BMW 116d

I drove all by myself for the first time when I was 14 years old, it was 2 in the morning in my mother’s Suzuki SX4, I remember quite enjoying the car. I am now 22 years old and I’m proud to say that the list of cars I’ve driven in the past 6 year is longer than most people my age. But out of the hundreds of cars I’ve had the chance to sit in, none of them were a diesel powered BMW, and I was shamed for that by many fellow car-guys. This Sunday, I got the chance to add a Diesel Beamer to my “Been there, done that” list.

 

The car we are talking about today is a 2010 BMW 116d. My best friend and I had the opportunity to review this car for our upcoming video. The owner is a friend of a friend, he gave us the keys and said “To turn off traction control just press on this button, have fun”.

Such a presentation of the “Fun button” the very second we met was very exciting, but sadly even after turning off ALL the safety features the car doesn’t slide much. It’s partly because it had brand new sticky Michelin tires, but also because It’s powered by a 2.0L 4 cylinder engine pushing 116bhp.

I was always told that low end torque is what diesels are  known for, or at least that’s what BMW fanatics won’t stop nagging about, so where’s the torque ? because with 260Nm, you’d assume it would have a little bit of pick-up from a dead stop, but no. Honestly, I was really hoping for more humpf. 

So you probably could make it slide, if you did a Scandinavian flick and threw it in a corner with a bit of speed, and also if you had balls the size of Ken Block’s. But I still value my life and the 116d didn’t give me enough confidence to try such thing, maybe if you’ve owned it for a few years and you drive it every day you could, but this was the first time I drove it and I was NOT at home in this car.

For instance, what's up with the clutch pedal ? It has so much travel that your foot goes right through the firewall and into the engine block every time you engage it. It also feels like it’s connected to the pressure plate with rubber bands and gello, I still don’t know where it grabs, it just does at some point.

The steering is light, sloppy and doesn’t feel connected to the road the way I was lead to believe coming from the notoriously good BMW hydraulic steering. The suspension can’t support the weight of the car, in corners the weight transfers from one side to the other the same way water in a fish tank would if you took it on a roller coaster, it’s a mess but in its defence, the suspension on this car are the factory ones, from 11 years ago, so it’s understandable that it behaved that way.

 

On the bright side, I like the brakes. They have a very linear feel to them, and the pedal is reasonably heavy. Same goes for the throttle pedal, which has a very analogue and classic feel to it. All 3 pedals are also in a very natural position to heal-and-toe, which is relatively easy in this car thanks to the marshmallow like clutch.

Staying on the topic of positive things, I personally love the way it looks. The coupe, the convertible, and the hatchback all look great but more importantly they STILL look great even after being a decade old. Some people won’t agree with me, but I think that’s because they aren’t being objective. They are judging the look of the car but at the same time letting the typical driver of said car cloud their judgment.

You see, Idris just graduated with a management degree, he lives in the outskirts of Paris because it’s too expensive to live in the inner-city. He’s 23 and only wears Adidas sweat pants with the matching fanny pack. He has an electronic cigarette in his hand at all times the same way a baby has his pacifier, and he has his phone in his other hand so he can spends an absurd amount of his time on TikTok. He drives 45 Minutes to work every day to stack shelves in a big supermarket so he cares about his fuel economy. He got approved for a 7500€ loan from the bank to buy a car but never will you see him in a Renault or a Peugeot, he’s above those brands, he wants German because he deserves it but mainly because he wants to show off in front of his friends. So he goes to the second hand dealership and he gets the newest looking BMW he can get his hands on. And because the look of the 1 series is timeless, Idris is now driving away in a 2010 BMW 116d, in grey, with a diesel engine because “it has good fuel economy and it has a lot of low end torque” and “you know, it has a 50/50 weight distribution so it’s basically sports car. Did I mention it was a BMW ?”.

It's a good looking car though so we shouldn’t let our perception of a car’s appearance be affected be the person in the driver’s seat. Because with that mentality, we should all hate Ferraris.

What you can judge however, is the fact that Idris had 7500€ to spend on a car, and he chose a BMW 116d.

Don’t be like Idris.

Max,