BMW 1 Series M135i 2019 first drive

Now, here’s the thing. As a fast and capable four-wheel-drive hot hatch, the M135i is rather good. Certainly, it’s a match for the Mercedes-AMG A35. Yet there’s no denying that the character of the highest-performance 1 Series has changed, to the point that buyers of the old M140i are likely to be in for a bit of a shock.

At the start, it all feels relatively familiar. Sure, the view ahead looks a little odd, the higher scuttle and shorter bonnet betraying the new car’s front-wheel-drive roots, but you sit low behind that chunky steering wheel, with the traditional wrap-around dashboard ahead of you. Hit the starter button and the engine burbles into life in a similar fashion to the old straight six. Get moving and there’s the same tautness to the ride, while the steering has that trademark brightness and lack of friction. It feels very much like a BMW.

It’s fast, too. With all the torque available from not much more than idle, the M135i pulls with an elastic energy that delivers the sort of big-hearted, effortless urge you expect from a far larger engine. Inclines, overtaking and straights are dealt with in fairly imperious fashion. BMW claims the 0-62mph takes 4.8sec and, if anything, that’s a conservative figure. It’s matched well with the eight-speed gearbox, which rifles smoothly through the cogs when left to its own devices and reacts crisply to the steering-wheel-mounted paddles, which are now faster acting.

However, work the engine hard and the encouraging gurgle from the exhaust at lower crank speeds is replaced by a rather anodyne, synthesised mechanical growl as the revs climb past 4000rpm. It’s even more noticeably augmented in Sport mode. It’s not an unpleasant sound as such, just one that’s fairly inauthentic. And it’s certainly not a patch on the howling straight six.

Accelerating hard also reveals another quirk that will be alien to owners of the old 1 Series: torque steer. It’s not much, just a subtle tightening of the wheel as the Torsen diff does i’s bit, but there’s enough corruption to let you know that this is a very different kind of BMW. Moreover, it’s not a problem that afflicts the A35 or Volkswagen Golf R. That said, traction is exceptional, the combination of the four-wheel drive and the faster-acting traction control catapulting the M135i out of corners with the sense that not a single horsepower is wasted.

Now this is where it gets a bit tricky. Ignore the badge and the rear-wheel-drive heritage and the M135i makes a strong case for itself as a fast and engaging four-wheel-drive hot hatch that’s also refined, well finished, practical and only a few hundred quid more than a Volkswagen Golf R. We’re not entirely sold on the looks, but the better-packaged, roomier interior is arguably a price worth paying for the slightly ungainly styling.

As a driver’s car, it’s more playful and agile than a Mercedes-AMG and, for most of the time, than the old M140i. Yet good though it is, it doesn’t feel like we’ve come to expect fast BMWs should. The purity of the old car’s layout and its natural balance are replaced by a sense of artificially heightened agility that, you suspect, has been created to distract from the fundamental change in philosophy under the skin.

This isn’t really such an issue in the cooking versions, but as a car aimed at enthusiasts, it’s more of a challenge. And while you can understand the business case for what BMW has done, you can’t escape a certain sadness that without rear drive and, in the case of the M140i, a creamy six-cylinder motor, the 1 Series is no longer the unique offering it was. Overall, the M135i is a better car for most of the time than its predecessor, but it’s not a better fast BMW.