So yesterday I went for a 1 hour test drive in the 135i, with m pack (steering wheel etc.), and manual seats.

I've been driving a 350Z for the last 3 years, and have driven on several race tracks (including Spa and Nurburgring Nordschleife) a number of times.

My first impressions from the outside, is that from some angles the car looks great, whilst from others it's abit akward looking - the roof line is too high.

Inside, the sports seats are surprisingly supportive (more so than in the 350Z), however the seating position is a little too high for my liking (even in the lowest position). The steering wheel is quite chunky, and feels good.

Fire her up, and it sounds goood. I think the Z sounds good, and so does the 135i - quite a raw sounding note.

Off we go, still in the city... the clutch and gearbox are very light - strange compared with the Z's super heavy parts. The steering is quite light, and the ride is very comfortable.

10 mins later, we get to the high way in an area I don't know, and the salemen tells me I can go for it as there are no radars I was in 6th gear ~2000rpm, and was amazed how the car justed pulled immediately. Fast approaching a radar now, I got to try out the brakes - they are nice and powerful, with good feel - not too graby, with a firm pedal

ok - so now we get to the countryside with some nice winding roads, I turn on to one - following behind a golf gti in front of me... well it was for all of 2s. I had been in 4th, and dropped to 3rd and nailed it to the redline - I was simply amazed at the acceleration - it pulled hard to the redline, with no sign of letting up... I was doing around 100mph (i just glanced at the speedo, since it was a very small and bumpy road ). the salesman had suddenly gone quite, as he realised I was serious. I braked very late for the corner, and was very pleased with the feeling and response from the brakes. Heeling and toeing down into 2nd revealed that the pedals are not quite as well positioned as the 350Z for this (or maybe I'm not used to it), but it's still easily doable. The car took the next sequence of bends really nicely, leaning a bit into the bends, but not too much (a bit like a standard 350Z). I was amazed at how well the suspension coped with the bumps though - very composed. The steering also felt very good - with nice feedback, this was a pleasant susprise after what I read in some of the online magazine reviews.

Speaking of which, I hate understeer, and so I found a few bends where I could safely test out what the 135i would do when pushed hard. It did start to understeer (still with the DSC switched on - it was damp, and I didn't have the nerve to ask the salesman if I could turn it off - he was already looking pale ), but I had to push very hard to make it happen. In any case it didn't understeer worse than my Z. There were no DSC/DTC lights flashing, so I dion't know if it had intervened or not. I imagine for day-to-day driving in the countryside/mountains - it won't be a real problem. Then on the track with some semi-slicks it will be fine

When we got back to the dealership, I tried sitting in the back, and found that it would be ok for a short journey for me (i'm 6'1), and fine for somebody around 5'10 - even on a longer journey.

Anyway, to cut a long story short - the 135i is a great car: comfortable, yet with nice handling and not much body roll, fantastic brakes, good steering feel, nice quality finish, and above all - completely dominated by an amazing engine! The car I tried had covered 30km (<20 miles), and went like a train in any gear at any rpm - it made my 350Z seem like it has lead boots on in comparison! I can't imagine what it would be like with a procede (or other) computer tune The only negatives I can mention are the slightly high seating position, and the slightly high roofline... but they are just details

So, I just need to sell my 350Z, and then I will be ordering an Alpine white 135i. The delay for delivery is 6 weeks, so fingers crossed I will have my car for the spring and the track season

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Hmm.its nice to read this kind of articles..I find it most interesting how can "almost" civil car(135i) beat Nissan 350Z in driving pleasure and experience,wich is considered to be somehow more special car than BMW 1 series.. BMW obiously did great job with 1er ..