You may have already read reviews of the 2011 BMW 1-Series M Coupe (aka BMW 1M), but if you have, you've likely suffered through strained historical analogies, detailed comparisons to previous M cars, and sheets of performance data. The forum for my analysis: the official BMW North American press launch, held en route to and at Monticello Motor Club, where BMW brought me briefly to test the car.
This is a parts-bin car, from the ground up. Borrowing brakes, differential, and wheels from the M3, adding its own unique take on M Dynamic Mode (MDM) and its full-performance track mode, as well as an aggressively relaxed stability/dynamics control system, the BMW 1M Coupe is, in fact, the M car I'd buy if I were going to buy one.
Here's something that will make your brain hurt: BMW isn't in business to produce cars. Shocking, right? For that reason, car companies will produce a model only if they can sell it in sufficient numbers to turn a profit. Great car, big appeal, huge profits, but nothing that enthusiasts dream of.
The first full-fledged M car, the BMW 1M, was a racing homologation special; it was almost all dream and no mainstream. To that end, it was 50 percent real M car (the chassis and suspension) and 50 percent make-it-sell-big! That meant other 3-series attributes remained intact: six-cylinder smoothness, automatic transmissions, four doors.
If you have read the breathless reviews and overwritten comparos, you would assume that the 2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe is infused with the second coming of Senna.
Yes, brilliance. Surprising considering the BMW 1M Coupe is the prototypical parts-bin special. Three liters of displacement and those duo of turbos put out 335 horsepower at 5,800 rpm and 332 pound-feet of torque from 1,500 4,500 rpm through the car's only transmission option: a proper six-speed manual. What has been pulled from the BMW's motorsports arm are the bits that matter most: everything shoved into the wheel arches and connected to the driver.
The front track has been extended by 2.8 inches and fitted with double pivot struts, while the rear has grown 1.7 inches and equipped with the standard multilink suspension, both of which are comprised entirely of aluminum. The rolling stock is pulled directly from the M3 Competition Package, including 19x9-inch front wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 rubber sized 245/35R19 and 19x10-inch rear rollers with 265/35R19s.
All the lil' steering wheel-mounted M button does is recalibrate throttle response, delivering a surge of rubber-ripping acceleration further down the pedal travel. That same perfection winds its way up through the leather-wrapped wheel thanks to the M3-sourced speed-sensitive steering rack. Cross-drilled and sized 14.2-inches in front and 13.8-inches out back, they never faded, never shuddered and never faltered. Just breathing on the middle pedal sheds off velocity in an instant, but when attempting that life-affirming throttle blip, my right calf was stretched to its breaking point. Which brings up a larger point. That time has passed. It sticks harder and goes faster, and BMW did its best to remove the buzz-killing insularity that plagues most modern vehicles. The BMW 1M delivers what M-heads value most: driving delight über alles.
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