05:15AM - 20.01.'14
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News Source: autoblog.com
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We know a number of BMW owners who reside in the Munich brand's core demographic – upper-five- and six-figure professionals who like to keep their automotive brand credentials as highly respected among their peers as their alma maters or the letters after their names. Before heading to Las Vegas to drive the new M235i, we asked four of those owners, "What did you think of the E30 3 Series?" Although phrased differently, every one of them had the same answer: "What's that?" You can counter that we just happened to query a tiny and ignorant sample size, and it's possible that you're right. Nevertheless, in every case,we were speaking to BMW's core demographic, the increasing legion of buyers who have fostered another year of record growth and are responsible for BMW retaining its global luxury title for nine straight years. Question that, and we'll refer you to BMW's marketing department, its several hundred PowerPoint slides and several thousand pages of research that prove the point. That second-generation E30 3 Series built a name, a brand and an entire segment by defining BMW-ness as superlative driving dynamics meets luxury – shortened to the phrase, "The Ultimate Driving Machine." Thirty years later, just being a part of BMW-ness and luxury is enough for the majority of buyers. The superlative handling, that's optional, and 150 hairy guys meet every Tuesday to keep the old religion going, light torches, sing dirges to the siren long gone and bang on their keyboards about the apostasies of modern buyers. The 2 Series is like an offering to them, akin to the philosophy of the 1 Series M in that it's all about restoring to the lineup a model that has light, fun, rear-wheel-drive handling as its core principle. This is the car that a hostage negotiator drives into that Tuesday-night meeting to tell those hairy dudes, "Here you go, we gave you what you wanted. So put the torches out, we have electricity now. And step away from the forums, please." Of course it isn't everything they wanted. But it's pretty close, and it's rather good. Actually, BMW went all the way back to the 1968 2002ti to source the inspiration for the M235i during the pre-drive presentation. It's better to take that as reminiscing about the return of the "2" moniker, not a return to the era-ago lightness of pre-power everything, pre-airbag, pre-five-star crash test. The size of the 2 Series hasn't changed dramatically from that of the 1 Series it replaces, but in combination with the large number of detailing changes, there's a lot of daylight between the visual perception of the 1 and the 2. Compared to the 1 Series Coupe, the 2 is 3.8 inches longer, 1.3 inches wider, with a wheelbase that is 1.2 inches longer boasting tracks widened by 1.6 inches in front and back. The 2 Series is much more impressive looking, however, having been handed over to a group of designers with chisels who took a day off from working their usual marble. The headlight edges have been sharpened at both ends, relinquishing the blunt inner and drooping outer edges of the 1 Series lamps. The four-eyed face is centered around a wider kidney grille, pushed forward and highlighted by the sculpted hood. The grille also sits above a redesigned bumper with sharper edging and chiseled intakes. That bumper is 'roided up on the M235i, the fog lights in the outboard intakes on the standard car disappearing to make way for more air and Air Curtains that reduce turbulence over the front wheels. Multi-dimensional shoulder detailing down the sides add texture to the body then extend over the trailing lip of the decklid to enhance the impression of width in the back. At the bottom, more crisp lines at the edges of the rear bumpers mimic the intake edges at the front. The extra girth and longer wheelbase grace the 2 Series with a little more headroom inside for front passengers and a little more legroom for back passengers. There's plenty of room in the forward cabin for all but NBA centers. The back seats are everything you can reasonably expect them to be: perfect for small humans, decent for the slight of frame, doable when need be for a standard American. When things get to the point, an easy-entry feature gets the front seats to slide all the way forward with the touch of a button. Trunk capacity also gets a bump, going from 13 cubic feet to 13.8 cubic feet. Those might not sound like big numbers, but it's a nice trunk for a little car. The standard rear seatbacks fold 60:40, but you can order them in a 40:20:40 folding configuration. Put them down and the two people in front can carry enough gear for three or four people. |
