CH Drive: BMW135i Coupe

There is something magical about a small car with a big engine. I guess it is the simplicity of the idea that attracts us. There is nothing complicated about squeezing a big pulsating motor into a tight engine bay.

This is what the BMW 135i is all about, a simple idea executed well.

They started with a taut and balanced chassis and then put a big engine over the front axle. The approach is rather rustic and all that extra weight in front is a good formula for understeer but still they persist.

I am not quite sure what the weight balance is on the 135i coupe but it is probably front heavy, unless BMW decided to use extra heavy rear suspension bits just to balance it out.

With 320 horsepower on tap, the small coupeis understandably manic and eager to play but all that mass in front and a lot of power threatening to shred the rear tyres, is the 135i any good?

My turn in the car was on the Gua Musang Cameron Highlands highway stretch which offers a combination of fast flowing corners, tightening radius cliff huggers and a few short straight sections.

The good thing about having a lot of power on tap is that you do not have to rush yourself into corners,  just set the car up properly with the correct speed, turn in and choose your line carefully, let the chassis a moment to settle down ito the corner and feed the power in to balance the car’s attitude. That is the theory but can the 135i play along?

The first few turns are fast cosntant radius turns which can be taken at speeds far in excess of 100km/h but the uneven surface of the road means that caution is absolutely necessary.

With so much weight up front, I figured it is better to give it a bit of extra brake and and enter the corner at a slightly lower speed to give the front tyres more chance to bite into the turn. because of the extra mass, I was also careful not to turn too hard and start scrubbing the tyre shoulder and ruining the initial turn in.

After a few corners, it was apaprent that this is a good and safe approach for driving the 135i coupe hard.

Turn in is not as sharp as it is in the smaller engined 1-series but it is still quick and you can dial in a bit more aggression to get a more neutral attitude going into corners.

Once the chassis is settled in, you can then use the throttle to adust the car in corners with little or no steering input.

If you get a string of corners,  all you have to do is lift off between phases and maybe tap on the brake slightly to help with turn in, continue to feather the throttle and dance with the car.

The good thing about the 135i coupe is that the car’s neutral stance and predictable chassis work together with relatively low grip levels (and we are talking relative to the M3 here) give average drivers a peek beyond the limit at reasonably safe speeds.

You can hit a corner at 100km/h, flick the car into the turn, feel the tail drift out momentarily before the tyres dig in and hold their line. You can then open up the throttle and feel the rear drift out under power.

Hit a bump mid corner and the car will shift its line without really changing the direction of travel. It would skip to the outside of the turn but maintain the direction of travel.

With the usual array of electronic driver aids, it is easy for a 135 driver to get sloppy by entering corners too fast and taking liberties. Sure the car will still do its best to stay on the road but a blinking amber triangle and a suddenly asthmatic engine will be your punishment. When this happens, your dance into corners will become disjointed, spastic even and certainly not enjoyable.

The good thing about the 135i’s ESP or Electronic Stability Programme is that it allows gentle , controllable drifts in corners so drivers must learn to take advantage of this. The system must be convinced that you are in control before it allows the drift to continue and it evaluates your level of control through the stability of the car.

If you slam the throttle mid corner and the tail steps out in a violent fashion then the toy store is closed but if you feed power gently and grip is broken progresively, the system lets you ahve your fun. Obviously there is a limit to the angle of slip before the transistors decide that things are gettign too dicey.

In conclusion I say this Rm400K++ coupe is a great fun on any roads, in fact it is probably more fun than the M3. Don’t get me wrong, the M3 is very fast and very good but I have a feeling that it is far more talented that I am and that scares me a bit. A friedn who has driven the car on Seapng says that the limit arrives progressively and controllably but the limit is set very high.