BMW were kind enough to give us an official tease of the 1 Series M Coupé on Friday. However, aside from the name, they’ve not given much else away, especially in the case of the car’s specification or equipment. That means we need to take a closer look at the pics available and start the guessing game.
Above you can see an interior shot of the car (or one of the cars) used in Friday’s tease. Keep in mind this is clearly a prototype and details are likely to change. The first things you can see are the steering wheel and front seats from the M3. On the dash are two-tone dials which might not make final production, but you can just make out an indicated redline of 7000rpm. Does that really tell us anything? Probably not, but it does match the current redline of the 135i.
Which brings us to the engine that will power the 1M. At initial launch the 135i was powered by the N54 twin-turbo 3-litre six, producing claimed figures of 225kW (300bhp) and 400Nm. It has since been replaced by the N55 single turbo 3-litre six, with twin scroll technology. Rated power and torque figures remained unchanged from the N54.
There seems to be some debate as to which engine the 1M will feature. For what its worth, the US spec 335is uses a tweaked N54 producing 243kW (320bhp)/502Nm. German publication Autobild is estimating the power of the 1M will be 340PS (250kW). Hmm, sounds suspiciously like the engine specs of the Z4 sDrive35is. Would BMW really adorn the M badge to an engine already found in a non-M model?
The 1M should be available with both a 6-speed manual and 7-speed DCT. Alloy wheels are expected to be 19″, and if the prototype pics are anything to go by they could be sourced from the M3 GTS.
Also expected to be adapted from the M3 is much of the rear axle; the addition of flared guards to the bodywork will healp squeeze these components under the skin. Further hinting at this happening is a small finned box visible from the rear of the 1M prototype. This looks pretty much the same as the cooling hardware found on the diff used in the E92 M3.
So, that’s a lot of guesswork. I suppose Dr Segler was right when he said in the promo video, “You will love it, but you have to wait for it.”
[Source: 1addicts.com]
