Supreme Pleasure All the Way: BMW 130i Comes Right at the Top of the Auto Bild Long-Term Test Ranking.

100,000 Kilometres without the Slightest Problem – AAA for BMW’s Sporting Compact

Munich. The BMW 130i is the big winner of the long-term test ranking by one of Germany’s leading car journals, Auto Bild. Covering 100,000 kilometres or more than 62,000 miles without the slightest problem, BMW’s sporting compact not only achieved the best result throughout the whole of 2009, but also took over overall leadership among all cars ever tested over this distance. In response, the professional car testers gave the BMW 130i their 1+ grade (equal to AAA) and acknowledged BMW’s sporting performer as the “Best Auto Bild Long-Term Test Car of All Time”.

Apart from highlighting the car’s supreme reliability, the testers also lauded the outstanding driving pleasure offered by their car, waxing lyrical time and again in particular about the powerful, fast-revving and very efficient straight-six power unit.

This immaculate result achieved by the BMW 130i is the most outstanding outcome of the numerous long-term tests conducted by Auto Bild in 2009. BMW’s five-door athlete completed its 100,000-km marathon within approximately 1 ½ years, covering both short trips and long journeys on the autobahn. The car completed this demanding challenge without the slightest incident and with both oil con­sumption and brake pad wear remaining extremely low throughout the entire test period.

In their final report the testers also acknowledged the high level of quality they consistently enjoyed with the BMW 130i even after its ongoing stress test. Their bottom line was that this “zero-defect car” did not show even the slightest signs of wear and tear.

All models in the BMW 1 Series combine exemplary reliability with premium quality and fascinating driving pleasure. The BMW 130i offers particularly impressive sportiness and performance with its 3.0-litre straight-six power unit featuring fully variable VALVETRONIC valve management and maximum output of 190 kW/258 hp. Accelerating from a standstill to 100 km/h in 6.1 seconds, this outstanding five-door compact, thanks to its wide range of technologies based on BMW EfficientDynamics, consumes an average of just 8.5 litres/100 kilometres (equal to 33.2 mpg imp) in the EU test cycle.

A further feature equally unique in the compact segment is rear-wheel drive typical of BMW which, together with the car’s demanding suspension technology, precise steering, powerful and highly responsive brakes as well as DSC Dynamic Stability Control with its equally smooth response, helped to make the BMW 130i not only the most reliable, but also a particularly popular contender within the fleet of test cars driven by the editors of Auto Bild.

Another BMW also in production today already came right at the top of Auto Bild’s ranking in 2008, the BMW 320i Touring covering the entire distance of 100,000 kilometres without one single breakdown or any unscheduled visits to the workshop. Registering just three minor defects in the course of the entire test, the BMW 320i Touring likewise scored the top grade awarded by the editors, a “1”, thus currently ranking No 5 in Auto Bild’s eternal list of long-term test cars.