tax and insurance :(

gotta say I've always love the look of the ti and hatchbacks in general. Was disappointed to learn only coupe 1 series would make it to USA. I like driving something comparatively rare.

I drove a 135i coupe recently, turbo six, 7 speed auto (!). It was quite a drive. I really liked the size of it, the interior allowed me one of the most comfortable driving positions ive experienced - and I'm 6' 5". The size is really all you need. Anything bigger would have been just more luxurious, but not better, if you know what I mean.

And it was fast, like really fast. Everything happened in fast forward. Its abilities are quite high. High enough that your brain has to put extra concentration juice into piloting it. But pay attention and the road is yours. You can eat up road and turns with lots of confidence. The car feels good, stable and balanced. And really quick. It bangs through gears and gets up to illegal speed in no time. I tried manual shifting the 7-speed myself and it was a waste. The car is so fast and the shifts happen so quick that it requires a lot of attention. I found myself literally watching only the tach so I could shift right at redline, and I um wasnt watching the road. So I put it back in auto mode and let the puter do its thing. It is quite good, it holds gears when you want to and rev matches when braking hard. All this allows more attention on getting your braking and turn in more precise.

Braking it does really well too. Cramming the pedal just makes the car stop. You can feel and hear the abs and computer working each tire to its max. It feels really stable while doing it, not much dive either. Braking works well when diving into turns also and doesnt upset the car. And it does this, at least at the limits I was driving, without traction control. It just has good balance and setup i guess.

A few things that didnt fit so well. The really smart computer was able to sense when I was about to brake hard just before bombing into a turn and pre-pressurized the hydraulic brake system and closed the gap between the pads and rotors. This made a newly-hard and ready-for-action brake pedal. Which is awesome, but not the brake pedal my senses had become accustomed to during the rest of the drive. I repeated this on several turns and it did it each time. Who know, maybe if I owned the car I'd get used to it.

Another off-putting thing is that twice while in a hard turn the car bottomed out on the compression side over a mid-turn bump. This is probably due to the cars weight (which it masks well) and ride/handling spring/shock compromise. It only happened twice and only when driving hard, but it was still a bit unsettling for a car that does everything else so very well.

And it really does the rest well. As I guess it should for how much the thing cost. I think it would be worth it for a lease or a 2-4 year ownership experience. But after that I think you'd better have a CPO or aftermarket service contract put on it. No way would I ever even begin to think about repairing this car myself in the garage.

All in all, awesome car. If you have an opportunity to test drive one, do it. I liked the car so much from the inside and the driver experience that I didnt care as much what it looked like, a bar of Dove soap.

Just out of intrest are you guys gonna get this in the U.S. this is a 1 series that will be loved :cool: we have them in the U.K. but they are rare
its the 1M

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...8032013331.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...-1024x7681.jpg

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/m...03/BMW1M08.jpg

A limited number of 1M models came into the US.

800 I believe, my neighbor (a friend and BMW enthusiast) has one but i keep telling him that my '99 ti is more rare because theres only 656 of them roaming the states

How comes yours is so rare cos I have a 1999 318ti sport(or M sport as they get called inU.K. somtimes) there is loads here in the U.K. :confused:

in my case the year is where the rarity comes from, since only 656 '99s came to the U.S. But as a '99 I've got a rare color (Fern Green Metallic, a 3 spoke M3 steering wheel and other little things)

I must admit I've never seen a Fern Green ti sport over here, but TBH green is classed as a unlucky colour for cars in the U.K. for some reason :confused::smile: but we do have our rare colours too like this one

Dakar Yellow ti sports they only seem make them in this colour at the end of the build run of E36's b4 it changed to E46 model compacts
http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/...2/74823907.jpg
http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/...2/4dbe6a5b.jpg

also some of the year 1999 ti sports had a limited edition colours
like this one a red/gold metalic colour which I dont know the name off
http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/...2/0bcc9bd4.jpg

and this one which is my own 318ti sport
which is a blue/green metalic (what looks more blue TBH) called aegaeischblau metalic
http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/...2/1882d73a.jpg

sounds about right, towards the end of the E36 run they used colors that were normally found on M3's. As for my FarnGruen ti I love the color and have never seen another and only heard of one other.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7...fd31b5aa_c.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7211/7...8b8748a9_c.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/6...fb757518_c.jpg

Here is my interior teen ti, I think its a bit loud and gawdy TBH but its standard on the ones of the limited colours the red/gold one is the same pattern/style as mine but in red. Ive also found out why I have'nt seen a FarnGruen ti like yours, our ones that seem to be called that colour are the same but are a darker mettalic green not a solid green colour
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p.../Photo0064.jpg
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p.../Photo0063.jpg
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p.../Photo0062.jpg
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p.../Photo0065.jpg