2012 BMW 1 Series First Look - It's Official Now!

By Henny Hemmes
Senior European Editor
Amsterdam Bureau
The Auto Channel

THE HAGUE, June 4, 2011; Even though media had to sign an agreement to guarantee the embargo would not be broken before June 5, 00.01 am Central European Time (or 6 pm EST) the first pictures leaked on the internet more than 36 hours early. While the most important Dutch newspaper ran the story early this Saturday morning. In other words: the new 1 Series is too hot to sit on the news for a while.

We already got a hint of what the new exterior design was going to be with the BMW 1 Series M Coupé. It was about time, since the first generation of the 1 Series debuted seven years ago.

The 2012 BMW 1 Series gets a complete new platform with a 1.2 inches longer wheelbases, bringing it to 105.9 inches.

The length and width increased by 3.3 and 0.7 inches 170.2 and 69.5 inches respectively. This should improve interior space for the passengers in the rear. BMW says that they will have 0.7 inches more elbow space and 0.8 inches more for the legs. The luggage space increased by 1.06 cu.ft and measures now 12.71 cu.ft. which can be ‘stretched’ to 42.4 cu. ft.

Although the width of the new 1 Series only grew just under an inch, the car looks much fatter than the outgoing model. The wider track will be the reason: up front it is now 2 2.1 in. wider (60.43) and at the rear the track increased by nearly three inches to 61 in. Both the 116i base model as well as the 118i sit on the same 195/55 R16 rubber as before. That is also the case with the diesel variants 116d and 118d, but the 120d gets 205/55 R16 tyres. Besides a somewhat fatter stance, the new One also has a more aggressive look, which will be good news for people who thought it was a bit too gentle.

The design team that is supervised by Dutchman Adrian van Hoodonk came up with a somewhat ‘blowb up’ kidney grille and wider fenders, while at the rear the car definitely looks much wider than before.

The cockpit is brought on par with the other BMW models, as well as the iDrive system, that now also in the 1 Series in combined with a flats screen design. Next year, the new 1 Series will be available with the 128i and 135i petrol engines. In the course of that year, we may also expect the three door model.
As expected, the 2012 One gets the latest version of BMW’s EfficientDynamics technology and will be the first car in its segment with 8-speed automatic transmission as an option, auto start-stop in combination with both hand shifted and automatic transmissions, as well as the Eco Pro mode that can be activated by a button.

Details for the North American market have not yet been released and are expected closer to the date of the world première in September at the IAA Frankfurt auto show.

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