Stupid hatchback microwägen nonsense. They need to make an M1 already, and let’s not sidetracked into a discusstion about debasing the original M1 from the 70’s…sure it was a neat car for the time, but realistically its irrelevant to the discussion today.

SWEET

I’d go for a no frills, power nothing, cloth interior, 128i for $25K. Sort of in the spirit of the RS Evolution or tuner WRX.

shooting brake? what kind of name is that? how does that make sense?
either ways.. a 3 door hatchie version of the 1 would be super cool.

A stripped down version is actually a good idea.. I think the inline 6 cylinder engine
and rear wheel drive setup is the best in the world.

Ah.. if only BMW had a scion division. But that’ll never happen.

“Shooting Brake” is a term used in Europe. (Don’t ask me what it’s supposed to mean).

I though the Germans had learned by now that a premium priced European hatchback isn’t going to be successful in the U.S. (remember the BMW 318ti?) The Audi A3 is a hatch in Europe but they knew it wouldn’t be successful here so they made it a 5 door.

It isn’t likely that BMW would sell anything in the U.S. at the 25k price point. It’s all about marketing… they aren’t going to lower the perception of their brand by selling a vehicle at the “affordable” level.

Nothing wrong in concept with a hatch. 318ti flopped because it was underpowered and ugly.

howsmydriving: The story says BMW is considering a 4 cylinder engine for this car (like the 318ti had). Not good.

I agree that ‘nothing is wrong with a hatch.’ But perception speaks louder than reality. To most Americans, a hatch is perceived as “basic.” Not a good fit for a performance, upper level type of vehicle.

The Z3 hatch wasn’t underpowered and it still flopped in the U.S.

Over the years, VW has had success with the GTI, but that car never aimed for the premium (i.e., “near luxury”) segment of the market.

Whats wrong with BMW?Was my favorite brand by a hudge margin, but look what they’re doing with themselves..instead of making sports cars as they are really known for, they are following mercs footsteps by making the most amount of useless cars as possible.They canceled the M3 CSL, the CS Concept, and no plans for a decent mid engine or any kind of supercar.Instead, they are giving us the X1 (which manages to be even more ugly/useless than the X3), PAS thing which i have no ****ing idea of what it is, the X6, as if it wasnt enought the normal version, they are wasting more time and money with a “M”ore useless version, and now this?As if this wasnt enough, their new desing language sucks ass, how could they pull out a car as ugly as the new 7-series from the CS concept?

From plane engines to sports cars, and now what? trucks?different types of SUV’s for football players?

Audi has the best future in my honest opinion…BMW became even more pathetic than mercs.Sad, but true.

What the hell is becoming of BMW. I can’t imagine there being a market for their various X1s, X3s, X6s, PASs, POSs, Shooting Brakes, Mini SUVs, etc. Have the Germans not learned from the failure of the Mercedes R-Class?

bgco88, agreed.

BMW is not known for their sports cars. They hit big for their compact, fuel efficient but sports car-like handling abilities in their sedans. They’re known for their sports car engineering for their everyday usable cars. I agree, I wasn’t sure what the X6 was about but in the same way a pure sports car company such as Porsche built an SUV and succeeded. BMW haven’t had a “super” car with a BMW badge in a long time. It just doesn’t go along with what they believe in. They bring fuel efficient, sports car engineering with sports car-like driveablility…. not sports cars. The M3 is the farthest it’ll go. Even the M6 and the M5’s were a bit out of their characteristics. 500 great horsepowers on a body that weighs 2-tons is what Mercedes do and way out of what BMW should be known for. BMW has improved their Z series and I know they know what they’re doing with the 1-series. They’re good with working on the smaller cars.

@bgco88
I completely agree. BMW needs to take all the funding from the dumb@ss X6, X1, etc programs and make a new M1, and build the M3 CSL again. This is getting to resemble MB in the way they make about 200 different models, and no one has any clue what the hell the differences between each model are. And the X6 M is the most worthless idea BMW has had in a loooong time.

@beermedude,

4 cylinder means nothing, it might as well mean “torquy turbo with 240+hp to lowly i4 with less than 140hp”, but knowing BMW, I can’t imagine them not bringing at least 180hp to the table. Even 200hp is no competition to the 128 or the 328i really.

As for the success of hatch, recent years are slowly showing that this perception is finally changing some. Cars like the Golf/Rabbit, Mazda3, Honda Fit and even Mini have been selling quite well, but this is from somebody who sees the east coast mostly…

Shooting Brake refers to what we in the States call a station wagon. At one point, it was a custom or bespoke version of an existing platform, that was built for the well-heeled as an accessory while hunting, golfing or whatever.

No, a Shooting Brake is not exactly what you would call a Station wagon. It’s a mix between a Coupé and a Station wagon. A lot of people considered the Z3 Coupé a Shooting Brake, for example.

Just call it what it is … Shooting SHIAT.

Why do I feel lately that car companies are just throwing **** at the wall and seeing what sticks…