The BMW 128ti, which debuted as a precursor to the F40 generation, was first introduced in October 2020, and its 128ti name is derived from the Turismo Internazionale, which originally meant to be similar to the GT designation of many car manufacturers, emphasizing both performance and durability, and is also the name used by many of BMW's classic cars, first seen in the 1800 TI model in the 1960s, and the subsequent 2002 TI, E46/5 generation 3 Series Compact has also adopted this naming method, which has the meaning of inheritance from generation to generation.
A number of red ti exclusive jewelry as identification, 128ti has a strong sporty atmosphere
The BMW 128ti maintains the firm fit of the F40 1 Series as a whole, following the brand's current generational family design vocabulary, using a polygonal and connected double kidney tank guard, although its tank guard is different from the M135i's M Performance exclusive cerium-plated gray-coated 3D mesh water tank guard, but instead adopts a black straight grille shape. And, like the 120i Edition M, the 128ti comes directly with a black high-gloss kit as standard, so its tank shroud is set in all-black with a black high-gloss window frame.
The standard LED headlight group also adopts a new generation of 6-corner daytime lights in it, making its eyes look sharper, with automatic high beam assist, but the active turn headlights need to be selected separately, and the 128ti is also cancelled compared to the 118i and 120i. The 128ti is also equipped with M aerodynamic kit, M spoiler tail, M side nameplate, including sporty front and rear bumpers, body side skirts, and larger caliber bilateral single exhaust tailpipe samples. However, the most special thing about the 128ti is a number of ti exclusive red appearance kits, which are equipped with ti model exclusive red intake dam trims, red side skirts, and ti body logos.
128ti is not only the above exclusive appearance, the foot is also equipped with 18 inches ti exclusive M Y spoke 553M rim, which adopts a 5-spoke double rib setting, the brake caliper is also slightly different from the 120i, M135i M blue brake caliper, but the red M brake caliper that is more compatible with the red kit, with the ti word of the body side skirt, the author personally believes that the 128ti is more recognizable than the M135i in terms of styling. It is worth mentioning that the 128ti also uses the traditional ring spring M sports car suspension and non-electronic suspension that can reduce the height of the car by 10mm, and the test drive factory original tire is a more comfortable orientation of the Continental EcoContact6 SSR decompressure continuous tire, but this set of tires and chassis performance is actually better than the author expected, we will mention it later in the dynamic link.
The sports car seats are fully covered, and a number of red exclusive ti details are embellished
In terms of interior, the 128ti also roughly maintains the design tone of this generation of F40 1 Series, although it was changed to a front-drive platform, but the interior space of the cabin is still relatively tight, and a number of technological layouts have been added. It mainly adopts the iDrive 7.0 system used by most current car series, with a combination of 10.25-inch full digital virtual meter and 10.25-inch central iDrive touch screen, which can put display information such as navigation in the center. The system except for the built-in "Hello BMW!" The intelligent voice assistant with voice control function also adds wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, and even the 128ti standard HUD head-up display can also display Google navigation indicators synchronously. It's just that the wireless charging of mobile phones has been cancelled from the car series due to chip shortage.
The F40 1 Series originally used a multi-material and stitched instrument panel with a translucent ring cabin interior panel, bringing a rather youthful and lively character. However, the 128ti is mainly on such a basis, adding a number of red ti exclusive details that echo the outside of the car, including the instrument panel of ti's exclusive red stitching, and the M sports leather steering wheel with ti exclusive red stitching with shift paddles, which makes it quite bloody visually. Moreover, the central armrest is also embroidered with the word "ti" in red, marking its exclusive inheritance of the ti spirit, and the central armrest and the original piping pedal pad are also treated with hot red details.
Not only that, the 128ti is also equipped with a rather high-quality black canopy, M red line seat belt, the car also uses a Dakota leather M double front seat seat with excellent tactility and coverage, although the headrest is one-piece and unadjustible, but the coverage and support are remarkable, the 205-watt Hi-Fi audio in the car listens to the sound quality, plus the sound insulation performance is also above the level, of course, listening to the sound of the blood engine is the spirit of the 128ti.
The back seat is 178 cm tall, with about 1 and a half fists on the knees and 4 fingers on the head, which is not particularly spacious, and is equipped with rear seat air outlets and 2 sets of USB-C charging. In terms of luggage compartment volume, the volume of the rear seats before it is not dumped is 380 liters, and the volume of the rear 6/4 separate seats can be 1,200 liters after full dumping, and there is also hidden storage space under the rear compartment floor, and the entire car system is currently equipped with a convenient skirting induction electric tailgate configuration as standard. Separate 4/2/4 pouring of the center armrest of the rear seat is optional. The safety standard is equipped with active collision avoidance and pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, blind spot detection, rear traffic warning, driving attention assistance, ACC active distance fixed speed, etc., as well as automatic reversing assistance that can remember 50 meters of path, but there is no active lane maintenance like 5AU, but only the steering and warning assistance of lane departure pullback.
The 265-horse front drive is spicy enough, and the chassis is sharp and flexible and fun
The BMW 128ti is powered by the B48 2.0-litre TwinPower Turbo in-line 4-cylinder single-turbo twin-turbo engine with the same body as the 120i and M135i, but its power output is just between 178 hp of the 120i and 306 hp of the M135i, and can output 265 hp at 4,750 rpm, 400 Nm. The maximum torque of the meter can be released between 1,750 and 4,500 rpm, and with the Steptronic sporty 8-speed manual transmission, it accelerates from stationary to 100 km/h in just 6.1 seconds.
The 128ti also comes standard with arb (Actuator Contiguous Wheel Slip Limitation) anti-slip stability control system, which, combined with the engine ECU control computer and DSC dynamic stability control, can reduce the driving wheel due to excessive power slippage by more precisely controlling the power output of the drive wheels. The 128ti also features the same Torsen front-axle mechanical limited slip differential as the M135i xDrive, rigid reinforced anti-roll bars, a purpose-tuned M sports car suspension system (10mm lower body), sporty steering, and its 1,425 kg weight, compared to the 4WD M135i's 1,525 kg, which is 80 kg less weight.
In the driving mode section, the 128ti offers basic Eco Pro, Eco Pro Individual, Comfort, Sport, Sport Individual and other modes, and this generation of 1 Series to the highest standard M electronic suspension system does not provide Sport Plus mode. However, the 128ti has fewer details because it does not provide electronic suspension options, unlike the M135i, which can adjust the softness and hardness of the shock absorber in Eco Pro Individual and Sport Individual modes, and the 128ti can adjust the Sport/Comfort two-stage adjustment for steering, engine, and transmission in the Sport Individual, Eco Pro Individual Only two-stage adjustments can be made for steering. However, the 128ti still has an ejection start mode, switching to Sport mode, closing a trail, cutting the gearbox to S gear, and then pressing the accelerator brake pedal with both feet at the same time to open.
Since the author himself is the owner of the front-drive hatchback, and in the past, the author has a good impression of the dynamic impression of the F40 1 Series including the 118i and M135i models with the front-drive chassis, so naturally there are expectations for the 128ti, a 265-horsepower front-drive steel gun. And overseas markets because the 128ti in the opponent Audi A3, Mercedes-Benz A-Class have no direct opponents, like the A250 power is only 225 horses, so most of the overseas will be compared with the 280-horse Ford Focus ST, 245-horse Volkswagen Golf GTI, the actual 128ti to drive up, the author found that the dynamic performance of the 128ti is indeed good, and there is a feeling beyond expectations.
Specifically, the most intuitive atmosphere of blood, from the first moment of launch, the 128ti exhaust pipe will have a fairly performance-oriented tempered sound wave, coupled with the ASD active sound wave system, it can also enhance the hearing effect in the car. And this set of B48 2.0 liter engine is also quite tacit with the sporty 8-speed manual self-row, perhaps less than the 48V light oil electric system, the author instead believes that in different driving modes, 128ti can have a more pure fuel car experience, even the Eco Pro mode can turn off the idle speed and turn off, and 128ti Although the sound wave and output in the Eco Pro mode are more convergent, but the output is still linear and powerful, the acceleration response of the gearbox and the engine when the urban movement is enough.
After switching to Comfort mode, the sonorous and powerful output of 128ti, the feeling of being attached to the back has been slightly obvious, and the gearbox will also begin to change the rhythm through the gear, so that the driver can enter a state of quasi-combat readiness, and the Comfort mode can achieve the retraction and release of the attackable and recourseable. Of course, to taste the dynamic charm of the 128ti, it is natural to switch to Sport or Sport Individual mode, then the exhaust sound wave outside the car and the effect of the ASD active sound wave inside the car are also more amplified, and the gearbox's downshift reaction will be more rapid, of course, if you want to deliberately pull out a fuller output, you can also switch to S sport gear, or use the paddle for M manual mode switching.
And the 128ti's M manual shift mode also retains a certain degree of maneuvering autonomy, pulling all the way to more than 6,000 rpm, while the step will upshift on its own, allowing the driver to control the rpm domain when the vehicle is controlled between 1,700 rpm and 4,500 rpm between 400 N. Meter torque good belt, the climb of speed on the mountain road and the acceleration response are remarkable, but sometimes the speed of 3 gears down to 2 gears still has to be reduced to 4,000 rpm to achieve, and the autonomy of shifting is slightly less sharp than the M Power model in the setting. It may not be as powerful as the M135i's 306 hp, but by reducing the weight of the 80 kg and reducing the four-wheel drive system, it can be said that the combination of the B48 engine and the 8-speed hand self-contained body has the best performance interpretation in the 128ti, and the urban driving is smooth and smooth, and the driving is more than enough for fun.
Chassis performance is the 128ti's wonderful point, as mentioned above, because the 128ti is equipped with ARB anti-slip stability control system, coupled with the front axle Torsen mechanical limited slip differential is even more powerful, the front of the car can not only be said to be flowing water, the heart is turning at will, but also can be said to be steering as easy as sharp cutting tofu, whether it is Comfort, Sport mode will not be too heavy. This 4-cylinder engine does not have much weight impact on the dynamics at the front of the car, and the dynamics of "head over" are believed to be a perfect example of front-drive steel guns. Even without the four-wheel drive system, the 128ti rear can be said to be more lively, the rear will slide appropriately when cornering, helping the driver to point more easily to the bend, even if there is no propulsion force like the rear-drive chassis car from the rear, but the dynamics of the 128ti can be said to be enough for the driver to enjoy the corner.
In addition to the high-speed driving sound insulation has a certain level, the 128ti in the high-speed section of the re-acceleration is also quite full, high-speed change lanes when the body dynamic clean and clean, which is also due to its exclusive M model sports car suspension. Just at the beginning of the hand will feel a little hard, but after familiar with its characteristics, the author found that there is still enough toughness, in the face of larger potholes can still carry out a certain degree of elimination, the support in the bend is quite strong, even if there is no electronic suspension blessing, you can also take into account the driving comfort, the need to switch between hot blood. The author mentioned above that although its tire is a comfortable-oriented horse brand EC6, there is also an occasional tire sound when bending intensely, but its grip is better than expected, and it does not slide beyond expectations. The Red M brake kit feels slightly softer when stepping off the pedal at the beginning, but there is a large braking power path when stepping 2/3, and there is no obvious brake failure under intense driving.
The joy of the precursor gun that exceeded expectations
Overall, the author believes that the BMW 128ti is a fairly competent front-drive steel gun, even if the performance indicators such as static acceleration to a speed of about 6.1 seconds per hour may not be prominent in today's electrification era, but 128ti in the traditional internal combustion engine camp, its overall control fun, power combination, and hot-blood atmosphere creation methods are quite high, 265 horses with such a front-drive setting, coupled with smart and smooth but high autonomy of the 8-speed hand self-integration, but can be addictive again and again.
It can be said that between the Volkswagen Golf GTI and the Ford Focus ST, the author may vote for the 128ti subjectively, and I think the 128ti is the best power combination and transmission setting of the current 1 Series.