As you would want, BMW is continually testing the upcoming 1-Series (for 2012) ahead of its launch. And as its size implies, the 1-series will be the smallest BMW in the lineup and arguably one of the more sporty ones to drive.
Not only is the extensive testing and engineering period in the run-up to launch day testament to this fact, but BMW themselves have repeatedly hinted to the importance of this model. It is said that
going foreward, the 1-series and 3-series segments are the ones that will see growth and have been targeted by BMW for just that. Having learned valuable lessons from the freshman 1-series, BMW is surely going to come with a second round knock out punch for this F20 with higher in class quality levels, and improved handling/drivetrain dynamics.
As in the past, BMW will launch this car initally in what we see here, a 5-door hatchback trim, likely followed by a 3-door hatchback and then a coupe.
Cosmeticaly speaking, the car retains the
highly dynamic proportions and general theme of the current car, albeit with a much
wider stance to my eye that should be pretty sick on the road. Make sure to look closely at the front end on this car, it seems the standard camo replacement headlights have been removed and the real life front end has been fit, so those are
the real headlights we are looking at. We've seen hints of this in the past, and it looks like BMW is set to arrange the driving and high-beam lights in a staggered offset position, having the high-beam light decidely in a horizontaly higher position then the driving lamps. This combined with the sure to be sculpted F10/Concept CS style hood and new grill design will, in my opinion, give this car one of the most destinctive front ends of any production BMWs on the road right now. Also be sure to take a look at the camo pattern around the kidney grills, BMW has purposely seemed to invert the design with the lower portion wider then the top section. BMW typically uses camo to hide or contradict the design underneath, but in this case they may actualy be giving us a hint? I say this because insider
SCOTT26 has hinted that the new car would use an inverted grill design and if this is indeed true, then you can use your imagination on what it could look like when you use the lines formed by the camoflague surrounding the grills.
Enginewise, the N55 may continue to be used under the hood as the top of the range model in the 1-series lineup until the next generation 1-Series M Coupe arrives (probably not until 2014). This very car is believed to be the N55 135i due to the fact that it has the dual rounded exhausts, uprated wheel and tire combo (reminiscent of the current 135i sport) and of course the larger brakes. But also on the table of rumors is of course the tri-turbo diesel and petrol models as well as 3-cylinder engines, so all in all, engine wise we may see some very interesting but also efficient options alongside the traditional forced induction high power 6 cylinder option.
Make sure to follow the bimmerpost coverage of the 1-series here:
http://www.bimmerpost.com/1-series/