Note: I shoot the video in the evening because I did not have much daytime with this car. I chose not to drive on the weekend as the weather was very wintery and this M235 had high performance all-season tires.
There is a special place in my heart for BMW vehicles. My first brand new car was a 2001 BMW 330i. What one can consider the most exotic car I’ve owned to date was the E28 BMW M5 – the first M5. There was also another E46, an E36, a rare E39 Touring with a manual transmission, and a spicey E34 535i. Just last month I helped my mom sell her X1, which she couldn’t stop talking about great it handled. I have a deep, passionate adoration for the brand, which you, dear reader/watcher should be keep in mind.
Cars are constantly evolving things. What worked in the 1990s won’t work in 2020s. And this is why in 2020 BMW introduced its first sedan, which they called a coupe, with a transversely-mounted engine, sending its power to the front or all-four wheels. Now, for model year 2025, the second generation of the Gran Coupe premiered, and this is it.
The Outsides:
The M235 xDrive Gran Coupe (its proper name) is good looking vehicle. It carries the modern BMW design language very well, probably due to its smaller size and more conventional proportions. The added M treatment of the pictured vehicle adds visual sportiness. It is not instant love like the 330i ZHP was for many of us Gen-Xers, but it is good looking.
Like the previous generation, the doors do not have a frame around the windows, which gives the cabin an airier feeling. However, as seen in videos, these doors do not convey a lot of quality. The windows seem loose, and the doors hallow. This is very strange because my E36 from 1997 had similar frameless doors and those felt pretty solid.
The Insides:
The interior treatment is very similar to the rest of latest BMW lineup. The dash is dominated by a large screen with zero buttons or knobs. Low on the center console is an island of buttons that includes engine start, transmission shifter, parking brake, radio controls, HVAC controls, and drive controls. And these are not individual buttons but rather it’s a big floating touch pad. The fact that these are all packed in one location, low on the console, makes them very un-ergonomic.
The screen is quick to respond. While the layout is basic, it is not very intuitive to navigate. Changing the audio source required swipes and pressing. Some icons and fonts are too small, making them difficult to see and even hard to press (this, unfortunately is common in many cars). Some automatic settings drove me mad; for instance, heat would always go back to 72F after I turned the ignition off, despite me leaving it at 66F. Similar things happened with heated seats and steering wheel. I am confident that all of these could be adjusted, as in a typical BMW fashion EVERYTHING seems to be adjustable, setting those up would require time and some operating system understanding. Worse, some settings required a BMW ID account to adjust, which I really found puzzling.
BMW has always had very interesting interior trims. I’ve swapped out wood for aluminum and then again for carbonfiber in my E46s. The trims in new BMWs take advantage of the LED technology progress, where they are illuminated. It looks really need and adds ambiance, but somehow neither engineering nor design teams noticed the reflection of the trim in sideview mirrors.
The sports seats are great. The Alcantara-like fabric is soft and nice to touch. The seats are very supportive and comfortable. They will allow the shortest and tallest of drivers to find a comfortable and proper driving position, even in this small vehicle. And that’s good, because the ride requires it.
The Drive:
It’s been said a million times, but it somehow Munich missed it – stiff suspension does not yield good handling. Stiff suspension yields poor comfort, and that’s exactly what’s happening here. The ride in this car, with its stiff suspension and performance tires, reminded me of my ’99 Civic hatchback on a set of used adjustable coil-overs in their lowest settings. In my 15 years of reviewing cars, I honestly cannot recall a worse riding new vehicle.
The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission maybe quick to shift, but it is rather jerky in casual driving. DCTs have been around long enough where the jerkiness should have been already worked out. This is in standard driving mode and not some performance setting.
The engine (312hp and 295 lb-ft.) wants to be a performance engine with its bark-like exhaust, but the issue isn’t just a muffler. The throttle is very sensitive, almost more of an on/off switch, which maybe related to the DCT. The car just wants to jump off the line but with it, the power sent to the front wheels can be felt through the steering wheel. This is a very un-BMW feeling!
Conclusion:
I understand that is not a very positive review. I do stand by my comments, however, and I’ll happily justify them to anyone, if I haven’t already done so here. Would my opinions, at least on the driving/riding parts be different if I had this car in the summer and be able to really push it? Maybe I’d get kick a out of it when really pushing it, but that’s not reasonable in everyday driving.
The base price for the M235 Gran Coupe is $49,500 and as seen here price of $57,225. This is a lot of coin for a small sports car and competitors are many. The new Golf R, previous generation of which I adored, starts at $45,665. The Corolla GR ranges from $38,860 to $45,515. A comparable Mercedes CLA Coupe out-prices the BMW by quite a lot, however. For similar money, I’d forgo the rear doors and get a… a BMW M240i xDrive Coupe, with a proper in-line six-cylinder engine and proper rear-drive bias.
