So I saw the red M235 in Chicago today - here are some of my thoughts :
- I was impressed with the "snugness" of the interior - it felt like it was more driver focused than my E82. Everything kind of molds around you.
- most of the materials are soft and very nice to touch. Not all though. The area around the gear shift, for example, it pretty hard plastic and looks like it could be scratched relatively easily. But like I said, the overwhelming majority of surfaces are nice.
- the steering wheel feels slightly less squishy than the one on my E82, but is very similar. It is smooth leather all around, instead of having sections that are perforated leather like in the E82.
- it's definitely bigger on the inside. I think the biggest difference is in the width of the car. Definitely better in the back seat and passenger side compared to the E82. Just more room all around. Depends on your point of view whether this is good or not. The middle of the back seat is also useless like it is in the E82. Not sure why BMW puts the dumb plastic thing in the middle.
- the trunk was locked so I couldn't check that out - I wanted to see how much bigger the opening looked.
- the leather
does feel good, which surprised me. I have never liked the Dakota leather in my E82 - it always felt cheap to me. This didn't feel cheap, but nice and soft instead. No plastic texture at all. I was impressed with this.
- the gauges looked nice but wouldn't turn on, so I can't comment on how they really looked. Nothing drastically different from the E82 here, but a nice update nonetheless.
- from the outside, the car does look really nice in person. The front is aggressive, the side profile is sleek, and the rear (I'm happy to say) looks pretty good. Still not as nice as the butt on the E82, but not nearly as bad as I thought based on how it looked in pictures. The front especially is a 1000% improvement over the E82.
- the wheels....well I have been worried about the gunmetal, which also looks better in person than what pictures seem to show. They aren't that dark, it's a nice shade to be honest. The biggest detriment, in my opinion, is the size. It's had to believe that an 18 can be considered small, but when looking at the M3 and then the M235 (they're next to each other in Chicago) they just don't look big enough. Might have to change that after all.
- the diffuser is actually just fine - plenty of room for improvement, but it looks much "tighter" than the pictures would have you believe. It is also painted in a similar color to that of the exhaust pipes and looks like a part that I don't think I will replace now.
- I can't believe I'm saying this, but I like the mirrors. The paint looks like it has a little flake in it, and the contrast is nice in my opinion.
Overall, I'm really happy with how the car looks and how the materials feel. Now I just can't wait to get mine so I can drive it.
