It’s a shame BMW keeps some of its best cars for Europe. Sure, we get a 6-speed manual in the M5 and the Europeans don’t, but that’s really it. They get the funky 1 Series hatchback which, despite being slightly ungainly looking, is a great little car and we don’t even get most of BMW’s fantastic diesel engines. All of this is fine; we’re used to not getting some of Europe’s best cars.
But the last straw is the 218i.
BMW recently announced the 218i and 220d for 2015. While it’s no surprise they would offer the 220d eventually, BMW’s 2.0 liter diesel is offered in just about all of BMW’s lineup, the 218i is a very interesting concept. The 218i will come with BMW’s 1.5 liter, turbocharged three-cylinder engine from the MINI Cooper and i8, the same engine that just recently landed on Ward’s 2015 10 Best Engines.
The main issue with the 2 Series has been its price. Other than that, the 2er has been winning hearts of journalists the world over. It’s a lovely little car with communicative steering, a nimble chassis, great performance and classic BMW looks. However, its starting price isn’t much lower than that of the 3 Series’, so it doesn’t really seem like good value.
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The 218i seems like it could rectify this problem. With the current 228i starting at $32,100, a sub $30,000 price tag for the 218i doesn’t seem farfetched. That would make it the cheapest car in the BMW lineup. Imagine that funky little three-banger under the hood of a 2 Series, shifted through a proper 6-speed? That would be fantastic, especially considering that BMW claims the 218i to get between 5.6 – 5.1 liters per 100km fuel consumption (around 40 mpg). That seems a bit lofty of a claim, but even mpg near that would be great considering the fun, sporty nature of the car. The little 1.5 liter engine would pack 136 hp and 160 lb-ft of torque, hauling it from 0-60 mph in around 8.8 seconds with a manual (8.9 with the 8-speed automatic). The 220d bests it with 190 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque getting it to 60 mph in 6.8 seconds. Economy-wise, the 220d crushes the 218i with BMW claiming between 4.7 – 4.3 liters per 100km (50 – 54 mpg). Regardless of engine, both the 220d and 218i make for a great performance/economy proposition.
It’s a shame these cars likely won’t make it to the US market. I can understand the 220d not making it here as diesels market share are quite small, so financially it won’t make much sense. However, base model BMW’s are tough to keep on dealer lots. Millions of people flock to BMW dealerships to buy/lease base model 320i just so they can show off to their friends about having a brand-new “Bimmer”. So the 218i would not only make bored housewives happy, because now they can have their fancy BMW on the cheap, but enthusiasts as well.
Just read Jalopnik once and you’ll hear thousands of gear-heads begging for a small engined, no-frills BMW with a manual gearbox. Selling the 218i would allow BMW to have their cake and eat it too. So please BMW, pretty please, bring us the 218i and, if you’re feeling generous, the 220d.
Nico DeMattia also writes at TheEngineBay
what is the point of the 318i if the 320d seems better in every way?
318 doesn’t have enough power for modern traffic. Not in the states anyway. sounds great across the pond.
Edit:
of course I meant to type 218i and 220d. habit has me thinking about 3 series. apologies for confusion
We’re talking about 218i :)
haha your right, reflexes,
well, for one there is the price drop, a 218i will be significantly cheaper. As for power, as long as it can get on the freeway within the space allotted, it has enough power for American roads. Keep in mind that our infastructure was and still is designed for cars from the 1950s, cars that the 218i could easily keep up with. For traffic, we have horsepower ranges from 80-ish in a smart fortwo to over 1000 in modified cars and expensive exotics, and that is just what is on lots right now, those super heavy and slow cars from yesteryear still turn up from time to time and have to be dealt with.
how much is significantly cheaper. 5k ? I mean you get 50% more power + better fuel economy from the 220d. if 228 is 32k and they are talking about 218 as just sub 30k.
I’d imagine the 220d would be somewhere between the two.
Unless that sub 30k means 25k and 220d is 31k. Just wondering who would buy it, doesn’t seem to make sense to me.
And when a minivan does 0-60 in 7 secs hard to desire a BMW which does it in 9.
and on roads like merit parkway (route 15 in Connecticut) right next to my house you have maybe 1/8 mile on ramp to merge with traffic going 70 mph. I rented a bmw 118d in europe over the last summer drove it 4000 Km and it’d never be safe to drive it here. certainly not an ultimate driving machine.
It would be a decent low horsepower rwd car, similar in performance to 90’s Mazda MX-5 or even a 90’s honda with a D series engine, which gets on the freeway just fine around here.
Could you get better performance for the money? yes… don’t buy a BMW. for that sub-30k price range you could also get a mustang ecoboost or a Genesis coupe. but then again we would not be having the same conversation, now would we?
There is more to BMW than the 3 and 5 series, the fact that they are even making a car with such a small engine is a bit of an oddity in 2014/15, but I welcome the diversity.
But they weight about 1000 lbs more than a mx-5 or 90’s Honda.
My point was really that the 220D seems such a better deal / performer that I’d imagine it be hard to find a market for the 218i
It might be, but that depends on how BMW goes about sales in the US. If the 218i is $22,000 and the 220d is $28,000, it would make a lot more sense then if they were $1000 apart, and that is if they decide to sell the 220d here at all.
The miata and 218i have very similar 0-60 times, hp and weight are irrelevant.
well no doubt 22k would be a steal.
And a mx-5 has 0-60 around 6.8 sec 2 seconds faster than the 218. that is a huge difference.
A 93 miata 1.6L has a 0-60 time sitting around 8.1-8.9 seconds depending on who was doing the testing. That is the car I am referencing. I am fully aware that the new one is heaps faster.
But they weight about 1000 lbs more than a mx-5 or 90’s Honda.
My point was really that the 220D seems such a better deal / performer that I’d imagine it be hard to find a market for the 218i
I drive a 318ti, which has performance specs almost identical to the 218i. It’s ridiculous to say that the 218i doesn’t have enough power for “modern” American traffic. This attitude is what keeps many great cars out of the US.
your 318ti if you mean the e36 was some 600 lb lighter. should do 0-60 around 7.5 secs, which is much quicker than 8.8