BMW introduced the 1500 sedan in the fall of 1962. This was the first of the 'Neue Klasse' cars, and the first of a line from which most modern BMW cars can trace their lineage. 1500 begat 1600, 1800, and 2000 cars. These sedans, in turn, begat the BMW 5 series cars. The 1600 also begat the 1602 and 2002 cars that became the BMW 3 series.
Of all the Neue Klasse cars, none stand out more in popular automotive mythology than the 2002. That car may be the one that established BMW as a sporting line in the mind of the American driver. It spawned performance versions, the 2002tii and 2002 Turbo, that are the grandparents of BMW's storied M3.
I think my grandfather drove a BMW 1600 until the rear of the car rusted away. I have owned a couple of Neue Klasse descendants myself. In 1998, I ordered a 318ti 'Sport Package' with a full length folding canvas sunroof. This turned out to be an especially rare configuration. The 'M sport' models differed from more proletariat models mostly by the addition of a badge labeled 'M' on the side.
I loved that car. It came to the US market in 1995 as the first BMW hatchback coupe in 21 years. Its grandfather was the BMW 1802 Touring -- a Neue Klasse car. Chronic sunroof leaks in the rare canvas roof ('rare', 'canvas', and 'roof' in once sentence are a recipe for dampness, by the way) fed a mold invasion. The car was so great that I drove it even when it gave me a damp bum from wet seats. I gave it away ten years later when my first child was born.
I have missed that car since. I flew to Cleveland last year to buy a used BMW wagon to replace a Miata. Wonderful car. I was so nostalgic for hatch-backed BMW motoring fun that I overlooked the obvious. Cleveland cars rust. My wagon has superficial body rust that does not bother me. It also has extensive rear suspension rust that make some simple, now necessary, repairs expensive.
Out with the old, in with the new. My long experience with these Neue Klasse cars and their descendants is probably over. It ended, strangely, with the purchase of another new BMW.
I recently bought a new BMW i3 electric car. This car shares essentially nothing but a badge with the rest of the BMW cars on the show floor today. It is a marvel. Alien though it appears, it too has ancestors in the BMW family tree.
Before the Neue Klasse was Neue, The BMW 700 coupe was the new new thing. The 700 was a small, rear-engined car that helped pull BMW out of a financial crisis and put it on the path to the introduction of the Neue Klasse. 700-series cars continued in production until they were replaced by the affordable '02' series of Neue Klasse coupes.
The 700 was BMW's first monocoque car. It would be BMW's last rear-engined car for almost 50 years. It would be BMW's last car with a motorcycle-derived engine for the same period. Some argue that BMW exited the economy car market when 700 sales ended. I can't argue with that.
I will argue a more outlandish thing. I think BMW has just reentered the economy car market with a car that is a direct spiritual descendant of the BMW 700. The new i3 is the first mass produced BMW with a totally new chassis -- aluminum and carbon fibre reinforced plastic -- since the monocoque 700. The new i3, in the range extended form I bought, also features a motorcycle engine in the rear just like the 700.
The i3 clearly differs from the 700. It's an electric car that looks like a spaceship. The BMW 700 was remarkable for making a motorcycle-engined car look surprisingly normal. The 700 was an economy car and the i3 starts at 42 thousand dollars. I think there is a marvelous economy car hiding behind that luxury price tag.
For many buyers, ten thousand dollars of that price tag will come off the top as federal, state, and local tax incentives. A 42 thousand dollar car becomes a 32 thousand dollar car. From there, a substantial economy will come from very low operating costs. My BMW wagon generated a monthly gas bill of $250. My Prius would shred that bill into a $125 charge. The i3 will turn it into perhaps $60 in electricity and a few bucks in gas.
The gas bill is nice, but the i3 offers a battery only about as large as the battery in the much cheaper Nissan Leaf. How is the BMW car the economy choice at a ten thousand dollar premium over the Leaf?
It isn't today. I would have to be smoking the finest grade first-world hemp upholstery (which the i3 features, by the way) to claim otherwise. It appears that no expense has been spared in the design of the car. The carbon fiber body is remarkable. Here's another remarkable tidbit missed in most of the road tests -- the radio on the base car has an 'iDrive' menu with one screen for 'tone'. Treble, bass, and balance. That's it. Not even the fade control present on my 1983 Mercury Lynx. Why no fade? I think there aren't even rear speakers! The rear doors don't lock or even have external door handles. Rear windows don't open either.
There is no elaborate ducting to move conditioned air to the rear passengers. Instead, the low profile seats work together with the flat cabin floor to let air circulate from just a few registers.
I truly admire BMW's principled restraint here. The base i3 lacks many little geegaws that are standard even on low end econoboxes. Unlike those cars, it features a spacious rear seat and comfort for four adults. Every gadget present is lightweight, energy efficient, or especially meaningful in an electric car.
There is a brilliant twenty thousand dollar car waiting to emerge from this car when it next molts. I get some push back from self-styled BMW purists on this point. Some seem threatened by the idea of a cheap BMW. I heard it all when I owned the 318ti -- BMW's last car in the U.S. available for less than twenty thousand dollars. I disagree. The 2002 was an inexpensive car. Here's how Car and Driver summarized that ride in 1968:
"To my way of thinking, the 2002 is one of modern civilization's all-time best ways to get somewhere sitting down. It grabs you. You sit in magnificently-adjustable seats with great, tall windows all around you. You are comfortable and you can see in every direction. You start it. Willing and un-lumpy is how it feels. No rough idle, no zappy noises to indicate that the task you propose might be anything more than child's play for all those 114 Bavarian superhorses."
-- from Car and Driver's 1968 review of the BMW 2002
I can't summon better language to describe the new BMW i3. The 2002 used 114 horsepower to wind a two thousand pound car around a mountain the way a yoyo ascends its string. The i3 uses 170-hp/184 ft-lb AC motor to spin its twenty eight hundred pounds just the same way. The two cars share a bolt upright seating position, an airy greenhouse, and the same power to weight ratio. The i3 has better brakes and better tires. Fifty years of material science has conjured a revolution there that rivals the miracle of a 22 kWh lithium ion battery pack. Remarkably, the i3 has the lower center of gravity.
The 2002 listed for $2850 in '68. That target was just twenty bucks above the average new car price. Fast forward to 2014 and the base i3 -- with tax credits -- stickers for only hundreds dollars above the 2013 average new vehicle price of 32 thousand dollars.
The problem with that happy equivalence is that an average new car is unaffordable for average Americans. The other problem is that gas doesn't cost 1968's 34 cents a gallon. I think that BMW can kill two birds with one stone. The i3 lays a technological framework for an excellent and affordable car priced in the twenties. Its efficient drivetrain can deliver energy bills straight out of the sixties.
I am enjoying my new front row seat. It's upright with great, tall windows all around. I may not be able to see in every direction, but the past and the future look pretty clear from here.
