A little(more) background first...
Back in 2011 I got the Honda Civic Sport Hatchback (brand new) as a company car with a 1.8l petrol.. And I loved it was fast, sporty had character, etc. Fast forward to 2016, the management decides to replace the 5 year old Hondas with BMWs.
In February they ordered a handful of them including one for me.
They ordered the 216d Standard Edition. It arrived in mid April. This being my first BMW and coming from a Honda that was packed with equipment, I would say that I expected a lot and in reality was a little disapointed..
With that being said let's begin with this attempt at a review.
The specs:
BMW 216d SE
- Front-Wheel drive
- Manual Tranmission
- Fog Lights
- Cruise Control
- CD Player
- Manual Climate
- 16" Standard Wheels
- PDC F&R
As you can see, it came with the most basic equipment.
EXTERIOR:
The build quality was the first thing that hit me and the sheer size of the car, it's built like a tank. This is mostly subjective. I generally like how the car looks.
One thing that I noticed, since I don't have the aluminium trim around the windows, the rubber that's there instead, get's all kind of stains probably from the sun so it needs to be maintained regulary.
When you grab the door handle it gives you that satisfactory feeling. The bonnet needs to be slammed quite hard in order to close it.
Windscreen wipers will pick up all kinds of sh**, and for some reason they draw a water line in the middle of the windscreen which drives me nuts.
The hatch is kind of weird, sometimes you can close it without too much force and sometimes you need to slam it.
INTERIOR:
I was amazed at how high the driver sits, I liked that. Again the build quality is amazing with a few exceptions.
Not sure about higher trim levels, but the plastic trim that you get in the basic model feels very very cheap, unlike the rest of the car. The interior also draws dust like crazy, especially around the center console.
The seats are not that comforable, they are realtively small and short. On long journeys (6+ hours) I felt unfomfortable in the thighs because there was no thigh support, and I'm 6'4. Also in my opinion the neck support is poor as well.
On the bright side there is plenty of head-room and leg room. BUT! When sitting high and when I have someone sitting at the back, my knee keeps hitting the center console where the ignition button is, same story for the front passanger.
At high speeds, a lot of noise comes from the windows. The A pillar with a little window is pointless in my opinion.
Back seats are also good, one thing that surprised me is that there was no arm-rest within the middle seat. It's an optional extra. The 40/20/40 split seats are great, I wouldn't waste money on the electrcal dropdown function.
The boot is very spacious, the fake floor is definitely good but I found my self fighting with the floor panel(s) as it wouldn't stay folded. A 12V outlet in the boot is also an optional extra..
The iDrive system is cool also useful, easy to use. I really like the Sport and ECO PRO displays. Basic soundsystem is average, the sound is not as vibrant, it's missing the highs, it has a lot of base which I had to lower when I got the car.
I don't have nav nor any kind of connected drive (I think). I do have bluetooth and it works great.
DRIVING:
The car goes like crazy, the engine is very smooth and quiet. It accelerates relatively quickly. At high speeds it's also quiet. But that manual transmission... I can't count how many times I put it in Reverse instead of 1st or vise versa.
The gears are so close and it's very annoying especially when you are trying to park quickly. While driving the manual transmission can be sometimes jerky. Otherwise, it's very nice to drive.
I haven't noticed any lack of power at all. It starts immedietly, we'll see how it performs in winter conditions.
The ride is very stiff, probably because it's new..
The Intelligent Safety system is nothing special. I've been in two situations where it reacted by showing a red icon on the board computer. Basically, it will assist you in the last second of braking and only if you react.
So don't let it fool you, unless you pay for the advanced systems, the basic system doesn't do anything.
Another great thing are the automatic lights, they work flawlessly. I still haven't figured out how the parking brake works. The commands for the windscreen wipers are very confusing so I left them on AUTO.
FUEL ECONOMY:
Now this one is not so good. BMW advertises 4.3l/100km (66MPG), but realistically I get around 5.9l/100km (48MPG) in the city and 5.2l/100km (53MPG) on open roads. It could probably go even lower.
ECO PRO saves around 10%, the open road numbers are all with ECO PRO. If anyone has any suggestions, they are welcome to share.
Don't get me wrong, it's better than the Honda which did 10l/100km (28MPG).
CONCLUSION:
There are some things that piss me off, like the lack of Automatic Climate Control which should have been included in the base model, the lack of folable rearview mirros which again SHOULD be standard, fog lights are an extra (what the f***).
The seats are not that ergonomic so you should opt in for the sport seats.
At the end of the day, I like the car. The quirks are there, but it helps when I remember that I didn't actually pay for the car
Would I buy a bimmer with my own money, sure I would but not this one.
Advice for buyers:
It's a cool car, I'm not exactly sure who it's meant for... If you have the cash, go for it.
You should definitely consider some of these optional extras:
- Folding rear-view mirrors
- Active Protection (seatbelt tightning)
- Connected Drive Services
- Sport Seats
- Automatic Climate Control
- Dynamic Damper Control
- Hi-Fi Sound System
Also, here's a few pictures:
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