What’s BMW oddest car? Like its key German rivals, the Bavarian firm has nailed diversification in its range over the last few years. If there’s a niche, it’s been explored, filled and had an M badge fixed on it.
Perhaps the 2 Series Gran Coupe is among the most curious of all – a 1 Series sedan by a different name and costume, it’s basically a Mercedes-Benz CLA rival. Just perched at the end of a convoluted family tree.
We like it, though, and BMW cites Australia as one of its most crucial markets.
A Life Cycle Impulse – BMW parlance for a mid-life facelift – only better carves out the identity this car wishes to fill.
Its new look stretches its length by 20mm, at a mite over 4.5m, while front and rear LED lights cut more intricate and extrovert shapes into the bodywork.
Like it or not, it’s certainly more eye-catching than before – especially if you indulge its very diverse colour palette, this Miami Blue a particular highlight. Though one not yet on the Aussie configurator…
Like bigger, burlier Bee-Em SUVs, you can even have an illuminated ‘Iconic Glow’ grille.
These early cars don’t wear it thanks to delays in development; its lower positioning couldn’t initially withstand low-speed, low-impact crash testing, but the fact they’ve invested time and cash fixing it shows how important this car is.
This may sit in a curious corner of the showroom but it’s had no less effort bestowed upon it.
The local range begins with the $59,900 (before drive away) 218 Gran Coupe, which uses a 115kW, 230Nm 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo engine for 0-100km/h in 8.6sec.
Another three grand bags the 220 with a 150kW, 300Nm 2-litre turbo four that claims 7.3sec.
Neat engines both, and the 80 per cent of buyers who stay lower in the range will be delighted, especially when every Gran Coupe on sale gets a seven-speed, twin-clutch paddleshift ‘box as standard – not to mention adaptive LED headlights, a head-up display, active ‘stop and go’ cruise control, heated seats and a host of park assist functions.
Australians buy a bigger proportion of M-badged 1 and 2 Series models than any other market, though – Germany included – so forgive us for popping on our party hats and celebrating in the latest M235 xDrive, which should account for roughly a fifth of sales and is pictured in this review.
It uses a 233kW, 400Nm tune of 2.0-litre four for a 4.9sec sprint to 100km/h. It starts at $86,600 and adds massaging seats, a pano roof and Harman/Kardon audio plus, as its suffix suggests, four-wheel drive.
Chassis tweaks intend to make the car more involving than before, but most transformative over the departing M235i Gran Coupe (the ‘i’ has gone to avoid confusion with BMW’s EVs) is its transmission.
The old eight-speed torque converter did a decent job but this seven-speed, dual-clutch alternative is keener, snappier and really encourages you to grab the car by its collar on a favourite stretch of road.
Second gear is wrung out below 80km/h and third is done by 110, so even if you don’t go chasing the redline – and the slight din this engine makes in the process – you’ll still be pulling the paddles frequently on the right road or track.
It works smoothly and effectively as a pure auto too, of course. It’s just this time around you’re much more likely to get stuck in.
Optionally fitted here is the new M Technical Package. I’ll immediately concede it sounds overkill on a ‘halfway house’ M car, but let’s relish how much time and money the chassis engineers have been allowed to spend.
It brings 19in lightweight forged wheels, M Compound brakes nabbed from the latest M2 and M3 (just look at the size of them!) and unique chassis tuning that intends to bring a bit more assertion the car’s variable frequency damping.
If you’re feeling really flush, a set of semi-slick Michelin Cup 2s are available too, which generate enough lateral forces to require a redesign of the geeky G-meter in the digital instrument cluster.
Europe’s winter months means we’ve not yet tried those, and perhaps they’ll really bring this option to life. In isolation, it doesn’t feel night-and-day different over the M135 I’ve tried on British roads without the pack.
Nevertheless, this is a car of utmost precision and a gnarlier brake kit is useful for hustling it along – grip is so strong on warm, dry roads that you’ll need to brake deeply into corners to start provoking playfulness from its xDrive system.
Buyers who’ve swapped into this from a venerable old E46 3 Series will find the M235’s thrills much harder won.
Perhaps most crucially, the pack doesn’t alter a 1650kg kerb weight so while it’s sharper, it’s not suddenly going to scare off Honda Civic Type Rs at your local trackday.
We also found the old M235i Gran Coupe a bit fiddly over broken Aussie roads so full judgement on the ride quality atop these 19in forged alloys is reserved for when the cars make it to market.
Curve Ahead View is one of the numerous head-up display options and appears to gamify the process of driving, projecting a wiggling map of approaching corners onto the road ahead with a distance-countdown to tighter bends.
For keener drivers, it’ll feel like a gimmick – your eyes will already be cast even further down the road – but at least the engineers are having fun.
Scrupulously analyse this car and elements can feel gimmicky; the old drive selection button has been replaced by an overwrought ‘My Modes’ menu, the upshot being Sport takes too many button and touchscreen prods to engage.
Full-fat M Division cars get steering wheel buttons for their dynamic modes and those wouldn’t go amiss here.
The rest of the cabin feels pure luxe, though, and this is now a pretty opulent place to be, fine materials and ambient lighting cloaking almost every surface.
If you’ve downsized from a bigger BMW, I don’t think you’ll feel too bereft. Here the LCI feels a resounding success, making the 2 Series a more characterful proposition than an A3 or CLA.
As for the rest of the car? Well, it’s very much ‘as you were’. The trunk is well sized – 430 litres with the seats up versus the 1 Series’ 380 litres – but it’s accessed via a small bootlid rather than a large liftback to hamper usability.
The back row does at least split 40:20:40. Rear passenger headroom falls into the usual four-door coupe trap, and taller adults will find themselves very familiar with the headlining.
Families are unlikely to be piling into this rather than an SUV, though, and as a daily partner for singles or couples this latest 2 Series Gran Coupe ought to be a fairly bougie thing to live with.
It’ll cruise effortlessly and quietly at motorway speeds before entertaining smartly away from them. Not such an oddity after all, then.
