The tire needed to be replaced, of course, but otherwise, our 1-series spent very little time in the shop. In fact, besides one unscheduled visit to the dealership to proactively replace a low-pressure fuel pump, the BMW entered the service bay only once more, after it asked politely for an oil change - which was covered by BMW's free maintenance program.
The 1-series wasn't always polite in its demands, though - Zenlea commented that "this car likes to chime. It chimes when you open the door; it chimes when you insert the key. My favorite was when it chimed to tell me I needed to buckle up the turkey sandwich I had placed on the passenger seat." But then, his butt warmed sufficiently by the seat heaters that he and everyone else agreed "set the standard," Zenlea saw the bigger picture: "Whereas BMW's propensity for mining niches is baffling in some cases (read: the X6), the 1-series is a bull's-eye, letting loose distilled BMW goodness into a price bracket where nothing can quite compete. And even though the interior is pretty bare bones for $39,125, it feels impossibly more luxurious than that of our $41,515 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR."
So our 135i was completely reliable, cost us nothing to maintain, and drew unanimous praise for its "absolute dream" of an engine. It attracted loads of attention from admirers and felt "awesome, with M-worthy levels of power and tight, precise steering," reveled senior editor Joe Lorio. Our resident skeptic, technical editor Don Sherman, said it "exceeds the adult daily requirement for powertrain and chassis sweetness and purity." And New York bureau chief Jamie Kitman, who drove the 135i back to his Hudson River hideaway from this year's Detroit auto show, found it "hard not to like the 1-series, which I'd take over a 3-series."
So what's the kerfuffle about having too much power? Well, we roasted the rear summer tires in about 12,000 miles, so we obviously enjoyed every last bit of the thrust. The only problem is that we've all driven the 128i. It rolls on smaller wheels and tires, giving it a more supple ride and much greater resistance to bottoming out. It also costs about $6500 less, leaving lots more room in the budget for gadgets like Bluetooth, power seats, and navigation, which, for 2009, comes with BMW's vastly improved iDrive system.
Most important, the 128i's 230-hp, normally aspirated 3.0-liter engine is more than powerful enough even for the Leadfoot Department at 120 East Liberty Street, and it sings the same sweet in-line six-cylinder song. We're still not sure if there is such a thing as too much power, but we all agree that there can never be enough of that classic BMW music coming from under the hood. ...next page >>