BMW 230i Coupe 2018 Review

Fast but not too furious

One day we'll all be driving homogenous blob cars — or rather they'll be driving us. In a lot of ways it will make life easier and we'll all have more time to ponder important things in life, like how to create clean, self-perpetuating power sources, ways to end world hunger, and alleviate the suffering of humankind.

But until that happens, I'm glad there's cars like the BMW 230i getting around.

The moment I pulled out of the BMW carpark and turned on the main road, I was hooked. Classic rear-drive propulsion, long snout and a responsive front-end make even basic actions just a little more satisfying. It's a nicely balanced car and the rear-drive layout delivers a more sophisticated experience than a front-drive car.

Guiding the BMW 230i Coupe through a roundabout for the first time was a good feeling. Guiding the car around comes naturally and it kindled an idea: "Let's find some fun roads and see if this car can dance!"

First thing's first though – the city test.

Around town the BMW 230i slices and dices like a wisened sashimi chef, easily flitting through commuter chaos with good throttle response and direct steering, solid brakes and lots of sensors that tell you if you're about to screw-up.

The eight-speed automatic is smooth and seamless in mind-numbingly slow traffic but quickly snaps down a gear when you gas it, after seeing an opening or choosing "the back way" to work.

Equipped with the optional Driver's Assistance Package ($1560), the BMW 230i adds adaptive LED headlights that can swivel and illuminate around corners, a parking assistant, but my favourite feature was the active cruise control with stop and go function. Simply put, it makes gridlock traffic a little less stressful, doing the going and stopping for you. In BMW terms it's a relatively affordable option too!

Metallic paint ($1547) I could live without and probably the glass sunroof ($2600) too, especially as they hike the price to $68,707, but there's a bunch of no-cost options that are more welcome than an ice cold soda water with a lemon twist on a sultry day.

Beyond the differently-styled V-spoke 18-inch alloy wheels and chrome line exterior highlights, this one ditches the cloth/Alcantara combo and is appointed with 'Dakota' leather upholstery, plus fine wood trim, a Harman-Kardon stereo and lumbar adjust for both front seats.

There's loads of standard features like a push-button igniton, keyless proximity-sensing door unlock, anti-dazzle inside and outside mirrors, parking sensors, digital radio tuner, speed limit information system and the list goes on. Suffice to say cruising around in this sleek Beemer works wonders for one's self-esteem.

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The good, the bad, and the open road

Rearward vision ain't great and clambering into the rear seats can involve a bit of twisting but hey, this is a coupe — get a 1 Series hatch if you need rear doors.

It's a comfortable car with great front seats — sports seats in the 230i are standard — and the satellite navigation is very, very good. I normally revert to Google Maps in most cars but with its own traffic update data and an awesomely clear screen with a high refresh rate, it works well.

The infotainment is generally excellent, the iDrive 6 controller works well and the menu hierarchy easy to understand. It's all rainbows and lollipops… except for one thing. There was a Bluetooth glitch that would boot me out of my quantum cosmology podcasts at least once (sometimes twice) per day.

I was using an iPhone 8 and the streaming audio would regularly decouple, but the telephony element never dropped out. It was annoying. When contacted about the problem, BMW Australia says it hasn't heard of this before and technicians are looking into it.

Now, getting away from the city for this intrepid writer involved a three-hour freeway cruise but even on tedious roads, cruise control set to 'barely legal', the BMW was an amicable partner.

Then, finally, faced with a gently curving coastal road, the BMW is in its element. It's like a German Shorthaired Pointer letting rip in a park – eager to sprint, to gulp down air and change direction for no other reason than the sheer thrill of rapid movement.

It starts with the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine, which pumps out a very healthy 185kW and 350Nm. Paired with an expertly-tuned eight-speed automatic ZF transmission, the car has wide breadth of capability.

On the twisting, turning seaside roads the BMW 230i can be surprisingly rapid. Point to point it's a lot of fun, full throttle resulting in a lot more thrust than expected. You won't feel like Tom Cruise in Top Gun but the experience is heightened thanks to a subtle growl from the exhaust as the revs rise.

The steering is direct, if a little solemn, and gives you millimetre control over your trajectory. Given that the BMW 2 Series is rear drive, the front end has a certain optimism to it that makes attacking apexes more rewarding than a front-drive Audi, by comparison.

BMW claims the car will rip to 100km/h from standstill in 5.6sec, which I reckon is about as likely as Barnaby Joyce becoming deputy prime minister of Australia again. There's a good level of speed to this Bavarian cruiser and occupants' bodies will feel subtle g-forces when the car blasts forward at full throttle, but the 1398kg coupe feels fleetest between 60 and 100km/h.

Overtaking? Easier than baiting dunderheads on social media and the way it punches out of corners mid-gear is exhilarating. That 350Nm from the turbo engine is a fine cohort in the slaying of apexes and the eight-speed auto modulates the power with zeal.

Petite tourer

After lots of touring up and down the coast, not all of it at breakneck speeds, the small BMW coupe proved a remarkably good conveyance for two adults and one child, with quiet, efficient operation while cruising.

Ride comfort wasn't too bad and its 390 litres of boot space offers a lot more room than I was expecting for a small coupe. Even getting a child's booster seat in the back was not a challenge and the one adult who ventured into the rear seat said it was generally comfortable, if lacking a bit of headroom. Indeed, this car is far more than a weekend getaway car.

The BMW 230i can get start to drink petrol rather greedily when rifling along coastal roads — windows down, Chillstep tunes on the stereo, naturally — but it's an efficient tourer on the straight and narrow. After a week in the saddle, around 1000km on the clock, the trip computer readout said I was using 6.7L/100km, which I reckon is very good. The claimed fuel consumption average is 5.9L/100km.

Cruising at 115km/h on the two-door BMW freeway was slurping down fuel at a rate of around 5.7L/100km and I managed to get around 650km from the first tank of fuel.

The 2.0-litre turbo-petrol is a lovely unit. Like a few other high-output 2.0-litre four-pot rigs, this one hits a sweet spot by blending efficiency and response. It bangs out similar stomp to an older V6 or inline six with fuel usage that was raise eyebrows – in a good way.

There's not too much to whinge about here. The BMW 230i's three-year/150,000km warranty could be improved and I'd like to see a four-year warranty like Lexus instead of maintaining the status quo with Audi and Mercedes-Benz. The Bluetooth issue was frustrating too but otherwise this particular BMW 2 Series Coupe was fun to drive, has half-decent practicality and although expensive it has a strong feature list.

How much is a 2018 BMW 230i?
Price: $63,000 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 185kW/350Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 134g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP