BMW M135i gets stuck in
Our long term BMW M135i has just passed the 9 000km mark and I can tell you that it has been 9 000 km of pure fun.
This premium hatch is after all a BMW with an M badge attached and a serious 235kW of power and 450Nm shoehorned into the engine bay.
We have already told you our M135i took care of Merc’s A 45 AMG and other more expensive machinery in a straight line fight that saw it get to 100km/h in 5.17 seconds and cross the 1km mark at 221.44 km/h while stopping at an electronically limited 249.86 km/h.
But what happens when the road or track gets twisty? Well then the M135i really gets going.
Thanks to M-specific suspension tuning and the individual control of the suspension and damping systems and the specific elasto-kinematics of the front axle, this hot hatch provides a high level of excitement.
Running a fixed calliper M Sport Brake System with four-piston units on the front axle and two-piston units at the rear as standard equipment along with oversized brake discs and dark blue metallic callipers bearing the M logo ensures that stopping over and over from high speed is no problem.
Combine this with the standard 18 inch M light alloy wheels running on sticky Michelin 225/40 R18 rubber on the front 245/35 R18 rubber on the back and you have high levels of mechanical grip.
I entered the M135i into two BMW Car Club Gauteng gymkhana events and won them both. But now the big question is, will this be enough for a few hardcore laps around a real race circuit? We will find out on March 9 at Kyalami when we take the M135i around the track at the first race event of the year for the BMW Car Club Gauteng. And we are going to do the same with a 1 Series M Coupe and bring you all the information in the next update at the end of March.
