BMW – Page 2 – Cars Break

BMW i3: A bit too much future

When you first get in the car you really don’t know where to begin. Even as an experienced BMW pilot I had to fish around for a few minutes to find the engine ‘start’ button much less a hole where you insert and turn a standard key. The dashboard is funky to say the least, never before have I seen a beautiful wooden crevice where you could store a handful of smart phones or a bag of rice in the middle of a dashboard.

Performance is adequate. It’s about like a 4 cyl camry or accord – enough power to get out of it’s own way but that’s about it. It has a nice electronic whirr sound when you get going which is neat. I got the car up to about 90 mph and it still felt stable. However, at low speeds do not try to hot rod around a corner as a the somewhat tall body and very skinny tires make you feel like you’ll roll the thing.

I kind of like the shifter, you twist it with an indicator light telling you whether you’re about to go forward or backward. Cabin feels roomy enough.

At $45k it’s priced about where you’d expect a small EV BMW to come in, but the biggest limiting factor is range. 180 miles even with the gas range extender isn’t going to sell many people, including me. Guess I’ll wait for the Tesla 3 like everyone else.

BMW-i3-2014-australia-(25)

2015 M235i: The Not-So-Little Engine That Can

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.

2014 BMW 328d: Holy Gas Mileage Batman

Love the torque – an expected opening remark. Some surprisingly don’t love the torque. I took my wife for a ride and the acceleration about did her stomach in.

328d

What BMW enthusiasts will notice about this 3-series diesel is that it’s not a 335d. I think BMW chose to make this a 4-cylinder car to appeal to mileage nazis. And that it does. With an EPA-claimed 45mpg the 328d is about as fuel-efficient as they come without losing a wheel or adding an electric motor. That mpg number bumps up maximum range to 575 miles!

Throttle response is pretty sloshy down low and not much really happens when you put the car into “sport” mode. Might do away with that feature altogether as shift points are varying and low almost all of the time. The closest I ever got to the 5.5k rpm redline was just a hair under 5000.

Some of the niceties are standard with all the new 3 series: 8-speed auto, standard radio is pretty good with dual subwoofers standard, 50-50 weight distribution, comfortable seats, and outstanding brakes. F30 is the name of this chassis and since its debut in 2012 they’ve switched over to electric steering on all these compact sedans. They say it was for the ladies, I say yuck. Yes, it’s effortless to steer, but it’s also feedback-less and kind of feels like you’re behind the wheel of a minivan. I much prefer my 2011 E90’s hydraulic and heavy, albeit full-of-feel maneuvering.