S Y written all over it!!!!!It´s just not possible to HATE so much such incredible car!!!

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JRobUSC - 4/12/2008 6:46:28 PM

+2 Boost

dude, give it a rest already, everyone knows by now you're not GoObama08.

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simmonsdp - 4/13/2008 6:27:33 AM

+1 Boost

I agree that in many ways BMW could be seen as overated, but so is Lexus-Toyota......

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investor27 - 4/12/2008 8:15:38 PM

+2 Boost

He said the 135i's automatic transmission is not the same ZF one in the 335i. He's wrong. Criminally wrong.

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Rupert - 4/12/2008 8:40:49 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

I thought that was odd too - surely since the 1 is based off a chopped down 3er, with a 3er engine and interior (bits of) and suspension etc, it would use the same gearbox????

investor27 - 4/12/2008 10:18:45 PM

0 Boost

It almost feels like he was given a 128i to test, and the moron thought he was driving the 135i. The 135i has the same ZF auto tranny as the 335i. The 135i also has a 6-piston Bremo brakes up front and 4-piston Bremo in the rear, and he didn't comment at all on the brake system/brake feel at all. If he had driven the 135i, he would definitely feel how grippy the brakes feel.

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S4cabriofoxone - 4/13/2008 12:42:10 PMView My AgentSpace

0 Boost

To me, it sounds like he was given a Lexus GX470, but with the front seats as far back as they could go (lack of rear seat room).

Matthew1 - 4/13/2008 12:09:25 AM

+2 Boost

Gives new meaning to the word 'critical'.

What a rubbish review.

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gsh23 - 4/13/2008 2:25:41 PM

+2 Boost

lol awesome

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JRobUSC - 4/13/2008 5:41:37 PM

0 Boost

yeah, I totally agree. Why form your own real, justifiable opinion (by actually driving the car) when you can just regurgitate (the one and only negative) opinion from someone else to reinforce a baseless negative opinion you preassigned five months before the car was even out?

Seriously, that makes total sense. You going to vote using that same methodology in November too? By making up your mind in advance without researching, and then choosing to agree with any editorials that come along that happen to reaffirm whatever you had already decided, even if the majority of the editorials say the opposite?

Sounds like a great plan.

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Lyall - 4/13/2008 8:08:54 PM

+1 Boost

The 135 may be ugly and uneconomical- but it sure as hell GOES LIKE STINK!

Even the M3 doesnt carve corners this cleanly- and with such precision- and that's saying something. I drove both cars yesterday and don't anymore feel as though this is a decontented, cheapened, shortened 335. It feels more like a half price M3.

From the inside- the view out's excellent and no, I could find the Steinway/Yamaha Grand, on the roof. Actually- I much prefer the 135's cockpit to the 335's. The M3's cockpit though is simply superb. Still- it's about 30K more. I'd rather take the 135, or the M3 over the 335. Both are precision driving instruments, and more so than the 335, itself a rather fine driving machine (but geting a bit common in San Francisco).

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Lyall - 4/13/2008 8:11:26 PM

+1 Boost

Correction to the above- meant to say COULDN'T find the Steinway/Yamaha Grand on the 135's roof.

Now that I've posted twice though- I do have to add that this- the 135 I mean- may well be the world's BEST SECOND CAR BAR NONE!

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