Well guys, I am coming up on 6 months of ownership - I took delivery in March, and I was planning to do an update to my original review, for which the link appears below.
http://www.2addicts.com/forums/showt...ight=135+owner
I changed jobs in July, and I have a new buddy whose office is right next to mine, and he has a 2008 N54 135 - so we have been shooting the shit quite a bit about the cars, where they are similar, different, etc.
We have both been traveling a lot and hadn't gotten a chance to swap cars and trade impressions - for me, I didnt think that there would be anything particularly illuminating from my drive in his car, as I had an N54 135 and an N55 135 before getting my 2er in March.
Well, we were finally able to "swap" yesterday and spend some time on some back roads here in North Dallas...and as the title states, I have to admit I am a little disappointed with the M235.
As I said in my original review, the M235 "felt" bigger to me after just a few days of ownership. That feeling was exacerbated and much more prominent yesterday after getting back into the E82.
Additionally, and worse than my original impression in March, the M235 felt squishy and somewhat lazy in comparison to the N54 135. The E82 just feels more "urgent" in every way. The steering is tighter. The car feels more compact. The engine felt like it revved more quickly and had a better throttle response. And yes, I was driving in Sport + in the M235 and am in that mode 99% of the time anyway. My buddy drove in Sport + as well.
Furthermore, we did 4-5 rolling runs against each other - both with him driving my car and me driving my car - the N54 135 pulled on the M235 in every situation - rolling from 20 MPH in 2nd gear, rolling from 40 MPH in 3rd gear, etc. So even if he is a better driver than me, it doesn't matter - the M235 was "slower" everywhere under ~80 MPH.
Both cars are bone stock. Both are manual transmissions. Same tires even.
I guess my main takeaway is disappointment, specifically in the M235's version of the N55. My general "sideways thumb" opinion of the N55 has been well documented , but the experience yesterday really pulled that back to the front of my mind. Unless BMW does something very interesting with this engine, I really wonder about the M2...
And I am not saying the M235 is slow...or a bad car...or anything like that - it is simply not a step forward from a
feel perspective. I mean, the M235 is supposed to be analogous to a 135is, at least to me - and it is remarkably more soft and slow (at least yesterday in North Dallas) than a
bone stock N54 135. Feels more like a sideways step, performance-wise, after this experience.
I still think there are areas in which the M235 is better - and my new buddy agreed on a lot of these. Better looking. Better seats. Better interior. More comfortable (aka squishy). Better gas mileage (although, I still contend that Eco mode is dangerous). Better sounding, although some of that is fake.
The M235 is still a very good car. But I didn't realize what I was missing from my old N54 days until yesterday. Just my opinion...
We are also planning to do some additional runs and comparisons - he has a GoPro that we are going to use for some action/sound shots. We will definitely post them up for you guys.