The BMW M135i (F20) Is the Underrated RWD BMW We Nonetheless Miss

I get why the F20 BMW M135i slips by the cracks. It by no means bought the complete ///M mythology, it wasn’t offered in all places, and on paper it seems like “simply” an M Efficiency automotive from the early 2010s. However the first time you drive a rear-wheel-drive M135i the way in which you’re purported to—actually decide to an entry, breathe off the throttle, let the rear take a slip—you understand BMW perhaps unintentionally constructed one thing particular.

Not particular within the “future traditional” method individuals toss round too simply. Particular within the extra significant method: it seems like a BMW from the period when the corporate nonetheless obsessed over steadiness and adjustability, not simply traction and lap-time heroics.

Sure, there was an xDrive model afterwardand I’m not going to faux that isn’t interesting in the event you dwell someplace winter is half the calendar. However the RWD M135i is the one which stays closest to the “Final Driving Machine” thought. It’s the one the place the entrance axle is allowed to deal with steering, and the rear axle is allowed to have a persona.

And it helps that the automotive seems proper even earlier than it strikes. The F20 has that traditional BMW stance: an extended hood, brief overhangs, and a cabin that sits again on the wheelbase just like the engine truly issues. In hatchback kind it’s an unusually cool form—compact, usable, and nonetheless unmistakably BMW in its proportions. You get the practicality with out shedding the structure that makes a BMW really feel like a BMW.

The numbers nonetheless land

The M135i isn’t a “massive quantity” automotive by as we speak’s requirements, however the spec continues to be the type that makes fans nod: 320 hp, 450 Nm (332 lb-ft) from the three.0-liter N55 inline-sixpaired with both a six-speed guide or an eight-speed automated. In interval, BMW quoted 0–100 km/h in 5.1 seconds with the guide and 4.9 seconds with the automated. That was correctly fast when this automotive confirmed up—particularly wrapped in a compact hatchback physique.

Weight issues right here greater than individuals admit, and the M135i didn’t arrive bloated. Relying on the way you measure it (DIN/EU figures), it sits across the 1,400-1,500 kg vary. That doesn’t sound stunning till you drive it back-to-back with newer “sizzling” automobiles and understand how a lot lighter it feels in transitions. The M135i doesn’t have that fashionable sensation of carrying mass into each nook like a backpack you’ll be able to’t take off.

The N55 is the explanation the entire thing works

I’ve pushed the N55 in a bunch of locations—the 335i, 435i, and the M135i—and it’s a type of engines that retains proving itself. It has torque in all places, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel like a torque-only equipment. It’s easy, it’s keen, and it rewards you for utilizing the highest half of the tach.

The most effective half is how linear it feels for a turbo motor. The ability doesn’t arrive like a lightweight change. You roll into the throttle and it simply builds—cleanly, predictably, with sufficient urgency that you just don’t have to “set it up” to make it quick. And while you preserve it pinned, it doesn’t go flat. It stays pleased all the way in which to the 7,000 rpm redline, which is precisely why individuals nonetheless charge this engine so extremely.

Then there’s the sound. The N55 doesn’t want pretend noise to have character. It has that straight-six metallic edge, particularly while you’re exhausting on it, and it makes the M135i really feel prefer it’s punching above its class.

Steering and chassis: it’s not a museum piece, it’s a device

The M135i runs electrical energy steering, and no, it’s not going to present you E46-style hydraulic poetry. But it surely’s fast, correct, and it permits you to place the automotive with out second-guessing. That’s what issues when you begin driving it exhausting.

The place the M135i actually reveals its persona is the chassis steadiness. It doesn’t simply grip and go. It strikes. It reacts to weight switch. It would rotate in the event you drive it such as you imply it.

We frolicked tossing one round on observe and it clicked nearly immediately. The automotive likes dedication. Flip in with some intent, settle it, and you’ll really feel the rear axle getting mild in a method that makes you smile as a substitute of sweat. You possibly can steer it on a carry. You possibly can tighten a line with a contact of path brake. And while you choose up throttle early, the M135i doesn’t at all times take the “secure” route—typically it is going to begin to come round, and you’ll catch it and maintain it. That’s the sort of enjoyable a variety of fashionable automobiles are lacking.

It’s tail pleased, however not in a scary method. It’s the sort of tail pleased that comes from a compact chassis, an actual rear-drive structure, and sufficient energy to regulate the automotive mid-corner with out a lot effort.

The diff query, defined like an fanatic

From the manufacturing unit, the F20 M135i doesn’t get a mechanical limited-slip differential. It makes use of an open diff, and BMW depends on digital intervention—brake-based torque management—to handle wheelspin and assist the automotive put energy down. Folks name it an “e-diff” impact, as a result of the system can brake an inside wheel and affect the place the torque finally ends up.

Whenever you’re exhausting on throttle at nook exit, the electronics can create a second the place the automotive rotates greater than you anticipate. Typically it feels prefer it’s serving to you. Typically it feels prefer it’s nudging you into mischief.

A mechanical LSD does an identical job in precept—biasing torque and enhancing traction—nevertheless it does it extra immediately and extra shortly, with out counting on braking. That’s why BMW provided a dealer-installed M Efficiency mechanical LSD as an adjunct for these automobiles. For those who’re monitoring the automotive, tuning it, otherwise you simply need cleaner exits and extra constant throttle adjustability, it’s one of many upgrades that makes fast sense.

RWD vs xDrive: The purpose isn’t the spec, it’s the texture

The xDrive M135i exists for a motive. For those who take care of snow, ice, or tough climate half the yr, it’s a wise possibility. However the RWD automotive is the one which feels most like a standard BMW compact efficiency machine. It’s additionally the model that makes you perceive what BMW was doing in that period: constructing a compact automotive that might do day by day life with out sacrificing the driving really feel that made the model well-known.

Why it’s underrated

The M135i is underrated as a result of it’s straightforward to mislabel. It’s not a halo automotive, so individuals don’t discuss it like one. It’s an M Efficiency automotive, so some fans assume it’s simply an look and badge package deal. And for lots of readers, it’s additionally a “forbidden fruit” BMW—one they didn’t get of their market (like within the U.S.), so it by no means grew to become a part of the shared possession tradition the way in which an E82 135i or 1M did.

If BMW had introduced the RWD M135i to the U.S. in its prime, I’d have been first in line. Straight-six, guide possibility, compact hatch practicality, and a chassis that’ll fortunately rotate while you push it—that is precisely the type of BMW that reminds you why we care within the first place.