There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the new F40 BMW 1 Series on this interwebs machine. Reason being is that the new car is front-wheel drive (the devil, apparently) and replaces the outgoing rear-wheel drive car (automotive salvation, apparently). No one is going to question rear-wheel drive’s superiority over its front-drive alternative but the outrage is overblown to say the least. A lot of journalists have driven this new 1er and can agree with this. To help us learn more, Top Gear put together a list of nine interesting tidbits about this new front-drive 1 Series.
We’re only going to list a couple of them, as you should head over there and read them all for yourself. But we’ll point out the ones we found most interesting.
For instance, when speaking with some of the engineers, TG learned that BMW wouldn’t actually prefer to switch back the 1er to rear-wheel drive now. According to BMW’s head of driving dynamics Peter Langen,“If you ask me now ‘would you like it to be a RWD car’, I would not like that,” he told TG. “The goal is to have better drive-ability in each new BMW generation. My feeling is this is a better car than its predecessor, independent of the ‘front-drive or rear-drive’ discussion.”
Another interesting bit of info is that the new 1 Series could gain a hybrid version. While there isn’t a plug-in hybrid variant planned as of yet, the new platform is capable. So if the demand for such a car ever comes down from the top brass, “We can react very fast,” said Langen.
Read the rest of the TG story, it’s quite interesting. While it might not be the first choice of enthusiasts, this new BMW 1 Series is shaping up to be much better than expected. We can’t wait to take it for a spin and see what it’s made of.
[Source: Top Gear]
