I drove this black 4-door sedan with curiosity. It was made in South Africa but it was nicely and elegantly put together. Even after 9 years there was still some freshness left. The 1.9L engine was surprisingly refined and completely devoid of vibration typically associated with 4-cylinder engine. Its 4-speed transmission was smooth and seamless and behaved like a gear-less transmission. Despite its humble 1.9L capacity, it has certain degree of flexibility for everyday use and it is willing to rev so the car itself pick up the pace quickly. What it lacked is the power and the effortless fast acceleration required during overtaking. It has to be planned ahead and executed without deviation.
The chassis was solid but yet light weight, reminding me of a Golf or VW construction. There was a lot of refinement in the front seat while at the back the road noise ate away the comfort by a small notch. Handling-wise surprisingly it was not so engaging, perhaps because of the aging shock absorbers which did not damp the car motion well in half of the situation. However the ride was good enough in all situation but the road noise was sensitive to the road surface. As I remembered it wore the Continental Contact Sport 205/50R16 on original BMW 16" alloy rims.
After 500 kms and 10 days I sold the car to a new owner whose family perhaps found themselves to be the first time owning a car or a BMW. I could sense their excitement and happiness around the BMW. It reminded me that I have lost this kind of feeling for a long long time, only slightly reminded when I saw the faces of the new owners when they received the car keys from me.
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