Actress Hollywood 2011

http://ceweq-manize.blogspot.com/

The Food Chain
“it’s not a real BMW” seems to be a common statement by many Bimmer enthusiasts when it comes to the smaller horsepower engines of the BMW line-up. This phrase seems typical of web forums and comments on articles when discussing a comparison of something like a 535i versus a 550i or 328i to 335i. The whole argument seems to imply a false sense of importance by owners of BMW’s with larger engines over those of the entry model of a series.
As if buying a 328i makes you less of a true driver with a car that somehow has far less “BMW-mess” than it’s faster sibling. It’s true, more power is typically better but that doesn’t make the lower output models any less of a driver’s car. This general perception of say, the naturally aspirated BMW’s versus forced induction BM’s, is typically a sign of someone who doesn’t “get” the brand.

However, there is one car that seems to be the biggest whipping boy of all when it comes to being perceived as a “lesser Bimmer” and that’s the 128i in the U.S. market. Much of this perception comes from the 128i now being the “cheapest” BMW available to U.S. consumers excluding cars of sister brand MINI. As if buying the cheapest available BMW signifies your loyalty to the brand and that enthusiast street cred can only be purchased and not earned.
After flip-flopping on what we should try out, a 750i or a 128i, the choice was obvious to me: the smallest BMW wins it. Besides, the F01/2 has already anchored its place in my heart and the minds of many others that it’s a truly luxurious, sporting car for its class. So, with that in mind, could we find something compelling about the 128i to sway the seemingly poor consensus that the 128i is a poseur Bavarian? I spent a full week with the 128i Convertible to see what would come from the littlest ‘vert across a variety of locations: sunny, expensive South Beach Miami, the young professional ‘s daily grind in Northeast Florida and the back roads of Georgia and South Carolina. We grabbed a few mounts and gear from FilmTools.com to help grab a bit of video content as well while in sunny South Florida! You can read Horatiu’s pick-up of the 128i at the Spartanburg-based Performance Center here during the first part of the week.