[tccox]

There's a dealer here in NC that has a new one available, but............ With $5000 of dealer installed options that sucker is $48,500. Good grief, tyres, rims , ok but $5000 worth of dealer options ?

[ralawren]

There is a Mineral White M Sport 228i at Peformance BMW Chapel Hill, NC with a MSRP of about $43K. Has the 6 sp manual.

[HX_Guy]

There are 3 228i's and no M235i's in the Phoenix Metro area, which is weird because just a few days ago there were 3 M235i's showing available.

[kz1000]

New member here. Ordered a '15 228i last Monday. One option: Manual trans. Due in October. Waiting is the hardest part!

[mfourn20]

Signed on a manual m sport 228i yesterday...had been on the dealer lot for 130 days Got a great deal.

[SebringS2k]

There's a black 228i msport manual at union park if anyone is looking

[nachob]

There is a mineral gray red manual 6mt at BMW El Cajon in San Diego. I really like the 228i 6mt. I am very interested in M Sport but 228 feels livelier than 235i and once warmed up sounds nice.

[Alpine F31]

Originally Posted by nachob

228 feels livelier than 235i and once warmed up sounds nice.

So you've driven both? Can you give us a review of why you feel the 228 is livelier? Appreciate it!

[nachob]

Yes I drove both. The 235i felt slightly heavier and the engine actually felt less lively at low rpm. The 228i sounds awful at first and I almost quit the test drive but once it warms up it sounds better. It feels livelier around town and is pretty strong. It's not as smooth as the 6 cyl but I like the slightly coarser sound and you can hear the waste gates. They sound cool. I have a
MkV gti. And the 228 feels like a
Rear wheel drive gti with better brakes. The 235i feels more solid but strangely I enjoyed the livelier feel of the 228i. I remember that the e92 m3 also feels
More solid and planted than the 1M but the liveliness makes it fun. For me the 235 is nice but If you are into fun more than numbers I would recommend you drive a 228i manual. Just get it as light as possible with manual seats and no sunroof which really sets it apart from 235i. If you bloat it it might not
Feel as good but the 2.0 turbo is
A Nice motor cold start sound excluded.

[nachob]

I hope that
Made sense. I'm writing on iPhone. The 4 cylinder just feels snappier at low
Rpm than the 6.

[Jeff_DML]

Originally Posted by nachob

Yes I drove both. The 235i felt slightly heavier and the engine actually felt less lively at low rpm. The 228i sounds awful at first and I almost quit the test drive but once it warms up it sounds better. It feels livelier around town and is pretty strong. It's not as smooth as the 6 cyl but I like the slightly coarser sound and you can hear the waste gates. They sound cool. I have a
MkV gti. And the 228 feels like a
Rear wheel drive gti with better brakes. The 235i feels more solid but strangely I enjoyed the livelier feel of the 228i. I remember that the e92 m3 also feels
More solid and planted than the 1M but the liveliness makes it fun. For me the 235 is nice but If you are into fun more than numbers I would recommend you drive a 228i manual. Just get it as light as possible with manual seats and no sunroof which really sets it apart from 235i. If you bloat it it might not
Feel as good but the 2.0 turbo is
A Nice motor cold start sound excluded.

For me it is the idle that sounds terrible in the 228, sounds like a diesel. As far as I know it is caused by the HP fuel pump needed for direct injection. Once you start driving it, it sounds fine to me. I drove back to back a 228 and 235 and the inline 6 does have a sweeter sound to me.

[Alpine F31]

Thanks nachob, that makes sense. I have a 328i so I'm very familiar with the engines pros and cons. I've never driven a 2 series, but people that compared the 328i to the 335i came to the same conclusions as you did with the 228i vs the M235i.

Good info, thanks!

[DanG]

There is a 228i manual in white at BMW Seattle. It has been there a while.

[nachob]

I have been ruined by the 1M. Really anything I drive now feels detached and just OK. But I can remember being younger when my expectations weren't so high. The manual 228i is a great first BMW in my opinion. The 235 is too close to M2 money so I would rather wait. As I said if you can get past the terrible warm up sound it's a rocking little motor. Even the e92 M3 sounds terrible during warm up and it costs twice as much and gets half the mileage. All I'm saying is don't discount the manual 228i. I almost did and it was a Nice surprise. The 6 is smoother and sounds
Better but it feels like you have to prod it where the 228 is like an eager puppy!

Don't believe me just try it out yourselves!