BMW 128ti
so going to point out some of
design differences between the 128 TI
and the base car and I kind of want to
start off with the badge because
TI hasn't really been seen a lot on
modern BMWs in fact the last time TI was
used was on the 325
TI way back in the early 2000s and it
was based on a
three series compact now what it means
is
Turismo International which isn't
exactly
that German but it was BMW,s performance
brand
before m came along so think of it as
essentially a hot car that isn't a full
end product although we still have the
full
embody kit around here with the diffuser
and also
fake vents at the side they're not real
and we also have a spoiler at the back
although you can
delete it if you want for that more
subtle look
speaking of subtle though this is a bit
of a giveaway
this red stripe down the side and also
the TI sticker there as well now
I'll admit I really don't like this I
think it looks really quite cheap kind
of reminds me of the old Citroen c
ones of when they first came out they
wanted to make them really customizable
so you could put
different colored trim on them if you're
like me and you don't really like it
don't worry you can delete it or have it
painted in black if you want
and there are some other colors so if
you wanted it in blue or red
then that comes in black as standard as
well with a black
TI sticker bit further down we've got 18
inch wheels as standard but if you go on
the configurator there are two options
for 18 inch wheels and they look the
same
but read a little bit closer and you'll
see that one comes with
Michelin pilot sport TYRE now that's
the one you want to go for and it's a
no-cost
option don't really know why because
it's a much better TYRE than the
standard Bridge Stones that these come on
the only difference I can really see is
that it adds a little bit more
to the cars co2 figure but it doesn't
put it into a different tax bracket so
as standard you can also upgrade to
19-inch rims if you want but those
allegedly don't come with the Michelin
pilot sport for TYRE either which is a
bit strange
anyway at the front this is a pretty
typical
m sport front end you also get this on
the more powerful m135i
but you can also spec it on the 118i
m sport as well so it isn't all that
we do have red highlights at the front
of course you can get those in black if
you don't like the red
there is a subtle difference though is
that if you go for an m135i you actually
have kind of like a
mesh grille at the front whereas on the
128 TI
you have the more standard BMW grille
albeit in gloss black
now under the bonnet we have a two liter
turbocharged
four-cylinder engine and it's the same
one that you get in
the m135i it has however been down tuned
for obvious reasons this isn't the range
topping one series
so it produces a still very impressive
261 brake horsepower
and 400 newton meters of torque now
that's sent to the front wheels only
through an eight-speed automatic gearbox
and it'll get you from zero to 62 miles
per hour
in 6.1 seconds which is not super fast
but it's on par with its rivals
like the golf GTI and i30n
aforementioned cars
also come with a manual gearbox but you
don't get one
in the one series and BMW says that for
it to pass emissions rex
the gearing would have to be really long
which I kind of get but
the golf has it and the Hyundai has it
so why can't I get one BMW
now alongside the engine upgrade we also
have
some mechanical changes as well the
first thing that you'll notice
are these gigantic red brake calipers we
do have bigger brakes on the 128 TI and
I think they look
absolutely fantastic we also have
a limited slip differential in there as
well because we're putting a lot of
power
through the front wheels and that can
sometimes induce
torque steer which is when you put your
foot on the throttle and essentially
there's so much power going through the
front wheels that they start to move
around
on their own and so what you're actually
getting the 128 TI
is the power assisted steering has
actually been calibrated so that if you
get torque steer it'll counter steer
for you which sounds a little bit
strange and looking forward to seeing
what that feels like
on the road now the dampers on here
are eight percent stiffer than what they
are on the standard
one series but they are passive and that
means that if you're driving along and
you want to
slacken the ride off a little bit like
you can do in something like a
Hyundai i30n unfortunately you can't do
it
so if it feels stiff well like it'll
lump it
so let's just jump straight into pricing
the 128 TI costs just
under 34 000 pounds and that's
pretty much the same as the golf GTI and
also the Hyundai i30n
as well however the golf is available
with a manual gearbox as standard and
you can
upgrade to a DSG whereas in the BMW we
only get the auto so if you want to
compare apples to apples
you'd be looking at this versus the DSG
golf and the DSG golf costs
1500 pounds more than the manual car so
it's also a little bit more expensive
now yes you can start adding options on
as well with the BMW
wireless charging that's an optional
extra head-up display that's an optional
extra two
you'll be paying just over
500 pounds but it's also the same story
on the golf GTI so on both cars
you can really go options crazy on the
extras list
now if you want a full spec breakdown
and also get the latest deals on
golf GTI's and 128 TI's head over to the
yes auto UK
app because we've actually got a full
comparison breakdown between the two
cars you can even look
at a picture comparison between them too
the interior of the 128 TI won't really
come as a surprise it's pretty much
standard one series and I've actually
already done a full review of the new
one series if you click the link in the
top right hand corner
you get my impressions of the interior
quality and also rear space and the boot
but there are some subtle differences
with the 128 TI
for instance we've got TI embossed on
the armrest we also have red stitching
on
the steering wheel and if you went
through the black
seats you'd get red stitching on there
too we've got the red leather though so
it comes in with this
silver stitching instead uh you've also
got this kind of
faux carbon fiber-ISH looking panel
on the dash and also at the side of the
doors here
but that actually houses the ambient
lighting
so it can be bathed in either a red or a
blue glow
and you can also change the actual
background color of it so in here it's
more of a silvery base
but you can also get something that's a
darker kind of more black
color now let's talk about interior
quality because this is really where the
one series
of where it can just dither around athis eight-speed automatic it feels a
lot like it does in
the new m3 and m4 in fact if you click
you can watch my review of those two
although they are a little bit different
to the one series the gear
change definitely feels very similar of
where it's a bit
I wouldn't say sluggish it's just a bit
characterless there's no
snapping through the gears or blips of
the throttle when you're
going down the gears sometimes it just
feels best to
just leave it in automatic mode now I've
been driving it in sport mode and what
that does is it gives me a slightly more
responsive throttle pedal
does open and it makes it just a little
bit more Boom you can put it in
individual mode where you can have some
of those elements and not others
or you can put it in comfort which
quietens down the car quite a lot
or eco mode which really does hold back
some of the performance
but it does mean that you get to sip up
fuel on the motorway
I've averaged kind of around 38 mpg
this better than a golf GTI and I would
say the strengths of the GTI is it feels
spacious in the back so if you're going
and ferrying people around then you
might actually want to go
for the GTI but it's worth bearing in
mind that the comparisons that I've been
drawing
with this and the GTI are the base GTI
there is also the GTI club sport in fact
we drove that very recently
you can watch our review by clicking the
link in the top right hand corner
so in that 33 grand price range that is
so hotly contested with
hot hatches but not the super hatches i
think it's the 128 TI
that comes out on top yes it's missing
the manual gearbox but
oh my goodness in terms of performance
and handling this thing just feels like
it's
partly one of the reasons why this is so
good is because
BMW sort of dropped the ball with this
generation
of golf GTI if the next generation is
even better
or they're going to rely on the club
sport being the one to go for
between this and the golf
but as it currently stands if I had 33
000 pounds burning a hole in my pocket
before adding options and I wanted a hot hatch.
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