1-er Design: Back to the Future?

[Brookside]

1-er Design

Starting to look familiar? The 1-er from it's best angle.


Classic. E46 MCoupe with BBS CH wheels.

Back to the Future or Forward to the Past?

Ever since the first spy-pics of the 1-er, I’ve thought that it has more than a passing resemblance to the E46 MCoupe...not a bad thing at all.

But is it a good thing...ie, is the 1-er a step forward in BMW’s design language, and if not, should it have been?
People have pointed out the rear is visually busy- I think the front, with it’s large headlights and small grille is awkward.
And, just to complicate things, there’s a couple people over on GCF who think this is the best looking car of the Bangle era.

Just wondering what you guys think?
I’ll be posting more comparison pics.

[inTgr8r]

I was tempted to vote Goldilocks;
I still need to see the car in person to see what/how much passion it invokes.

[Brookside]

E46 and 1-er from the side

[imported_MPower]

Well, it is probably Bangle's simplest design apart from the SUVs. It is the one that looks most like a traditional BMW, meaning simple, bold kidneys, perfectly integrated Hofmeister kink, bold shoulder line, wide stance, etc. The only aspects of the car that really show the Bangle connection are the rear light designs, and the Z4-esque sagging curve along the side.

Is it his best design yet? Hell no. The Z4 Coupe takes the cake with ease. However, it is probably his best all-around design. The Z4 Coupe divides people: either love or hate. The 1er Coupe wont really be like that. It will be more like the E46 in those regards in that most people liked or loved that design. Personally, I liked the E46, never loved the design. I'll have to wait to see the 135i in person but I think that as of now the 1er Coupe looks better.

[DimaGt]

I absolutely love E46 M3, in my opinion that body was one of the best BMW ever made. 1 series looks good, even agressive, yet I still need to see it in person....
Z4M coupe was the best Bangle's team design. (but I still don't like him)

[2fast]

IMO, E46 represents the pinnacle of bmw design. 1-er is very close to that, which is no small accomplishment.

[SCA]

The bug-eye headlights is my only complaint. Hopefully BMW did not cut corners on the interior materials.

[fishbulb]

I LOVE the Z4 Coupe. One of the hottest cars since the FD RX-7. However, I find the nose to be veeeeerrrrryyyyyy looooooonnnngg. And, it is expensive and not very practical.

The E46 M3 is one of the nicest BMW designs going. You know it is a 3, but at the same time, you KNOW it is an ///M. It is purposful, but not overdone like an EVO or STi. The E39 M5 also has a great look to it with the same idea.

Seeing these photos of the E46 M3 and the 135 side by side really does illustrate how similar the two are (which is a very GOOD thing) The hood is long enough, but not Z4 long. The rear deck is nice and short. I go back and forth with the curves in the rocker panel area of the
135, but looking at the M3, it looks a little plain down there.

I think the 1er looks like an interesting evolution of the E46 M3. I am not a bangle hater at all, although some of his cars went a little far. I think that the 1er is a pretty good treatment of many of the successful design elements that he introduced.

[Brookside]

rear/side view

[dmboone25]

The headlights on the 1er are my major complaint as well--too big and round IMO. Might not be as "bad" in person--can't wait to see. :biggrin:

I do like the overall design....

[atr_hugo]

I've been chomping at the bit all day to go after this one. ; -) But work interceded until now.

I love the field of automotive styling and have had the pleasure of meeting some really good designers in the past eight years and have gotten a number of in-depth 'walk-arounds' of production cars from them. (All were pre-production vehicles with a couple of exceptions - for the most part I've not seen 'concept' vehicles before they've been available for public display - but one of those exceptions was the new Mustang. : -)

That'll give you a flavor of my meagre bona fides for discussing styling.

I really like the 135i - as I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a sucker for 3-box cars (engine-box, passenger-box, boot-box) and the 2002 was the car I pictured when the term '3-box cars' was mentioned. The two enduring traits of the 2002 were the Hofmeister kink and the 'tin-box' lip that ran around the entire vehicle (echoed in the pronounced shoulder line of the 1 series coupe).

The 135i (specifically) has a number of design elements that really capture my attention. I've alluded to the back light and how it was integrated into the design in a previous post. But the whole back end of that car is well done. Starting at the upper edge of the trunk the creases from the flanks contine across the trunk (unlike the E46) and it dips a bit in the middle - that dip is a visual trick to drop the apparant height of the trunk as are the 'u' shapes defined by the trunk opening and bottom insert.

The same can be said of the front, the twin kidney grille shape is echoed in the lower intercooler opening (a 'u' shape). I have no complaints over the shape of the headlamp assemblies but that's just me.

The drooping curve in the rocker panels hides the length of the wheelbase and the depth of the panels on the flanks of the car are very well done. The E46 is slab-sided compared to this car. (The original slab-sided car was the Jeepster - they used dies from a bankrupt refrigerator manufacturer and they only had a six inch draw. ; -) This car also has a very well pronounced tumblehome. Another item that the 1er coupe has over the E46 is the integration of the C-pillar.

Speaking of dies - the complex shoulder shape (sharp crease abutted to a concave shape with a steep radius) is hard to pull out of dies - it's a way one manufacturer says "in your face!" to another.

All in all (and this post just scratches the surface) I believe this is one of the most integrated/good designs to come out of BMW.

[imported_tdc]

There's a reason why I have no problem getting into a 135i from an E46 M3.

:biggrin:

[Brookside]

I 100% agree about the shoulder line in Hugo's post - it's my favorite design item on the car.

While Hugo talked about how the die/stamping process is like "take that everyone else", I remembered a guy, an early contributor here
who lived in Germany and had some real knowledge of the way cars are made.
Can't remember his name , but what he talked about is how a complex BMW panel like the trunk might go through 6-7 seperate stampings
in order to get all the creases and turns where other brands, even the premium ones will need only 2-3 stamps.

Someone could say, "Ok, it's just technical mastery," but the development of the dies is incredibly expensive and time intensive.
I respect that kind of investment in design.

[atr_hugo]

Originally Posted by Brookside

Someone could say, "Ok, it's just technical mastery," but the development of the dies is incredibly expensive and time intensive.
I respect that kind of investment in design.

I think one way of summing up what we've seen so far, design, engines, EffecientDynamics, is that this is very 'thoughtful' design.

My musical experience is with classical music and what we know as classical music flows from JS Bach. One of my favorite composers is Brahms and while he wrote some gorgeously romantic music it has a very definable structure to it built on the fundementals suggested by 'Cool Papa Bach'. It is 'thoughtful' music. The BMW engineers compose 'thoughtful' cars.

[larry lawless]

To be honest I just really appreciate the line of this car ...........it just does it for me.

[imported_Sweeper]

Originally Posted by Brookside

rear/side view

I like the 1-er better in this shot. The curved lines in the 1-er make the car look better.

[blackjoker]

I love the way the car looks and I kinda like the headlights. I still have to see it in person, but i'm pretty sure I'll fall in love just as soon as I see a Jet Black with a Coral Red interior 135i.