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Turnabout: 2020 BMW 118i F40 a/t

Compact little hustler

Pics by BMW-presse
Posted: June 22, 2020

The numbers
Base price including CO2 tax: R490 520
Engine: BMW B38B15, 1499 cc, DOHC 12-valve, twin-scroll turbocharged, inline three-cylinder
Power: 103 kW between 4600 and 6500 rpm
Torque:  220 Nm between 1500 and 4200 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8.5 seconds
Top speed: 213 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.8 l/100 km
Tank: 42 litres
Luggage: 380 – 1200 litres
Ground clearance: See text
Turning circle: 11.4 metres
Maximum towing mass, braked and unbraked: 1300 kg, 680 kg
BMW Motorplan: 5 years / 100 000 km
Note: Supplementary technical information from automobile-catalog.com

Let me whisper this quietly to avoid causing you undue stress: BMW’s newest 118i is front-wheel drive (fwd). Purists are horrified. The Old Ones believe implicitly that Real Cars simply must have rear-wheel drive (rwd); to power through corners, hang tails out and burn tyre rubber happily.

Original Minis, and MINIs that followed, have proved that isn’t the only way to have fun. How about diving into the apex, aiming for the exit and booting all that power-on understeer to straight-line your way out? It’s every bit as entertaining; just different.

But BMW, pernickety engineers that they are, spent five years perfecting ARB (Aktuator Radschlupfbegrenzung or actuator wheel slip limitation) to render the car’s handling completely neutral. It works at engine level to limit slippage on wheels closest to the outside of the corner. A continuation of Vehicle Stability Control, there’s some braking involved but, because the controller is closer to the power source, reactions are up to ten times as fast. Drat. Just when some of us were learning to love fwd.

Not that there’s anything wrong with neutral handling of course. Front-wheel drive Lancia Fulvia coupés enjoyed that 50 years ago but achieved it via engineering rather than electronics. Just saying.

A quick blast up the nearest rambling country road proved that neutral can be fun too; just a touch more responsible, perhaps. I tried fairly hard to unsettle it. But failed. BMW will surely be pleased about that. Power delivery and gear shifting was equally grin-inducing, despite not having shift paddles to play with. IMHO these are just pretentious and a waste of money. Because stick rules!

Apart from the driving end change, the old F20 range’s 1600 cc, four-cylinder engine was swapped out for the newer 1500 cc triple producing essentially the same quantities of power and torque – now 103 kW/220 Nm vs. 100 kW/220Nm. The new one is cleaner, Euro 6d-TEMP compliant, thanks in part to a petrol particulate filter.

That obviously wasn’t all: The new body is 5 mm shorter on 20 mm less wheelbase, 34 mm wider and stands 13 mm higher. It’s all in the ground clearance; now 153 mm vs 140 mm previously, unless you specify the M-Sport package. Priced at R32 700, it gives you 17” wheels with 225/45 tyres to replace the original 205/55 R16s; sport seats; an M leather steering wheel; various appearance items and sports suspension lowered by 10 mm.

The Sport Line pack at R20 700 is much the same but with different details and forgoes the suspension change.

Other changes include about 20 kg more weight; a slightly wider turning circle despite the shorter wheelbase; a fuel tank 10 litres smaller; 20 litres more boot space thanks to 67 mm greater internal width (Note: Automatic boot opening is now an option on 1-Series cars); 19 mm rear seat headroom increase and 30 mm of extra shoulder space. My 1.84-metre, 97-kg frame fitted comfortably.

The only local configuration is five doors and seven-speed Steptronic gearbox, while the easiest way to describe the facelift is to say that almost everything has changed. I won’t bore you with details; that’s what pictures are for.

Remaining unaltered are BMW’s standard features, safety kit and extensive options list. But those didn’t need to change; this new 118i is still a compact little hustler built for city traffic and open road alike. It may have been turned around and revamped but it’s still a hoot to drive.

Test unit from BMWSA press fleet

We drove a 116i, F20 in 2012

And an M135i X-Drive in 2020

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
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