[kevinlevrone]

Hi,

I just had the chance to spend about an hour at the wheel of an M235i by chance. I am not interested in this car but a dealer gave the car for a few hours to a friend of mine. For reference, I own a 2009 335i M-Sport manual with RB turbos (N54 engine) and the associated required modifications, plus Bilstein B12 suspension.

The car is well proportioned and it looks very good. It is a huge improvement from the old 1-series. In pictures I thought the wheel arches are a bit small but in person they look ok. I think it would look better with a larger diameter tire (and correspondingly larger diameter rims).

The interior of the car is pretty nice, a step up from even my "old" e90 3-series.

The exhaust on the outside sounds very good and bassy, but it is well muffled, very inobtrusive. It should be a bit louder.

Inside the car sounds amazing when accelerating, but unfortunately you can eventually tell that the sound is synthesized by the speakers. It is too "clean" lacking the mechanical bits of pure natural engine and exhaust sound.

Handling is good but nothing like an M car. The car doesn't feel overly light as I was expecting. I drove the e92 M3 and steering feels like a razor, extremely sharp, suspension is amazing. On the M235i the suspension feels just like a regular BMW car, nothing spectacular, and the steering is light and almost numb.

The biggest problem of the car is that it is slow. You can't break tires loose in first gear, let alone in second (it did have Michelin PSS tires). You will not feel a shove in the back when accelerating. I think the acceleration is similar to my car when it was stock, but still at low RPMs the M235i seems quite a bit slower. Unexpectedly, it has quite a bit of turbo lag and the 8-speed automatic gearbox amplifies it instead of helping eliminating it.

Hopefully the lack of power can be improved with tuning but this car really needs at least 60-90hp more to feel the shove in the back that you should feel in a car in this price range. In the current state, the car is not fun to drive at all.

The second biggest problem of the M235i is the gearbox. In fact, I think this is a really big problem. This was the first time I drove the new 8-speed gearbox. This gearbox has real programming issues. It has some kind of "lag" between when I press the accelerator and when it decides what to do. Like a full second of lag. And after this second of lag, instead of keeping the current gear because it is already at like 3000RPM so it should use the torque, it tries to downshift wasting even more time shifting, and the RPM goes from like 2500 to 6000 where there is still not much power to be had because of the turbo lag and then it has to shift again. If you are in town and nudge the accelerator from 0 to 50% a few times in a row, the gearbox really gets confused. And that shift lag is incredibly annoying.

I am not sure how people praise this gearbox. This gearbox has nothing to do with the gearbox from the old M3, for example.

Unfortunately, my opinion is that this car doesn't have anything to do with the M letter. If I were to be forced to own this car, the least I could to is to get the manual gearbox (not sure if available). The automatic ruins it.

[ibimmer954]

Did you have the transmission in Sport mode? That is, moved the lever to the left? That makes a huge difference in how the transmission behaves. And, yes, the 6MT is available.

If you don't move the lever to the left then the tranny is pretty much in "daily driving smooth" mode. Which would lead to the behavior you're describing.

[Canaletto]

Originally Posted by kevinlevrone

The biggest problem of the car is that it is slow.

4.3 0-60 is slow?!

[Steven1077]

Sounds like they fitted the wrong engine, my 435i spins up easy enough even in comfort and that's below 4500rpm

[Pray for Mojo]

You sure you didn't have a floor mat wedged under the accelerator? Also isn't it kind of stupid to compare your car's acceleration to stock, I'm sure your 335 stock would feel apathetic.

[Delnari]

Sorry, but your observations are off (to put it mildly). I had an E92 with the Dinan S2 installed. Yes, I thought my car was the sh*t, but it doesn't excite me as much as the M235i does. The 2002 M3 CSL is suppose to be the end-all M3 cars and when I watched the video comparing it to the M235i there were no track time differences! I don't care how much boost or added spring rates you put into a 335i it doesn't perform as well as the new M235i.

The new M3/M4 on the other hand is superior to every M car before it.

[jmkr]

OK, so you own and daily drive a 450-500whp heavily modified 335i. Did you really expect that this car would feel fast in comparison?

[///cpt]

i'm thinking you probably didn't have it in sport mode..

[patbrass]

Another nonsense BS pseudo review just to get attention. Too slow? Not fun at all? C'MON

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by patbrass

Another nonsense BS pseudo review just to get attention. Too slow? Not fun at all? C'MON

Yah, I ain't buying it either.
A dealer gives buddy a demo for "a few hours" and buddy gives it to goober who proceeds to try wheel spins in 1st & 2nd during the obvious break-in period who then whines that it's not as good as a M3..
Sounds kinda dickish to me..

[ska///235i]

maybe op drove in comfort mode?

my friends n54 with dinan stage 2 was close to my 235
even he admitted

dont get me wrong they're very close but not how OP had it

i have to agree in Comfort Mode this car sucks, but it rides good for my wife and kid lol

[Phiberoptik]

I think the OP is #trolling to get attention.

[hyperzulu]

OP sucks. Get out of our collective faces. There, I'm done. Thanks.

[bladeomatic]

Everyone's allowed to his/her opinion. However, to date:

-Not ONE professional review I've seen has said the car wasn't fun. It's usually the 1st word used to describe it.

-Not ONE review has said the car is slow. It's 0-60 time are at or only slightly behind a 1 series M or F9x M3.

http://www.zeroto60times.com/BMW-Bim...mph-Times.html

-Not ONE review I've seen has had anything negative to say about the ZF tranny. Most have compared it as close to or even better than some DCT units.

I want to make sure I never go clothes shopping with you.

[Jerich0]

BURN HIM!!!!

[kevinlevrone]

It's hilarious what I read here. Sorry, but I have no reason to lie in order to attract attention. It is what it is, if any of you imagined that this is some kind of bargain M car or pocket rocket you will be severely disappointed in my opinion. Just try to arrange a test drive to assess if it's good enough for the money before buying, that's my advice.

To answer some of the questions, car was in D mode with Sport+ ECU setting, DSC was fully off. The gearbox wasn't in it's best setting and if I have the chance I will re-test this aspect. It had 7000 miles on the clock and it was a demo car, not a new car.

[velopod]

Does seem a bit odd to me as well. My current car is a 2011 CTS-V, modded, with over 540 RWP (figure 640 at the crank with well over 620 lb. ft.) and other then the VERY initial throttle tip in, it felt plenty quick (not powerful) to me as well with great low to midrange fat torque spread. Loved the handling/balance the most though (hence my order for a '15 as well).

[Cope]

Are you sure it was an M235i? Not like a base Accord Coupe or something?

[Lucky13]

Take the emergency brake off and you"ll see a big difference.

[hyperzulu]

Originally Posted by kevinlevrone

It's hilarious what I read here. Sorry, but I have no reason to lie in order to attract attention. It is what it is, if any of you imagined that this is some kind of bargain M car or pocket rocket you will be severely disappointed in my opinion. Just try to arrange a test drive to assess if it's good enough for the money before buying, that's my advice.

To answer some of the questions, car was in D mode with Sport+ ECU setting, DSC was fully off. The gearbox wasn't in it's best setting and if I have the chance I will re-test this aspect. It had 7000 miles on the clock and it was a demo car, not a new car.

If DSC was fully off then it reverted the settings back to comfort. You know nothing, Jon Snow!!!! Get out of my face!

[jgunnz]

Originally Posted by Lucky13

Take the emergency brake off and you"ll see a big difference.

Ha!! Touché.

[deathsliver]

Not sure it is available with MT heh?