Prepare for friskiness! The M235i is a turbocharged thrill-ride
BMW’s entry-level high-performance model, the M235i, offers driving enthusiasts two doors, four seats, six cylinders, 8 paddle-shifted gears, available all-wheel drive, one turbocharger, and performance that’s 1,000 percent to put grins on occupant mugs at every poke of the throttle.
Six in a row makes it go, with a three-litre straight-six and dual-scroll turbocharger good for 322 horsepower and even more torque. That powerful punch in a small and lean package translates into some thrilling acceleration, here. She goes, fellas. She goes real good.
Acceleration aside, two underlying character traits make themselves apparent when driving the BMW M235i at all times.
First? This is one of those sports cars that always lets drivers know they’re driving a sports car, via a perpetual hint of tautness, stiffness, and a touch of a hum from the sports exhaust present at virtually all times.
Second? There’s a remarkable smoothness to the whole thing. The brakes, steering, engine, and gearshifts, even the handling and ride, all feel dialed-in and calibrated to work beneath a blanket of creaminess. Cornering hard and fast, stopping with full ABS engagement, hitting the rev-limiter as you click for a paddle-activated upshift, or just cruising the highway, there’s a beautiful polish that shines through.
For the driver, this means constant experience of the refinement promised by the BMW badge, and the response and thrills promised by the M performance badge.
Despite the small overall size of the 2-Series, the tester proved adequately sized on board. Rear seats, once settled into, are adequate for a pair of average adults, and front seats slide easily out of the way for access. The trunk is larger than it looks, too.
Of course, the M235i isn’t primarily concerned with hauling cargo, it’s concerned with hauling…something else.
Stomp the rightmost pedal, and a silky snarl accompanies a forward rush that hits hard at low revs and stays on strong till redline. Low revs or high, this engine flings the M235i along with alarming acceleration, sounds lovely, and pulls hard with escalating thrust as the revs climb. Used at full boost for more than a moment or two, the turbo will spool drivers right into demerit point territory faster than you can say “sorry officer”.
So, presumably to make the driver feel like a total Rock Star, the engine feels best when used hard.
Ditto the brakes. Stomp the left pedal, and the big blue brake calipers bite into action, with deceleration that’s strong, urgent, and nearly exaggerated in terms of response to pedal input at times. However applied, the brakes feel eager and potent, and modulation of the pedal comes the most precisely towards the bottom of the pedal’s travel during heavy use. Maximum stopping power is fierce, and a good smash on the left pedal would likely see you go through the seatbelt if they were any thinner.
There’s no third pedal, as the tester got an automatic 8-speed transmission. Though your writer and his familiars will opt for the manual transmission every time, the folks with the automatic units would have the faster M235i. The 8-speed dispenses with forward gears via lightning fast upshifts, and fantastic sound effects. Rev matching in both directions is perfect, every single time. BMW just nails it with fast-shifting automatics, and this one’s no exception.
Steering lightens up when parking for one finger maneuverability, and in sportier driving modes, gets thick and heavy for a sensation of biting into the road and locking on. Most drivers will get a kick out of the go-kart feel, and the smoothness and refinement dialed in.
Inside? A simple but luxurious take on the BMW cabin gussied up with some stitching and metal accents, nice trim materials, a beautiful steering wheel, and a slick infotainment system that can even provide weather forecasts in the central screen. It’s compact and simple, but fitted with the same high-tech flaunts as bigger Bimmers, with things like a partially-digital instrument cluster, and the main screen displaying a tech diagram outlining the currently-engaged drive mode.
Other notes? I hate that I like how the engine sounds. Some portion of the sounds entering the driver’s ears at full rip consist of fake noise played over the speakers to help enhance the experience. I had thoroughly enjoyed these noises as redline approached, repeatedly and vigorously. Later, after learning it was partially fake, I felt violated.
Headlight performance is typical of the brand, with steerable xenon projectors reaching far and wide with crisp white light, and lots of it.
Complaints? Keeping context, size and intentions in mind, few come to mind. The ride can degrade into harshness on broken pavement, and the discreet styling may leave some shoppers wishing for a little more visual horsepower to match what’s under the hood.
Ultimately the M235i is taut, frisky, makes a good noise, goes like bananas, feels creamy smooth at all controls, and will put a total grin on your face. Pricing from $45,000
