UK newcomer – the F20 BMW 114d

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Usually when a new car is introduced it can be pretty easy to pinpoint if it’s a good or bad car. With this one, things aren’t so simple.

The British market is about to get a new entry level version of the F20 BMW 1 Series, something they call the 114d. Much like the new X3 entry level model, the point here is to save fuel and money.

This is why you’ll be getting a fuel economy tuned version of the 1.6 liter diesel four cylinder engine we’ve already seen in the F20.

Since being cheap economical, is the most important part of the equation, you can forget the performance side of the equation.

The engine was now tuned down to 95 horsepower and 173 lb-ft of torque. Less than 100 horses in a BMW, not the most glamorous of situations.

Now, getting up to 65.7 UK mpg (54.7 US mpg or 4.2 l/100 km) out of each combined cycle run does seem tempting and the emissions of just 112 grams of CO2 per km may be green but is that all that matters?

Can anybody really be satisfied with the idea of having a BMW they purchased for nothing other than the fuel economy of the engine?

I know people love the efficient part of Efficient Dynamics but that can’t be right. Much like the 116i of the E87, this car will almost certainly be a let down dynamically.

Then again, there’s plenty of folks driving these cars who don’t even know which axle is being driven so maybe they’re not missing out.

I might think the F20 BMW 114d is something of a bad car but there might be plenty out there who disagree and call me a poor fan of the company.