AC SchnitzerACS1
THE NEW M135i IS NOT LIKE THE OLD M135i. My neighbour has the old model and often fires it up at 7am as he heads off to work. I don’t mind at all because it’s the most wonderful-sounding alarm clock. There’s so much soul in the low growl of the 3-litre straight-six, so much character, that I often entertain thoughts of owning an M135i just for how it sounds. Well, that and the fact that its 321bhp is delivered to just the rear wheels.
The latest M135i is a completely different animal. It has a 2-litre, four-cylinder engine, installed transversely and powering the front wheels, mainly. It shares its floorpan and running gear with its stablemate, the Mini Countryman
JCW All4. And given that the JCW is a chunky ‘Mini’ it’s no surprise that the M135i xDrive is no lightweight either, coming in at 1525kg, which is almost 100kg more than the crooning straight sixmodel, and with fewer horsepower, too. Not so much progress as
