2008 Chicago Auto Show: BMW tii, Double Take

God that old BMW is butt ugly. Who cares if the 2002tii was small and light, its nowhere as capable as a new car.

"Here, captured in one mediocre photograph, is the danger to a manufacturer in bringing one of its legendary old cars to provide a boost for a new introduction. You tell me? Which car is cooler: The 2002 tii or the Concept 1-series tii? That's what we thought."
 
Well said, Daniel! It's definitely the former! :o)

God that old BMW is butt ugly. Who cares if the 2002tii was small and light, its nowhere as capable as a new car.
 
I'm old enough to remember when that original tii was new—and it was a highly sought after ride. Never heard a word about the styling being "butt ugly."
 
Keep in mind that you're viewing styling from a current 2008 perspective, not a 30-year-old perspective. Back then it was very attractive.

resholland - I know the car is 30+ years old, but my point really was I dont think its aged very well. Look at any 1960s or 1970s muscle car - even today they look totally awesome.

Different strokes for different folks.
 
I think the original 2002tii is a fantastic car!

Lines of the tii are more pleasing to my eye than the 1.

"God that old BMW is butt ugly. Who cares if the 2002tii was small and light, its nowhere as capable as a new car."
 
The same could be said for a lot of those muscle cars that have been reintorduced to the market.
 
I think the original 2002 was an outstanding car as no one offered that kind of package back then. BMW built it and refined it with each generation. I dont think anyone could argue with that. Id gladly take either car!

Look at any 1960s or 1970s muscle car - even today they look totally awesome.
 
Not to my eyes. :)

I'd really like this to be my next car, but I just can't spend $36,000 on a new car right now. Here's a great idea for BMW. This whole concept tii thing is great, but what they really should do is have two separate paths a customer can take when ordering a new car. 1. The usual packages. 2. A fully customizable options list with a base car (much, much cheaper) for the enthusiast crowd. Now, I'm not saying that they can just a have a check box for "ultra lightweight materials in most every area" like this tii has, but seriously, how awesome would it be to get a 135i with no leather seats, roll-up windows, no cd changer or ipod connectivity, no sunroof, no runflats, no automatic transmission, etc? That is, how awesome would it be to get a car that had alcantara seats if you wanted them or roll up windows, or no air conditioning or whatever it was if you dind't want it. Personally, I think it's dumb that there are no actual modifactions to the car other than it's got carbon fibre everywhere with no horsepower jump. I also think it's cowardly and stupid on BMW's part not to increase the power and slap it with better suspension tuning (it already has the best brakes in a BMW) and a nasty, agressive body kit and call it M1 like it needs to be. Just because there was this old, ugly car that was cool because it had a straight-six and it was the first M-car doesn't give BMW the right in my mind not to make an actual higher-performance version of this car. If they didn't want the 1 series to have an M varient they should have named it the 2 series. Or better yet, just brought over the 130i from Europe and made this 135i the top-tier model and called it M1. Like a real man would.

The new 1 is a sweet looking car in person. I was shocked how much I liked the bulldog appearance. It looks aggressive in a way that no other current BMW can even approximate. Too bad it's so heavy and comes only with 2 doors!