Month 3 running a BMW M235i: the noise of the turbo-six
Every time I abandon the M235i at an airport I come back even more convinced of its brilliance. I love almost everything about this car, especially the 3.0-litre turbo six engine. In recent weeks I’ve found that neither Ferrari, with the California T, nor BMW’s own M Division, with the new M3, has managed to deliver a soundtrack to match all that turbo-facilitated torque. But the M235i sounds superb.It wails like the various ’80s six-pot BMWs I managed to sell just before the prices jumped, and far from feeling all done by 5000rpm like so many turbo’d engines, this one actually comes alive over the last few thousand rpm. Unlike its twin-turbo predecessor, this engine has one twin-scroll blower and is a standout example of how to artificially aspirate a car and make it fun.
When not taking me to airports, the M235i has been taking me to motorbike training. The school’s Yamaha XJ6 (76bhp, 276bhp per tonne with a rider) feels fairly exciting to a novice like me, but keeping it in the family, I’m dreaming of the incredible Concept Roadster BMW unveiled at Villa d’Este (below). I wonder what that sounds like.
By Chris Chilton
Month 2 running a BMW M235i: first mpg results are in...
I made my first four-up trip north this month, and was amazed to find that the entire Chilton clan and its luggage fitted without fuss. I’d bet the styling is the main reason most buyers choose the M235i over its 1-series sister, but the coupe scores with an extra 30 litres of booth space. And although the hatch’s tailgate makes out more practical when handling big loads, both cars get fold-down rear seats.That 400-mile round trip revealed a bit of engine boom on the motorway, but it’s entirely bearable, and the top-gear acceleration is so strong, I kept having to check I wasn’t in fourth instead of sixth. I love how this single-turbo N55 engine revs out too. I don’t remember the original twin turbo 335i back in 2006 ever feeling this inclined to chase the redline.
Having gained 125bhp and two cylinders in my jump from Kia Proceed GT to BMW M235i - and making the most of them at every opportunity - I’d resigned myself to paying at the pumps for the privilege of the extra poke. But I’d been forgetting that BMW’s engineering boffins are as focused on you using as little fuel as possible between A and B as the time it takes you to make the trip. Result: a Kia-matching 29mpg overall, 35mpg on an 80mph run and nudging 40 at the legal limit. For a car with the performance of the last M3, that’s some going.
By Chris Chilton
Month 1 running a BMW M235i: the introduction
Days just haven’t been quite so sunny in the Our Cars pages since we lost the old 1-series M Coupe a couple of years back. Eschewing the tech overkill that blights the M5, there were no buttons to adjust steering or damping, just a simple six-speed manual gearbox, and a packet of Handy Andys in the door pocket to wipe the tears of laughter from your eyes (and the occasional joyful ones) when you managed not to crash during one of its spiky oversteer transitions.Its successor will be along in a year or two, badged M2 to reflect BMW’s new naming strategy (even numbers for all coupes and cabrios). While we wait, here’s the next best thing: the new BMW M235i.
Essentially a coupe version of the existing M135i hatch, it’s another of BMW’s M Performance models. Not quite a full-blown M car, but not far off. It’s the only 2-series to come with more than four cylinders, motive force coming from a 3.0-litre turbo six developing 322bhp and 332lb ft of torque.
You can opt for the excellent eight-speed ZF auto if you like, but we’ve saved £1825 by keeping the six-speed manual. There aren’t many major league performance cars still available with a manual ’box, so we should enjoy it while we can.
And this is very definitely major league performance. Sixty-two is done in 5.0sec (4.8 with the auto), but it feels way quicker, and the power delivery is superb. This is no all-or-nothing motor, only useful when the blower’s spooling. There’s grunt everywhere, it likes to rev, wails like a proper old-school BMW six, and apart from the tiniest bit of lag, you’d barely know it was ’charged at all.
Certainly not by looking at it. The 2-series is a pretty ugly pup anyway (why does BMW find it so hard to design a decent looking car these days?) and the M bits are far too demure. Eighteen-inch wheels? They look like they’re off a golf cart and there’s no option to upgrade. The car did arrive fresh from a little splurge in the options section, however.
Leather seats are standard (a pity, as the honeycomb cloth and Alcantara seats in the continental versions are way cooler), to which was added the excellent ‘Professional’ widescreen nav (£1890), adaptive M Sport suspension (£515), and Visibility Pack (adaptive xenons and high-beam assistant for £390), plus £550 for Estoril Blue metallic paint.
The M235i already costs £3415 more than its M135i hatchback cousin, and those morsels pushed the price of our car from £34,250 to £42,020. Two more extras we would like include an extra dollop of steering feel (it’s good, but not outstanding) and a limited-slip diff.
The mechanical grip is so good you don’t need one in the dry, but wet roads would be more fun and predictable with both rear wheels doing the driving. There will be an LSD option from mid-year and BMW has promised to retrofit one to our car.
We look forward to that, but there’s plenty of fun to be had even in standard trim. Which is why you might have seen this exact car battling Porsche’s excellent Cayman on the cover of April’s magazine. In the final reckoning, the Porsche predictably delivered a more convincing sports car experience (and managed to avoid the freak double-puncture that befell the BMW), so won the fight. But until Porsche makes a £40k Cayman 2+2 this is as good as with-kids thrills gets. The Our Cars outlook for the next few months is seriously sunny - with occasional patches of black fog.
By Chris Chilton
Source: http://www.carmagazine.co.uk
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