Driving Spirit

BMW Previews M135i Concept

It’s nice to see that not every manufacturer is downsizing its hottest hatchbacks. If this BMW M135i concept is to be believed, the German car maker is sticking to a six-cylinder formula and making its fastest-ever 1 Series hatchback.

With the M135i concept, BMW are also giving us our first glimpse of the new 3-door body. The revamped 1 Series, released last year, is only available as a 5-door at the moment but BMW are keen to continue the success of the 3-door variant of the last model.

Sadly the larger doors and re-styled windows do little to improve the looks of the 1 Series. There’s no escaping the challenging appearance of that nose with its droopy eyes and flared nostrils. While the M-sport body kit ups the aggression factor of the M135i, it’s still not a pretty car.

Fortunately you can’t see the car when you’re sat behind the wheel, and the M135i promises to deliver ‘more than 300bhp’ from the straight six-cylinder, boosted by a pair of turbochargers. That should make for lively performance from the compact 1 Series, not forgetting that this is the only rear-wheel drive car in its class.

The chassis has been specially tuned to cope with the extra power, while an M sports braking system ensures that you should be able to stop reign in the extra speed that you will undoubtedly be travelling at. Surrounding the new brakes are a set of 18-inch M light alloys with a double spoke design.

If the M135i becomes a production reality it should certainly be enough to challenge the Audi RS3, current king of the über-hatch market. The downside to that is that it will most likely mean an asking price of close to, or even over, £40,000.

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