BMW 128ti coming soon: i30N, Golf GTI rival with 265 PS, 8AT, FWD

2020 is not holding back with surprises so what’s another, right? The jack-in-the-box this time is the BMW 128ti, BMW’s new hot-hatch that’s ready to pinch sales from the VW Golf GTi.

The Bavarians are also looking to cure a Hyundai i30N-sized headache. BMW going up against Hyundai? Wait till you hear what's next...

It’s front-wheel drive (sorry, purists), but wait, it’s far from humbug. There’s a four-cylinder, turbocharged 2.0-litre mill putting out 265 PS paired to an 8-speed Steptronic (automatic) gearbox.

Respectable numbers that are enough to send you to 100 km/h in 6.1 seconds. 

These figures mean that it’ll sit just below the all-wheel drive, 306 PS/450 Nm M135i xDrive, which was recently introduced here. 

BMW did more than just rip out the rear driveshafts, so this 128ti has a limited-slip differential, M Sport suspension and retuned steering. The new hatch was fettled at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, so it should be rather racy.

It’s also 80 kg lighter (1,520 kg) than the top-banana M135i (1,600 kg), from which it inherits the same M Sport brakes, stabilisers and stabiliser bearings.

It gets some obligatory visual touches that don’t look too different from its higher-grade sibling actually.

Think about it for a second. If you’ve got hot-hatch money, will you consider an FWD BMW, stick it old-school with a tried-and-true GTi or try out the i30N?