I purchased a 135i two weeks ago, alpine white on black with 6 speed manual and sport package. It is an absolute hooligan of a car, as brilliant as it gets for a sub-60k car.

 

i was planning on aquiring the 135i, but after optioning out the car..it was more than i expected.

but it's still smart for bmw to keep it high to keep their image.

 

Sub-60? WTF? Isn't it more like sub 40s?
Oooh ... maybe that's in cdn $$$?

 

or maybe he's saying it's better than any car below $60k?

 

FWIW, I just drove a 128 and 135 today at some BMW event. They had 2 autoX tracks, good fun.
To my own surprise, I would get the automatic! I'm usually a stick shift guy, but the oomph of the auto 135 was downright impressive, especially for that price range. Hooligan is definitely the right adjective.

Active steering was meh. Not quite sure I like it. Buddy of mine loved it, though.

 

not sure as I havn't driven one yet, but for some reason, the 128i just seems to make more sense and be relavent. as others have said, and IMO when you put some options on the 135i you should just go ahead and get the 335ci. kind of like how with the A3, the 2.0T makes sense, but the 3.2, it makes more sense to just get an A4 avant.

 

We're car guys. We like fun cars. Getting the 128 over a 135 would just be sillyness. The two shouldn't even be compared, as far as I'm concerned, that's how superior the twin turbo is IMO.

Now getting a 135 or 335 ... I have to say the 135 I drove was optioned all the way to 57k (!!!) from the 41k base price (Canada pricing), which is completely ridiculous IMO. A few well chosen option still get you a 45k (again, canadian pricing) little hot rod.
335 is still a bit more expensive. Would like to drive it and see how they compare.

 

From everything I've read, haven't driven one yet, it's just a more focused "drivers" car compared to the 3 series.

The 3 probably does everyday things better and looks better, but the 1 does the "fun" stuff better and has a unique look for a little less. I'd test drive both back to back to see how much of the difference is.

I believe the target market are the former Evo, Sti, Z, S2k owners. I know quite a few people going for it, but then quite a few prefer the look of the 3...

 

BMW keeps making cars uglier and uglier... 135 is another example...

 

I love the 1-series chassis. Its an absolute riot. This should be a fantastic car, although a little confused in a market sense.