Quote:
Originally Posted by griz31
I want to start out by saying that I really like this car a lot. It is a great balance between luxury and sport and is really a great looking car. With that being said, I am having a hard time really loving this car.
Does anyone feel this way or has anyone had these feelings in the past? Is there anything that you did to make you truly love the car over any other options out there? Am I jaded after the m3, or were my expectations too high from what others were saying about the m235i? Am I just being ridiculous and expecting too much out of a perfectly good car?
My dream is to one day have a car that I can say, wow this is it I don't want anything else. Being a car enthusiast, I am not sure if that is possible. All I can say is that while I really like the m235i, I can't help but spend most of my time looking at what's next.
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I am totally with you. For the past couple days I have been thinking about posting a thread with a title like "First time BMW owner - M235i review after 16 months" but now I can just reply to this thread since you have summed up my feelings almost perfectly.
Bottom line is that for 10 years I really loved my 2005 Mustang GT. It was a head-turner that looked brash, made the right noises, had a raw, visceral, mechanical feel to it, was super heavy duty everywhere, had a mechanical locking differential, was an excellent first track car, and would lay down insanely long thick black rubber strips on hard 1-2 and 2-3 shifts all day long with traction control on! And it did all this mind you on 87 octane while never, ever having a single problem, even a minor issue in all 10 years of ownership. It was bullet-proof and I loved it until the day I sold it.
I thought I was ready for a more "grown-up" car - I am 60 years old after all - and the BMW is really nice in a lot of ways. Definitely a huge improvement in interior materials, ride comfort, and attention to detail. There's also the pampered service that comes along with it, the excitement of picking up the car at the Performance Delivery Center in SC, and the general BMW culture. Obviously nothing like the Ford/GM culture.
I do love some things about the M235i. The size is perfect. It's roughly the same size as my 1987 Mustang GT (which was also perfect). Outward visibility is awesome. It handles like a sports car and rides like a luxury car. It's quiet and comfortable on the highway. It's predictable, reassuring, and fairly fast on the race track. The MPE has a nice sound, and the M Performance rear diffuser looks special. The quality is everywhere whether it's the sound of the doors shutting, the feel and look of the interior materials, the interior and exterior lighting, and even the sound of the chimes.
I'm okay with the exterior styling of the 2 series too. A car guy can look at it and tell it's not the run of the mill 3 series. The big cooling ducts and low bumper in the front, the wide staggered tires, and the dual exhausts give it away. It's a handsome car I guess, but conservative. Certainly not a head-turner.
For me, the car is missing just one thing - a naturally aspirated V8. I know they're not politically correct anymore. Fuel usage that's killing the planet. Old school. But when you have grown up with them, and then try to move on, it's just hard. The M235i engine has more horsepower than my '05 Mustang (320 versus 300) and more torque (330 versus 320), and according to the car magazines was quicker in the 1/4 mile (mid-13s versus high-13s).
But the M235i has this momentary lag when you first step on the throttle. The BMW engineers have done great work on minimizing turbo lag, but it's still there to a degree. There are threads on this forum with people asking if something as simple as chirping the tires on the 1-2 shift is possible. The answer is yes, but it takes some work and trickery. I don't think a tire chirp on the 2-3 shift is possible with a stock car, unless maybe you're talking about power shifting (without lifting). You take these things for granted on a car like the Mustang or Camaro, or of course a Corvette. You don't need to be talented or turn off anything on those cars - that's just what they do. All day long.
Lately, I find myself on the Camaro 6th gen forums, reading about guys taking the 2SS to the track, and their overall satisfaction with the cars in daily use. The 2SS comes stock from the factory with a bolt-on brake ducting kit (in the trunk) that can be quickly installed for track use - and corporate GM has even said publically they will stand behind the warranty on cars that have seen track day use. That's the car I'm lusting after now. Yes, the M2 would be awesome and I'd certainly like one. But truth be told, I think I'd rather have a 455 horsepower NA V8 Camaro 2SS or the 2017 SS 1LE when that comes out. For much less money than the M2.