BMW has made the all-wheel-drive M135i louder and pointier

BMW has been busy fiddling with the M135i hot hatch. Specifically, it has done two things, one we like the sound of, the other we’re not so sure about.

The first is a couple of different tweaks to the chassis and suspension that should make the all-wheel drive M135i a little more fun in the twisty stuff. You get optimised camber values, some new suspension mounts and recalibrated springs/dampers all round that, says BMW, will reduce roll and increase steering feel. Thumbs up.

What a shame, then, that BMW has also decided to pump even more engine noise through the speakers into the cabin. That’s an update we could probably do without. 

The 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo remains the same and still pushes out 302bhp and 332lb ft of torque, whilst newly available BMW Individual colours have created 10 extra jobs at the 1 Series paint shop. You can have Frozen Pure Grey, Frozen Orange metallic or Sao Paulo Yellow (pictured). The latter was the launch colour for the M4.

TopGear.com found the M135i's lesser-powered, front-drive 128ti sibling more fun, particularly in five specific ways, so is this update BMW's response? Thoughts below, as ever.