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      07-19-2020, 02:31 PM   #45
KoenG
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 530iDriver View Post
What a load of BS!

The self appointed Bimmerpost experts and "Pontiffs" never cease to amaze me:
I'am not an M235i expert, the international press is a better guide.

Good car, rather expensive for the package and not vey charismatic, plays along with other hot hatches like S3, A35 or R. Not on par with the 3-series (in which I would see a better fit for this engine).

Seems logic, build on the chassis of the Mini, FWD biased and not 50/50 distributed.
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      07-20-2020, 12:41 AM   #46
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The last review i read was quite negative, they didn't like almost nothing about dynamics (steering, gearbox, handling, engine) and called it "not a proper Bmw". Not hard to understand why.
I could post it, but it's in italian.
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      08-10-2020, 10:12 AM   #47
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Originally Posted by Fraggy View Post
It wasn't even at the end, it was from early on that I noticed it was a tiring car to drive. You always had to keep on it... I'll explain. Parking was a pain. If you lost momentum it would nearly stop, if you tapped the gas to get it into creep mode, it might lurch faster and more than you wanted to you needed to go from a tap on the gas to break right away to not hit the car or pole in from of you. Over and over this gets exhausting.

The same problem presents in stop and go traffic as well. It was also hard to get it going from a stop. Yes, its fast, no doubt, but it took a lot of effort and noise to get going.

Sometime when pulling into a parking space, it would decide to downshift from second to first, but it would blip the throttle which would lurch you forward, again, cause an uneasy feeling of fighting to keep the car contained.

It was just simply a tiring car to drive day to day normally. There were other things too. The handling was really not all that great for all you hear about the M3. The rear seemed very soft at speed and dips in the freeway or on transition ramps really upset the car more than they should (my previously modified 335s did better). The front suspension was very soft, I was scraping it coming off the back side of a speed bump, unless coming to a near crawl. I blame that on the programming of the suspension, but it did this even on sport plus setting which should have been stiff as a brick.

There is more but Im tired of typing, lol. It was great car in many ways, but not a great car for me overall. Certainly not worth the $91k I paid for it.
I have an M4 with the DCT (so essentially the same car as your M3) and while I would tend to agree its a car that demands a degree of attention, on the flip side its a 430hp RWD car which is designed to be a bit hardcore - so I'd be worried if it didn't. The DCT creep mode I haven't found that difficult to modulate, but I admit you have to spend a bit of time to learn how to use and remember its not a slush-matic.

As for the suspension being soft or grounding out, particularly over speed bumps, I have never once had that issue. If anything, in Sports Plus mode, the suspension is probably a bit hard for road use.

Now, does a bump unsettle the car? Yes of course it does, but thats because the suspension is stiff (remember as well the rear subframe is hard mounted to the body/chassis), so under hard throttle over a short frequency bump (like a bridge expansion joint or ridge in a road) you are guaranteed to get a bit of a wiggle on and/or TC light.

Maybe the M3 just wasn't the car for you, but I'm glad you stayed with the brand and found another BMW that was...
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      03-23-2024, 08:14 PM   #48
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Sure, I'll bring this thread back from the dead and give my two cents.

I own one of these (obviously) and I love it...it's very ummmm "untraditional" looking, and to be honest, that was part of the allure. Personally, I don't give a rats arse if people think its ugly...my experience is that most BMW owners get one for other people's approval and status (which is cringe BTW), and that is definitely not me. It's small, gets great gas mileage, has 4 doors, has AWD, and is quick, albeit not fast. The 3 series is a 4K lb land yacht nowadays, and that's just not for me. It's admittedly better looking and quicker and if it was still the size of an e46 3 series, that's the route I would have probably gone. This car fits a perfect niche IMO.

The hate on this car is really bizarre. Especially from those with their 20 year old vanos-eating, SMG-shredding E46 M3s (which are no quicker than the m235i GC by the way), or the 335 N54 owners who are driving with a ticking time bomb under the hood.

Last edited by SnapperRoxGC; 03-23-2024 at 08:41 PM..
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      03-23-2024, 09:20 PM   #49
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Originally Posted by SnapperRoxGC View Post
... This car fits a perfect niche IMO.
It really does, I think it's a fantastic car. I just grabbed mine a couple weeks ago. I went to see a C series (that was already sold) and found this gem. As soon as I saw it sitting on the lot I had to test drive it and after I tried it, I had to have it.

I didn't buy this car to be the fastest thing out there, I bought it because it's a really nice, well built, tiny luxury car, One that's more than fast enough, looks sublime and it makes me giggle when the exhaust pops. The tech and interface is fantastic, it's pretty comfy and it handles pretty good. It has pretty much every toy the bigger cars have. Some hero also ordered this car with literally every option other than sport seats (keeps the heated seats, which I like) The M235 being AWD, to me, isn't a con, it's a plus; living in the PNW, I prefer AWD which means a "real" M car wasn't even on my radar as whatever I ultimately bought was going to be AWD. This car even gets decent mileage if you can keep your foot off the gas.

I also like it because it's a bit unique. It's not yet another 3 series. Not only are there seemingly zero 2 series around here, there's very few of the new styled BMWs altogether.

It's not a RWD tire shredder but this is a fun car. I think this baby M is the perfect car for me.
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      03-24-2024, 12:30 AM   #50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry_inPNW View Post
It really does, I think it's a fantastic car. I just grabbed mine a couple weeks ago. I went to see a C series (that was already sold) and found this gem. As soon as I saw it sitting on the lot I had to test drive it and after I tried it, I had to have it.

I didn't buy this car to be the fastest thing out there, I bought it because it's a really nice, well built, tiny luxury car, One that's more than fast enough, looks sublime and it makes me giggle when the exhaust pops. The tech and interface is fantastic, it's pretty comfy and it handles pretty good. It has pretty much every toy the bigger cars have. Some hero also ordered this car with literally every option other than sport seats (keeps the heated seats, which I like) The M235 being AWD, to me, isn't a con, it's a plus; living in the PNW, I prefer AWD which means a "real" M car wasn't even on my radar as whatever I ultimately bought was going to be AWD. This car even gets decent mileage if you can keep your foot off the gas.

I also like it because it's a bit unique. It's not yet another 3 series. Not only are there seemingly zero 2 series around here, there's very few of the new styled BMWs altogether.

It's not a RWD tire shredder but this is a fun car. I think this baby M is the perfect car for me.
Looks amazing!
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      03-24-2024, 02:11 AM   #51
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry_inPNW View Post
It really does, I think it's a fantastic car. I just grabbed mine a couple weeks ago. I went to see a C series (that was already sold) and found this gem. As soon as I saw it sitting on the lot I had to test drive it and after I tried it, I had to have it.

I didn't buy this car to be the fastest thing out there, I bought it because it's a really nice, well built, tiny luxury car, One that's more than fast enough, looks sublime and it makes me giggle when the exhaust pops. The tech and interface is fantastic, it's pretty comfy and it handles pretty good. It has pretty much every toy the bigger cars have. Some hero also ordered this car with literally every option other than sport seats (keeps the heated seats, which I like) The M235 being AWD, to me, isn't a con, it's a plus; living in the PNW, I prefer AWD which means a "real" M car wasn't even on my radar as whatever I ultimately bought was going to be AWD. This car even gets decent mileage if you can keep your foot off the gas.

I also like it because it's a bit unique. It's not yet another 3 series. Not only are there seemingly zero 2 series around here, there's very few of the new styled BMWs altogether.

It's not a RWD tire shredder but this is a fun car. I think this baby M is the perfect car for me.
You added some things I left out. The fact that it's NOT a 3 series should be a plus; I live in the central coast area of California, AKA you see more 3 series than you do honda civics around here. The polarizing looks make it stand out and is unique. Being a small car guy, I wanted to like the 3 series, but the fact of the matter is, the G-chassis 3 series is a full-on midsize car, and the F44 is COMPACT, while still having 4 doors. And coming from a 6th gen camaro, the visibility and the ease of parallel parking and parking in general is unmatched. M cars are still the standard, but they are simply not daily drivers. This car strikes a perfect balance between performance, practicality, utility and reliability (the B48 is bulletproof).

I'll admit, in december of 2022 I went to the dealership with the full intention of going home with a G42 230. However, they had the F44 m235i on the lot fresh off a lease return, and it quite simply checked more boxes for the same price. I haven't looked back since.
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      03-24-2024, 11:27 PM   #52
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I find it amusing to see the writers complain about rear seat shoulder room...that certainly is valid if you are comparing a 3 Series chassis to the 2 Series Gran Coupe. But these writers seem to be blind to the fact that the 3 Series E30 chassis has shoulder room dimensions not much different from the 2 Series F44 Gran Coupe, and there wasn't a general complaint about that in the late 1980's...the 3 Series has simply blimped up over the decades to what it is now. My last car was an E90, but I have to say that the F44 puts the FUN back into driving that I had not experienced in any 3 Series to the same degree as my E30!

I test drove an M235i xDrive Gran Coupe, and with its M suspension and 19" very low profile tires, my wife disliked the harsh ride, even harsher than my E90 with normal suspension and 17" runflat tires. While it certainly was fun to drive, the reality of 19" wheels getting bent on the forlorn CA highways would have removed much of that fun with the worry about recurring damage to rims and very low profile tires. A wheel and tire coverage policy by BMW would have reduced the sting of the cost, but the bother and time lost getting the replacement over and over was not appealing.

Last edited by Wilt; 03-24-2024 at 11:36 PM..
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