This year, the autocross course featured the all new M235i XDrive Gran Coupe and the M340i. While the latter is a fantastic car which I now want to buy as a result of its impressive autocross and street capabilities, the former is a car that needs some help.
Recently I attended BMW’s Ultimate Driving Experience Event. An awesome event put on by BMW NA and local BMW dealers. They take a fleet of BMW’s across America giving owners, or potential owners, an opportunity to learn car control from instructors with enviable amounts of racing experience on an autocross course. Additionally, drivers can do street drives, where you can test drive BMW’s on the street without a salesperson involved. It’s a fantastic event that I wish more manufacturers would do as you get to experience various cars from the manufacturer, and learn car control from the pros (with a little bit of friendly competition to make things fun).
Every year, the cars are different in both the autocross and the street drives and the course layout changes with location and by run group. This year, the autocross course featured the all new M235i XDrive Gran Coupe and the M340i. While the latter is a fantastic car which I now want to buy as a result of its impressive autocross capabilities, the former is a car that needs some help by that same measure.
While I did not have the opportunity to do a full street drive or week long test to really get to know the car, I wanted to share how it handled on the autocross course. So here is my “Quick Drive” review.
Pros
Rigid chassis. Tight suspension. Quick and nicely weighted steering. Fast and well calibrated transmission. Good seating position. Strong brakes. A missile in a straight line. Turbo 4 sounds great.
Let me start with the positives of this Gran Coupe. A quick glance throughout the interior showed nice materials and a tastefully typical BMW interior design. For the autocross, you enter in the car (usually an instructor rides with you but during COVID times, they instruct you over the radio) and pull up to the green cones. From there, you punch it and you’re off doing three to four autocross laps. Mashing the gas pedal in this car, Wow! This car is fast. The 2.0 liter, turbocharged four cylinder and XDrive All Wheel Drive rockets you to 60 in 4.2 seconds (per Car and Driver) with a sporty growl, and the transmission fires off quick upshifts as I hammered it down the straight. Downshifts were rev matched nicely and the transmission was smart enough to leave it in automatic during the autocross.
The steering wheel felt great, but in typical BMW fashion is too thick for my preference, and the view outside of the car was very good, as is typical for this segment which includes the Golf R, Audi S3, and A35 AMG. Pushing this car hard around the autocross course the BMW displayed a rigid chassis and tight suspension. The steering is nicely weighted and turn in is generally quite good with good speed and accuracy. The course featured a heavy braking zone and the Bimmer’s brakes are up to the task. Brakes are strong with good bite, and pedal feel while ABS intervention is well calibrated.
Cons
Understeer, Understeer, Understeer, Did I mention Understeer? A 7/10’s car disguised as a 10/10ths BMW. Why is the also Mini based X1 and X2 so much more fun to drive? Exterior design seems incohesive.
The biggest and most horrid drawback of this car is the understeer. Holy moly, wowzers, whatever you say…it’s bad. I’m getting triggered just writing this. Wanna trail brake into a corner? UNDERSTEER. Wanna power out of a corner? UNDERSTEER. To the editor at MotorTrend who said this car can “pull itself through the corner when physics beg to differ” (MotorTrend) is a lunatic. Cars that can pull itself out of a corner include the front wheel drive Veloster N and all wheel drive Mitsubishi Evo, but not this. To drive this car, everything has to be done in a straight line. And to boot, these cars had summer tires up front. I cannot imagine how bad the understeer is with the original equipment all seasons up front.
One thing that puzzles me is how the also MINI based X1 and X2 35i (also XDrive) handle better. At a previous BMW event, I autocrossed the X2 35i model and absolutely loved it. The chassis is predictive yet playful, and to me felt like a lifted Golf R or GTI. I didn’t feel like I was constantly fighting understeer like I was with this Gran Coupe.
Maybe I’m being harsh on this car. After all, it is a right sized car in a big car world, has a nice interior, has the coveted BMW badge, and is realistically more car than people will use. It’s awesome straight line speed, and throaty 4 banger will induce smiles and giggles all while getting great fuel economy. One of my friends like this car because he preferred the understeer-ey nature, which is more friendly and generally speaking, easier to manage than oversteer.
But as a BMW fan, it’s just not a BMW, much less one that has the ///M badge on it. No I don’t mean because it is front wheel drive (technically all wheel drive but its front biased). BMW’s have always been about capability whether M model or non M model. Always perfectly blending daily driver usability with track honing 10/10ths performance. Most BMW owners never use the track performance aspect of their car, and it will probably be no different with this M235i Gran Coupe. But knowing that it is there is part of the BMW experience, and that is what this car is missing. Nonetheless, only time will tell whether this car becomes a classic. You never know what the future will bring!
