The Bavarians are at least awesome at two things, rear wheel drive cars and beer. Having previously made its mark as a premium manufacturer of sporty vehicles in the 1980s, BMW pushed the envelope almost to the point of no return. Precisely, BMW models became bigger and heavier in years that followed. Of course they weren’t the only auto manufacturer whose cars kept gaining inches and pounds over the years, but until about five years ago, the Bavarians were no longer having a compact-likemodel to brag about.

[Source: AutoEvolution.com]

Logically, the BMW E30’s present successor would be the BMW E90 3-Series. Except that it’s not. In the past two decades, the 3-Series became almost as big as a 20-year old something 5-Series, while the gap left under it remained empty. Then, 2004 came. Technically a true spiritual successor to the BMW E30, the 1-Series almost made as much sense in the Bavarian lineup as the Golf did in the Volkswagen one.

Compact in size, rear wheel drive and an almost perfect front/rear axle/weight ratio, what more could you want from an entry-level BMW? Well, some clients wanted more than a hatchback, so the 1-Coupe came three years later. And what would a coupe be without a topless sibling? Welcome the 1-Series Convertible.

The Convertible version of the 1-Series Coupe, which in turn is based on the 1-Series Hatchback, which also shares some of its components with the over-inflated 3-Series was launched in 2007. It thus filled the 14-year old void left by the interruption of the last truly compact 3-Series E30 Convertible in 1993. All the BMW four-seat convertibles which followed that one were more and more oversized therefore not qualifying as true successors.

We became acquainted with our first Convertible from BMW in the form of a petrol-engined 1-Series Convertible, in 120i guise. Equipped with a high-rpm two-liter four-banger and a six-speed manual gearbox, we couldn’t have asked for more in terms of true BMW sportiness and driving pleasure. Sure, a few more ponies and an extra couple of cylinders under the hood would have been nice, but the rest was pretty much the holy grail of everything BMW in the 1980s.

[Source: AutoEvolution.com]