With 170bhp and plenty of lag the '02 Turbo quickly gained quite a reputation. Ollie Stallwood drives it (carefully)...
Appearances
can be a terrible thing. Often you can be blinded by them, your
rational emotions momentarily grinding to a halt, judgements and
conclusions get concocted on the basis of how something looks rather
than how it performs. The reason I say this is because the BMW 2002
Turbo sitting in front of me is one of the best-looking cars I’ve ever
seen.
I’m starting to wonder whether I’ve already made up my mind about
this car - I don’t even have to turn the key to know that I really like
it. There is something so right about the styling that words don’t do
it justice.
Lairy side stripes, back-to-front writing on a flat front spoiler, bolt-on wheel arches, a black rubber spoiler - it doesn’t sound
that great. But if you are lucky enough to stand next to one in the
July sunshine – there are no more than a dozen in the UK – you realise
it is a car that stands out like few others.
The
2002 Turbo is a trouble-maker, its history littered with controversy
and outrage, and partly because of this just 1672 were ever made.
Firstly BMW thought it wise to for its press cars to have ‘2002’ and
‘turbo’ written in reverse script on the front spoiler so that the car
in front would know exactly what had suddenly appeared behind.
But journalists had a field day with this, saying the German firm
was irresponsible and ultimately this forced it to drop the script. It
didn’t mean the dealers couldn’t sell the decals to Turbo buyers, so
most ended up with it anyway.
Then BMW found out the hard way that selling Europe’s first
turbocharged production car in an era affectionately known as the
‘seventies oil crisis’ was a hiding to nothing. After just two years of
production the last ’02 Turbo rolled off the production line.
But this untimely demise made the car a cult: an ultra-rare,
ultra-fast predecessor to the 3 Series – calling it the first M3
perhaps wouldn’t be that wide of the mark. BMW had showcased its early
attempt at turbocharging in the gull-wing M10 concept, which never made
it to production.
After
this it set to work on the 130bhp ’02 Tii, bolting on a KKK
turbocharger with 0.55 overpressure that was sufficient to add another
40bhp. Bigger brakes were added behind wider 13” wheels, which lurked
behind those screwed on arches, and a Limited Slip Differential was
thrown in for good measure.
Now check out the performance figures: 0-60mph in 6.9 seconds and
130mph, in a small saloon, in the early seventies. No wonder the car
scared the general public. But it wasn’t just the fun police who were
being unsettled by this creation – those who drove it were getting a
dose of the heebie-jeebies too.
So savage was the turbo lag that a millimetre of pedal travel could
mean the difference between exiting a roundabout forwards or backwards.
Suffice to say that there aren’t many ’02 Turbos left – around 500
would be a reasonable estimate.
All
this is helping me to appreciate number 0386, that is sitting in
London’s Canary Wharf today, from the outside rather than from behind
the wheel. It looks great. Just ask any one of the passers by who
refuse it a moment’s peace. ‘I’ve never seen one of those before,’ says
one. ‘That is a proper BMW,’ says another. Even those who clearly have
never looked at a car before in their life stand and stare at it.
This particular car has been loaned to me by Richard Stern, a nice chap who runs www.bmw2002.co.uk,
and he understandably lives and breathes this car. No pressure then.
Incidentally Stern also owns the very last Turbo – number 1672 – which
he is restoring. We chat for a while and fend off questions from
intrigued city folk circulating the car, before he chucks me the keys.
It’s a rare dog-leg first gear-box, the one to have for a turbo
apparently, and this particular car came from Italy. The wheels are
sought after Italian-market Gotti magnesium items, the buckets are
tight but supportive - everything is original. I try to put to one side
the car’s fearsome reputation and pull away (in second according to
Stern).
The
ride is nowhere near as harsh as I thought it would be, it feels taught
but at the same time the car resists crashing through bumps and
potholes. The steering feels light at low speeds and the gearbox takes
a bit of nurturing to find the right ratio.
There is a boost gauge sitting on top of the dashboard but around
town there is little indication of the turbine spinning up. But as I
pull out on to a short stretch of road away from the city I could have
sworn someone has just hit me up the back, in an SUV. The turbo comes
in like a sledgehammer and the thump comes accompanied by possibly the
loudest whoosh and hiss I’ve heard this side of a Fast and Furious DVD.
The car surges forward, piling on speed at such an increased rate
that my brain struggles to work out what has just happened. By the time
it does I’m heading into a roundabout - fast. The best advise at these
moments is to make sure the car is on or off-boost, not teetering
somewhere in between, and if you get this right you’d be surprised at
how composed it feels.
After
a while I realise the '02 Turbo is perhaps not the lunatic that I
thought it would be. If you come into a bend sanely the first thing
that will happen is the steering will weight-up considerably,
immediately giving you a true sense of what is happening at the front.
The rear of the car squats down and you have that classic BMW
chassis balance – the car doesn’t have loads of grip from its
original-style tyres but it is neutral, letting you know what is going
on at each corner.
I don’t want to underestimate the power of a lightweight
turbocharged rear-drive BMW but there is a lot of fun to be had without
having a seizure as you tank-slap into oblivion. You get some tyre
squeal as the car scrabbles with the power but there is such intimacy
through the controls that you can, in the dry at least, push the limits.
Ultimately
what the car gives you is a tremendous sense of satisfaction and
achievement, rewarding you when you get it right and letting you know
in its own special way when you don’t. I didn’t realise that it would
be quite so fast and so much fun. It is hard to get your head around
the fact that this is a 35-year-old car – it is comfortable, fun to
drive and quick even by today’s standards. I’m just glad that beauty
isn’t always just skin deep.