It seems to me that a sedan doesnt seem like the right choice considering the limited room already. Who are they trying to kid??

No sedan is in the works. Neither is touring.

Only cabrio (E86) & coupe (E89).

So the Americans havent even seen 1er in real life yet?

lol, I see the car everyday on the streets

Funny to think eh? It sure would be fun to import a 1er to the states, just to see the stunned looks on people's faces.

Btw, BMW played with the idea a while ago to show 130i hatch with M Sport Package at some auto show in US this year.

So, don't be surprise if it eventually appears there.

I don't know about the US, but here in Canada I'm sure it would be a hit.

I'm going to assume that this car will be marketed to Gen X and Y buyers, of the latter will be the oldest in their generation, newly college grads w/ some cash in their pocket, enough to finance this new small Bimmer. This BMW will garner a HUGE following w/ out question, especially if there's a guaranteed coupe variant. It would be interesting to study the marketing campaign of the original 2002 and see exactly who the car was marketed towards and who ended up buying them. I very well could be an owner of this car, because I like the idea. At the same time I'm pretty sure I'll be able to afford a new or one to two year old 3er by the time this car comes out. Comparing the two against one another would be useless, I guess you can say one car you'd buy w/ your head, the other w/ your heart.

As nice as this sounds I'm still kind of skeptical about this car. I mean how much room does this car really have? I know lots of college kids get cars like GTi and stuff because well it's a hatch...it's small but it has decent space. Looking at the 1coupe's spyshots, doesn't look like there is much space in the back.

Keep in mind, and everyone seems to have forgotten, that at one point in time BMW made a car named "2002", a milestone in the companies history. It competed w/ the same cars as it's more modern sucessor, the 1 series coupe will compete w/. Sure we live in a different time and place, but the market is much the same. Though Audi hasn't made a hit w/ the hatch/sportwagon A3, there's evidence that there is a market for a premium small car, just what iteration goes on sale here in the states, makes all the difference.

oh no, i'm not saying anything bad about the car. I know it will have room but I haven't seen it, thats the problem. And as for the A3 not being a hit in the states, honestly I think it's just too damn expensive. There really isn't a big difference between a well equipped A3 quattro and the A4 1.8tq...so people opt for the bigger brother. At least that was the case for my friends mom who bought the A4 cuz there was only like a few thousand dollar difference. I just hope that BMW doesn't overprice this car like Audi did with the A3.