BMW 130i Named “Best Auto Bild Long-Term Test Car of All Time”

BMW has managed to win yet another award for its reliability, as the 130i model has been named winner of the long-term test ranking done by Auto Build, a German car magazine.

“Covering 100,000 kilometres or more than 62,000 miles without the slightest problem, BMW’s sporting compact not only achieved the best result throughout the whole of 2009, but also took over overall leadership among all cars ever tested over this distance,” said BMW.

“In response, the professional car testers gave the BMW 130i their 1+ grade (equal to AAA) and acknowledged BMW’s sporting performer as the “Best Auto Bild Long-Term Test Car of All Time”.”

The marathon was completed by the test driver within approximately 1 year and a half. The car was used on both short trips and autobahn journeys and was appreciated by the journalist as it managed to complete the test without the slightest incident and with both oil con­sumption and brake pad wear remaining extremely low.

The 130i has a 3.0-litre straight-six power unit featuring fully variable VALVETRONIC valve management and produces 190 kW/258 hp. In order to accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h, the car needs 6.1 seconds. Despite its impressive performance, the 130i consumes an average of just 8.5 litres/100 kilometres (equal to 33.2 mpg imp) in the EU test cycle due to a range of technologies based on BMW EfficientDynamics.