BMW 116 review: Baby bimmer on a S$218,888 budget
But does the 116, the cheapest BMW in Singapore, still feel like a proper premium car?
HERE we have the cheapest BMW in Singapore, a five-door hatchback called the 116. It shows you what S$218,888 buys from the world’s leading premium car brand these days: not much in the way of equipment, and a small engine one cylinder short of the usual quartet.
But despite how things look on paper, the 116 does have a lot to offer. For one thing, it’s a playfully agile car that loves being chucked into corners, bounding through them in a way that will probably make you glad you decided to buy a European hatchback.
It’s even quite lively, despite giving the driver just 122 horsepower to play with. A turbocharger helps by delivering a solid shove of torque early on, while the snappy seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox conspires to keep things moving along nicely.
The 116 may not frighten a Porsche (in fact, it wouldn’t even give a Hyundai the jitters), but it’s about as much fun as you can have in the Category A Certificate of Entitlement market.
It looks the part, too, with the decorative M Sport package bringing moody black high-gloss Shadowline trim, 18-inch wheels and a lowered suspension setup that’s just about on the correct side of harsh. The overall effect means the car hunkers low on its haunches with a slightly defiant stance, like a teenager who’s just discovered eyeliner.
As much fun as it is, the 116 also delivers a modicum of practicality. You can squeeze three adult friends into the back, at least for short journeys, and the boot is decently sized, with an appetite for 380 litres of stuff.
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Fold the rear seats and that grows to 1,200 litres, or you can flip the boot floor up for a bit more loading height. There’s even a neat space for the luggage cover, which is a thoughtful touch.
Up front, the cabin is pure modern BMW. That means a pair of big, bright screens and a few key physical buttons, although sadly also the new-generation air-con slits instead of proper vents. At least you aim the airflow with little joysticks, rather than poking around on a touchscreen like a laboratory chimp trying to win a grape.
On the minus side, aside from a charging tray for your phone and two cupholders, there isn’t much useful storage space in the interior. Sure, there’s a console box between the front seats, but it won’t hold anything large, no matter how much optimism you take into the BMW with you.
Quite a few modcons are missing, too. There’s no head-up display, no 360-degree parking camera system and no adaptive cruise control, things that are becoming standard in cars costing far less. In that sense, the 116 does little to hide its position at the bottom of the BMW pecking order.
Then again, there’s plenty of evidence that BMW didn’t completely cheap out on the 1 Series. The dashboard gets a nice bit of hand-stitching, while the ambient lighting uses LEDs, which shine through a decorative aluminium panel that took a fair amount of effort to stamp and cut properly. As entry-level luxury cars go, it’s not without a bit of gloss.
And that matters, because the 116 is meant not only to scratch your BMW itch, but eventually give you a new, more expensive one to suffer. As the lowest rung on the BMW ladder, its main job is to be good enough to tempt you into your next bimmer.
And on that score, the 116 works. It’s not a towering achievement in itself, but it’s a decent first step for anyone looking to scale the heights of BMW ownership.
BMW 116 M Sport Engine 1,499 cc, inline 3-cylinder turbocharged Power 122 hp from 3,900 to 5,000 rpm Torque 230 Nm from 1,500 to 4,600 rpm Gearbox 7-speed dual-clutch automatic 0-100 kmh 9.8 seconds Top speed 210 kmh Fuel efficiency 6.6 L/100 km Agent Eurokars BMW or Performance Motors Price S$218,888 with COE Available Now
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