Like a fair number of you, I came of driving age in the mid-80’s when BMW had a total of four car lines – the 3-series, the 5, the 7, and the sporting 6, traditionally all rear wheel drive and for the most part inline 6-cylinder powered. Sitting in Chemistry class while reading a car magazine tucked into your textbook, you’d consider starting your stable with a basic 3 like you’re the character Blaine in Pretty in Pink, then you graduate to the 5 once you mature a bit and perhaps start a family, if you eventually replace your boss at work you may move up to a 7, and if having to cart multiple kids around isn’t a consideration, then a 635CSI would be just the ticket (teen Molly sat in front when she was dropped off in one for detention at The Breakfast Club).
In those days (ca. 1985) the big news was the imminent release of an all wheel drive option on the 3-series as well as a convertible version (but not together on the same car), and of course the M5 became available as the first M-series car deemed suitable for general public sale in any kind of quantity over here in the United States. And that was considered quite a range of vehicles with lots more choices than just a few years earlier.
Jump forward 35 years and all of a sudden there are sports cars co-developed with a Japanese maker, every possible size of SUV, more sedans than you can shake a stick at, a couple of electric cars, several two-door coupes, some convertibles, all wheel drive all over the range, and even a few things that are some sort of fusion between a sedan and a coupe that they call “Gran Coupe” as well as engine sizes that have nothing to do with the numbers on the bootlid.
There’s now also been pretty much every number that wasn’t included in the ’80’s available such as 1, 2, 4, and 8 but the 6 is gone again, at least in car form. And various prefix letters as well on some others such as a different 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 all preceded by a big X to denote an SUV form factor. Pretty soon they might dial that up to 11. Literally.
Oh, and there are even front wheel drive platforms now! There were wagons in the interim but there aren’t anymore, over here at least. It’s enough to boggle the mind and wonder how this little independent Bavarian brand got to have seemingly (or perhaps actually) more different models than General Motors.
My tester for last week was an amalgamation of several of the above ingredients. It’s a Gran Coupe, meaning it has four doors for access but a roofline more reminiscent of a two door. It’s a 2-series, so larger than a 1 (not currently offered here either) and smaller than a 3 as well as in this particular form based on a FWD platform but the x-Drive means that it does have all wheel drive to sort of correct that sin. The badge reads 228i, in days past you’d likely have a fuel-injected 2.8-liter inline-6 under the hood, but this is a direct injected turbocharged 2-liter four (still inline though!).
The xDrive badge denotes all wheel drive. If it matters, there is in fact also a 228i regular coupe (2-door) available as well as a convertible but no regular sedan but, and this is a big one, those are a completely different chassis and basically unrelated, this one shares a chassis with the X1 and X2 mini-SUVs instead.
So this Gran Coupe is it for a four door 2-series even though some of the other lines have both a sedan and a Gran Coupe version (and regular coupe), albeit sometimes the number changes as the even numbers are the coupe/convertible models (both two and four door coupe varieties) and the odds are reserved for the real sedans. Confused yet? Check out the BMW web site to keep it all (sort of) straight.
It also has an “M-Sport” package on it as a major option that doesn’t make it an M-car but does add some of the goodies to make it sportier. Of course a decent dollop of sportiness was pretty much always included on any BMW, even the most dour 318i or 733i or eta-engined cars back in the day.
To me it certainly looks like a BMW when walking up to it. It’s sleek, has the famous grille even though it’s blanked off about an inch behind the brightwork (the real air aperture is under the bumper), includes sort of a techy-squared-off look that became a BMW thing sometime in the last decade or so, of course includes at least a vestigial “Hofmeister kink” at the rearmost side window, and being a non-SUV is on the lowish side.
Note that I’m relaying this impression as a general enthusiast with an appreciation for the marque but not a savant as regards all things BMW, some will perhaps find things not befitting tradition. That’s fine too, it still looks a lot more like a BMW of yore than something shaped like an X7 does no matter how much you shake a fist at a passing cloud.
The car (painted here in a very appropriately named “Storm Bay Metallic”, a deeply moody gray that changes appearance depending on the light) beeps as you get close to it and you can hear the doors unlock well before you even reach out your hand. Do so, grab the door handle, pull it open and there’s a well-trimmed cabin that looks the business.
Deeply bolstered seats with an extending thigh cushion, lumbar support adjustments for every direction, and even a button to make the bolsters on the seat back squeeze you like your grandmother will once there’s a Covid vaccine and she sees you again. Whoever drove it before I did clearly had the physique of a 12-year old girl and the bolsters dug into my kidneys so I opened that up to something more commensurate of someone who was born a couple of hundred miles west of Bavaria and enjoys his “Wurst mit einem Bier” after which it was perfect.
The steering wheel is just the right thickness and inviting to hold, the instrument cluster is more TRON-like than I expected it would be but it works well and one gets used to it although it IS different as is becoming more common with full digital displays these days instead of dials, and the engine start button is on the center console.
The instrument cluster screen has an interesting background that’s composed of the navigation system’s street map and as such moves as you drive and zooms in and out depending on your rate of progress, however there are no street names so it’s purely decorative although it could be more useful as well with that small change. And there’s a familiar BMW aroma that’s a blend of the leather and the glues and plastics used here. It’s weird how BMW and all the other German makers each have their own very distinct scent even though they must use the same suppliers for the interior pieces for the most part.
That dashboard is wide and fairly low with lots of buttons including about ten for the exterior lights to the left of the wheel (what was wrong with a dial? Although by pushing one and setting it to Auto it does mostly everything for you in that regard and you CAN in fact turn the front fog lights off on a BMW, who knew), the center console has a bunch more topped with a wide touchscreen that can also be controlled by the iDrive controller on the console or in many aspects by voice.
One strange thing I noted repeatedly is that there was (for me anyway) an inclination to have my right hand sort of rest on or near the iDrive controller to dial through the music stations, however the volume adjustment is done by a separate knob much higher on the console or by buttons on the steering wheel, both of which also needed that same right hand. If you want people to use the iDrive controller, having a knob for the volume next to it would be handier. The space for it exists.
That’s a minor niggle though. There’s a trim piece that goes around the cabin at mid-dash height. It’s black plastic with a geometric pattern on it that would likely be criticized were it in a Chevrolet. It looks sort of cheap and plasticky and worse it flexes to the touch in the middle when using the touch screen via fingers and resting your hand on it but it does have a party trick; at night it lights up in a sort of linear (as opposed to circular) hotplate pattern. I can’t decide if I like the way it lights up, is it so cool it’s hot or so hot it’s cool? I didn’t really warm up to it but that’s just my opinion.
There’s a handy clip-thingy sort of tray to stow your phone in but no wireless charging in this case (optional), although Apple Car Play is included (without a subscription fee as that idea was dropped due to lots of criticism), and it’s of the newer wireless variety, yay! I did connect via Bluetooth but the car dropped me several times likely due to not having the BMW specific app installed on my phone.
After connecting a couple of times manually it seemed to “take” for some reason and then was able to read my incoming texts to me which was a handy feature and didn’t have any trouble going forward. The whole car is composed with a very technology intensive setup and while I’m not a computer scientist I’m not a fool or lazy either, but it did take me some time to discover that in the settings for example there is a menu that lets one control and adjust minutae such as the maximum airflow when the HVAC is in automatic mode.
Apparently mine was set on the second lowest fan speed as a maximum which frustrated me when I got into the car on a 90degree day and remained roasting due to the meager airflow when I dialed it down to my preferred 62 until I overrode the auto setting and cranked up the fan manually. After that I changed it in the settings to max out at the second highest setting instead and then it seemed to always be blasting air instead even for the smallest adjustments until the desired temperature was achieved.
Like a new phone or computer it’s the kind of car where, if one were to purchase one new, one might want to make a appointment with the dealer’s tech genius (yes, they have that there, the salesperson doesn’t just toss you the key and send you on your way) to go over everything with you in order to learn about stuff that the car will do that you’d never have even thought a car would be able to do. If purchased used from somewhere else, prepare to really read the manual.
Otherwise you’ve ended up paying for a bunch of stuff that someone slaved over that you won’t even know about. It’ll fundamentally work even if you don’t but will work harder for you if you know how to ask it to or even what to ask it. Another great example is the row of eight buttons next to the volume knob center bottom of the above picture. They look like radio presets but in reality they are “anything” presets.
You could make #1 your favorite station which would work as you’d expect. But #2 could be the phone number for your spouse, press that and it dials the number for you. #3 could be the address of your home, when pressed it will navigate you to it, and so on with everything you could imagine. It’s also programmed to the individual key so if you share the car with someone and they drive, it becomes their preset preferences instead.
The backseat, while in this case just as luxuriously swathed in lovely “Mocha perforated Dakota Leather”, looks just as inviting as the front, however keep in mind this space is not really meant for a full grown human adult. I was able to get in quickly enough but it took me far longer to extricate myself again. My knees were either jammed into the seatback when adjusted for me as the driver or splayed wide around it and my head was cocked into the headliner at an unnatural angle.
I am 6’1″ with a 32″ inseam, I estimate anyone over 5.5 feet tall with more than a 28″ inseam will not be comfortable back here. Perfect for a mother-in-law. If you must have four doors and need to ever carry four full adults without hearing about it afterwards, perhaps kind Sir would consider looking at a 3-series sedan which would still fit in the budget? Or most anything starting with an X in the BMW catalog. But it looks good.
Anyway, once comfortably ensconced (in the front), tickle the start button and the engine fires with a gruff little bellow. Choose Sport mode or just leave it in Comfort, pull the monostatic shifter back into Drive and give it the beans. If in Comfort it will pull out smoothly and quietly and rapidly shift its way to illegal speeds. If in Sport mode the engine’s voice drops an octave, it seems to shift faster and gets you up to speed feeling more athletic and in charge and you have the option to change various parameters to create a further “Individual” Sport Mode.
The engine in this case is as stated previously a turbocharged 2-liter four cylinder with an output of 228hp and 258lb-ft of torque while mounted transversely in what is essentially a MINI-derived platform and pretty lowly stressed in regard to the output relative to the size in this application. The x-Drive all wheel drive is required and gives it a rear wheel bias although the power can move all around the chassis wheel by wheel as needed. The engine sounds great, it’s one of the better fours in that regard, it has a very smooth but still gruff voice that sounds precise if that’s even possible.
The 8speed automatic pops off shifts depending how aggressive you are with the throttle, but if you suddenly give it all the Welly in mid turn it will take its time to downshift, so if being really aggressive is on the menu and you absolutely need to nail that apex and power out at the limit, then the wheel mounted shift paddles are required to be used, just be careful you note where the paddles end up as the wheel can turn further than your arms can keep up to keep your fingers on the relevant paddles…
But booting it from a standstill makes it move out quickly and confidently. It’s an engine that leaves the car feeling not overpowered but not at all underpowered either, it’s really just right and perfectly usable every day with enough left in the equation to reward some finesse and planning ahead as to what maneuver to attempt when. With a manual transmission this would be a total gem but that’s sadly not a thing because you and I aren’t running out and buying them.
It feels very well balanced, zips around corners at speeds far above the local recommendation, is delightful to swing back and forth through the turns with the wheel being very sensitive and even fairly communicative as to what’s going on underneath. The ride on the other hand, as in most BMWs, is far more compliant than one might expect given the handling irrespective of the road surface. It thumps across bumps of course but not in a violent way, just sucks it up and puts it away.
The tires, Bridgestones in a 225/40-18 size, surprised me as I quite liked them and found them plenty grippy with good characteristics all around but I didn’t realize until I was writing this and reviewed my pictures that they are in fact a Run Flat Tire, specifically part of the Turanza LS100 All-Season line in this case, neither aspect of which I would have thought would be as agreeable had I known beforehand.
They do tend to follow the grooves on concrete freeways and my passenger asked me if it was very windy as she noticed the car moving side to side without me mentioning anything. That was an astute observation as it felt exactly like side winds, however it was all due to the tires interacting with the drainage grooves.
Is it still a real BMW being on a FWD platform? I don’t know, who really cares though besides the internet warriors that would probably never consider a new BMW anyway. It’s engineered by the same people, it’s built in Germany (although in the city of Leipzig in the former East Germany instead of the state of Bavaria), all the oily bits are used elsewhere in the catalog as well, and it has the roundel so for an ever-increasing percentage of people that last bit is likely what matters most anyway.
BMW gets their money either way so no harm, no foul, and really most BMWs these days seem to be AWD anyway so it’s masked anyway. It likely feels a bit different to drive compared to a traditional longitudinally-engined RWD-based 3-series etc., (I didn’t have the option to try one back to back to compare) but the current 3 drives different than an older 3 too and ever more so the further back you go, so whatever. Call it progress if you must, the bottom line is it drives well and otherwise has all the same traits as everything else in the showroom.
It’s not overly heavy at under 3500 pounds, has tons of cool tech such as LED headlights that swivel as you turn the wheel (love that feature), and while trunk space doesn’t seem huge at first, there’s a large bin under the floor that holds seemingly almost as much again, of course there’s no spare tire in this one. The seats fold down for added utility as well.
The size is right for the city, and it’s a car that you wear more than you just sit in it. In fact, I was bulging the seams a bit in this car (as opposed to an actual MINI such as the one I drove a few weeks ago which left me with more perceived lebensraum inside, surprisingly).
The panorama roof likely had a lot to do with the bare minimum of headroom clearance I had here and my arms and legs, while having enough room, didn’t have any wasted amounts of it. But it’s not an overly large car and the roof is on the low side by design, so if you are interested this is NOT a car to just order blindly off the rack, you must try it on first.
Gas mileage was exceptional though, I averaged right at 29.1 mpg for the week and 347 miles I drove it. The sticker calls for 23City, 33Highway, and 27Combined. My miles included a 120-mile freeway journey to the Boulder suburbs, another high speed 80-mile freeway roundtrip to a tile shop north of Denver, and then the balance around town running between houses for work stuff, a few errands and a bunch of shuttling and idling for some picture taking as well as a few good runs along the lake road. While it calls for premium unleaded, that average is quite a good result.
Price. And Value. Where to start…I suppose the starting price would be appropriate and here it’s $37,500 plus $995 destination (one of the lower destination charges we’ve seen recently even though this comes from far away).
Options though add up quickly. The paint goes for $550, the Mocha leather for $1,450 so $2000 total for anything but black or white over gray or black vegan leather. (My sticker says this particular paint is $550 but the online configurator now lists it for $1,200 while the other colors are still $550 so not sure what happened there or which price is correct). Remote Engine Start can get your motor running for $300.
There are two major options to round things out, first is the M-Sport package at $4,000 and then the Premium package at $3,000. The M-Sport package includes such things as the M Steering wheel which above I found to be wonderful, the 18″ double spoke wheels (17’s are standard), and the rear spoiler. It also includes an Active Driving Assistant, Shadowline Exterior Trim (black where shiny bits usually reside except the grille), M Sport Steering (presumably a tighter electric rack), Frontal Collision Warning with City Collision Mitigation, Lane Departure Warning, and Active Blind Spot Detection.
The Premium Package on the other hand also adds a Heated Steering Wheel and Front Seats, the Comfort Access Keyless Entry, Panoramic Sunroof, Lumbar Support, those lovely Adaptive LED Headlights that swivel, Ambient Lighting, Head-Up Display, SiriusXM Radio, Connected Package Pro, and Live Cockpit Pro (incl. Navigation System).
It appears that you can customize all sorts of stuff in this package including not having a Panoramic Sunroof or even ANY sunroof as a delete option which is something that is generally hard to get a maker to do for cars delivered over here but something that should warm the cockles of any true enthusiast’s heart, get rid of that highly placed weight!
It’s a very well equipped vehicle, but still doesn’t contain every option on the list, and as equipped here as detailed above rings in at $47,845 including destination. That’s a fair bit of change and there is no shortage of competitors looking for that pile of money for themselves (including other options in the same showroom, I’ll add.)
The other Germans all offer what they would argue is competition for this, some at lower prices, some with more power, but really none that offer a much different formula so it’s competitive in that respect. Of course there are other makers from other continents that are also playing in this space to a somewhat smaller degree.
But there are now also non-traditional options including alternative powertrains from other maker(s) as well that might be considered too, especially for those open minded enough to consider this non-traditional BMW in the first place. This car is an interesting development that fits into a very small niche in BMW’s portfolio, but that’s how they’ve been positioning themselves over the last decade or so; evermore finely specialized variations on the sport sedan/vehicle theme, many of which overlap in many aspects.
It’s probably as close to a bespoke mass market maker (if those two words/terms can even be used together) as one is likely to find these days and they do seem to be building things now that would be absolute heresy back when BMW was a true religion. Still, as here they tend to work better in real life than they would be thought to on paper. Amen.
Thank you to BMW for providing us with this vehicle and a tank of premium unleaded for a week.
I have to disagree that it looks like a BMW. The oversized grille is the only thing about this design that says BMW (and why it’s so damn big).
The rest of it is chunky in a very generic way. If you showed an average person the side profile shot, I’d bet you’d hear a lot of Civic/Kia guesses, but 0 BMW.
Agreed, aside from the grille, it looks like a Kia Forte
Yes – expensive, car like appliance with brand character no longer identifiable. Mercedes is also at this point.
I was thinking Ford Focus, but yeah, there’s a lot of Kia there too.
I have to wonder what exactly would make it “look like a BMW” and also how that would really be a good thing. Further wondering if the same comments were levied against the Neue Klasse when it was released compared to what came before. After all, those didn’t look like what people expected their BMW to look like either.
I myself can no longer tell a 5 from a 7 without specifically looking at the right rear corner where the badge is, they look the same to me. But thinking of other BMWs I’m trying to see what these all have in common compared to each other and whatever the mystical “real thing” is when they were released their first year: 507, Isetta, 2002, X5, Z3 Coupe, Z4, 633CSI, 135i, 850, i3, etc.
Considering it, I’m more and more inclined to think that the evidence notwithstanding, some people define a BMW as only a BMW if it’s a circa 1975-2005 sedan shape. Perhaps that’s due to a large proportion of people being alive during that era and thus being most familiar with it?
Change is hard and BMW, like many others, is probably realizing that times change and simply maintaining the status quo is not a viable path forward. Sure they can and still do sell sedans, none of the 80’s model numbers are gone (generally speaking), but they have expanded as much as the general market itself has expanded over that time. Whether one likes the current model proliferation or not, it’s undeniably amazing that they actually have the resources and wherewithal to delve into ever-tinier niches – but I believe there will be a pullback from some of these sooner rather than later, it doesn’t seem sustainable and extremely difficult and expensive from the dealer level on up.
Clearly they are looking to increase sales to a new(er) generation, and some of the styling reflects that change. Some of us may deride Kias and other “upstart” brands, but the reality is that brand for example is mostly styled by a German-led team, and many of those currently entering the car-buying market never knew a time that Kias (and others, not picking on Kia) didn’t exist. Witness Kias relentless push upmarket with some of their newest products, a maker that is pushing somewhat downmarket is going to experience some clashes as the lines overlap to some extent. Nobody today really wants a stodgy 1986 528e like their grandfather drove. Sure, many/most of “us” here find the shape to be an absolute classic but today’s youth (under 30) for the most part likely finds it boring.
Tesla’s look more like BMWs than this, because Tesla designers know how an attractive sedan is proportioned, and don’t have the compromising constraints of an driveline layout to dictate it.
This POS isn’t Neue Klasse, this neue shape is 2004. BMWs aren’t Kias. And even KIA knows how to make an attractive car, the stinger looks more like a BMW in its proportions. Sorry but this thing looks like what a modern Pontiac Grand Am would look.
And yes I do consider BMW from 1975 and 2005 the real thing. Those made the brand, and this does not make the brand if those cars didn’t exist. This is a matter of coasting on the legacy of the badge until everyone forgets about the good ones
You’re significantly more passionate about this subject than I would have figured.
Tesla has yet to actually re-design anything and all four of their currently sold designs are essentially the same thing, the only radically new thinking over there from a design standpoint is the CyberTruck (which looks more like a 70’s Brubaker ripoff as published in Penthouse of all places back then) and, well…let’s give them a few more design generations before declaring them the design masters. They also only have ONE actual “sedan” and it’s not the best shape of the four on sale today.
The 2002 7series and 2004 5series designs as sold in the early 2000’s were significantly more divergent from the norm “BMW” styling-wise than this one is and if anything the 5’s headlights seem similar to this one as you panned below.
What would you prefer, that BMW just build about 14 different sedan lines, each identical except 3″ longer than the next smaller one? Look at the current 5 and 7, what’s the difference besides length? That doesn’t sound like a recipe for continued success, nor does limiting the brand to four models in total unless they want to remain stagnant. Perhaps some people don’t actually like the “traditional” shape of yore. The ’80’s and 90’s were a long time ago.
Perhaps some people don’t actually like the “traditional” shape of yore. The ’80’s and 90’s were a long time ago.
I have literally never heard one person in my life say that, but just to entertain that thought, would those people even care what the shape is as long as it has a prestigious roundel on the hood? Where is the data to determine current or would-be BMW customers are turned off of the “old” shape or not? It’s pure speculation, and in my opinion flimsy to suggest that was BMWs reasoning, and not the more likely suggestion that they were simply trying to cut cost by merging Mini chassis with BMW 🤷♂️
Proportions matter, the 228i has the stereotypical FWD tall cowl/short dash to axle/ long front overhang that has looked awkward on every BMW imitator since the 80s-90s, this is way more noticable from a passing glance than omitting the hoffmeister kink or merging the twin kidney grille into one, it looks as anynomous in a squint as any other compact sedan that hasn’t been setting the world on fire in recent times.
I never declared Tesla design masters, nor would I, but they have a distinct blank slate being EVs with no hard driveline footprint to determine chassis proportions the way transverse FWD or longitudinal RWD layouts do, and lo and behold Tesla chose the RWD look BMW and Mercedes have used forever and has been heavily encroaching in their market with basically TWO models. Tesla has THE trendy brand image right now, are people complaining about their proportions too?
As far as lineup, in my personal opinion I think they should dump everything but the i EV models, 3 and 5 series for sedans and I’m too out of touch with the segment to say what needs to exist in the SUVs, but I don’t understand how lean and mean is the recipe for stagnant. BMW’s approach in the last several years has been odd number traditional sedans and SUVs, and even number a sleek roofed pseudo “coupes” that, let’s be real, aren’t that much sleeker than their odd number counterparts. All it has done is create redundancy and confusion with the public, and it’s frankly almost bad old days GM like in strategy – more models to stem off competition, pack them with gimmicks, make the styling bolder, consolidate platforms to cut cost.
You make an interesting point about the younger crowd and ostensibly “classic” BMWs. I wonder what their impression is, exactly. A friend’s son is wildly into 80s-90s technology – cassettes, old TVs, etc – so perhaps some of the under-30 crowd would find an old 528 appealing. Clearly a research project is needed. 🙂
Excellent review, btw. Those “anything presets” are a cool idea I hadn’t encountered before.
Just wait until the next generation 3-Series and 4-Series are introduced with new vertical kidney bean grille design.
I live in Munich so I get to see lot of BMW prototypes cladded in swirling camouflages. I saw 4-Series with that obnoxious design, resembling Koala bear’s nose. I made the “stick-the-finger-in-the-mouth-and-gag” expression at the BMW test driver, and he didn’t take it well.
Oh, well, to each his own.
Thanks for the thorough review of another one of BMW’s niche products. I confess that their myriad offerings are a bit bewildering to me, as it seems to be that “you can’t know the players without a scorecard”.
I wonder at what point the niches become so small that they result in brand dilution? Is there a point where you “win the battle but lose the war”? (I’m looking at you Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac).
Still a good car, but it will be interesting to see what happens to the brand in 10 years…
Excellent review and photographs as always. I have to agree with the earlier comments. Distinctive BMW design elements like the twin kidney grille, Hofmeister kink, and body side shoulder crease, defined their styling for decades. Take these elements away, and they now look comparable to the competition. Even the famous grille is looking more Buick-derived. It seems for some manufacturers their brand legacy will remain invaluable. Hugely important to their continued success.
Agree on the grille, per the article it’s fake and useless (and ugly) but made extra big, as if to shout that identity.
Uh, “per the article” I said it was blocked off. It’s still a grille and I didn’t make any judgement calls on its appearance. Some people think I have a large nose but not everyone has a problem with it. 🙂
The fact that the grille is 1 continuous piece of plastichrome rather than segmented black kidney beans actually reminds me of the fancy “kidney bean” imitation Mercury used on my 94-95 Cougar. Difference is mine has the shoulder crease, is an actual coupe, is RWD and even has a stickshift 🙂
I always appreciate your designer’s eye Matt. You consistently make excellent observations at this site. Your views here remind me of Paul’s ‘Deadly Sins’ critiques of GM. It’s not meant to tear the brand down. Rather, pointing out where they lost, or are losing their path. Constructive criticism.
I too find this design alarmingly generic in a number of areas.
There are several aspects of this car – grille and general shape, that remind me of my 2014 Buick Regal. The 2.0 DI turbo in my Regal may make a little more power.
If I were looking for a sedan and spending this kind of money then I would not with it to look like a cheap Korean import. Filling it up with options does not help one bit. It is too expensive for a mock Kia, Nissan or whatever.
I am wondering if this is a development of the platform that was going to underpin the Rover 35.
A development of the MINI platform which they got from PSA
A bit of googling learned that the article’s BMW is riding on BMW’s UKL2 platform.
Introduced in 2014, UKL1 for subcompacts and UKL2 for compacts. These platforms are also used for all current MINI models.
Good review, Jim, I was interested in your impressions of it because it has come in for some unfriendly scrutiny from other reviewers.
You make a strong argument for real-world performance. That’s interesting and informative because I’m struggling to find much to like in the concept. I grew up viewing BMWs as aspirational machines, but over the past decade that impression has been fading fast as they’ve changed with market preferences. I drive a Camry, but I still fit the enthusiast stereotype of wanting a Bimmer to be a nimble, tactile, RWD sedan or coupe with a standard transmission. BMW’s lineup is mostly crossovers and numb-steering hard-riding sledgehammers with excellent numbers but marginal involvement or true character (if reviews are to be believed).
This Gran Coupe seems to follow that and just doesn’t grab my attention. The interior is a copy of the 3-series in design but with some really questionable looking materials and trim pieces. Competent handling without tactility isn’t my preference. The clean gauges have been replaced by a gimmicky digital screen with a backwards tachometer that exists for no purpose other than style. The powertrain seems like a rare highlight; BMW’s turbo four and ZF-sourced transmission are overachievers in performance.
Aesthetically, I think this car looks terrible. From the tall blunt front end with bulging eyes, to the stubby FWD profile, to the hideous rear end, it’s reminiscent of the awkward first gen CLA. Or a generic compact class sedan with $20K starting point. There’s nothing of the clean well-proportioned E46 or E90.
Yes, I know, put the money down or hush up. That’s valid. But I’m nearing the phase where I could visit a dealership for a new lease and tip that scale, and there’s nothing in their lineup that tempts me anymore outside the 2-series RWD coupe and I wonder if that will be around in a few more years.
Maybe I’m being needlessly anachronistic.
Maybe that will save me a lot of money if I get a far less expensive GLI instead.
I’ll have to read some other reviews – I have made it a point to not read other people’s reviews as I would rather my impressions be unfiltered/uninfluenced. That being said I also find it ludicrous when anyone makes a purchasing decision based on what someone they don’t even know writes or says about it, i.e. I can love it but you may hate it and the other way around as well, everyone is different. My goal as always is to explain the vehicle and if someone then decides to look at it further I think I’ve fulfilled my role. I have realized though that living with a car for a week makes me view many of them differently than I did before or when I only had very limited experience with it which is logical too.
It isn’t an E46 and never will be. That said, nothing is and nothing will be again. As you may recall the E46 wasn’t universally loved either at the time and the E90 definitely wasn’t and as much as I like the E30 or 2002 I don’t think I’d really want to drive one every day anymore either. Times change for various reasons.
It may be less “tactile” and “analog” than these older cars but if it’s more so than many or most other vehicles it is competing against today then that’s its potential advantage. I haven’t driven a lot of Camrys but have something similar in the stable and I don’t care how sporting a Camry (or any other mid-size sedan is), this 228i was vastly more engaging to drive which is not a high bar but I also think it would be better than a GLI which is completely FWD. I like the GTI but not as compared to many performance AWD offerings. Golf R on the other had? Well…but now you’re knocking on $40k again, this starts around the same.
Jim, I hope you’re not interpreting my comment as a criticism of your assessment or a suggestion that other reviewers were correct. Or a claim that the Camry is sporting. Certainly not my intent. This just doesn’t fit my idea of an appealing BMW. It’s not something that would tempt me, as an appliance (Camry) owner, to spend up on as a semi-premium driver’s car. The 230i or prior 3-series would provide that temptation.
FWIW, I think the GLI is still a contender. With the limited slip differential, it has been getting some great reviews from big and small outlets alike, and it has a market-poison stick shift!
“It may be less “tactile” and “analog” than these older cars but if it’s more so than many or most other vehicles it is competing against today then that’s its potential advantage. ” I think your are correct here, and that may be where my overly anachronistic view probably comes in. Part of me wants what no longer exists anymore.
Nope, not at all re the first part.
And yes, I totally understand that last part. Sadly I don’t get to review too many/any of what no longer exists anymore, I guess we have the COALs for that, alas many come with rose tinted spectacles for everyone! 🙂
The (real) manual transmission aspect is a big one, I very much understand that but (as you surely do as well) get that it’s decreasingly an attractive option for much of the populace given traffic, time, and other considerations including the economy factor, i.e. automatics are now better in that regard. The enthusiast is a far lower percentage of those that chose manuals than I think anyone ever realized.
Re: what doesn’t exist anymore. I drove a used Fiesta ST today, with the manual transmission. What a little riot that thing is. Divorced from the reality of markets and consumer taste, a car like that is as much art as commodity.
I can see why Ford is EcoSporting and BMW is Gran Couping, but there is some tiny little sliver of humanity lost in that transition.
Looks like BMW is throwing in the towel with designing automobiles and is just copying designs from Kia and Hyundai. How soon before BMW is only selling SUVs?
How soon before BMW is only selling SUVs?
Probably quite soon, with a few exceptions. Mercedes just cancelled seven sedans. The proliferation of models at MB and BMW is not sustainable. They’re going to have to shrink that back.
They produce and sell what people actually buy, the same way any business does if they want to remain in business. Hard to fault that logic.
They’ve been doing a good job at imagining and adding product they think might tempt the buyer, but keeping everything else in production just in case it doesn’t. But it’s like now they’ve figured out the changed market conditions, and are prepared to drop the less popular. I had been wondering how long they could continue to offer such an extensive product range.
Thorough review with great pictures and background-scenery, as always. Must be a lot of work, certainly given the weekly intervals!
Of all current, compact and expensive sedans (let’s keep it simple) I like the Benz CLA the most. Then the Audi A3 Limousine, as they call it, and the article’s BMW comes third.
Now to the background-scenery. Is this in Denver? So far away, yet it looks so familiar in many pictures. Narrow streets and bricks everywhere you look (buildings and pavement).
The exceedingly generous CC compensation package makes it all worthwhile as you have first-hand experience with as well. 🙂
That was all Fort Collins, CO, in the center of old town parts. Bricks and stones on buildings as pictured are all old (old for here, not compared to Europe), but the pavers on the alleys are much newer, mostly within the last decade I’d say.
My favorite of the category is not the CLA, but the new A-Klasse limousine. It looks beautiful, well proportioned, in my opinion. So much that I can see myself taking delivery of a brand new one when I finish my engineering degree. It’d look pretty nice alongside my current W203
I place the A-Class limousine right between the CLA and the A3 limousine 🙂
The CLA is longer, yet still a compact, and looks simpler and cleaner overall, especially at the rear. The less lines, bulges, dents, holes, creases, overwrought details, etc., the better. Bauhaus bitte!
The problem with compact sedans is that they are too “thickset”, they’re simply not quite long enough to look good. They lean to clown car dimensions. You know, like the ol’ Ford Fiesta and Focus sedans.
All personal opinion, of course, like this whole comment.
Good luck with your study! May a new A-Class limousine roam the Portugese roads soon.
I do like the color and how, at least in the pictures, it seems to shift from blue to grey.
“say one nice thing…”
It looks like a Chevy Cruze. FWD proportions sucked all the BMW right out of it, they even pulled back the headlights like every other dopey looking disposable appliance on the road now.
It is true that attractive BMWs were just a phase. They were making Baroque Angels and knock-off Iso refrigerators on wheels until they knocked their Corvair styling clone out of the park and wrapped it around an advanced and refined set of mechanical components in the early ’60s. They stumbled a bit with the 2000CS’s looks, but cleaned them up with a facelift when they added two cylinders to the M10 and then mostly went from high to high until Chris Bangle took over.
Awful designers believe in change for change sake, so terms like ‘active ergonomics’ started fouling company communications. Active ergonomics are to ergonomics as social justice is to justice. They mean the opposite, but you can’t just go on making cars focused on giving the driver effortless control. It is easy to say car companies make what people buy, but nobody was buying upper middle-priced 1.5 liter family sedans that handled well when the New Class came out. Nobody was making a sports car that seated four people and their luggage when the 1600-2 and 2002 grabbed enthusiasts’ attention. Currency fluctuations forced them upmarket, but BMW became a household word in the US by making cars that created demand. It was only later that they focused on trying to cover Mercedes-Benz model-for-model, and now they’re chasing Renminbi like every other reunified German car maker. The author said this car looks like a BMW. Maybe he is right. There was a time when that meant something, but it was only a window of time.
Jim – this is great and made a lot of people think about car design, cars vs. other type vehicles and brand identity and history.
You said: “Some of us may deride Kias”. I don’t. In fact I think, for much less money, they generally look much better than current BMW and Mercedes offerings. Especially the noses of the Kias seem simpler, more discreet. I would not hesitate to buy a Kia.
As for the BMW noses the trend to large became obvious to my wife and me quite recently when looking at the Hertz used car sale site. She has always liked BMWs (three 3 series cars owned over the years) and has a hankering for a 5 series. But we looked at the many 740i cars at good sale prices (due to the Hertz bankruptcy). The 2019 model year cars are much more attractive to us than the 2020s. The ’20 grille is just too big and the body work openings/slits underneath is too Toyota. Things change, sometimes not for the better. You are certainly right that we prefer the looks of simpler cars that we admired and bought decades ago.
Paul – I believe Mercedes has cancelled not just sedans but most coupes and convertibles too.
Now about those huge grilles:
….”Another interesting argument we can’t possibly deny is the fact that the customers have the final say. Since the biggest market for the 7 Series is in China, whatever the Chinese customer demands will be made”…
The other arguments are here:
https://www.bmwblog.com/2019/06/26/bmw-design-chief-says-7-series-needed-huge-grilles-for-multiple-reasons/
The obvious question: If the huge grille is a fake on this model, why does it have to be so big?
In the somewhat desperate hope folks will identify it as a BMW, obviously. Why else?
I am totally underwhelmed by this car and quite frankly disappointed. The FWD proportions differ substantially from the traditional BMW sedan and in profile is not discernable as a BMW at all.
Other than AWD a VW GLI is a great alternative with exactly the same power output, much cheaper price and probably the best aftermarket support for tuning…Even bumping up to a Golf R gives the buyer a better car for the money with AWD
I despise the look from the B-pillar back. It’s like a “car’d down“ X6… Yet Mexico gets the same platform 1-series sedan, which retains a lot of what I think BMW does well:
No, that just looks like a first-gen Mazda 3 sedan.
It is interesting to come along at the tail of this conversation after everyone else has taken a crack at it. For my part, this is not a market segment that is relevant to me, so the review puts me somewhere I would never find myself on my own.
I think BMW is like a lot of others, trying to come up with what defines “premium” today. As noted many places above, Kia, Hyundai and other “bottom tier” manufacturers are turning out some awfully premium-like cars these days. And BMW is not alone in struggling to find that new thing in styling that will keep up their ability to charge a lot more money than competitors for a car in this size and performance class.
It would be really interesting to get peoples’ perspectives if someone drove this around with Nissan or Mitsubishi badging.
Oh, dreary me.
It’s not that it looks like a Kia with some torn skin, indigestion and chrome braces. Nor is it that this one is drowned in that increasingly-seen hue called Recently Deceased, and neither is it that $47K doesn’t seem to buy any interior not gettable for 20. It’s not even that it assumes your $47k brand-worshipping existence precludes having friends with legs, or heads.
No, it’s the thought of driving ANY car that sounds like the sub-clause in an aged care home agreement: “Under Clause 2020BMWxDriveGranCoupe, the said 2nd floor Coop shall only be available for residence of the aforesigned Gran for the duration of the same’s existence (as defined under clause 23(1)xDriveB, twinP, “Definition of Living.”)
I mean, BMW’s naming strategy has become as obtusely hieroglyphic as their products are longer-term unreliable, meaning in both cases “much”. One could easily walk out of a showroom having inadvertently ordered a motorbike when one intended a 7-series.
Typically excellent review Mr K, even if of a not-much product, and I agree with all above about your very fine photo efforts.
Hi,
this is my personal opinion: Who really needs this car? Little legroom, little space in the back seat, small trunk, lots of gimmicks complicating operation, weird seats, it is expensive – and it looks ugly. Just to have a beemer?
No, I’d prefer a ’94 Lincoln Town car instead. A spacy car with clear lines and real comfort. For that money I’d get a really nice one today I assume ;-))
Remarkable review Jim! Y’all have really graduated into the top tier on your thorough reviews!
“….. you CAN in fact turn the front fog lights off on a BMW, who knew…..” made me loudly lol. That was great.
Way too many niche BMW models, but like most I think the pruning will soon begin. I’m vexed as to how owner 2, 3, or BHPH 4 will deal with a janky IP or dash electronics. It also seems that yes, small incremental adjustments are nice but at what distant price?
The fact that active safety devices on a nearly $50k car were extra-cost options is abysmal. These only find buyers/leasers because of the rounded, plain and simple.
I wonder what the lease percentage of takers on these is. I bet 75-80%.
So much unnecessary and unsubstantiated hate surrounding this car-both on the internet and in this comment section. Most of the people who criticize it have never driven one. It’s a fun, agile, nimble and sporty car to drive. I can do things in this car i could never in the 3 series (which has become a boat). Looks are highly subjective. It looks much better in person and again most people have never seen one in the flesh. It has good build quality and is reasonably priced. Not everyone wants to drive around in land yachts. Thank you to the reviewer for giving a fair and balanced perspective.