BMW brought its not-for-sale-in-America BMW 118D five-door to New York City to claim the 2008 World Green Car award and that’s probably the only time we’ll ever see the thing on US soil. Immediately following the event, BMW packed up the BMW 118D and put it on the boat back to Deutschland.
And yet, despite winning the World Green Car award in Manhattan last week, BMW won’t sell the BMW 118D USA version. “We are honored to receive the 2008 World Green Car Award for the BMW 118D,” said Purves in his acceptance speech. “As a company we have been committed to reducing fuel consumption and emissions of our BMW 118D, while at the same time improving performance.
This commitment is the driving force of our Efficient Dynamics platform and the philosophy behind BMW’s vehicle designs and development of technologies such as the Advanced Diesel implemented in the BMW 118D. This honor will inspire BMW’s continuing efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.”
There’s room inside the BMW 118D for five, it looks pretty good, and it lovingly adheres to BMW’s rear-wheel-drive Ultimate Driving Machine philosophy. What garnered the BMW 118D specs a World Green Car award, however, sits under the hood: its 2.0-liter direct-injection turbo diesel four-cylinder engine. The core strength of the BMW 118D lies in its economical engine, which benefited greatly from BMW’s EfficientDynamics technologies.
Despite not achieving the promised 62.8 mpg, the BMW 118D fuel economy rate of about 57.8 mpg is not a bad figure to say the least. Having the technology in the fold allows the BMW 118D Coupe to have a clean fuel emissions and superior fuel economy without necessarily compromising the car’s overall performance.
First of all, you can’t disillusion yourself into thinking that the BMW 118D coupe packs the same power and speed as most of its higher-echelon brethren. But that’s not to say that the BMW doesn’t come with the same high-level performance that is standard with BMW. For starters, the car’s 141hp rear wheel 2.0-liter turbo diesel engine played a key part in the BMW 118D winning the World Green Car of the Year 2008 Award.
There’s also a useful amount of torque to go around and while the BMW 118D 0-60mph time of 9 seconds is uncharacteristic of BMW, the car’s U.S.-converted 57.8 mpg, which Autocar measured in the BMW 118D test run, is right on the same plane as that of the Toyota Prius, which comes in at 60.3 mpg. Although it may sound as nitpicking, one thing that we noticed about the BMW 118D engine was that it was louder than usual.
Competitors BMW 118D
As with any other class unit BMW has released recently, the BMW 118D coupe will come in a range of other trims specifically catered to what the customer is looking for. The entry-level trim is the BMW 118D ES, followed by upgraded BMW 118D SE and Sport levels, which is then followed by the top-end M Sport. Given the modest BMW 118D price tag – only about $37,100 – and the diesel engine variant that the Euro only 118d coupe comes in, the competition of this car is slim pickings, to say the least.
Other than Volkswagen’s very own 2.0 TDI Scirocco, you won’t find any other car out on the market that can combine the power, value, and prestige of a BMW 118D Coupe. The most important question to ask when you’re in the market for a car in the range of a BMW 118D specifications is exactly how much value are you going to get for your buck?
BMW 118D Review
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