The Revised BMW M135i
This is one we’ve been quite excited for ever since we drove the 118iA in 2020. It’s a BMW that has already reached its 3th birthday in its current shape, yet has now undergone some updates… Read on to find out!
What are THE updates?
Since most people would probably scroll their way down to this topic, I figured why not start off with it? So that all your curious minds are satisfied.
It’s fairly obvious, but on the outside there’s really no change other than the smoked headlights for the 2022 BMW M135i. The real deal is under the hood, which we will dive into now *pulls lever twice…
When it comes to the engine and gearbox, these are essentially the same. This 1-Series is powered by the same B48 2L 4-Cylinder “twin”turbocharged engine as they call it. This setup is good for 306hp and 450nm of torque. Power is sent through the already-known 8-speed automatic gearbox, and then onto all 4 wheels, because yes, this is an xDrive. So what’s new? The gearbox is now tweaked in a way that it will shift more aggressively and gives the driver more feedback when doing sporty driving.
Now comes the best part; most of 2022 BMW M135i its mechanical tweaks are based on and around the suspension. BMW changed the spring and damper rates, which makes the car even more versatile. There’s increased negative camber on both the front and rear wheels, and the rear axle has even undergone some strengthening in order to improve the M135i’s behaviour on that axle. What I can tell from my experience is that the car now absolutely planted to the ground, except for when you really start pushing in corners and feeling the understeer happening.
How does it drive?
It’s what I expected, yet also it wasn’t. I figure I should start off by saying; the xDrive keeps you in the corner, but understeers just a little too easily. Why is that? Well, because this 1-series runs on a MINI platform, which is originally FWD. This means that most of the power still goes to the front wheels, making the car a little understeer-biased.
But does it give you a safe feeling when casually driving, or even doing spirited driving? Yes, it does. And occasionally it will be a bit snappy, but that’s part of its character I believe.
I already mentioned the suspension before, but how does it actually perform on a day-to-day bases? Well, since our car was not equipped with the adaptive suspension, it was kind of a straight-forward story. When puddling along, the suspension did great at absorbing most imperfections in the road, and provided you with a very direct and pleasant feedback. Yet when you put it into sport, the suspension immediately transforms the M135i into a rock-solid cornering machine, truly wonderful that is.
Active sound…
I don’t like to do this, but I’ll have to. The so called “Active sound” BMW pumped into the cabin, is absolutely not my favorite. It’s sad that the emotion of having a noisy engine completely fades away because of emission regulations… When accelerating it does sound great when upshifting, but then again, on the outside none of that noise is present. That all being said, we have come to the most shocking part of this paragraph, being the BOPOPOPS when you lift off the throttle aggressively. First there’s an M2-alike burble, followed up by some pops which I can best describe as rubbish. It’s obvious that they are fake, and that in my eyes is a big turn-off in a car like this. An upside to this? You can almost completely turn it off in the iDrive system, thank you BMW!
My verdict as an F40 driver
So here we are then, I’m back in my F40 118i, and would love to share some of my personal experiences with the M135i. First of all, I am and will be in love with the “beefy-sporty-looking” design BMW gave the F40.
My 118i is equipped with the M-pack, meaning it has the M-suspension as well. I have to say that when daily driving, the M135i actually provided me with more comfort than my 118i does. That being said, I immediately missed the versatile B48 of the M135i engine at my right foot. I experienced it as a very addicting car to drive, and one that I will be missing for quite a while.
This might be a very brave statement to put out there, but I’m more convinced of what BMW is doing with their hot-hatch, compared to Mercedes’ A35… I’m looking forward to BMW’s future plans with the 1-series platform and would die to try out another M135i in the future!
