[info]ywong said he wanted more posts about cars, and as it happens kaiyu's recent Mini purchase caused me to do a little bit of car geeking (not in the market to buy right now though). I am a longtime BMW fan (it's what I learned to drive on) and have always figured I'd end up buying one eventually. I think the latest iteration of the 3 series looks a little too lumbering and boatlike (not a Bangle styling fan here) and kaiyu, who had a recent 328i as a loaner car for a while, said that it drives about like it looks. Thus my ears perked up when I heard that BMW was going to be releasing a 1 series model to the US market. "Neat," I thought to myself, "maybe it will have the good hardware with less of the luxury bloat."


They've put out a press release about it. The US is only getting a coupe (no hatchback), and only two I6 engines (328 and 335, no diesel or I4). Okay, fine-- I'm actually thinking that my next car would be a 2-door anyway (my need for a back seat turned out to be almost nonexistent except for the cross-country moves) and BMW I6 engines are very nice indeed.


However, the car is damn ugly.


bmw 1 coupe


Maybe it's just the horrible orange color they picked for the press photos, but yikes. I heard they're trying to go back to the spirit of the old 2002 model (late 1960s), and it looks like they took some inspiration from the awful color schemes of that era too. It makes me want to go out and buy an avocado green fridge to match.


You can see more photos and the text of the press release here [jalopnik.com].