Photo: Original image by autoevolution
Chris Harris might not’ve been amongst the first people that got to test drive the new BMW M235i but, in the end, he’s the one that came up on top. That’s because BMW got him a special car for reviewing purposes.
When you’re the auto industry’s next playboy, you get to be treated like this, we suppose. The man got himself a manual M235i fitted with M Performance parts worth of 9,522 British Pounds. That’s right people, $15,944 worth of added bits and pieces. Some people don’t spend that much on their cars, let alone optionals.
Actually, looking over the list of added parts, we are really struggling to find a part missing from the catalogue. He got the M Performance brakes, front lip, side sills, rear spoiler, rear diffuser, mirror caps, kidney grilles, steering wheel, interior trims, limited-slip differential, sport exhaust and even the stripes on the sides. Everything but the wheels were included in the mix.
So, he’s driving around in a manual 2 Series coupe with a limited-slip differential that has to deal with 326 HP and 332 lb-ft (450 Nm) of torque, in the wet British weather. What could his thoughts on the car be? We wonder...
Well, according to his own article, the car is actually a blast to drive (what a surprise, huh?). Thanks to the manual box, you can do basically whatever you like with it, control not being an issue. What is an issue is the ultra grippy chassis setup.
If you want to skid this beauty, you have to push it hard. Having the LSD on will help but you’ll still have to work to get the rear end slipping around. The new exhaust is a bit louder but other than that, he doesn’t see any major advantage for it, to justify its price tag. The same goes for the brakes, that even they look good, don’t show a big improvement over the stock ones that were already impressive.
Bottom line, Chris is really wondering just how good could the new M4 be if this, a non-M car, does its job so well. We guess we’ll have to wait for his take on that car too.
Actually, looking over the list of added parts, we are really struggling to find a part missing from the catalogue. He got the M Performance brakes, front lip, side sills, rear spoiler, rear diffuser, mirror caps, kidney grilles, steering wheel, interior trims, limited-slip differential, sport exhaust and even the stripes on the sides. Everything but the wheels were included in the mix.
So, he’s driving around in a manual 2 Series coupe with a limited-slip differential that has to deal with 326 HP and 332 lb-ft (450 Nm) of torque, in the wet British weather. What could his thoughts on the car be? We wonder...
Well, according to his own article, the car is actually a blast to drive (what a surprise, huh?). Thanks to the manual box, you can do basically whatever you like with it, control not being an issue. What is an issue is the ultra grippy chassis setup.
If you want to skid this beauty, you have to push it hard. Having the LSD on will help but you’ll still have to work to get the rear end slipping around. The new exhaust is a bit louder but other than that, he doesn’t see any major advantage for it, to justify its price tag. The same goes for the brakes, that even they look good, don’t show a big improvement over the stock ones that were already impressive.
Bottom line, Chris is really wondering just how good could the new M4 be if this, a non-M car, does its job so well. We guess we’ll have to wait for his take on that car too.
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