Want A 1-Series M Coupe? Better Hurry Up!

The 1-series M Coupe is 15 pounds of awesome in a 10 pound bag. I think so, anyway.  The regular 1-series coupe is already cool; basically an E92 3-series with a few inches hacked out of the wheelbase, the same great suspension, but 400lbs or so less weight to haul around.  The styling is odd, but I'll admit it's grown on me.

But the M version... is probably the best car the M division has cranked out in years. This is a testament to both the awesomeness of the 1M, and the general loss-of-plot going on at M, what with them selling us 5,000+lb X5's stuffed with AWD, twin turbos, and automatic gearboxes.  M used to stand for Motorsports, but these days it seems more like Marketing.

Damn you are a sexy BMW.

So the 1M was a refreshing break.  A powerful, twin turbo straight-six in BMW's lightest US-market hardtop car, fitted with wildly flared fenders, huge brakes, M3 CSL wheels, lots of rubber, and E92 M3 chassis bits - like the rear control arms, fancy rear torque-biasing diff, etc.  It's manual-only, you can't get a sunroof because it hurts performance, and it's got torque for days. I'd like to drive one in the worst way.

But it looks like I might never have the chance.  It was initially assumed that the 1M Coupe would be a regular-production M model like the M3, X5M, X6M, etc - but as it turns out, it's likely to be a 2011 model only. The Detroit Bureau reports that the hottest of 1-series models, which is just now appearing in BMW showrooms, will stop production in December of this year.  Why?  Well, a new 1-series is on the way in the (very) near future, meaning the current chassis is about to go out to pasture.  This means that potentially less than 1,000 1M Coupes will be made in total.

Baby, please don't go.  I'll do everything right this time.  I swear.

Which is sad, because the 1 Series M Coupe represents everything an M-car should be - powerful, balanced, aggressive, and focused on impressing the driver rather than impressing his neighbors.

So if you want one of the 335bhp, $46,135 German hot-rods, you might want to get your order in right now. Because with such a truncated run, values of the soon-to-be-rare 1M are sure to skyrocket in the future.  Damn, and I was only about $46,130 short of having all my 1M coins saved up!