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BMW 1-series coupe: Test Drive

Date: 24 October 2007   |   Author: Tristan Young

BMW 1-series coupe
Category: Sports
Prices: £21,585-£29,745
Key Rival: Alfa Brera

There must be a law of physics that says you can't have something for nothing, but BMW has done just that with the new 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel in the all-new 1-series coupe.

Third out of four in the 1-series range after the five-door and three-door hatches and just ahead of the convertible, the coupe brings with it a pair of new engines. For those who only care about performance and nothing about costs there's a range-topping 135i powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-litre petrol engine, giving the car a 0-62mph time of 5.3 seconds, but for anyone with even half an eye on costs - particularly fuel and taxation - but still wants plenty of go, the 123d is the one to have.

The amazing thing about the 123d's twin-turbo diesel engine is that it is not only the world's most powerful 2.0-litre diesel with 204PS, but it also returns 54.3mpg and sits in the lowest diesel company car tax band of 18% thanks to a 138g/km CO2 emission figure. The 204PS means that 0-62mph comes up in seven seconds and top speed is 2mph shy of 150mph. An impressive feat. What shines through when you're driving the car is the flexibility of the engine which will happily pull from less than 1500rpm all the way to 5000rpm. This means you can just trickle around town with few gear-changes or take a more sporty attitude out of town - the car will respond well to either. The only disappointment is the engine's note, which seems flat and unsporty, and even a little intrusive and boomy on the motorway.

As ever with BMW it's the firm's Efficient Dynamics package that does the...

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