Thread: 1M Recognition
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      01-06-2019, 03:47 PM   #8
nachob
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Quote:
Originally Posted by seis-speed View Post
One thing I love is the 1M is not special to everyone, but the people who know and understand it.
I like this sentiment. It's special to me because of it's history. After the E90s came out and the cars were bigger, heavier than the e46s, I was very vocal on here about my dissapointment. I waited for the 1 series with excitement only to have it dashed by BMW USA not offering us the cloth/alcantara interiors, the steering really not being that good, etc. I took a lot of heat on this site for wanting something lighter, smaller more focused that we could buy new with warranty and do Euro delivery. Then what do you know. Someone at BMW cared also and they made this little gem happen. I understand the story and the effort so many made to make this car happen. Guys at BMW gambled their reputations on it. BMW had horrible lease rates because they thought it would not sell and depreciate rapidly. The economy was bad and barely recovering from the recession. But at the time BMW was garbage to guys like me and then they came. I remember the mobs of onlookers throughout Europe when I was on ED. My car was making a strange sound somewhere in Austria and I saw a small BMW dealer. I pulled in and people from the service bay and from inside the dealer all came to look at it. It might as well been a Bugatti Veyron. My the biggest compliment came from the young man that walked me down the stairs at BMW Welt to pick up my 1M. I had seen him the day before delivery high end M3s and super expensive cars. Now as I opened the door....he says excitedly, THIS IS THE ONE I WOULD GET! I looked at him and said, is that part of the script? You tell that to all new owners? No, with his impeccable English with slight German accent. No, really this is the one I would get above all others. I remember coming out of a gas station in Italy and my car was surrounded by Italians peering in the windows and a Z4 flying on the autobahn about 150 and hitting the brakes as they were about to pass and pulling in front of me to take pictures.

The car is 8 years old now and most don't know that it was a watershed for BMW that brought back "creds" for old school fan-boys. Yet yesterday I saw a beautiful manual M2C at Cars and Coffee San Clemente. I saw the guy get out with his boy from this beautiful machine and walk away. As I was walking by my old nicked up 1M, I see him walk around the the 1M looking at it intently and pulling out his phone and taking pictures of it. For all I know, he could be posting something like hey look at this old dated looking overrated 1M? But it looked like he was excited to see it and I was actually surprised. He was the latest, hottest BMW on the market, yet still got excited to see the old, slow 1M.

So there are a few out there that understand this car and it's nice. As M3Gator mentioned, it's an old car now and I am frankly surprised that anyone out there does still care. And while not as common as in 2011, it means more now when someone does know that this little orange thing was something special back in the day.
Appreciate 8
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