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BMW M135I XDRIVE REVIEW

Out goes six-cylinders and rear-wheel drive in favour of BMW’s most powerful four-pot and all-wheel drive. Welcome to the new hot One, the BMW M135i xDrive.

Review taken from Performance BMW. Words: Bob Harper. Photos: BMW.

There have been plenty of moments over the last few years that some of us in the BMW community have found hard to swallow. The loss of the naturally aspirated engine, the gradual demise of the manual gearbox, the increasing use of four-wheel drive and the move to a front-wheel drive platform for its smaller cars. Should we be worried?

The new 1 Series is a case in point. Front-wheel drive, three-pot motors for much of the range and the loss of the sonorous straight-six in the range-topping model. While this might be an issue for those of us interested in vehicle dynamics, the change to front-wheel drive was a no-brainer for BMW. Previous generations of the 1 Series might have been the driver’s choice in the hatchback sector but it simply didn’t match the competition in the interior or luggage space stakes and with the F40 generation BMW has addressed these issues. Research also suggests that the vast majority of buyers simply don’t care which are the driven wheels.

While this is all well and good for the majority of 1 Series sales where does this leave the top dog, the BMW M135i? The M140i was a much-loved and seriously enjoyable back road weapon – can a front-drive-based four-pot version garner the same enthusiasm? The vital stats don’t bode well with the BMW M135i xDrive offering 306hp and 332lb ft of torque – 34hp and 37lb ft less than the M140i. Performance is similar, with the M135i posting a 4.8-second 0-62mph time versus 4.6 seconds for the older car with the eight-speed auto. And that might be a another bone of contention for the M135i – it only comes as an auto and with xDrive four-wheel drive – the outgoing machine could be specced as a manual, and in the UK was rear-drive only.

So much for the on-paper stats, what about in the flesh? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so we won’t say too much about the styling, but to our eyes it’s a relatively generic hatchback shape with a shorter bonnet than before and a set of kidney grilles that only a mother could love. It is appreciably roomier though, especially in the back, and the boot’s now the same size as a Golf and an A3 and 20-litres up on an A-Class.

The interior has a nice ambiance too, and the bespoke sports seats are comfortable and supportive with a mix of cloth and Alcantara upholstery. There’s plenty of kit in the M135i with BMW’s Live Cockpit Professional being standard fitment, which brings widescreen nav, the latest operating system, the digital instrument cluster as seen on higher-end models, and the ability to talk to your
car via the ‘Hey BMW’ function if that’s your thing.

But enough of all that, what’s it like to drive? A four-cylinder, even with a digital sound enhancer, is never going to sound as inspiring as a ’six but BMW does seem to have done a pretty good job, with the M135i sounding suitably raunchy with pops and bangs from the exhaust when you rev it, and once on the open road it’s pretty punchy too. As with many BMWs the driving mode is important – it feels a little lazy in Comfort mode, with the gearbox in particular taking a little longer to drop a cog when you ask for full bore acceleration, but ramp it up to Sport and it takes on a much better persona. Throttle response is improved and the gearbox feels noticeably more alive, although still not as sharp as in the M140i – the M135i can’t use the ZF eight-speeder that works so well in the rest of the range thanks to its transverse engine layout and instead uses a different eight-speeder made by Aisin.

There’s no getting away from the M135i’s cross-country pace, though, and while the vital stats might just favour the M140i there would be very little in it on a demanding back road. While the swap to all-wheel drive might not be the purists’ preference, or the choice of those who enjoy a sideways cornering attitude, its grip is phenomenal and even in streaming wet conditions it’ll transmit all 300 horses to the road surface without any drama. At the limit there might be the slightest grabbing feeling through the steering as it scrabbles for grip, but the standard fit limited-slip differential on the front axle and BMW’s new (for combustion engine cars, it’s been used before on the i3) ARB tech, which brakes the inside wheels when cornering to mitigate against understeer, work really well. And talking of brakes, the standard-fit M Sport stoppers do haul it up impressively and inspire confidence.

Ultimately, it’s perhaps not quite as entertaining as the M140i, but on a wet back road chances are it’ll be a hell of a lot quicker. The M135i does feel a little different to a normal BMW xDrive offering, though, as it can only send a maximum of 50% of its power to the rear wheels whereas in the bigger models up to 100% can be directed rearward. It’ll cover the ground quickly, but the overriding impression is of a very quick front-wheel drive machine that’s getting some assistance from the rear rather than the other way round.

Downsides? The interior is perhaps a little busy – there are a huge number of different trim textures and finishes in there and the gear lever is too short, especially when you want to rapidly knock it over to the left to engage the gearbox’s Sport or manual mode. Our car had the optional dampers which felt good in all modes and at £500 aren’t too expensive either, although they can’t be paired with the optional 19” rims for some reason.

If you’re after a seriously rapid hatch that’s supremely surefooted and still an engaging drive the BMW M135i xDrive could well be the machine for you. Is it better than before? Perhaps, perhaps not, but it offers a very different skill set and is none the worse for it.

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October 23, 2020
First drive review: 2021 Ram 1500 TRX delivers big thrills at a big price

By Brian Wong

I’m nervous. Sitting behind the wheel of the new 2021 Ram 1500 TRX atop a 60 foot hill, I can hear my heartbeats thumping inside my helmet. The final directions from the instructor are ringing through my head. “…And you’re going to need to hit that ramp at 55 mph (points), to make it to the landing zone.” I’m trying to figure out how much airtime you’ll get hitting a ramp at 55 mph in a 6,000 pound-plus truck, but I get distracted wondering if the instructor sitting next to me is sure he wants to be inside the cab when that happens. Then halfway through the lap the ramp appears and it’s time to hit the gas.

Getting to 55 mph on any surface is easy for the TRX with its 702 horsepower, 650 pounds-feet of torque, and custom-designed Goodyear all-terrain tires. But it has so much grip on the loose track surface that I’m overshooting the speed target by about 5 mph when I hit the ramp and the world goes… quiet. No more engine noise, no tires scrabbling over dirt, no instructions from the instructor. Then the TRX lands as casually as if it were driving down a quiet street. Its calmness gets transferred to me and the fun really begins.

Ram’s new monster-truck-masquerading-as-production-vehicle gets the same 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 Hellcat engine sprinkled throughout FCA’s brands but this is a different sort of animal. The other vehicles are all designed to go fast on pavement, whether that be the track or the dragstrip. On the other hand, the TRX is built to go fast everywhere. That means the ability to go over 100 mph on pavement and on dirt and to do that requires so much more than just raw power.

2021 Ram 1500 TRX

2021 Ram 1500 TRX

2021 Ram 1500 TRX

The TRX goes far beyond what you get in the Ram 1500 Rebel. Upgrades include a brand new Bilstein Blackhawk e2 (e-squared) adaptive damper system, larger 15-inch brakes up front, Dana 60 rear axle, and the largest coil springs ever fitted to a full-size pickup truck over the rear wheels. Lots of work has also been done on the frame, 74% of which has been either enhanced with stronger steel or had new pieces installed for added strength over the regular 1500. Even the 35-inch all-terrain tires were developed specifically for the TRX by Goodyear and have the highest top speed of any all-terrain tire at 118 mph.

The TRX is also significantly larger than the other 1500 models; it’s a full 8-inches wider thanks to widened axles and sits two inches higher for added ground clearance. All of that frame reinforcement also adds about 600 pounds compared to a Ram 1500 Rebel with the 5.7-liter V-8. TRX tips the scales at 6,350 pounds.

2021 Ram 1500 TRX

Heavy Light-Duty

On pavement, the TRX’s heft is readily apparent. It felt in some ways like driving one of Ram’s heavy duty 2500 or 3500 trucks, rather than a 1500 variant. The added ride height doesn’t just make it harder to scramble up into the cab (not to mention load things into the bed), it makes the center of gravity higher and that weight is felt in the corners. Though the suspension does a good job of keeping things tidy and the TRX never feels out of control, I felt it fighting against physics taking any turn at speed.

On a lighter note, the engine is more than a match for all that weight. It launches from 0-60 mph in just 4.5 seconds and launch control works on gravel as well as on concrete. (It’s the only truck I’ve tested with launch control.) Ram also did something smart with the TRX’s pedal feel. The first half of the pedal’s travel is quite tame in an effort to make it feel more docile, so even in Sport mode it’s easy to drive the truck slowly and it never lurches. But the instant you want to hear that supercharger whine and really get going, pushing the pedal further provides instant haste. Jumping from 20-40 mph doesn’t bring the same thrill that 0-20 mph does, the truck’s head snapping acceleration gets dulled at speed in part due to the adaptive suspension’s proficiency at keeping the truck balanced.

Even fitted with an aggressive all-terrain tire, the ride quality in the TRX feels smooth and the cabin remains rather quiet. Semi trucks with chains on the tires have chewed up the right lanes of the highways around Lake Tahoe, but even on those pockmarked roads the TRX was tranquil. If anything, I could have used more exhaust note, but the TRX impressively retained the luxury feel that you get in higher Ram 1500 trim levels.

2021 Ram 1500 TRX

Off-Road Chops

The afternoon portion of the drive took place at an off-road facility, complete with a dirt track, off-road course, and a steep rock crawling section. On the dirt track with jumps, loose surfaces, elevation changes, and even a whoop section (like moguls on ski runs), the TRX felt right at home. Those massive rear springs that enable up to 14 inches of rear suspension travel means the suspension didn’t come close to bottoming out. From the driver’s seat the TRX felt isolated from what I’m sure were hard hits, providing even more confidence for the next approaching obstacle.

I understood the appeal of the Hellcat engine more on the track than the street. It’s enough power for the TRX to feel like it will never get bogged down in dirt of any kind and this sensation is especially charming in turns. I approached the course’s hairpins with some abandon, knowing that I could get the TRX to begin to slide and depend on the throttle to save me, simply mashing on the gas to get the rear end to rotate and power the truck in the right direction with sprays of dirt flying out the back.

2021 Ram 1500 TRX

After some hot laps, I felt that I wasn’t getting as much out of the truck as it had to offer, so I enlisted Chris Winkler, SRT Vehicle Dynamics engineer, to take me for a spin around the track. Chris did much of the test driving for the TRX’s development and the first thing he did was take the traction control all the way off. He took the truck to another level, jumping the truck 20-30 feet further than I was able to and even hitting some smaller jumps sideways to slide the truck into the next corner.

While the TRX’s prodigious power came in handy while flying around a dirt track, I was in some ways more curious to see how it handled rock crawling, where throttle dexterity and the ability to control the power to climb (rather than fly) over obstacles is the name of the game. Much like its surprisingly docile nature on the street, the TRX’s power output was easy to control in 4WD low and the truck’s Rock drive mode. Visibility to the truck’s outsides is quite bad; that large hood (with an added scoop) and ride height make it hard to see what’s around you. Though the camera system now offers multiple front and rear views, I was more thankful for the crew of spotters that helped get me up the hill.

2021 Ram 1500 TRX

The Price of Power

As fun as the TRX is, especially once the road ends, it’s impossible to escape its price tag–both at the dealership and at the pump. Fuel economy ratings for the TRX are estimated at 10 mpg city, 14 highway, 12 combined and the truck requires premium gasoline as well.

The TRX’s price tag is also high, starting at $71,890 (including a $1,895 destination charge). Ram eagerly points out that this puts it around the average transaction price of a Ford Raptor, but that is for a Raptor with some options not a base model. My test vehicle included the TR2 ($7,920) options package and a host of other optional equipment which drove its sticker all the way to $89,960. The base TRX comes with the 12.1-inch multimedia screen, but it also has cloth seating, a lack of advanced safety features, and no heated front seats or steering wheel. I don’t see many folks opting for anything near a base version of this truck, and with a large catalog of available Mopar accessories you can punch it up to near six figures.

Though the engine snags all of the headlines, it was the other parts of the TRX that impressed me more. This is similar to the experience I had with the Dodge Charger Hellcat. Dodge would come to release a widebody version of the Charger that came with the same suspension, braking, and handling upgrades found on the Hellcat–just with 500 horsepower instead of 700. I had 90% of the fun for about 70% of the price and I have a sneaking suspicion that the same might be true of the TRX, perhaps with the 6.4-liter V-8 instead of the Hellcat engine. And for me, that theoretical truck might be Goldilocks (and much easier on the wallet).

In the meantime however, if you want to have the baddest, swaggeriest, hairiest-chested truck around, the Ram 1500 TRX fills that role with aplomb. It turns out 702 horsepower is fun in pretty much any incarnation, and the TRX’s performance lives up to its supertruck billing. Just be prepared to pay for the privilege.

Ram provided several Ram 1500 TRXs, a hotel room, and an off-road park for Internet Brands Automotive to bring you this firsthand report.

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October 23, 2020
MINE’S SKYLINE GT-R R34: PURE PERFECTION

There are only three Mine’s Skyline GT-R R34 demo cars and only one was a pure streeter. That car now lives in Australia and we were lucky enough to spend some time with it…

Feature taken from Banzai Magazine. Words and Photos: Chris Nicholls.

I haven’t driven anything that’s better than the Mine’s car at this stage that is suitable for the street. If you thought about building an ultimate car for the road, that’s this car”. So says Simon Ong, manager at V-Spec Performance in eastern Melbourne, where the street version of Mine’s famous R34 GT-R race car now lives. And given his job lets him drive any number of GT-Rs, as well as many other Japanese icons, that’s quite the statement.

Of course, any genuine Mine’s Skyline GT-R R34 is a monster underneath. This one may not look it, but that’s deliberate. Company founder Niikura-san states that “Mine’s cars are designed to look like mildly modified stock cars – that’s the cool part.” Because of course, there’s nothing cooler than a bit of a sleeper. And like any sleeper, it’s what’s under the bonnet that counts. Decades of experience accumulated by Niikura-san and his staff is poured into every Mine’s demo car, and it’s that, more than the parts themselves, that makes the difference. The spec list of a Mine’s RB26 engine, for example, is nothing special. Forged pistons and rods, yes, but the turbos are old-school HKS GT2530s and the cams are only 260° inlet and 252° exhaust. So why does it come on boost hard from just 3,700rpm and run all the way to redline, putting out 600hp and 433lb-ft of torque in 2.6-litre guise along the way? Because it’s built smart, using almost every old-school tuning trick available. Dummy head fit plateau cylinder boring, block and head shaving, cam lobe clearance shaving (due to those otherwise ‘normal’ intake cams having 10.2mm intake lift to maximise flow but minimise vacuum losses), combustion chamber volume matching, valve seat machining, porting and polishing, you name it, it’s been done. And that philosophy applies to the whole car. It’s why Niikura-san can say “our cars are built to lap Tsukuba in under a minute,” and back it up without the massive wings, stripped and caged interiors, or anything else that typifies other Japanese tuner cars.

The funny thing is, as we mentioned at the start, while all this hidden work resulted in immense fame, there were actually three Mine’s Skyline GT-R R34 cars built, not just the two you might know from Best Motoring videos. The famous ones are the 2.6-litre ‘race car’ and the 2.8-litre ‘Matsuno car’, with the racer used in all those Japanese videos, and the Matsuno car (named after original owner Matsuno-san, who paid Mine’s to turn it into a demo car replica) the one shipped to the US to beat the American tuners and smash their lap records. However, Niikura-san also built a street version at almost exactly the same time, and that’s the one you’re looking at right now.

So, what’s the difference between this car and its siblings, and how did it end up in Australia? Well, in terms of exterior changes, there are very few. The white paint, Mine’s RE-mg BBS-made magnesium wheels and most of the carbon aero remains identical to the race car, albeit in silver carbon rather than black, so the only major differences are the lack of canards and change to ZELE International LED tails. Inside, the seats go from a pair of Recaro SP-A buckets to an RS-G SK2 driver’s seat and a SR-6 SK100S passenger seat, while the wheel switches from a Sparco item to a custom leather and Alcantara-trimmed stocker. The gearknob, amusingly, is actually better on the street car, with a Nismo Durocon item instead of the racer’s factory job and, being a streeter, there’s also a Carrozzeria head unit. Mechanically, the only major changes are in the 2.8-litre engine versus 2.6, the suspension, which uses Mine’s ESTA full-Spec Ohlins-based dampers and 11.6kg/mm Eibachs all-round, whereas the racer uses Mine’s ESTA Professional Edition II Dynamic-based dampers with 12kg/mm front and 10kg/mm rear Eibach springs, the clutch, which is a Nismo G-Max Spec II compared to the racer’s Mine’s carbon twin-plate, and the fuel system, which relies on a single Mine’s High-Volume pump, whereas the race car uses two and a swirl pot due to running higher boost pressures. Suspension links, massive eight-piston front Brembos and every other major mechanical component remains the same. As you might expect, that makes it very fast indeed – something Niikura-san says he put to good use on the local touges and expressways in his younger days. Indeed, you can see the evidence in the burnt plastic all the way up the bumper and halfway up the tail light surround – something the current owner intends to leave untouched.

As for why Niikura-san sold such a fun and historically important car and how it ended up in Australia, we’ll let the man himself explain the first part: “If it was my only car, obviously I wouldn’t sell it, and I’ve kept the race car for myself, but there was another car I wanted, and if I held onto every car I owned after buying a new one, I’d be drowning in them. Plus I’m not that rich, and obviously there’s the issue of where to keep them all. I can’t keep a car like that outside, and storage here is at a premium, so I decided to sell it.” In terms of the second owner, his friend Yoshida-san, he kept it lovingly (clearly, given the engine upgrade), but probably because he only added a few thousand kilometres over his four-year ownership period, he eventually sold it to Tokyo-based GT-R specialists Garage 565. This is where current owner Allen Cheng, head of V-Spec Performance in Melbourne, comes in. Apparently, Simon says that “one of us saw it on the 565 Facebook page and we went to Allen and said ‘This car’s for sale. You need to go get it’, and thanks to knowing the guys there from prior purchases (V-Spec being one of Australia’s leading GT-R sales and tuning specialists), all it took was a phone call to set things in motion.

Of course, when it did finally arrive downunder, Australia’s draconian car modification laws meant it wasn’t easy to get it on the road, but thanks to some extra work from V-Spec’s Sydney-based compliance workshop, they got it done, and Allen was soon driving it the 900-plus kilometres back to Melbourne. “That was a good test drive for him,” laughs Simon. Apparently, Allen didn’t even mind the extraordinarily tight SPG fixed-back (which literally can’t fit anyone with more than a 30-inch waist) over such a long journey, either. As you might expect, when he did eventually pull into V-Spec after the drive, there was quite a bit of excitement, too.

“We grew up watching this car and its siblings, so as soon as it rocked up, we were like ‘Daaaamn!’ says Simon. “It’s so good and makes all the race car noises, with the clutch rattling and squeaky brakes, which for a normal person would make them think there’s something wrong with the car, but for us car people, we were like, ‘Aww, sounds so good!’” he laughs. Thankfully for him, Simon didn’t have to wait long to drive the car himself, with Allen letting him drive it from his house to the workshop soon after he took possession, something Simon says was an interesting experience, as the road was wet and the Mine’s car was rather different from his own, fairly standard, V-Spec II Nür.

“When I drove it onto the freeway, that boost came on so quickly. It was a bit of a wet day, too, so I was playing around … and dropped from fifth to fourth and you could feel the tyres spinning when the boost kicked-in. It was so unfamiliar to have the boost come on that quickly that I wasn’t sure if the wheelspin had actually happened at first, but then I came off the freeway and I wanted to see what the boost was like in the first couple of gears on a side street and it came on so quick, it definitely span the tyres. I thought I was imagining it on the freeway, but no, the boost kicked in so hard and so quick, I couldn’t believe it. I thought ‘I can’t believe I’m driving this car!’.”

Unsurprisingly, the reaction from local petrolheads has been one of similar excitement. While there is a replica in Sydney, this is the only true Mine’s car in the country, and once fans learn it’s the real deal, Simon says they go nuts: “A lot of people know all about it. Many of them question whether it’s a replica, and when you tell them it’s real, they’re blown away and start taking photos and selfies with it,” he laughs. “It’s just the aura, I guess. It’s certainly amazing.” Even more amazingly, while it currently serves as a second demo car for V-Spec, Allen also uses it as an occasional daily driver and Simon says there are even plans to take it to a few track days. In a world where many collector cars never get driven, that’s refreshing to hear. We’ve no doubt that Niikura-san himself would approve.

Tech Spec: Mine’s Skyline GT-R R34

Engine:

Full Mine’s 2.8-litre engine Stage II with Tomei forged pistons and conrods, Mine’s cam gears, Mine’s 260° inlet/252° exhaust cams (10.2mm lift inlet/9.5mm lift exhaust), cam lobe clearance machining, strengthened valve springs, PBB valve guides, Beryllium valve seats, valve seat machining, valve refacing, porting and polishing, combustion chamber volume matching, shaved head, metal head gasket, strengthened crank bolts and head studs, counterweighted crank with WPC surface treatment, balanced pulleys, shaved block, dummy head fitted plateau cylinder wall honing, Nismo strengthened oil pump, strengthened timing belt, Mine’s oil pan baffle, Mine’s triple flow cam cover baffle plate, Nismo intake manifold, Nismo thermostat, NGK spark plugs and N1 water pump, HKS GT2530 turbos, Mine’s Big Capacity 270l/h fuel pump, Mine’s SPL brass radiator, Mine’s silver carbon radiator shroud, Mine’s air scoop, Mine’s VX air filter, Mine’s carbon air filter duct, aluminium catch can, Mine’s Super Outlet Pro 2 outlet pipe, Mine’s Front Pipe Pro Titanium, Mine’s Super Catalyser II, Mine’s Silence VX Pro Titanium muffler, HKS intercooler and Mine’s VX-ROM. Nismo G-Max Spec II twin-plate clutch, Cusco Type RS front differential, Mine’s carbon propshaft, Nismo 3.9 LSD.

Chassis:

10.2×18 -18 Mine’s RE-Mg BBS-made magnesium wheels with 265/35 Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R tyres, Mine’s ESTA Full-Spec Suspension coilovers (Ohlins base) with remote reservoirs and 20-step adjustability, Eibach springs (11.6kg/mm f&r), Mine’s ESTA Sports Link kit, Mine’s swaybars, Mine’s titanium strut tower bar, Brembo eight-piston calipers (f) and four-piston calipers (r) with 380mm rotors (f) and 340mm rotors (r).

Exterior:

Mine’s carbon front diffuser, Mine’s silver carbon trunk spoiler, Mine’s silver carbon aero mirrors Type II, Mine’s silver carbon rear wing element, Mine’s silver carbon rear wing stays, ZELE International LED tail lamps.

Interior:

Recaro RS-G SK2 fixed-back racing driver’s seat with Sabelt four-point harnesses, Recaro SR-6 SK100S reclining passenger seat, Nismo Duracon black gear knob, Carrozzeria DEH-P760 head unit, HKS Circuit Attack Counter, HKS EVC6 IR boost controller, Mine’s 320 km/h gauge cluster, special order Robson re-trimmed leather and Alcantara stock steering wheel.

Source

October 22, 2020