Three hundred kays later.
Ah, the BMW 2 Series. I’ve got no shortage of great memories of these cars. It started with a drive from Cape Town to Oudtshoorn in its predecessor, the 1M Coupe. Then there was my first drive of the M235i from Vegas To Nelson Nevada, and then ultimately my laps of Laguna Seca in the inaugural M2. What I’m saying is. I’m a filthy braggart. And oh yes, there’s a new car.
Small BMW coupes, am I right? They’re lovely things and have great equity in the land of braai and pap. It intensified with the two-door E30s of the 80s and has hit many a crescendo along the way. That clown-shoe car, the Z3 Coupe in particular remains a thing of legend. This particular car’s predecessor, the F22 was a great success, retaining that turbocharged inline six-pot and rear wheel drive combination. The new M240I however does not. Don’t stress, it’s still a beast after all, thanks to a one-two punch in the shape of 285kW and 500Nm but with an xDrive caveat. Yup, to help you reign in all that grunt, the Bavarian overlords have employed the front axis in a supporting role. Relax, she’ll still slide around. A little bit. It’s not a damn Audi.
Visually, ooh its a muscley one. There’s a lot to like here, swollen and sinewy, and with no sight of BMW’s giant new (mouth piece) grille. I’m not mad about the rear lamp design, but the ‘single eye’ headlamp is dope, and hugely reminiscent of the original BMW coupe, the 2002. Also new (what took so long?) are flushly integrated door handles – I love this! It’s equal parts form versus function here too, such as the radiator grille which actually cools the engine and is not just a showpiece. It’s built for driving enthusiasts and the young at heart, but despite sharing the meaty turbo 3l six-cylinder, is physically smaller than it’s predecessor. Lower too, wider but with a longer wheel track, with 50:50 weight distribution.
The rear-biased M40i xDrive can sprint to 100kph in just 4.3sec which is staggering, but you just know that the M2 it will spawn will be equipped with a sub-4 second pass. But will it benefit from the adaptive air suspension seen here for the first time in a 2 series coupe? We’ll have to wait and see. What I can report is a consistently class-leading engine delivering the goods, paired with a snappy ‘auto box and underpinned with a responsive chassis. The helm lacks nothing, and the sum of these parts is a typically engaging driving experience, with that iconic BMW noise from the pipes. Precisely what this marque has delivered for decades.
Oh, there are other derivatives (I heard nobody ask) such as the 220i (135kW/300Nm, 0-100kph in 7.0sec) for R771,000 and the diesel 220d coupe with 140kW/400Nm for R819,000. But if you like your style with a bit more substance, consider reaching across that one-bar barrier and splurging R1,062mil on the M240i. It comes standard with the M Sport Pack, has every obligatory in-cabin nicety you could ask for and then there’s the fact that it carries a very large, turbo-charged stick.
