Test drive BMW 1 E87 2004 - 2007 hatchback

First place

BMW can be compact
BMW fans have recently been expecting new items from their favorite company with some kind. The Bavarian company departs from the traditional style, which in an evolutionary way has been formed for several decades. The appearance of the 1st series, fundamentally new for the BMW, will have to be used to. However, the inner core of the car remained the same.
Let's start with the price of the issue, which, in principle, is not discussed when buying BMW. However, the 1st series is a special case. In order to become the owner of the new BMW, now it is enough to accumulate 22,900 euros. For this money, Russian dealers will offer you a five -door car with a 1.6 liter engine with a capacity of 116 hp. This is almost 3000 euros cheaper than the new Audi A3 (three -door hatchback) in a similar configuration. Approximately the same amount will cost the purchase of a new VW Golf. A model with a two -liter engine and an automatic transmission in Russia will cost 30,000 euros. It turns out that the new BMW can afford a middle -class representative?
Why not? The BMW leadership throws a network with small cells in the hope of catching new buyers of representatives of young, active and claimant generation (quote from a press release). Formally (in external dimensions and the length of the wheelbase), the BMW of the 1st series refers to the so-called golf class the most mass family of cars. In the company's management using this model, they expect to significantly expand the circle of fans.
But what about the prestige of the brand? The desire to step into the masses is usually fraught with compromises. They are in a unit, but, as tested trips showed, concessions do not concern the most important thing. For which everyone, in fact, loves and appreciates BMW: the car has a rear-wheel drive, and largely thanks to this layout, the control of the 1st series gives real pleasure. The unit, despite compact sizes, goes very expensive.
Velvet added to the revolution?
The program of our press tour included a visit to the BMW plant in Regensburg near Munich, where units and various options for tremors gather on one conveyor. Not only a tour of production facilities, but also the study of office parking lots were interesting. On them were a row of new BMW 1st and 3rd episodes, old and new five, elegant compartment of the sixth series, large X5 and compact X3. A kind of exhibition of designer delights in an informal setting. A comparison of cars showed: outwardly, a unit is much more traditional for BMW than other news of the company's company. For example, in the ANFAS and in three quarters of the BMW 1st series, it is more like the current generation of treshka than to the new five.
The interior design of the 1st series as a whole repeats the highlight style of the latest BMW new products, for example, five. The same geometrically strict door handles. The same cold texture of the materials used in the interior decoration. The quality is impeccable. Perhaps it is precisely this feeling of solidity and high cost that the space of the salon is extends. Inside, the unit, despite the compact dimensions, seems to be a quite spacious car. True, such a feeling can arise only in those who occupy the front seats. The back is not so spacious. It will only be relatively comfortable for adult passengers on the back sofa if people are sitting in front of not higher than 175 180 cm. The process of planting and planting on the rear sofa is not very conveniently organized. However, in BMW they do not position a unit as a family car, where everything is done to please passengers. The main character in this car is a driver.
A return to the origins is also felt in the arrangement of the salon: the central console is deployed towards the driver!
The driver's place is impeccable. Since the engine in the BMW is located longitudinally, the pedals were located directly opposite the driver’s chair without displacement, which cars with the transverse location of the motor usually sin. The seats adjustment ranges allow us to conveniently get a man about two meters behind the wheel. The seat with developed side support rollers grabs the body gently, but tightly. Surprisingly, adrenaline begins to be produced as soon as you are settled at the wheel of this machine.
I didn’t really like the gearbox lever. Rather, its location. It seemed to me that he is moved closer to the center of the car than the laws of ergonomics are prescribed: when switching the gears, bend the hand in the elbow and pushing the shoulder back a little more than in other cars.
Perhaps a similar location of the gearbox lever is a compromise compromise. The fact is that the designers of the 1st series set the task of achieving perfect weightlifting: 50% on the front and 50% on the rear axle. A similar balance allows the car to accurately and confidently pass turns: without demolition and drifts. The center of gravity of the 1st series is almost under the fifth point of the driver, which allows you to perfectly feel the car.
The compact dimensions of one demanded to shift the engine and gearbox as much as possible towards the cabin from here and not too comfortable the location of the gearbox lever. The treasured 50 x 50 was required from designers and other tricks. The battery, for example, had to be transferred to the trunk. But there are no places for the spare wheel (even the booze) left there. Therefore, on the BMW of the 1st series, wheels of a special design are installed. The car is capable of driving about 200 km on a fully lowered tire (then, apparently, you will have to throw it off the tire itself).
The front suspension of the BMW 1st series is similar to the one that is installed on the new five and seven, the rear completely new development: a five-leaf structure made of lightweight steel. For German roads, the suspension is perfectly configured: at speeds at 200 km/h, the unit seems to stick to the asphalt, when passing the irregularities at low speeds, it quite successfully swallows potholes and tram tracks.
For the first acquaintance, Russian journalists were provided with a car with a gasoline two -liter engine with a capacity of 150 hp. and a mechanical 6-speed gearbox. The BMW of the 1st series can also be equipped with a 1.6 l with a capacity of 115 hp with a gasoline engine with a volume of 1.6 l. and two variants of diesel engines: with a volume of 1.8 liters and 2 l (with a power of 122 and 163 hp, respectively). Unfortunately, sales of one with diesel engines in Russia are not yet provided.
The car is equipped with either 6-speed mechanics (for a 1.6 l 5-speed engine), or a 6-speed automatic.
The motor in the BMW is not just something under the hood. To emphasize the significance of the engine, it does not start with the key, but the Start button. Up to 100 km/h the car accelerates in 8.7 seconds. The dynamics of the start is not impressive possible, the fault of this is too short initial steps in the checkpoint. In second transmission, the motor rests on the speed limiter at 70 km/h. For active driving, it seemed best to use the third or fourth programs. The characteristics of the engine include the possibility of leisurely driving and smooth acceleration in the fifth gear already at speeds of 50 60 km/h.
And finally, the equipment. In this regard, the most affordable BMW is in no way inferior to its more expensive brothers in the model range. Double-zone climate control, Idrive system for configuring the functions of the car, parking sensors with a large screen, which displays obstacles information, a system of comfortable access, which allows you to run the engine without removing the key from the pocket, this is only a small list of parts that allow you to feel in a compact unit as a compact unit In the present.
Igor Komarov
 

Source: Wheel (company)