Pigmy Rocketship. This car officially has a new name. It’s BMW everclear, distilled and crushed up into a powder, snorted through a $10 bill, or taken orally via capsules, your choice. This car really is everything fun about BMW wrapped up in the (surprisingly) most affordable car they sell.
I will admit the badging goes way too far. I wish they would just call it the M2 and be done, but for some reason in Munich if it’s not a real M car, they need to compensate with “this car brought to you by the letter M” and slap in every corner possible. Hubs, steering wheel, front, back, doors, seats, everything has an M on it. Even more M’s than an . . . M car. But 4.3 to 60 mph makes you forget all that. For less than $45k.
And look how practical! You can park it anywhere, and it’ll get 32mpg on the freeway! Plus it looks WAY better than the old 1-series it replaces. That old dog was kinda fugly.
One interesting thing you can do with a 235i that you *can’t do with the other M cars is a brake-stand. I guess they weren’t as careful with the traction control system (of course switched off) on the 235i, but just put your foot 1/3 way down on the brake, hit the gas, and boom you’ve got a 2-tire fire. She’s real pretty in blue, too:
I drove the automatic with paddle shifters and although I’d really rather throw my own gears it was pretty responsive. Shifts aren’t lighting-quick 911 fast, but it’s enough. It’s as much as you can expect out of a true auto-trans and not a dual clutch setup.
If you don’t mind 2 doors and eety beety living space this is a great commuter or weekend track-day toy.
This is a test comment. And yes this car was awesome.
Test comment 2.