BMW 4 Series Review

The Go

We’re wondering through the city right now - knowing that you’re in this coupe makes you feel slick. A cruise around town in a 4 Series does have a bit of a special flavor.

While this is pleasant, you shouldn’t worry about forgetting the impression - the turn signal on the 4 Series’ door mirror pokes you in the eye when it’s on, so you won’t mistake it for anything else.

The BMW 4 Series owns a lot to its all-adaptive tech side. Don’t refrain yourself from ordering the adaptive suspension and the eight-speed automatic, they do wonders during urban drives.

Whether you’re willing to forget about everything around or, on the contrary, you’re looking for a bit of adrenaline, it can deliver. The car isn’t the kind you can use to slide around like a fish in a mountain river, but it gets along fine.

Now you’ll be able to make better friends with the navigation. That’s because that larger iDrive controller allows you to write on it. You can draw the first letter of a destination with your finger. We’ve already seen this on models like the Audi A7, but it’s a welcome addition.

The city is well behind at the moment and the BMW 4 Series is making a case for itself. You’ll only need a few miles to notice that the 4 Series feels a bit sharper than the sedan.

We’d advise you to dig into the list of optional extras once again. Go for the active M Sport suspension. This will keep the car pretty flat through the bends. In Comfort mode, it will filter out most of the road’s bad behavior.

You should also opt for the Variable Sports Steering. This is far from perfect, but it does top the standard system. The setup does allow the driver to position the car with enough precision, but more feedback would be welcome. The added weight of the steering is there to trick you into believing it’s a sharp tool, but this is just a trick.

Once again, we’ll have to talk optionals and recommend the ZF eight-speed automatic. We must’ve said this a million times in our Audi, Bentley, BMW, Land Rover and Jaguar tests, but it’s the truth. Whether it’s crisp sporty shifts or seamless comfy transitions you’re looking for, this thing delivers.

Bully the 4 Series into a corner and you’ll notice its massive levels of grip. You’ll need to fight in order to convince the back end to play games. Keep in mind that the weight distribution sits somewhere around the ideal 50:50 value.

This is where you can switch from Sport to Sport Plus mode, which loosens up the electronics a bit. However, BMW’s electronic nannies can show an unpredictable behavior at times. We’ve had consecutive runs showing different interventions and this can be confusing.

However, once you get the back out, there’s a really nice linear transition to oversteer. The balance of the chassis stands out and the car wants to come back in line.

However, the 4 Series is much closer to a GT experience than to a proper go-fast one. Each bit of the car responds well. However, the overall driving impression isn’t all that sharp. This has become a common issue with modern BMWs, but you'll be more bothered when feeling it on a coupe. Nevertheless, you’ll only experience this when going past eight tenths.

As for the engine, we’d recommend staying somewhere in the mid-range, whether you’re looking for a petrol or a diesel. Some Americans have complained about not receiving the entry-level units from Europe. Well, these don’t quite fit the car, so US consumers shouldn’t bother asking for them.

For example, the 184 HP oil burner on the 420d offers decent pulling power, but it struggles to move the rear end through the bends. And while its unrefined nature could be neglected on the 320d, it really doesn’t suit a coupe.

We wouldn’t necessarily climb to high either. We’re talking about the 435i here. This delivers astounding performance - it’s not that far off from an old M3. However, the salt and pepper are missing. The BMW 4 Series doesn’t deliver a driving experience that’s all that engaging. In this case, perhaps there’s no point in having all that firepower.

As for the part with the traction, BMW has expanded the reach of its xDrive all-wheel drive system. This is done in an effort to take some of those Audi quattro customers away from Ingolstadt. The good news is that, unlike Audi’s quattro and Mercedes’ 4Matic, xDrive still lets you have some good times while keeping you safe.

Some of the aforementioned emotional gap has been intentionally placed there. That’s because you could probably solve the issue by dipping into BMW’s 4 Series Coupe M Performance Parts. These come as retrofit goodies. The tech upgrades range from a power kit and exhaust works to a limited slip diff, suspension, brakes and wheels.

Alas, we didn’t to play with these goodies. However, their presence leads us to believe that there won’t be an M Performance 4 Series model. That’s a pity, because, for example, the M135i is one of the best BMWs we’ve driven.