Supremely stacked, fast, frugal M235 great to drive
BMW tells us that this new M235 Gran Coupe brings an entirely renewed drive portfolio, enhanced suspension, innovative automated systems and best digitalisation. It all comes together to ensure unique driving pleasure, they say.
It’s also said to possess a powerfully sporty design with an expressive nose and elongated silhouette in typical BMW Gran Coupé style. The long bonnet, short overhangs and a gently flowing roofline bring a low-slung road-hugging look. Our only real concern is that some may not be able to tell the difference between this and a 218i. For the performance that followed, the design could have been more aggressive.
The latest BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé is 20 millimetres longer at 4546 mm on a 2670 mm wheelbase, the 1.8 m tall Gran Coupe is also 25 mm wider 1445 mm. Cars just keep growing, don’t they? Our baby blue version really popped with its black 19 inch light alloys and red calliper M Sport brakes.
Excellent BMW build quality hard to hide
You notice this car’s excellent BMW build quality from the moment you touch it. Everything is so solid. For example, the doors feel very light, but extremely stiff at the same time. All very tactile. And it quickly adds up to an increasingly immersive experience.
Then you step into a leather-free environment. Although ours had Veganza-Alcantara, backlit milled aluminium trims, a hand-sewn contrast stitched dash panel and the cool new gear knob. The greens can’t have it all! The dash is dominated by the latest BMW curved display Operating System 9 iDrive interface. Said to be more intuitive and convenient to operate, its typical BMW fare. Which means it needs a few more buttons!
That said, BMW’s new QuickSelect directly accesses all main vehicle without having to switch to a submenu. All part of the multimodal approach that uses touch functions, voice control and multifunction steering wheel buttons to run the car and systems. Like all of them, it takes a little getting used to. And yes, it is still short a few vital buttons!
Our M235 packed BMW Live Cockpit Professional
Our BMW Live Cockpit Pro-packed tester had cloud-based navigation in case we never had a smartphone. We did. And the charging pad and CarPlay, Auto and Bluetooth integration are top class. As is Digital Key Plus, which allows your smartphone or watch to become your key. The heads-up display, augmented view control and parking assistant plus are also brilliant. Which is why you pay a proper premium for a real car.
Talking tech, M235 has it all. Driver assistance includes standard front collision, lane departure, exit and speed limit warning, as well as the parking and reversing assistant. Options on ours included steering and lane control, automatic speed limit and a route speed assist when using the stop & go active cruise control. And to round it off, a there’s a 40:20:40 split folding rear bench ahead of the 430 litre boot.
Then you drive it. Suppose the M235’s BMW M Performance turbo four-pot’s 221 kilowatts and 400 Newton-metres should have been a warning. But this little car truly stunned on our test strip. It seems like yesterday when those sort of numbers were record runs, but fifteen years ago, nothing was this quick. Tempus fugit, and here we have a second division ‘small’ BMW smack in the mid-fours.
M235 stunned on the road, in our tests
By comparison, the latest M2 only just breaks four seconds to 100. Both previous M2s were slower. The straight-six M240 is but a tenth quicker. But it and the M2 two and four-hundred grand more expensive. Quick, responsive and frugal, M235 matches BMW’s 7.7 litre per hundred claim in general driving. But does suffer a small tank and shorter range than we’d like. That said, this car is a typical BMW gem on the road.
Ours also had 8 mm lower riding Adaptive M suspension to enhance both agility and long-distance comfort courtesy of variable mechanical and frequency-selective latest tech dampers. And all of that in a far more rigid chassis with significantly optimised kinematics. Which makes it feel light and rigid on the road. And huge fun to drive.
Although it may be a bit cramped thanks to its Gran Coupe proportions, this supremely well stacked, quick, fast, economical and wonderfully driveable BMW is also practical and versatile enough as an all-rounder. Yes, a million bucks is a lot of money. But then why scrimp when you can get the real thing. Especially when the real thing is way better than the difference in price to the pretenders in the first place… – Michele Lupini
Images & testing: Giordano Lupini
ROAD TESTED: BMW M235 Gran Coupe
Engine: 233 kW 400 Nm 2-litre turbo petrol I4
Drive: 8-speed automatic 4AWD
TESTED:
0-60 km/h: 2.09 sec
0-100 km/h: 4.54 sec
0-120 km/h: 6.28 sec
0-160 km/h: 10.62 sec
400m: 12.8 sec @ 176 km/h
80-120 km/h: 3.13 sec
120-160 km/h: 4.34 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 250 km/h
Fuel: 7.7 l/100 km
CO2: 175 g/km
Range: 635 km
Warranty/Service: 2y unl./ 5y 100K km
LIST PRICE: R1.043M
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