[mcoops]

Autoexpress not impressed...

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/2-...pe-2020-review

[330XDave]

Hardly worth the click on the link to be honest it's that short.

[Broncho]

Saw the video before, he basically hates the engine, which is kind of unfair as they’re all backed into a corner to downsize.

[TodmordenLad]

To save you the effort of reading the short AE review above, the final para says it all: "Ultimately the M235i Gran Coupe feels as if it's trying to be something it isn't. It doesn't deserve to have the M badge, so the 220d Gran Coupe feels like a more rounded car overall".

[Broncho]

Originally Posted by TodmordenLad

To save you the effort of reading the short AE review above, the final para says it all: "Ultimately the M235i Gran Coupe feels as if it's trying to be something it isn't. It doesn't deserve to have the M badge, so the 220d Gran Coupe feels like a more rounded car overall".

This is worth a watch without the nonsense

[HighlandPete]

Not sure what the review is really trying to say about the car, seems to contradict itself.

On the move the M235i is a strange mix. Its performance is strong going on excellent, and there’s not much to complain about with the steering, the chassis responses, the grip or the car’s composure. Here the M235i ticks all the right boxes, and then some.

But the engine has no aural character, and the chassis feels strangely blunt for a car with the letter M at the start of its name, even in its sportiest setting. So it’s hard not to be a touch disappointed by the M235i, despite its fundamentally fine capabilities.

I don't think they really know how to address this car, looks like they are hedging their bets.

[JustChris]

The Bimmerpost threads for this car are just brutal!



It will sell well with discounts to people who've never considered owning or getting a 6 cylinder BMW.

It's probably THE most colour sensitive car BMW have ever made. It's not good looking from many angels but pretty nice from some. The front doesn't seem to fit the car.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

I said in another thread that it looks like a Honda Civic that been thrown up in the air and been ramndomly put back together again.

Where the 4 GC was sleek, good looking and purposeful, this is the complete opposite. Every time I see one it looks worse.

[agentorange]

Originally Posted by JustChris

It's probably THE most colour sensitive car BMW have ever made. It's not good looking from many angels but pretty nice from some. The front doesn't seem to fit the car.

I have to agree on the colour comment. I generally like white cars, but on this body shape it is an epic fail. Also, if you remove the BMW badge from the back you could be looking at any US spec Kia, Hyundai or Mitsubishi. Even worse, the more profile views I see I realize that is is frighteningly close to the current US Toyota Corolla in shape. Hardly a compliment.

[TodmordenLad]

Carenthusiast.com's review was less than flattering about the car's looks. Made me lol. They're not wrong, mind you..

"Looks, in any aspect of life, are subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; one man's meat is another man's poison; to each their own; there's no accounting for taste; and so on. The appearance of this new BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe, therefore, is no exception to the vagaries of humankind and their qualities of aesthetic appreciation, and so we are well aware there will be plenty of people in the world looking at this car and thoroughly appreciating its distinctive lines. And good on them, too.

Not us, though. Dear lord, not us. In fact, we think this is the ugliest car BMW has ever put on sale. We have now spent a long time walking around the 2 Series Gran Coupe, standing up, crouching down, viewing it from dead-on front, appraising it from the rear three-quarters, loitering at the side of it, squinting at it, sucking air over our teeth, shaking our head forlornly... and it doesn't matter what we do nor where we stand, it's just dire in every aspect.

Particular bugbears of this dreadful design are: way too much metal above the wheel arches, which is especially noticeable at the front of the car when viewed in profile; front-end details which are oversized and outlandish compared to the wings sitting behind and to either side of them; the back of the Gran Coupe, which is busy beyond belief with so many contrasting details, none of which seem happy to co-exist with each other; the strangely stunted and high look of the roof, as the designers tried (in vain) to cram a swooping GC lid onto a car that's only 4.5 metres long and with a wheelbase of less than 2.7 metres; and then the misshapen, sheer chunkiness of it all. This is never better in evidence than when you realise that this flagship M235i xDrive model rolls on at least 18-inch alloys, which look like castors in those rear arches, such is the vast expanse of metal in that gargantuan rear flank. BMW's product line-up is hardly the prettiest portfolio on sale today, but to try and fathom how this car is related in any way, shape or form to the current 8 Series makes your head spin in sickening confusion. About the most savage indictment we can fling the way of the 2 GC is that it somehow, incomprehensibly, manages to make the X6 Mk3 look almost well-judged and proportional. Astonishing"

[dopper99]

You cant beat a bit of Trish ...

Its a shame the car is so

[MashinBenzin]

The carenthusiast review is amusing but a tad overdone!

It does nail the key point, trying to fit a GC, long swooping shape, into a short wheelbase 4.5m length FWD car. The beautifully proportioned CLS turned into the stunted CLA when MB tried this. It always reminds me of one of those 1990s kit cars, F40 body on a MR2 chassis, proportions ruined and hard to imagine a professional design team signed it off.

Seen in context of the competition- CLA and the yawn inducing A3 saloon - the 2GC looks ok to me. Not perfect, but decent enough.

Appreciate that the A3 is old, so an Audi designer will have been stood at a photocopier recently producing the next gen.

[mcoops]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

The carenthusiast review is amusing but a tad overdone!

It does nail the key point, trying to fit a GC, long swooping shape, into a short wheelbase 4.5m length FWD car. The beautifully proportioned CLS turned into the stunted CLA when MB tried this. It always reminds me of one of this 1990s kit cars, F40 body on a MR2 chassis, proportions ruined and hard to imagine a professional design team signed it off.

Seen in context of the competition- CLA and the yawn inducing A3 saloon - the 2GC looks ok to me. Not perfect, but decent enough.

Appreciate that the A3 is old, so an Audi designer will have been stood at a photocopier recently producing the next gen.

I think I might actually prefer the saloon form factor for these shorter wheelbase cars. I quite like the old A3 design (although not the interior which is a definite step down from the A4/5) and also the newer Merc AMG35 saloon. Definitely less fussy than the wannabe coupes.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by mcoops

I think I might actually prefer the saloon form factor for these shorter wheelbase cars. I quite like the old A3 design (although not the interior which is a definite step down from the A4/5) and also the newer Merc AMG35 saloon. Definitely less fussy than the wannabe coupes.

You're right I think, my Audi-baiting aside, the small saloon is quite a neat form factor. Fast back hatches fine too. Some great little designs in the past such as the 323F Mazda. It's the coupification that spoils things and the requirement to smash in 18" wheels that dominate the design and shorten the visual wheelbase if not the actual wheelbase.

[TodmordenLad]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

The carenthusiast review is amusing but a tad overdone!

It does nail the key point, trying to fit a GC, long swooping shape, into a short wheelbase 4.5m length FWD car. The beautifully proportioned CLS turned into the stunted CLA when MB tried this. It always reminds me of one of those 1990s kit cars, F40 body on a MR2 chassis, proportions ruined and hard to imagine a professional design team signed it off.

Seen in context of the competition- CLA and the yawn inducing A3 saloon - the 2GC looks ok to me. Not perfect, but decent enough.

Appreciate that the A3 is old, so an Audi designer will have been stood at a photocopier recently producing the next gen.

Yeh, the carenthusiast.com review is OTT on the looks of the car, but they tend to be outspoken, which is one of the reasons I like the two journos who run the site. The rest of the review is reasonably complimentary, to be fair.

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

You're right I think, my Audi-baiting aside, the small saloon is quite a neat form factor. Fast back hatches fine too. Some great little designs in the past such as the 323F Mazda. It's the coupification that spoils things and the requirement to smash in 18" wheels that dominate the design and shorten the visual wheelbase if not the actual wheelbase.

We all know that Audi make some of the best looking cars on the roads (despite the big grilles) - the A3 saloon being one of them (especially in S3 form).....

S5 sportback

S8 (or even RS8)

A3 / S3 hatch....

or maybe they are aimed at old, conservative (with a small c!) types like me....

[TodmordenLad]

Originally Posted by isleaiw1

We all know that Audi make some of the best looking cars on the roads (despite the big grilles) - the A3 saloon being one of them (especially in S3 form).....

S5 sportback

S8 (or even RS8)

A3 / S3 hatch....

or maybe they are aimed at old, conservative (with a small c!) types like me....

I agree about Audi design and if appreciating good design which is proportionate, harmonious and integrated makes you a conservative old fart, then I'm happy to be one

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by isleaiw1

We all know that Audi make some of the best looking cars on the roads (despite the big grilles) - the A3 saloon being one of them (especially in S3 form).....

S5 sportback

S8 (or even RS8)

A3 / S3 hatch....

or maybe they are aimed at old, conservative (with a small c!) types like me....

I think they've gone very bland in some of the latest generations. First A5 sportback, lovely looking thing. Second gen somehow blander. Same with the latest A4, I've always liked the design of the A4 but this one is bland.

Deliberately not just counting the S models as a few frills do help, but they are not the ones I see every day, most are As.

Q5,A6 still good and A7 a rare major improvement over the previous gen.

All imho of course

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

I think they've gone very bland in some of the latest generations. First A5 sportback, lovely looking thing. Second gen somehow blander. Same with the latest A4, I've always liked the design of the A4 but this one is bland.

Deliberately not just counting the S models as a few frills do help, but they are not the ones I see every day, most are As.

Q5,A6 still good and A7 a rare major improvement over the previous gen.

All imho of course

Whereas I thought the first sportback was an abomination and the new one is so much more complete.

And I guess that is the problem for designers - what one thinks is great design, another (Discovery driving...) thinks is bland and boring....

I dont like the new A4 or A6.... not a massive fan of the looks of the Q5 and Q7, but agree the coupe versions (5, 7) are better.... and an SQ8 is definitely one of the cars I do like...

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by isleaiw1

Whereas I thought the first sportback was an abomination and the new one is so much more complete.

And I guess that is the problem for designers - what one thinks is great design, another (Discovery driving...) thinks is bland and boring....

I dont like the new A4 or A6.... not a massive fan of the looks of the Q5 and Q7, but agree the coupe versions (5, 7) are better.... and an SQ8 is definitely one of the cars I do like...

SQ8 far too Dubai tacky for my tastes

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

SQ8 far too Dubai tacky for my tastes

Your tastes.... did you say Taste? #discoverydriver

and remind me - satin grey wheels and black pack on your new one?.....