market-driven dilemma
Saturday December 19 2009
Here's a little Beemer that costs just €104 a year in road tax and can stretch to more than 60mpg under ideal conditions. I put up 1,000 or so kilometres behind the wheel of the BMW 118d Coupe and grew fonder of it by the day.
It was smooth, nippy enough, comfortable despite its compact nature, easy to park and drive while it had a boot that seemed to run to half its entire length.
So you should go out and buy it then?
Well, no. Not so quickly anyway. You see it costs €30,000 or so and that is a big issue.
So let's start again.
Three years ago, say I told you there was a BMW out there on four, not two, wheels for around €30,000 I'm certain it would have generated a fair bit of interest.
A prestige marque for that sort of money would have been regarded as a real come-on. That's why it was made, of course. To get 'starters' into a car with the hallowed badge out front.
And when they stepped up the ladder, sure it was a done deal, they'd pop their middle-class bums into a 3-series and ultimately a 5-series.
Any feelings of guilt or luxury on this starter could easily have been assuaged by pointing to the €104-a-year road tax and the provable fact that it will do 45mpg with any sort of average driving.
I think it's fair to say there would have been a good few takers.
That was then, of course. Somehow or another I don't see a stampede now, even though the 118d Coupe I had on test can boast about all that and a bit more.
They brought in a revised version of the engine (it is 1,995cc but they insist on calling it a 118d) in September and it nipped in under the cut-off point for the lowest road tax and VRT (14pc) band.
So let's acknowledge the work done on this, as well as the reality that €30,000 for a small Beemer is no longer a clarion cry to buy.
It is, ironically, a better proposition now than it has ever been but then we could probably say the same thing about a lot of cars, especially some potential rivals for this.
It is a compact little thing, but it has plenty of room for two out front. As you'd expect it's toddlers' space at the back. The frameless windows jut up and down automatically when you open the doors while nearly everything else about it is straightforward and obvious.
I must say, however, I am not impressed any more with how the seats adjust manually in many BMWs (they're great when electric). I find I have to sort of thrust and lunge the old weary body forwards and upwards for the seat to 'follow' me.
Most undignified, and would leave one's actions open to all sort of conjecture if anyone bothered to look.
But when I got my seat the way I wanted it, I had a grand time. BMW make good seats, solid and strong. Just the sort for someone like me whose back is a keen barometer of anything not quite up to scratch.
I drove and drove and drove; wind, rain, frost, back-road and motorway. This little pony never gave the impression it was doing anything other than trotting along.
I love a good engine and this is a fine example of modern technology at work. When you're driving along at a nice pace there is something about the near-silent hum of a diesel engine and then there's that little clearing of its throat when you change a gear and spur on.
Of course it is alright for me to wax lyrical about such matters.
It is an entirely different affair to have to fork out that amount of money.
One can make all the practical cases one likes about a car like this. There is no question it is extremely frugal and the low level of road tax is a major factor. But is it enough car for the money, notwithstanding all the plaudits? When you consider what €30,000 will buy you these days -- from a Ford Mondeo to a Mercedes A-Class/B-Class to an Audi A3, that is an extremely tough question to answer.
The 1-series in general was initially priced far too high. They have improved it as a series; there's more room and equipment. And they have consistently sliced back the prices. They may have to go another bit to make this the sort of package potential buyers expect in 2010.
That is the reality of a merciless market and no amount of brilliant technology can win the battle on its own.
ecunningham@independent.ie
Irish Independent
