We’re usually talking only about the fastest, most powerful models manufactures make. Those are, by far, the most interesting subjects everyone wants to read about but there’s a problem with them. Few people can actually afford one.
The thing is, the cheaper a car is, the more popular it’s possible to get. Unfortunately, most of the time, cheaper also means less powerful and in BMW’s case it comes down to a car with just over 100 horses.
It’s the 114i model we’re talking about, the cheapest model in the 1 Series range. Some might think that would be an extremely slow car by all means but the thing is, it’s just a matter of comparison.
Take this car and pit it against an older model and you’ll see that things aren’t all that bad. It will do 100 km/h (62 mph) in about 11 seconds and, while it might seem bad, it’s just a second slower than much more expensive alternatives. For example, the Mercedes-Benz G350 CDI is marginally faster, at 9.1 seconds even though it has double the power and double the engine. Not to mention torque. At the same time, it costs four times as much. It’s not the perfect comparison but you get the point.
The video below shows us how the car would perform getting up to its top speed. It’s also pretty obviously showing us that it’s not a snail dragging along on the highway but that it can keep up with most of today’s cars that have migrated to smaller and smaller engines, especially in Europe. 1.2-liter 3-cylinder units seem to be the norm and, while not far in size, the 1.6-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged engine on the 114i is still going after 10 years of production.
With the LCI model it will be replaced with the new B38 1.5-liter 3-cylinder unit that is already being used on Cooper models. Tuned to make the same amount of power (or roughly the same) it will bring a serious advantage compared to the competition due to its special sound.
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