We’ve yet to sample the six-cylinder, which is a shame.
But… while straight sixes are inherently smoother, punchier and more balanced than four-bangers, and they sound good too – and all of this should matter in a BMW – the 230i’s four-cylinder is smooth, torquey, powerful and sounds pretty good, if a bit muffled.
Boot it coming out of a T-junction and there’s enough power to raise the traction control from its slumber and the 0-62mph scamper is over and done in less than six seconds, which is plenty, really, if you’re not after a serious sports car.
In-gear acceleration is strong, there’s no hugely notable drop-off of pace while you’re doing legal speeds and the 295lb of torque is measured out neatly, although it does feel a bit like it’s running out of puff by 6000rpm.
The shift paddles are also super quick to respond, even though they are small and feel plasticky.
Every 2 Series Coupé gets the excellent eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox, but you could easily be fooled into thinking it was a dual-clutch transmission, given the speed of the changes, the way it responds to the paddles and how it occasionally thumps through a less than smooth shift. What’s more, the engine response shows no sign of any slip from the torque converter.
Like all modern BMWs, the 2 Series lets the driver configure various aspects of the way it drives. Eco Pro dulls all the responses, while Normal is, as the name suggests, fairly normal, except that the gearbox calibration can feel slightly too optimised for the WLTP cycle, coming at the detriment of refinement as it lugs the engine.
Sport mode makes it more responsive, without hanging on to gears for too long like it will when you knock the gearlever into its own Sport mode. Sport also makes the throttle response keener, dials up some synthetic engine sound, adds weight to the steering and makes the brakes touchier.
All of those aspects can be turned back down in Sport Individual, except for the grabby brakes. That’s frustrating, because the gearbox is at its best in Sport and the synthetic engine noise actually adds to the experience, making the car sound neither like an in-line four nor a straight six, but somewhat like an old Ford V4 in a fruity tune.