Fred's surprise Munich Trip... guess what...

[fredgroves]

Yes, I was very happy that I had best part of a day with the BMW. The usual twenty minute drive I'd have barely noticed anything. It took a long time to start to suffer!

I guarantee I'd be trying sell that car right now if I'd bought it.

Joe is never going to buy that car and it's not in his interest as a reviewer to say anything negative. Definitely people would not lend him things to have him potentially say "don't buy this". The only time you can do that is if you truly are a big media outlet and even then you can get not invited if you slag some products off.

[Exonian]

I come from a background of warmed over hatches and uprated (aftermarket) suspension so I’m a bit like a reformed smoker - I have very low tolerances of “bad” ride now.
I like firm-ish and controlled damping but cannot abide any crashiness and the 135 had that pretty nailed on.
The 128 has never been of any interest to me but I do think Joe would have pulled a few faces if the ride had been really bad (compared to what he’s used to). As said though, a spirited drive in a test car isn’t like living with the thing day to day especially if doing mega miles. 
It’ll be good to see a few group tests of these latest generation hatches on real roads over decent mileages rather than journos just hacking around test tracks or trying to do tail slides. 

[ub7rm]

I think the 'hardness' of the ride is being over cooked - its firmer than my GTD for sure - not crashy though, its not jarring when you go over a pothole or similar however cornering and general handling are in another league altogether. 

Its certainly not 'hard' - not like Audi 'S' cars where a few years ago (8P S3 - looking at you...). 

I didn't find the joe achillies review particularly revealing - TRHamza review pretty much mirrored my thoughts on the car exactly. 

[fredgroves]

TRHamza review pretty much mirrored my thoughts on the car exactly.

I like him, he is a normal guy not blagging cars from and plugging a dealership so he can say what he likes.

He mainly says "oh yeah" and grins, but that's quite a natural thing. These sorts of cars are meant to be fun.

I just find it frustrating that nobody seems to really want to spend the time driving a car for a while and then seriously looking at it like I would if I wanted to buy it.

I don't mean stupid track tests or drag strip times, I mean actually talking about it as a real world owner.

Talk about the good, talk about the not so good, try to highlight where better value can be found in the real world.

I think if you go back to my writeup on this thread I didn't say I found nothing to love, I found lots to love... except the comfort.

[Splashalot]

I don't mean stupid track tests or drag strip times, I mean actually talking about it as a real world owner.

Talk about the good, talk about the not so good, try to highlight where better value can be found in the real world.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. 

For the reasons above ^ I quite like Alex on Autos.  He is US-based, so the cars tested can vary a bit from UK or Aus specification, but he generally puts plenty of miles on them in real-World conditions.  He is slightly nerdy, well very nerdy actually, but gives very down-to-Earth assessments, IMO.

[Jim_mk7.5]

I’ve just watched Joe driving the 128ti.
I found it quite entertaining which isn’t bad going as I have a short span of attention and am easily bored.
The road surface looked pretty bad so his comments about acceptable ride quality seemed at odds with yours Fred, and seats are a very personal thing.
The 128 does look a cracking car and I like how they’ve differentiated it from the 135, a shame they didn’t carry the tombstone seats over though.
Personally I’d still prefer the 135 over the 128 for quite a few reasons but the 128 does look a very appealing package and it’s good to see the bracing bars are carried over from the 4wd car which help to make the 1 series so solid feeling.

I can't believe his review doesn't once mention the Golf GTI as this is the market that BMW is aiming for. He just compares it to the 135i. 

I like the 128 but not with the red accents. They are too much. The GTI managed to make a splash of red look good, especially on my Tungsten one. I think if you have the 128ti in red you get black accents which look much better. The red works well on the interior though as BMW can be quite dull colour-wise inside.

[AndyGTI]

Excellent! What have you ordered?

GTI dsg, moonstone, nineteens, dcc, hud and some other bits too... Was dealer stock.

Hi Fred

Good write up on the 128ti. Interesting to hear the seats weren't up to scratch. That is what pushed me away from Audi (loved the car and feel...but was sat on the seat, not in the seat. So BMW have similar set up (at least on 128ti). You were definitely in the right place at the right time to see Fleet Manager and get an extended test drive. That is so helpful to actually do some distance and spent time in a car rather than here's 20min now hand over £33k etc

Good to hear you have ordered something now, I thought this search was going to continue into the year (due to lockdown and regulations).  I was waiting for the inside story on the i30N test drive, so little disappointed I might have to do my own research now. Recent youtube video was Rory Reid driving it and as others have commented elsewhere, it does seem to have a harsh ride but not sure whether the reviews I've seen are new enought to take in the revised suspension settings.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on your new GTI and look forward to hearing how you find the HUD, which is something I would be keen on.

Well done on your purchase.

[fredgroves]

Cheers Andy.

The I30n test drive might still happen, but definitely not until after lockdown ends... April 202x maybe   

I'll certainly post up my thoughts on my GTI when I get it. Good, bad, indifferent - I'll pull no punches!

Just hoping my hour in the Mk8 was enough to have got it right, but fairly sure it was - there is a lot of Golfness about it.

[fredgroves]

I'll chuck this in here because its both off topic and also basically the same thing as a 1 series ( ):

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/first-official-pictures/mini/hatch/

Not quite sure where BMW are going with that but.... is that haptic buttons I see on that steering wheel?

[AndyGTI]

Im not sure about the steering wheel buttons, as in not sure if they are haptic touch or not from the picture.

I was more concerned with the goatie beard that has appeared on the front of the Mini. Generally black tones down the excessive bling of the chrome but it just looks like an all round beard