Hot hatch? Cool. Rear-wheel-drive hot hatch? Even cooler. A rear-wheel-drive hot hatch that’s right-hand-drive JDM, too? Maybe one of the coolest. That’s what owner and driver Mike Pagano drives in Gridlife GLTC: a Japanese-market BMW 116i.
Much of Mike’s inspiration comes from t…
I always thought the 1 Series hatch would be a near-perfect car for me, assuming I could afford one.
I did get to sit in one (I think it was an M Sport model) in the lobby of the BMW Welt during a study abroad trip, so that was pretty cool.
This would have been one heck of a car to have here. I like the idea of RWD in a small, competent package. Strangely enough, I was watching reruns of Top Gear on YouTube yesterday and Jeremy Clarkson compared this car to the Golf GTI. While I cannot remember which engine package the BMW had, it was noticeably quicker. The only odd thing (on the show at least) was at high speeds the car lost grip--on the straight in the drag race--and spun at speed. This seemed very very odd to me as BMW typically makes cars to go fast in straight lines and their aero seems to be up to the task, but on the show it made Clarkson poo, I believe. In the end he preferred the GTI because "it didn't try to kill him." In the article above, Mike seems to be doing quite well with his 1 series hatch and I like that 
I remember seeing them abroad years ago. Always wanted one. Add it to the list of cars I wish we had in the US.
I wonder what it would cost to import a 128i/130i hatch into Canada or how hard it would be to find in a spec worth jumping through the hoops for? I always preferred the lines of the hatch over the coupe we got here.
In reply to adam525i :
Check UK facebook marketplace, quite popular over there and should be cheap as chips. You can go by the license plate and look up the MOT history of the vehicle to see if rust repairs have been made. Best to stay away from them.
25 year from date of Manufacture of the vehicle is the key for registering for road use otherwise it comes in as a vehicle that can never be registered for road use.
Oops, never mind just saw that you are in Canada so not sure of the rules up there!
When I saw the picture at the top I thought to myself "This thing is cool!" After reading the article, and seeing all he did to this car to make his own, I am thinking "This thing is really freaking cool!"
In reply to rjracin240 :
Up here after 15 years they just don't care anymore so we get all the cool stuff ten years ahead of you.
I'd definitely want left hand drive and something pretty mint. In a perfect world I'd find something, go over and use it for a fun European vacation making sure to hit the ring for some laps and then put it on a boat in Belgium or the Netherlands bound for Nova Scotia or Montreal and drive it home from there. I have zero budget for this so it's all a pipe dream. I already have a grey market car too that keeps me busy
In reply to adam525i :
So, what I heard is that if I want to drive some cool cars not found here, head up to Canada. 
This car makes me very happy!
Epic cool import/track car, as a 128i owner I thoroughly dig what they've put together.
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