German magazine Sport Auto takes the BMW M135i and pits it against the BMW 1M at the legendary Nurburgring.
This is the comparison we’ve been waiting for – Power, Weight, Acceleration and Handling. Right of the bat, the 1 Series M scores a win in the 0-100km/hr times where it is 0.2 sec quicker at 4.7s. Weight, the advantage goes to the M135i which rings in 7 kg or about 15lbs less than the 1M, so the M135i wins but not by as much as I would have thought. Power comparisons are rather interesting as both have different motors though the same displacement. The 1M has the N54 bi-turbo rated at 340hp and 500 Nm of torque. The M135i has the single turbo N55 rated at 320 hp and 450 Nm of torque. Redline for both is 7000 rpm. Power to weight, the win goes to the 1M.
Chart by DeDe from GCF based on SportAuto data
The power, weight and acceleration are pretty easy to objectively compare. Handling, however, is more difficult to compare and intuition tells me that the 1 Series M should be quicker on a race track because it’s able to put the power down with it’s trick variable M differential right from the venerable M3. To compare the handling, SportAuto’s review takes the BMWs to Hockenheim and the 1 M Coupe again comes out on top with a lap time of 1Min 14.1 sec and the M135i laps in 1Min 15.7 seconds.
The only thing I’d point out not fair in this comparison is that the M135i has the Michelin’s new Pilot Super Sports which according to Michelin have better performance that the Michelin Pilot Sports that the 1 Series M wears. Sometimes it just kills me the cars we cant get here in the US and the M135i is yet another. The closest thing we’ve gotten here was the short run of 741 for the US, 1 Series M, but we can always hope they’ll bring the M135i here.
