It was the economy version of the BMW range, but still light years ahead of anything British Leyland in the same category.

No katalysator 🙃

Me too!

" looking forward to Sunday mornings for these clips." Do you not get Saturday off? All part of today's working world

I think my late father preferred the old vent window/wind wings arrangement. By coincidence, we had a number of vehicles in the family with them - including my first car, a second-hand 1986 VW Mk 1 Wolfsburg Cabriolet. Ironically that also came equipped with A/C.

So far for build quality

And ugly as they still are...

Too simple and too light back then

Certainly better built, although that ain't saying much

you get the turbo for that money, but without the rest of the car.

remember year 99

I almost bought one that used to belong to Jay Kay, didn’t fancy at the time, I was after a 911 wish I had now.

globalism has completely ruined styling. All cars are now designed in wind tunnels and intended to be sold in global markets, so they all end up being the same egg shape.

@B Brunson Because "individualistic" styling doesn't sell. Conformism sells. Watch any automaker stick out their styling neck too much and a tsunami of derision and ridicule ensues, magnified a millionfold today by the broad-path flamethrower effect of social media, where the perpetrators are self-appointed but rarely qualified arbiters of good taste with a zero-tolerance policy towards the opinions of others. That scares off the majority of herd-mentality prospects who usually also seek to attain some measure of social validation with their purchase, leaving as customers for "individualistic" cars only the hardiest of non-conformists who not only don't care what other people think, but want to make a deliberate contrarian statement. Not enough of those folks around who also have money AND want to purchase. Black, silver or white SUV anyone?

@B Brunson it's now aerodynamics so much as safety

@B Brunson At what speeds and how much power and weight do you move with the same mpg? Remember a car that hit 1,4 Tons in the 70s was massive overweight, the 2002 BMW weights about a ton and has 100 to 130 HP (excluding the turbo). The new BMW weighs about 1,5 to 1,7 tons and has 140 to 190 HP. And those HP are actually misleading, because the old BMW has 120 to 140 Nm of torque at about 3000 rpm while the new one has 220 Nm for the small one, over a range of 1500rpm to 4000 rpm and for the Diesel about 350 to 400 Nm at about 1700 to 2500 rpm. Also the new BMW is way wider. So keeping the same mpg as the old one would not be a bad achievement, but I am certain that the new one is better than you claim it to be. The gas consumption is listed with 11 Liter for the 2002 and for the new one 4,5 for the Diesel and 6l for the smaller Otto version while the big one is listed with 7l. So even if we assume that the gas consumption of the new ones is very optimistic I only see the biggest one to get over 9l, until you drive it fast. The smaller ones are probably realistically a bit lower than 7l per 100km. That is a difference of 20% for the biggest BMW 2 2020 and nearly 40% for the smaller gas version. So the BMW 2 2020 is bigger, a lot heavier, wider, faster, more powerful and still uses a lot less gas. I guess you easily can see that aerodynamic has a part in this.

In other words, when there were designers with balls and talent in the car design industry.

Same here 😂

And he seemed to pull out with the cross traffic just flying !!

Gawd - it does. I always remember - my Mum and Dad had friends and they always bought Wartburgs.

I used to own one - a great car - 26 mpg!

2 stroke engine I remember them they stank

I love the smell of 2 stroke. You can strawberry flavoured oil now.

My dad had m reg Warburg from new it was a great car

VW were guilty of this for many years also.

It was a common mistake in those days: many British Leyland cars were RHD with LHD wipers too.

@@stevetaylor8698 They seemed to fix that circa '85.

@@nobbynobbynoob THAT wasn't a mistake. BL were just plain idiots. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the majority of BL cars were RHD and stayed in Britain. Those that were exported to the nostalgic expats around the world served as a reminder as how NOT to build a car.

Did they have retractable belts in 1974? I remember a friend of my father had a BMW saloon, can't remember if it was called a five series back then but that had static belts. I remember being very impressed because it had rear belts, also static which was almost unheard of in the U.K. at the time.

@@philnewstead5388 Our 72 definitely had them. Maybe it was because it was a US spec car. They might as well have been static, though! The never worked.

Geoff Isabelle Maybe they were a cost option, I well remember the BL advertising proudly announcing that the entire 1976 model range were to be fitted with retractable belts prior to that they had been optional on all but the top models. They never retracted properly either. I love these old reports, reminds when there was still proper innovation in the motor industry and where manufacturers weren't scared to genuinely be different.

US spec cars still were not required to have retractable seatbelts in 1972.....not sure when they were required,but thinking maybe 1974. Volvos had retractable ones front & rear in the early 70s,maybe even late 60s.

Alpina influence as well 👍

where did you hear that nonsense?

3DPeter it is a joke. The car rolls forward as he gets out- presumably forgot to apply the handbrake...........

@@3DPeter lighten up fella

not on the UK market, though...

The badge still stands for something. It's just that the "something" isn't very flattering.

@Mrfootlong Of course, different people have varying opinions as to what constitutes a "good car". To me it's a car with great longevity, excellent crash protection and very, very low frequency of repair rate. As they age, BMWs really fall down on the last point.

Ah yes. BMW was a thinking persons choice and a car to be admired and desired, said a lot about the driver who chose one over the 'mainstream' exec's/sporty saloon of the day. They're still well made cars - but so are so many others. They still say a lot about the driver today, thats true. But it's not at all flattering.

BMW used to be a proper prestige marque, they are everywhere now just like Mercs. No where near the mystique or desire ability that they used to have.

@classiccarz middle aged rich women

mr y mysterious video moron

Most people, reviewers included, did put it in the lowest possible position back in the 70s.

nlpnt True, but I guess Evans was talking in terms of European manufacturers. Either way he was damn lucky to drive the 2002 considering it lasted only a year.

U have never lived

Ok. Thanks for joining in.

Still are

They used to rust badly

wierd one of my local garages had a mint 2002 in for something a few years ago

nikamota he’s talking about the BMW 2002, the model that was already in production. Not the year 2002 ...

😂😂😂

You plonker! The BMW 2002 is what he talking about. Not the year!

Nikamota, some people here switch off their irony sensors when they read the comments

@@Harrylechat01 Yeah...I kinda hoped that people would understand it ..most people did....but some? What can you do....

Cost cutting...sadly.

Laugh. Did you read that on the internet chum?

@@herrfister1477 no back when I owned an E30 it never failed, I later had an E90 that Broke Many Ways

nick brice Ok you’re cute so I believe you.

standard issue for GB cars and the customer's prime choice. Metallic brown. Up from the "daring" beige british leyland cars, themselves up from the "Every colour available as long as its black" 60's cars (which is now back in fashion for anything supposedly upmarket ...).

You probably drive a vw tiguan now and find it practical, you never deserved to have owned one ,mho

I think that the bonnet had been left open so he could lift it on his walkaround.

£21,000 in today's money

What about a Mk1 Escort RS2000? Worth more than a 1602.

I don't know about that. I'd rather have a Triumph Dolomite Sprint myself.

Certainly is :)

He said "Triumph fifteen hundred TC"

He actually said "Triumph 1500TC". Hope that helps.

MarcellusTheGreen hood may have not been locked down. The trim is on the hood. Not the fender. Same goes for the trunk.

Factory spec was 6.6

@@gotham61 thanks...

That is Epsom Downs in leafy Surrey; I grew up there - couldn't be further from a post industrial hellhole.

@@MajorKlanga Really? I wouldn't know about 'leafy'. Presume you lived in a tent somewhere in that windblown landscape.

@@paulbaumer8210 It's a racecourse.

@@MajorKlanga I believe you. It still looks like the outskirts of Telford on a bad hair day. If I was part of the marketing team BMW I'd be pissed with these guys for this crappy effort.