An AWD BMW 'M130iX' Is On The Way With 300bhp
When a conversation about circa-£30,000 hot hatches comes up, the likes of the Honda Civic Type R, Ford Focus RS and the new Hyundai I30 N tend to dominate proceedings. But there’s one contender that’s often forgotten, and it does things rather differently. We’re talking about the BMW M140i.
It has more cylinders than all its rivals. It sends its power exclusively to the rear wheels. And it’s also available with some bonkers discounts in the UK, making it potentially a lot cheaper too. Sounds like there must be a catch, right? Sadly there is - this inline-six-powered, RWD little beasty will soon be replaced with a all-wheel drive car packing an inline-four.
This is something we’ve known for a while. The whole 1-series range is set to be based on a development of the transverse UKL architecture that underpins the 2-series Active Tourer and various Mini models, and that’ll inevitably mean the fastest next-gen 1-series will be all-wheel drive rather than rear. Now though, we have some new details about the 1er range-topper.
Autocar reports that the M Performance version will be dubbed ‘M130iX’. The ‘iX’ suffix is a nod to the AWD versions of the E30 3-series and E34 5-series, and here it’s referring to BMW’s multi-plate clutch ‘Xdrive’ system.
It’ll be powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre inline-four, kicking out around 300bhp. The car will be going toe-to-toe with rivals like the Audi S3 and Mercedes-AMG’s new ‘A35’ hot hatch.
Struggling to come to terms with the idea of an all-wheel drive M Performance machine? Seek solace in the fact that the next 2-series will still be rear-driven. The coupe is expected to use a short version of BMW’s CLAR (cluster architecture) platform, so yes, that means the next M240i and the full-fat M2 will still send power rearwards.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
what car? all i see is pattern.
Unpopular opinion. the 1 series is a great drivers car sure but it wasn’t as great a hatch as the others in the overall scheme of things. But i will miss it though.
Can I ask for something they should have done from the start?
Since even numbers are for coupes and cabrios, rename the 2 series active tourer as a 1 series. They change the numering to make sense, then screw it over
RIP BMW 1-series.
I think we can safely say that the “normal” next-gen 1-Series will be FWD, with an AWD option for certain models. Unless it has a similar AWD system to a Mitsubishi Evo, this is a massive downgrade. Also, transverse engines and no more 6-pot? If that’s all true, the 1-Series is dead to me.
If it will only be 300 bhp it will be far behind Mercedes Or Audi