« Reply #11 on: 16 September 2020, 16:37 »
Two and a half weeks and 1200 miles into M135i ownership here, I’ll spare everyone the tedium of me writing too much but my summary of thoughts is VW will sell plenty of GTI’s as their core of repeat owners are an ultra conservative bunch and generally don’t move too far out of the box.
So long as the product remains pretty good then the badge and heritage will sell the cars and I don’t think the traditional repeat GTI purchaser will be put off by the challenging looks too much (bearing in mind none of the competitors are oil paintings either) or small areas of cheaper quality plastics.
I don’t think the GTI will be as ugly as the cooking mk8’s in the flesh and oozes Golfness side on so it’ll be popular and soon enough familiarity will water down the shock of the frontal looks. Similarly the 1 series looks far better in the flesh than in photos and both cars are of their time in design and looks.
The 128 will be shifted in decent numbers to brand swappers and those who want slightly more than VW are offering because BMW do very aggressive marketing despite high list prices. In fact the high list prices add to the premium image BMW need in order to shift their much bigger more expensive cars so won’t be compromised on, but are instead offset by decent discounts and affordable PCP and lease deals.
Never write the GTI off as it has a die hard following but at long last VW do have a bit of non in-house competition that’ll appeal to a wider market who don’t want fast Fords, Far Eastern or French.
BMW’s speciality seems to be PCP and lease deals which they’ll probably use to combat the GTI heritage.
I’ve no idea how the 128 will ride but the chassis is well developed from the Mini equivalents and I think the fact the chassis will be ‘purely mechanical‘ in a hot hatch is a good thing.
Going from the non adaptive 135 F40 on 19’s the ride is quite busy but well bushed and damped making it feel firm but absolutely not crashy even on Bridgestone tyres. Jiggly yes, harsh no.
BMW seem keen on adding chassis braces to the 1 series and mine has no squeaks or rattles as yet.
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‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
