BMW's 1 Series: Small and Sporty

Is there really room for the 1er -- or for its riders?

The grass, they say, is always greener on the other side. I'm sure every car manufacturer would like to be in the same position as Mercedes, Porsche, and BMW, building cars that really don't cost that much more to design and engineer than basic fodder, but which can be sold at a premium price… and to a seemingly endless line of willing buyers.

It's so lucrative, in fact, that Mercedes was able to "merge" with Chrysler, Porsche is currently "merging" with VW and BMW remains the only totally autonomous carmaker in the world, even if it has started using Peugeot/Citroe n engines to power the MINI.

You'd think they'd be happy with their lot, but no, these companies are constantly expanding into new segments. Porsche, for example, will soon be making more sedans and SUVs than sports cars. Mercedes, meanwhile, is downsizing, with not one but two models smaller than the C-Class in Europe (excluding smart). Audi has scaled down to the A3 (though it canned the slow-selling A2).

BMW, not content with the MINI, also decided to offer the 1-Series to prestige-hungry Europeans. The reason they do this, of course, is not to increase volume or bolster their coffers -- if anything, they're running the risk of diluting the brand and hurting the bottom line with these lower-margin cars. Instead, these compact and sub-compact premium cars are designed to lure buyers into the showroom at a younger age, allowing the carmakers to woo them early and instill in them a strong loyalty to the brand, thereby ensuring a lifetime of valuable repeat business.

Surprise hit

2009 BMW 1-SeriesThe A3 has been a surprise hit both in Europe and in America now, too, and its success worried rivals so much they've had to build premium compacts of their own to compete. In Audi's case, engineering the A3 was as simple as re-skinning the Golf, but for BMW, with no partner from which to 'borrow' a platform, they've had to take the 3-Series and shrink it. Fortunately the 1-Series is more than just a 3-Series with the backside hacked off (ah, who can forget the tail-less lizard that was the 3-Series Compact?) -- it's a unique and proper piece of design in its own right.

It starts off well, with its huge headlamp clusters and rather "friendly" expression (compared to the snarling aggression of the rest of the BMW range) and only gets better along the deeply sculpted flanks, bulging wheel wells, and dipping roofline. The recently unveiled three-door hatchback looks even better than the five-door model.

But once you get around to the back of any 1-Series the whole design comes asunder, it seems. The dreary, misshapen rear lamps and drab tailgate are disappointingly bland given how dramatic the rest of the car looks, and I've also observed that the 1-Series is extraordinarily wheel and color sensitive, too. Buy a silver 1-Series on 18-inch alloys and you'll stop traffic. Opt for a dark gray model on 16-inch wheels and you'll constantly lose it in mall parking lots.

Swing open a door and you'll notice the bulk of the dashboard, center console, front seats, most of the door trims, and the whole driving environment come straight from the 3-Series, so they look beautiful and work wonderfully well. From the driver's seat, you're aware that it's a smaller car than the 3-Series (it's almost a foot shorter and two-and-a-half inches narrower), but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It somehow feels cozier and more cosseting than the 3.

Disaster in back

When you get around to the back seats, however, disaster strikes. The multi-link rear suspension, bulky differential, and four-inch wheelbase deficit over the (already cramped) 3-Series mean the 1-Series is a packaging calamity, with miserable rear legroom and extremely limited rear headroom, too. That probably won't worry many of the younger buyers the 1-Series will be aimed at in the States, but in Europe (where people of all life stages buy small cars) it's a serious detraction.

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