Eight years ago BMW redefined its 3-series by splitting it into two separate model lines to the bafflement of many. Basically the four door including the wagon remained the 3-series, but removing two of the doors to make coupes and convertibles resulted in the 4-series, kind of odd as the original 3-series and the 2002 before that were only available in two door form. If you’re keeping track, four (doors) now equaled 3(-series) while two (doors) equaled 4(-series). So far, so good. But then they almost immediately confused the plot by adding a four door with a hatchback and naming that a 4 as well, albeit with a “Gran Coupe” modifier while also offering a different four door with a hatchback and naming that a 3, but with a “Gran Turismo” modifier. Two formulas, same basic ingredients, different results, and all of the cars looked pretty much the same to the uninitiated as well as many of the fans and followers of the BMW brand.
Now we are on to the second generation of this scheme, and the above is meant as an attempt to explain where this new 4-series coupe that we drove last week fits. If, like many of our readers, you grew up with BMWs of the ’70s, ’80s, and 90s, this is the descendant of the 2002 of the ’70s, 320i of the ’70s/’80s, 318i/325i of the ’80s/’90s, 323i/328i of the ’90s etc., always the two door, and as the awd “x” version when available. In slightly simpler terms, essentially the distillation of the brand into one of the most iconic, revered, and targeted by others model lines they’ve ever offered.
With, of course, one difference that’s hard to go unnoticed. For this new generation of the 4-series, there’s been a rather notable change to the famous and instantly identifiable twin kidney grille: It’s now recognizable from significantly greater distances. Because it’s larger, much larger. BMW themselves love and defend it, anecdotal perusing of commentary across the internet demonstrates a wider range of opinion, albeit much of it likely generated without seeing it in person.
The grille is big, larger than in my opinion it needs to be, but that’s alright, nobody asked me. Adding a license plate to it significantly reduces the initial effect by covering a lot of it and I will say that in person it somehow works better than it does in pictures. I’ll note that this is one of the very few test cars I’ve received to date with a front license plate mounted in place, make of that what you will. My own experiences with the car and neighbors walking by my house demonstrated not the shock noted across much of the internet but rather an appreciation of a new BMW. Some other markets across the globe apparently prefer a comparatively large grille which may well have something to do with this design change.
Getting beyond the front (or approaching from a different angle) displays a shape that’s strong, sinewy, and rather sleek. The term “shark-like” came to mind more than once. This particular car, painted in a very fetching hue named Portimao Blue Metallic, had the standard Shadowline exterior trim package which with the exception of the grille perimeter and badging renders all other potential brightwork black.
This can look sporty and modern, but in some lighting from certain angles at times also results in making it look, frankly, a bit plain. Not helping are juxtapositions like the interesting-looking rear diffuser under the rear bumper that certainly imbues the correct performance look but then the vents behind the rear wheels are as fake as the ones on a Camry. Still, it’s low, the hood is long, and the decklid short with a fast roofline flowing into it.
Opening the door reveals an interior upholstered in black leather with silver metal accents and, due to the MSport package, various little BMW Motorsport blue/purple/red accents. Watch that door though, it’s extremely long and easy to bounce off the car in the next spot over. There are so few coupes on the market anymore that I fear as a society we are now much less used to handling long doors. First world problems and all that, I suppose.
Settling into the front sport seats reveals them to be, well, a revelation. Very comfortable and highly adjustable not just in any direction that might be desired as well as the lumbar allowing for four-way adjustment, but also the headrests can move up and down as well as fore and aft on a horizontal axis, not just in an arc. There’s also a separate button for bolster control, yes the upper side bolsters can squeeze you as tight as you’d like them to or be made to do less so if you’ve perhaps just imbibed a little too much Wurst mit Kraut. Oh, and has long been tradition in BMW’s sport seats, the thigh bolster can be pulled forward for all the support anyone might want, pulling out far enough to actually hit just behind the knee.
What’s less revelatory is the lack of headroom with the sunroof, I found myself having to bend my neck a bit when seated which made for less than ideal comfort. I did in this case actually use and enjoy the sunroof repeatedly, it was a combination of the placement, amount of air entering, and visibility through it, as well as something I can’t describe, but I enjoyed having it wide open more than in any other car I’ve enjoyed in a very long time, even (or more accurately, especially) at high speeds.
The steering wheel may be a little too fatly rimmed if that’s possible but is otherwise superbly shaped, the buttons controlling various functions on it make sense and are easy to learn, and there’s a centrally located steering wheel heat button below the central pad that itself is perhaps one of the most nicely finished in the business, with a leather (or good simile thereof) covered piece with stitching and of course the roundel in the middle.
To the left and below is a bank of buttons controlling all of the various lighting settings, I verified that it is possible to turn the fog lights off, easiest as in most cars is to just leave the setting in “Auto”, the biggest button in the middle. Wanting a different selection though does require actually looking very low in the car to decipher all of the options, far less useful than a simple visible dial in the name of looking more tech-y.
Visible through and not at all obscured by the wheel is the instrument panel with the now not unfamiliar digital gauge cluster that includes BMW’s new(ish) interpretation of gauges with the tach and speedo sort of represented as opposing claw shapes that run around the edges of the display with a backdrop that is actually a navigation screen and thus constantly shifting with a shaded representation of the roads being traversed.
This sounds perhaps kind of weird but is interesting and actually useful as the location of upcoming cross streets and general geography can be intuited subconsciously while glancing at the cluster for the routine informational glances as we’ve all been taught in driving school. Of course a toggle on the turn signal stalk also cycles through other relevant information as desired such as fuel economy, trip meters, g-force gauges, and a few other items.
The screen mounted in the center of the dashboard, neither fully integrated into a surround nor remotely looking tacked on is in a wider format and normally controlled by the iDrive controller wheel between the seats. Somehow this iDrive seems less intuitive than it used to be but the screen can also be controlled by touch, which seems easier to use without perhaps some significant practice and continued use of the controller.
There are so many different systems on the market now that while iDrive is not bad at all, most of the systems with a remote controller device simply aren’t as easy to use as with them as just touching the screen directly or using voice commands, at least not to the occasional user.
Simply a fail though is when attempting to be disciplined about using the iDrive wheel and thus keeping a hand near it, when dialing through radio stations there is no volume knob near it. So the hand needs to either be raised to adjust the one on the vertical part of the console or returned to the wheel for the buttons as the controls are on the right side of the wheel. The volume knob would be better next to the controller or the steering wheel volume buttons should be moved to the left side.
Below the center screen which controls all the usual suspects along with all manner of vehicle personalization and “individual” performance parameters per the user’s preferences is a small module for controlling HVAC aspects, below that the volume knob and eight “whatever” presets – they can be used to preset or quick connect to all manner of things, not just radio stations (a novel and welcome concept), and below that a lidded compartment that contains two cupholders, a USB as well as a 12V outlet and the (optional) wireless phone charging pad.
Moving on to the horizontal plane of the console there is the monostatic shifter that’s better than it used to be but still requires acquiring the muscle memory to always engage the correct function without a verification glance. To the left of it is a button bank with the selectors controlling the stability control, park assist, auto start/stop, engine starter, and the drive mode selectors. Those consist of Sport, Comfort, Eco Pro, and Adaptive settings.
Adaptive is interesting in that it can vary the mode parameters itself based on how the car is driven and what it predicts a driver will want based on that. To the right of the shifter is the iDrive controller console with menu buttons and the wheel itself. Behind all of that the console bin with padded lid and more connectivity options within.
Fit and finish inside were impeccable, the surfaces were mostly all soft with marvelous contrasting blue stitching throughout. BMWs have gotten very tech-heavy in recent decades and visually this is so as well; while some makers focusing on technology go for the very minimalist and simple look, others such as BMW have gone the other way, serving up a cornucopia of different materials, textures, shapes, and accents. Different users will react differently to all of this, suffice to say there is a lot going on visually.
The back seat is finished just as nicely as the front area, there is room for smaller people but not at all for someone of my size (6’1″ with 32″ inseam). Getting back there involves folding the seatback by pulling a handle on the back of the front seatback (not visible when outside of the car), then waiting for the seat to slowly move forward via power assist, then clambering back there and settling in.
I had two of my kids back there and neither particularly enjoyed it, both got themselves tangled in the front seatbelts when exiting the car and didn’t appreciate the wait for the seat both to move forward as well as return to its position on a rainy day. On the plus side there are separate HVAC controls, vents, as well as two USB-C outlets back here and cupholders in the armrest.
The trunk is easy to access with a low liftover height but no spare tire (in fact, nothing) under the fixed floor. The back seats do fold down to carry longer items if needed. Overall trunk volume measures 12 cubic feet and is well shaped to make maximum advantage of it.
Getting back to numbers, this model was the 430i (xDrive). Back in the day a “30” as the last two digits on the trunklid of a smaller BMW would ensure that you’re driving the most powerful variant of the line. No longer. The 430i with either RWD or AWD is now the entry level 4-series coupe (below the M440i and M4 variants) and while the numbers have long had more to do with relative power levels rather than with the actual engine displacement, this car is equipped with a turbocharged and direct injected 2.0liter four cylinder engine. It produces 255hp @ 5,000rpm and 295lb-ft of torque @ 1,550 to 4,400rpm.
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I’m not wild about the big grille either, but I can’t blame BMW for using it. Huge grilles that drop all the way down to the air dam are obviously in vogue, with everyone from Audi (were they the first?) to Lexus to Hyundai to Toyota having adopted similarly huge grilles, so BMW doesn’t want to look behind the times. I’m more bothered by the rest of the rest of the car which looks like a 25 year old Acura hatchback coupe to my eyes (not a bad thing, but not a new or original thing). Where did the Hoffmeister kink go? Also, that gauge cluster couldn’t be any more garish. As for the driving, I agree that BMW’s 2.0T fours sound and feel too ordinary and lack the appeal of their inline sixes despite their ample power.
> now another 3 from a different make that has captured a bit of the Zeitgeist
Agreed; that Mazda is sweet!
Audi may have popularised it in recent years, but GM was keen on big, low-set grilles at the beginning of the 1970s, obvious examples like the Buick boat tail Riviera or most Cadillacs of that period. Even Chevrolet pitched in with the 1972 Caprice (and over here, Vauxhall with the FE Transcontinentals).
Most of those disappeared in the U.S. after the 5mph bumper regs went into effect (i.e. Camaro, Vega, Mark IV)
The Collonade Cutlass had it, though bisected by the 5mph bumper the grilles went all the way down behind it, this custom with the bumper removed exploited the effect.
1938 328 tops all of these & was first.
Did Jim mean Mazda3 or Tesla 3?
BMW’s nomenclature is actually somewhat logical and although at first I was annoyed because of the break with tradition, it makes sense. The “4” designation has nothing to do with the number of doors but with the sportier “coupe” profile. All even numbers: 2,4, 6, 8 in both cars and SAV’s have the “sportier” roof line. 340 vs 440 and X3 vs X4. I agree it was confusing with the grand coupe and gran turismo, but they are both gone. I wish the number designations still related to engine displacement.
There’s a 2 series that’s a FWD tall wagon/hatchback thing (think Golf Plus or Toyota Matrix), nothing coupe-like about it at all.
But that is also an X, 2 Series actually offers 2 coupes, rwd. 2 dr. & fwd./awd. 4 dr. GC. Customer choice is lucrative, who cares if it confuses non-buyers?
They held off aligning 3 & 4 like 5 & 6 when Bangle butt 745i caused such an uproar, waited until next generation. Displacement similarly ended with original 745i, which reflected turbo output rather than engine size. 25 neu EV will change it all again, has already begun with i4, iX.
Great review. Is just the Premium Package with European delivery an option? I’d go for that….
BMW just recently ended the European Delivery option
Thanks for another great review, Jim! The grille on these is pretty polarizing. I just think of an Edsel every time I see one, whereas the largish new grille on the X7 and 7 Series somehow works better for me. $60K is a chunk of change for a small coupe, but off a 24 or 36 month lease, this thing would be a relative steal I’ll bet.
Sheesh, what a snout. We’ll see if this one sells any better than the 1958 version it seems to have been based upon. In addition to the Edsel, sort of reminds me of the 1st gen Subaru Tribeca with a nose that someone got in trouble for by saying it looked a little too…feminine…
The grille doesn’t bother me as much as the back – it looks like a generic Toyondaru.
What bothers me more is what has bothered me about BMWs for a few years now – the loss of normally aspirated in-line 6’s that made a sound like no other as they would up, the loss of manuals in just about all models, and steering that has lost its razor reflexes. I get that BMW’s new customers are likely more interested in the propeller roundel itself and the infotainment system, than in the car’s attributes, but the marque that still calls itself The Ultimate Driving Machine, should still aspire to be so. BMW won’t be getting my 50 or 60 large for this car.
Great review, though, as always.
Like Porsche, most of their volume is crossovers. Irrelevant as market moves to autonomous rideshare BEV & thus Personal Mobility.
As usual, Mr. Klein has given us a very through and thoughtful review, which I enjoyed reading. He gives a nicely descriptive and objectively accurate assessment of the car, I think.
I have a 2019 5 Series sedan which is very similarly equipped to this 4 Series albeit without the M package (only ‘Sportline’ whatever that means), and without the X-drive; here in Texas, there’s not a lot of value added by it. Having the 5 in Sedan form adds two doors and a little more leg room, although I suspect the extra size means some performance is lost in the bargain. Otherwise the review rings true for my car as well. I like the current 5 Series very much. It is an amazing highway car for four people; we generally put the ladies in back and the guys up front and thus have plenty of room for everybody – it is an effortless and quiet turnpike cruiser, and experience suggests that the rear seat passengers (who can’t see the gauges) have no sensation of speed regardless of the pace. In the front the sports seats are very adjustable, including a inflatable lumbar support which can also move vertically to accommodate backs of different heights. On a side note, even my 5”1’ wife likes the adjustable leg support. It’s easy to get settled in.
The electronics in the car are almost overwhelming; everything is adjustable (those led interior trim lights? Your choice of blue, purple, green, orange or white), the heated seats and wheel turn on automatically at a preset outside temperature to a preset level. HVAC fans are of course automatically adjusted, but the user can preset the maximum fan speed – no jarring fan roar if that bothers you. And so on and on. The car stays in contact with the mothership – when it came time for my oil change, I got a reminder indicator on the dash, an email, a text, and a robot phone call. Oh, my favorite stupid-car-trick? Nope, not the swiveling headlights… Not only can you open the trunk with a wave of your foot, you can close it that way too. I have come to terms with I-drive and actually like it, but find the shortcut buttons that surround it a blessing. The screen is a touch screen too, but, well, I just can’t: fingerprints ya know. I use the voice controls more and more with improving success.
The only thing about the car which I find out of character and a bit disingenuous are the dual exhausts… on a four cylinder car. Still, no one in the world seems to have noticed that but me, so never mind. If no one notices you’re a poseur, well, okay then.
Still, I enjoy the car; it can best be summed up as an effortless cruiser until asked to do more, and then it just gives more performance but without any drama. I am sure that the bigger engines add more speed, but in measured Germanic terms – none of that “Oh Daddy, beat me harder!” feeling that one gets from an Italian car.
One final note:
When I was in for my recent oil change, I asked my Salesman how the “Hog Nose” is selling and while he laughed, he said it seems very popular, so perhaps it is not just a foreign market thing; personally I just hope that I can get one more 5 Series with the old nose before it succumbs too.
The nose seems incorrectly sized and styled for this vehicle. It sounds like it might be enjoyable for a long weekend, if one could master a sufficient percentage of electronica.
I don’t really follow a lot of the modern versions of once-interesting-to-me cars, so as always this review is educational as well as interesting. If it were a word association game, I’d connect “430” with Lexus or even Buick, but never think of BMW. and speaking of Lexus, the big grille here is pretty benign, but the rest of the shape is totally generic ten year old Japanese coupe, Nissan/Infiniti or Accord, as someone else noted. Nothing special. By the way, I think these numerical designations morphing from displacement to positioning in the lineup, which of course started decades ago with the German cars, is a perfect lead-in to the electric era. Not to mention that most folks don’t even know what displacement is.
Great review.
The bit about your kids not being any too happy to navigate the cumbersome way into and out of the rear seat is my biggest take-away: Coupes are largely dead for a very good reason. Why not have rear doors? The lack of them is just plain stupid.
The Europeans led the way away from two-doors a long time ago. Good luck finding a two door Golf or such over there. And of course it explains the emergence of the four-door coupes.
There’s a good reason there’s no Tesla coupe. Except for genuine sport cars with marginally usable 2+2 rear seats, it’s over for the coupe. And the kids are showing us why, as usual. 🙂
I was actually thinking about writing about the evolution of the 2 door from being a low end configuration business coupe or econobox, through the PLC and 320i era, to today when a Charger Hellcat or Tesla Plaid Plus are extremely high performance 4 doors with no 2 door equivalent. But maybe that’s already a closed chapter. And I guess it means that our 2015 2 door Golf VII, I believe the last 2 door Golf sold here in the US if not worldwide, will be a future CC.
The Challenger Hellcat may as well be the 2 door equivalent of the Charger Hellcat, even if the name and styling are a bit different. But yeah, the Golf GTI is makes for the perfect illustration of the recent acceptance of four-door high-performance cars – the Mk1 through Mk4 were 2 door only, as was the Mk5 when it was introduced. But just two generations later, the Mk7 two door GTI was dropped partway through its run leaving only the four door. The Golf Mk8 is four door only worldwide.
The Challenger Hellcat may as well be the 2 door equivalent of the Charger Hellcat, even if the name and styling are a bit different. But yeah, the Golf GTI is makes for the perfect illustration of the recent acceptance of four-door high-performance cars – the Mk1 through Mk4 were 2 door only, as was the Mk5 when it was introduced. But just two generations later, the Mk7 two door GTI was dropped partway through its run leaving only the four door. The Golf Mk8 is four-door only worldwide.
Didn’t Germany long prefer 2-doors? After all, there wasn’t a 4-door German VW (not counting the Microbus) until the 411. That’s decades of exclusively 2-door production.
It’s a chicken-egg issue. After the war, the two-door VW utterly dominated, so presumably the extra expense of four doors would have been a competitive disadvantage, as it was already hard to compete against it. But this was in the lower classes. There were no Mercedes two-doors, except for a few very expensive coupes/cabrios.
In any case, that all changed very abruptly with the intro of the Golf in 1975. And it had already been in the works, as low-end four door Renaults and Peugeots and such were quite popular at the time there.
I don’t have the stats, but undoubtedly the four door Golf outsold the two door version starting from day one by a healthy margin, and soon the two door became rather rare. Even the GTI became available in four doors, and was popular.
And the even smaller Polo went to four doors after a generation or two.
Europeans are a bit more pragmatic in certain respects. 🙂
BMW have had flagship coupes, cabriolets & roadsters since @ least original 328. They have never been about volume & thus the polarizing but attention getting new grilles, while still providing foundations for lucrative M2, M4, M8. Allows BMW to sell volume sedans & CUV while appealing to enthusiast $, marketing equivalent of having their cake & eating it. Like offering performance M440i & M4 versions of “soft” volume 430i, something for everyone. BMW still sell a fraction of the majors, they don’t have to appeal to everyone & aren’t trying to, obviously & evidently successfully.
Yeah consumer choice is clearly a pointlessly inefficient thing of the past.
When I bought my first new car, an 89 Mercury Tracer, I chose the 2 door hatchback over the 4 door hatchback (with same roofline) for these practical reasons:
– it cost about $500 less
– better outward visibility to the sides with the B pillar less in the way, especially for tall people, as well as less clutter around the C pillar area since it didn’t have to support a rear door
– easier ingress/egress, again because of the wider door and not having to lean forward to dodge the B pillar on the way out
– longer, more comfortable door armrest; it doesn’t end before it gets back to your elbow
– rear seat had more shoulder and elbow room, and again a longer armrest
– easier to retrieve gym bag/laptop/grocery bag from rear seat after stepping out of driver’s seat – folding seatback forward & back is easier than walking around and opening/closing door.
Two-doors aren’t stupid at all if you don’t frequently drive with more than one other passenger, which was the case for me back then.
^^^ * THIS * ^^^ – Practicality can mean different things to different people. Well said, la673!
When I replaced that car with a VW Golf, I decided I wanted a four door this time though; it just seemed more sociable for someone who likes to go on road trips with friends. But the four door hatchback still had all the aforementioned disadvantages.
A strange obsession, only in America. Just watched a restorer convert a 4 door sedan in to a 2 door coupe hoping to make. more money. I. just never got coupe versions of 70s luxury cars. All that metal and the rear passenger space of a Cortina. Wasteful. Give me a 6 passenger full size sedan with a trunk to suit.
Euro 2 door Golfs were mostly GTIs or convertibles.
Come to think of it, I haven’t owned a two-door car since I sold my 320i in 1990. At least, as Robert Kim pointed out in his CC, the back seat of the 320i was fairly roomy once you got inside. This, not so much.
With all the customization, it’s a shame you can’t conjure up an ammeter and an oil pressure gauge!
To me, this is a pretty good looking car, except for the terrible license plate location. One would think that mighty BMW would charge its designers to come up with a much better way to integrate the license plate with the design. Because that grille itself is aggressive and good looking. Also, I hate these small four cylinder engines in expensive, sporty cars. I much prefer an inline or V6 or even a V8 engine for this kind of money. Why else buy a prestige car? Just get an econobox instead.
Just ready to post the same – the front license plate on this car looks terrible.
I’m sorry. BMW has lost its way.
Yes, that explains 6 decades of growth.
Here i found this commercial https://abancommercials.com/bmw/camping-2022-bmw-ix-bmw-usa-commercial/168859/