The 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine kicks out 134 hp and 162 lb-ft of torque, which is sufficient for the job at hand and at it's best when you utterly forget it's there. As part of its undersized nature, the engine and transmission are extremely susceptible to falling off the curve, the torque tap opens at 1,200 rpm and rides on a plateau until 4,500 rpm before trailing off towards redline, peak power comes on at 4,500 rpm and stays until six grand.

Around town, if you let the revs fall fractionally below where the boost comes on, the little triple can start to feel like it's going to lug itself right off the engine mounts, but stretch engine speed too far and it just makes a sickly sound and fury.

Physically, the engine is quite literally just a BMW 3.0-liter inline six sawed in half, and it shows. The little three-pot sounds half as good, goes half as fast and uses half as much gas. But that doesn't mean it's unenjoyable–its syncopated singing at high rpm is much preferable to the gnawing weed whacking whine that emits from a four-cylinder of similar displacement.