BMW 128ti Coming To South Africa Detuned

Earlier this week the Bavarians took the covers off their hot hatch to take on the VW Golf GTI but we have some bad news for us folk in South Africa.

It will still be making its way here but it will be arriving with 241 hp (180 kW) as opposed to 261 hp (195 kW).

The BMW 128ti in South Africa will now arrive with the exact same output as the new Golf GTI so we could see some exciting head to head stuff and drag races from local journalists and media.

Volkswagen did the same with the Golf R and then ended up bringing the full fat version in at a later stage.

We are told it is due to the hot climate and high altitude but why did Volkswagen then bring in the 228 kW version?

Could we see the ‘full fat’ version of the 128ti arrive at a later stage? Possibly but highly unlikely.