For the super hothatch fans, BMW knew it had to do something special, and so they lobbed a turbocharged direct injection straight-6 DOHC engine under the bonnet of the brand new F20 1-Series and have it a really cool name.
The M135i is the work of the newly established M Performance division, who fitted the car with the N55HP engine, capable of delivering 320 hp and 450 Nm of torque at 4,500 rpm. It’s the same power you’d get from the 640i, and in the 1-Series it pushes the car to 100 km/h in just 4.9 seconds with the automatic gearbox.
As any good German car should, the car should be limited to 250 km/h (155 mph) at the top, but the guys at Motorsport magazine got the needle to nudge 10 more kilometers: 260 km/h. More impressive than the speed that’s reached is the way the car gets there, a linear surge of power all the way to the red line.
As any good German car should, the car should be limited to 250 km/h (155 mph) at the top, but the guys at Motorsport magazine got the needle to nudge 10 more kilometers: 260 km/h. More impressive than the speed that’s reached is the way the car gets there, a linear surge of power all the way to the red line.