[aerobod]

Tyre pressure may also be a factor in rear end damping and stability. I have found the car to be much more neutral with even tyre pressure all around, I normally use 2.4 Bar / 35 PSI all around for both staggered summer (F225/40-18, R245/35-18) and square winter (225/45-18) tyres for general road use.

[Lew Carrum]

Originally Posted by snaketh

Bums me out there won't be Euro Delivery. But I'm more concerned about MT.

My plan is to keep my 2015 M235i until we find out whether it will come in MT. If it won't then I'll get a 2020 M240 or a Porsche 718 Boxter S.

A 2020 m240 will be an auto though.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by Lew Carrum

A 2020 m240 will be an auto though.

In North America it will still be an F22/F23, which should still have the manual available. Likely the manual will disappear when the G42/G43 2-series coupe is launched in 2021.

[ScottAndrew]

Originally Posted by BenDiem

^^^ Does your 230i have the track pack/staggered wheels?
I wonder if having staggered wheels, with the half inch wider wheels and 245 tires helps in balancing the nervous rear end?

I had that same pogo/skittish issue with my '12 128i, with square set 17" wheels/tires. Curious...

Cheers/b

Yes it does. The dampers, according to Birds (a regionally well known BMW tuner in England) have poor rebound characteristics which contributes to this. Happily, though, they have their own set-up which they'll sell you for the equivalent of around $2,750 .

The wider and heavier the tyres, the more nervous it'll get. The 461M wheels weigh a ton (24 lb without the RFT tyre) and that doesn't help either. As soon as the standard tyres are done, the wheels are going on the 'Bay for a couple of hundred quid, and a new shiny set of CH-Rs with regular tyres will take their place!

[snaketh]

Originally Posted by aerobod

In North America it will still be an F22/F23, which should still have the manual available. Likely the manual will disappear when the G42/G43 2-series coupe is launched in 2021.

I hope you're wrong. Or at the very least the '21 M2 will be MT.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by snaketh

I hope you're wrong. Or at the very least the '21 M2 will be MT.

I’d like to wrong on this one, but the only 3-series cars in the G20 chassis getting manual transmissions are the lower powered models, no manual anywhere in the world for the M340i, so there won’t be a manual transmission for the G42/G43 M240i if it adopts the G20 drivetrain. The next G80 M3 will have a manual transmission in the RWD version (not in the AWD one, it seems), so that may be hopeful for the next G8x M2 having a manual, too.

[snaketh]

Originally Posted by aerobod

I’d like to wrong on this one, but the only 3-series cars in the G20 chassis getting manual transmissions are the lower powered models, no manual anywhere in the world for the M340i, so there won’t be a manual transmission for the G42/G43 M240i if it adopts the G20 drivetrain. The next G80 M3 will have a manual transmission in the RWD version (not in the AWD one, it seems), so that may be hopeful for the next G8x M2 having a manual, too.

Yep, I hear you. I do think the 2 series is a different beast. I bet the take rate of manuals for the 3 series was low. Also there's still a couple of MT cars that compete with the 2 series. The emissions are going to be the nail in the coffin. Might be forced into a P-car

[RotorOver]

Could the B58/B48 be the last IC engines for the 2 series? Maybe a hybrid? At least it will be RWD.

[Kevinduma]

What would concern me about the next 2er is the inability to get the 6 cylinder unless going to the M2.

[Joe240]

It may not be a huge concern though seeing as they’re pushing the 2.0 to 300hp in the x2 m35i

[ScottAndrew]

Originally Posted by Kevinduma

What would concern me about the next 2er is the inability to get the 6 cylinder unless going to the M2.

If BMW makes a rear-drive 2er chassis it would be pointless just to make it available just with one six-cylinder engine. If there is a RWD chassis and the ability to bolt in a long six-cylinder, they'd fit it with a large range of engines from 1.5 litres up to the 3 litre six, and sell it as a 2 Series coupé, just as they do now. If they base the 2 coupé on the foreshortened 3er platform, then so much the better.

If I have any concern it's that the next 2er coupé will end up bigger, heavier and more expensive, which is the way of things and has been for nearly 60 years.

[Kevinduma]

Originally Posted by ScottAndrew

If BMW makes a rear-drive 2er chassis it would be pointless just to make it available just with one six-cylinder engine. If there is a RWD chassis and the ability to bolt in a long six-cylinder, they'd fit it with a large range of engines from 1.5 litres up to the 3 litre six, and sell it as a 2 Series coupé, just as they do now. If they base the 2 coupé on the foreshortened 3er platform, then so much the better.

If I have any concern it's that the next 2er coupé will end up bigger, heavier and more expensive, which is the way of things and has been for nearly 60 years.

I get what you're saying, but there is rumors the non M 2 series would be getting two variations of the 4 cylinder just as the X2 with the 28i and m35i, to how true this might be I do not know.

[Kevinduma]

Originally Posted by Joe240

It may not be a huge concern though seeing as they’re pushing the 2.0 to 300hp in the x2 m35i

Eh, you drive a 240i so would you consider it if they dropped it to the m35i 4 cylinder? I've always felt the m2**i had an edge over the competition, or else the S3 and A class 35 AMG have the same output, so 300 hp from a 4 cylinder is not that special. Plus I don't know how accepting consumers would be with that switch ie. Porsche Cayman 718.

[Joe240]

Originally Posted by Kevinduma

Eh, you drive a 240i so would you consider it if they dropped it to the m35i 4 cylinder? I've always felt the m2**i had an edge over the competition, or else the S3 and A class 35 AMG have the same output, so 300 hp from a 4 cylinder is not that special. Plus I don't know how accepting consumers would be with that switch ie. Porsche Cayman 718.

I drive my wife’s ‘17 x1 xDrive on occasion (like today) and for what it is, it’s not a bad little motor. We get ~35 mpg cruising at 65mph to and from work with a decent little getup and go. Add 80+ hp and rwd platform (basically 230i with some mods) and you’d have a fun little car. Also consider that if it’s 300hp in the x2, it’d most likely be tuned a little more for a smaller coupe, let’s say 320-330hp. That’s right there next to the m235i numbers from a 4 cyl. Plus we all know that’d be a minimum output guaranteed as Bmw rates their engines, not a best case scenario like American manufacturers rate their motors.

[MarkDemma]

I'm going to say something shocking here ... if the next gen 2 coupe won't offer manual or an I6, I'd really just prefer it go all the way and be a pure electric at that point.

I kinda figured that my 2018 M240i would be the last car I owned with a manual transmission. I tend to keep cars a while and by the time I'm ready to buy again, if I'm not shifting my gears anymore, just going pure electric just makes more sense to me.

I know, blasphemy, right?

[snaketh]

Originally Posted by MarkDemma

I'm going to say something shocking here ... if the next gen 2 coupe won't offer manual or an I6, I'd really just prefer it go all the way and be a pure electric at that point.

I kinda figured that my 2018 M240i would be the last car I owned with a manual transmission. I tend to keep cars a while and by the time I'm ready to buy again, if I'm not shifting my gears anymore, just going pure electric just makes more sense to me.

I know, blasphemy, right?

It makes sense if you don't care about driving dynamics. I borrowed a model 3 for a weekend and I spent a good chunk of time on back roads. EVs are too heavy to have fun with like the 2er.

[morphomeman]

EV batteries are constantly being improved, especially in their power/weight ratio. Internal combustion will be as up-to-date in ten years as The Wall. By that time, I won't be driving.

[ScottAndrew]

Originally Posted by morphomeman

EV batteries are constantly being improved, especially in their power/weight ratio. Internal combustion will be as up-to-date in ten years as The Wall. By that time, I won't be driving.

Maybe not a great comparison . And whilst ICE will be passé in the more fragrant parts of highly developed California or southern Norway, it will still be the dominant mode of power everywhere else for a long time after. The tipping point won't be the cheap availability of explosive acceleration power favoured by a tiny handful of self-selecting male enthusiasts, but the sufficient breadth and utility of the charging infrastructure.

[Lew Carrum]

Are manual gearbox 240/340/440 models available in the US, they have been extinct in Britain since mid 2018?

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by Lew Carrum

Are manual gearbox 240/340/440 models available in the US, they have been extinct in Britain since mid 2018?

Still available in Canada and the US on the F22 RWD cars and any leftover F3x 340/440 including on AWD and RWD models in Canada, but the same as the rest of the world in not having it on the G2x 340/440.

[snaketh]

Originally Posted by Lew Carrum

Are manual gearbox 240/340/440 models available in the US, they have been extinct in Britain since mid 2018?

On bmw UK site it doesn't even let me build a M240. Maybe my browser is messed up.

[ScottAndrew]

Originally Posted by snaketh

On bmw UK site it doesn't even let me build a M240. Maybe my browser is messed up.

BMW UK launched a new configurator on Jan 1. As expected for almost all modern software, it's incomplete, buggy, prone to crashing and worse than the previous one. So no wonder it's missing major parts. The M240i is still available, but to speck it you have to do it the old fashioned way, with a brochure and a calculator.