Well, it’s time for another “Week with a Random Car” Review, and this time, we have something unusual.
At first, I was annoyed to find this little micro SUV parked on my lawn, but… I’ll admit, despite not really liking the whole SUV and Crossover movement in general, this one didn’t look too bad. A bit of ‘hatchback on stilts’ but not oversize.
So, Bell Automotive had sent me a BPM Compact to review, the 130 trim with a sequential. With the striking blue paint, it’s not bad looking, and the deceptively simple looks hide what it truly is.
What is the BPM 130? Fun. Okay, sure, there’s tons of cars that are more fun, but this thing seats four and handles well for a small SUV. It’ll get to 60 miles per hour in 8.9 seconds, it can, and will, get to 116 MPH (and don’t ask how I know. Officially, I took it to a track. Unofficially, that track may have been an empty interstate highway…) and it has just a hint of sport to the exhaust while doing so.
That sporty feeling is entirely thanks to the almost 130 horsepower 1.2 liter inline 4. It’ll buzz up to 8600 RPM, drawing air through a performance air filter. She runs on premium unleaded, which could be expensive in the United States, but… it’s decently fuel efficient. The engine uses both variable valve lift and timing to maximize fuel efficiency, and a boldly strong compression ratio.
And tuners, rejoice, because there’s some room left in this engine. As nothing felt stressed during the run, even when I knocked on the rev limiter a few times, I’m sure this reliable little engine could spin a bit faster still, and with some aftermarket parts, you could certainly make more power. It seems that the intake manifold is just a hint too restrictive, which is fine for this little FWD eco-box, but you could probably get some serious power without too much struggle. It also appears there’s room to bore and stroke out the engine if you really wanted to get serious.
And on the exhaust side of the engine is the reason for the sporty snarl from the I4. Tubular headers, keeping things less expensive, a 2 inch exhaust diameter, high-flow catalytic converter, a straight-through performance muffler, and a reverse flow muffler provide a high-flow exhaust that’s just quiet enough not to be obnoxious while still providing a touch of noise if you really lay into it.
Which is where I have to mention acceleration. This is a front wheel drive vehicle, and Bell is making the BPM 130 push power through a dual-clutch 6 speed sequential box, a geared limited slip differential, and out through the 17 inch alloy rims wrapped in medium compound tires. If you turn traction control off and whack the throttle, she will burn the tires through first, and probably part of second. I didn’t dare try, because I didn’t want to have to buy new tires for this city car on stilts.
Also, if it wasn’t for ABS, I’m pretty certain you could bolt a roll-cage to the exterior of this micro-car, nail the brakes, and do front flips. This thing is massively over-braked. I’m not saying that you could stop a truck with these brakes, but the last time I saw brakes this powerful was in the Nine-50. And the race compound brake pads mean these things bite hard when you hit the brakes. I think a few times, I pressed the brake pedal like I would do in my trusty old Storm Swift, and I felt the rear wheels come off the ground. Or the back end would slither around because the ABS was struggling to make sense of the wheels locking up under the brutal power of 3 piston rear brakes.
With a fully-clad undertray, the BPM 130 gets a 29 MPG in my mileage test. Now, granted, I’m driving the more powerful 130, and I’m using US MPG instead of UK MPG, and 29 isn’t all that bad. But again, Bell’s gone through all this trouble to give us way-too-powerful race-grade brakes and yet didn’t spend the money on cooling flaps, where they could’ve gained almost a full extra mile-per-gallon. The money saved by going single-piston rear calipers could’ve paid for the cooling flaps, and would’ve made the micro SUV a little better overall.
Interior is 4 sporty bucket seats with a standard-grade infotainment package. Sport seats are nice, but… I can’t help but feel they’re an artifact of trying to make the BPM 130 something it isn’t. This is a city car that’s a bit uppity, that someone filled the chassis with helium to make it float on the suspension. Yet, I’m seeing sporty stuff thrown at it as if sport seats can make something a sports car. I’ll agree that the quality and ease of use of the infotainment system is spot on, but would have been better placed alongside standard cloth or premium leather seats, instead of these racing buckets. At least the small size isn’t a sign of it being a coffin with an advanced safety package designed to keep you from exploding the instant you touched a feather.
And then there’s the suspension, which puts you on standard rate springs, gas mono-tube dampers, and gives you semi-active swaybars. Combined with a ride height set low enough on soft enough springs to make sure every bump transfers straight from the wheels, through the shock absorber, into the bump stop, through the frame, up the thinly-padded racing seat, and directly into your spine.
Now keep in mind that I had to drive this thing for a week, as per my contract. And my place of business has not one, not two, not even three, but five speedbumps in the parking lot. I swerve for gravel in this thing, because it will beat the living tar out of you on a long drive.
Now, I get it. It’s supposed to be a sporty city car crossover thing. It gets parts of it right. DCT, small size, sport seats, growly engine are all sporty things. A good entertainment center, seating for four, and excellent crash test ratings are all crossover things. Decent fuel efficiency, small wheelbase, and FWD are city car things. But they’re mixed in with things that don’t seem to make sense. Why are the brakes powerful enough to stop a dump truck? Why does the suspension transfer every bump straight to my spine? Why didn’t Bell’s design teams talk to each other and see what the others were doing?
Admittedly, there’s far worse cars on the roads. A Bell BPM Compact 130 isn’t exactly a bad car, and if you drive in an area with perfectly manicured lawns, roads that are always maintained, and where other drivers aren’t morons, then it’s a city car for you. If you live in a city where people want to brake-check the little car, or where the roads have more potholes than pavement, I’d suggest looking elsewhere.
Pros:
Small and agile
Great infotainment system
Good safety
Somewhat fun to drive for what it is.
Fuel efficient enough to not kill your wallet right away.
Double-clutch gearbox for maximum fun.
Engine’s ready for modifications out of the box.
Neutrals:
Could’ve been more fuel efficient with only a couple minor modifications.
Burns premium, not regular.
Front wheel drive isn’t the best platform for anything sporty.
Cons:
Massively overbraked, causing a real risk of accidents if you have an ABS failure.
Unnecessary “sport” hardware in what would have been otherwise a nice city car.
Rough ride caused by suspension setup.
Not overly quick for all the “sport” hardware it’s packing.
Summary:
While I was annoyed at first about the Bell BPM Compact 130, it grew on me over the week. Sure, I feared anything more than a tiny pebble on the road and I couldn’t get used to the brakes, but by the end of the week, I found myself driving it like a front-wheel-drive street-rally car. That is to say, I was driving it like a moron, but using everything it could do right as a way to get around. Lots of traffic? Use the small size and nimble handling to duck and weave. Shitty parking spaces? Park between two cars and make a parking wedge. And I’ll admit, for what it is, it’s not bad. A little less than $20,500 gets you this car as tested, and you’ll probably have fun with it.
I know I sounded harsh, but I have to give the BPM Compact 130 a 5/10. It was decidedly average in all ways, with ups and downs in all categories. Would I recommend it? Maybe, if you planned to modify to start with. Otherwise, there’s other city cars that will do better, there’s other sports cars that’d do better, and there’s other crossovers that’d do better. But this tries to do it all.
(Apologies to CadillacDave in advance if it’s found to be too harsh, but, I tried to be fair with it. There were a few problems, but the overall idea is cool enough to be worth some points.)
n.b. Im already looking at it without the mods and it looks impressive.
to you 