Derekh929
Chief Engineer
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- Drives
- F56 JCW & Vintage MTB
First up these initial opinions of mine are not about styling colour, all about how I see it as a potential replacement for my AMG C63s Coupe.
First up the guy I know at dealer went through all the new tech with me and have to say looks really good and very intuitive to use, and far more as standard on car know.
Tech far better and easier to use than the merc, but new A45 meant to be better so can’t compare new versions.
Adjusted the seat and got comfortable straight away , seat went low how I like it and only needed a few tweaks with steering wheel position, I think most people of all sizes will find great Driving position in the standard seats that look good, but base side bolsters very shallow.
Start up sounded ok and guy set up M1 on sport + for response, sport for suspension and all else sport, gear selector felt great and so easy to use, all be it a lot of buttons round it and small so was hard for me to see what they were all for.
It’s so easy to drive and get away, first thing I noticed was inside with windows closed was how little road noise there was from tyres, some may not like that one bit, but our mini as great as it is the tyre noise I’d intrusive at times on poor roads, the engine was also too quite though, and could be quieter still pressing the off button.
Well pick up son and his girlfriend and headed for the open roads, through some 30mph very poor town roads and in comfort it was equally as good as merc and glided over most without fuss or having to cringe and wait for any thuds or bangs, so I thought good time to try M1 with sport suspension, well pleased to say likewise firmer slightly but still very complaint and fine for me and all passengers.
Then we got out on som B roads so opened her up to see what it’s got, well son said to girlfriend see why I want an M235i know for the sound, I thought it sounded good out of box as revs built and IMHO a better sound than F80 for me, and louder would be better, but the merc with new filters not as good either.
gearing having driven a few ZF boxes in past it does the job very well, but possibly too well as very smooth and not the thud mechanism with DCT with my limited drives in old F80, even the MCT in merc felt more of an event.
But to live with as daily and weekend fun I think it may well be good balance, also to aide loss of traction on gear changes, the paddles were good longer, but felt a little movement on then better solid, but the cabin looks great and works great.
Well let’s modulate that switch and off we go on some great twisty roads , first up for the extra dimensions car felt smaller than merc to drive, and it was so smooth and good steering input to let me know where my wheels were going.
The turn in was way better than the merc and body control very good flat, and very little flex on load, the suspension I felt very compliant and allowed the car to gain the grip needed to allow confidence the traction was there to push on a bit faster. So that we did, crisp turn in followed by good body control that responded very well to quickly changing directions without unsettling the rear.
Traction streets ahead of f80 for me, and may be arguments for not needed AWD, but it was warn and sunny day with some PS4’s so plenty of grip, it sounded good up and down the gears and so easy to drive, and enjoyable place to put it through its paces but seat base bolsters I felt need more support, but hey could live with that.
So power delivery was very liner and smooth, some just won’t like that , but hey it build speed very fast although may not felt as fast as merc due to engine noise I would say it’s a good bit faster and handling a fair bit better and you could push on poor bumping roads without the dreaded unsettling of poor sprung cars, some may prefer that I don’t I want to get power down and shoot out of a corner.
so for me, to sum it up, was I as excited as when I drove the merc no, my son was liking the sounds and it’s performance for sure and gave it a 8 out of 10, my wife said it drew looks more than merc, when static but merc drew looks on start up.
for me the car is a contender for my needs , would make a great daily driver so easy to live with and drive, I would best describe coming from rawer R56 mini to F56 JCW we missed the rawness of the old one but grew to appreciate how good the new one was in all areas with the edges taken off in a good way for some and bad for others.
I thought the car hid its weight excellently and I feel you could push on with the extra grip far more than with F80 IMHO a good driver In both cars, and the New car would be way out there , that’s just my opinion.
I thoroughly enjoyed my drive, and what the car brought to the table and with another test drive this car when pushed on could start to feel I bit more special, I think for long comfortable road trips daily use, then some weekend fun it may well tick a lot of boxes.
So what’s the elephant in the room? Well for some the lack of rawness, for others it’s to good at what it does, and it may be a bit quite, but I was happy with the sound, but the big one is do you need the AWD option for all year round, that’s the big one I’m not a 100% on and would need this out on wet roads to see what traction there is but it seems far better.
Well done BMW engineers I think for some the balance will be perfect I’m nearly at that position I would say 8.5 out of 10 for me and I look forward to spending more time in one to explore what it has to offer, before I decide and deals to vastly improve to even dream of getting into one.
Any questions feel free to ask had it all afternoon had 4 in the car so possibly out yourself even better.
First up the guy I know at dealer went through all the new tech with me and have to say looks really good and very intuitive to use, and far more as standard on car know.
Tech far better and easier to use than the merc, but new A45 meant to be better so can’t compare new versions.
Adjusted the seat and got comfortable straight away , seat went low how I like it and only needed a few tweaks with steering wheel position, I think most people of all sizes will find great Driving position in the standard seats that look good, but base side bolsters very shallow.
Start up sounded ok and guy set up M1 on sport + for response, sport for suspension and all else sport, gear selector felt great and so easy to use, all be it a lot of buttons round it and small so was hard for me to see what they were all for.
It’s so easy to drive and get away, first thing I noticed was inside with windows closed was how little road noise there was from tyres, some may not like that one bit, but our mini as great as it is the tyre noise I’d intrusive at times on poor roads, the engine was also too quite though, and could be quieter still pressing the off button.
Well pick up son and his girlfriend and headed for the open roads, through some 30mph very poor town roads and in comfort it was equally as good as merc and glided over most without fuss or having to cringe and wait for any thuds or bangs, so I thought good time to try M1 with sport suspension, well pleased to say likewise firmer slightly but still very complaint and fine for me and all passengers.
Then we got out on som B roads so opened her up to see what it’s got, well son said to girlfriend see why I want an M235i know for the sound, I thought it sounded good out of box as revs built and IMHO a better sound than F80 for me, and louder would be better, but the merc with new filters not as good either.
gearing having driven a few ZF boxes in past it does the job very well, but possibly too well as very smooth and not the thud mechanism with DCT with my limited drives in old F80, even the MCT in merc felt more of an event.
But to live with as daily and weekend fun I think it may well be good balance, also to aide loss of traction on gear changes, the paddles were good longer, but felt a little movement on then better solid, but the cabin looks great and works great.
Well let’s modulate that switch and off we go on some great twisty roads , first up for the extra dimensions car felt smaller than merc to drive, and it was so smooth and good steering input to let me know where my wheels were going.
The turn in was way better than the merc and body control very good flat, and very little flex on load, the suspension I felt very compliant and allowed the car to gain the grip needed to allow confidence the traction was there to push on a bit faster. So that we did, crisp turn in followed by good body control that responded very well to quickly changing directions without unsettling the rear.
Traction streets ahead of f80 for me, and may be arguments for not needed AWD, but it was warn and sunny day with some PS4’s so plenty of grip, it sounded good up and down the gears and so easy to drive, and enjoyable place to put it through its paces but seat base bolsters I felt need more support, but hey could live with that.
So power delivery was very liner and smooth, some just won’t like that , but hey it build speed very fast although may not felt as fast as merc due to engine noise I would say it’s a good bit faster and handling a fair bit better and you could push on poor bumping roads without the dreaded unsettling of poor sprung cars, some may prefer that I don’t I want to get power down and shoot out of a corner.
so for me, to sum it up, was I as excited as when I drove the merc no, my son was liking the sounds and it’s performance for sure and gave it a 8 out of 10, my wife said it drew looks more than merc, when static but merc drew looks on start up.
for me the car is a contender for my needs , would make a great daily driver so easy to live with and drive, I would best describe coming from rawer R56 mini to F56 JCW we missed the rawness of the old one but grew to appreciate how good the new one was in all areas with the edges taken off in a good way for some and bad for others.
I thought the car hid its weight excellently and I feel you could push on with the extra grip far more than with F80 IMHO a good driver In both cars, and the New car would be way out there , that’s just my opinion.
I thoroughly enjoyed my drive, and what the car brought to the table and with another test drive this car when pushed on could start to feel I bit more special, I think for long comfortable road trips daily use, then some weekend fun it may well tick a lot of boxes.
So what’s the elephant in the room? Well for some the lack of rawness, for others it’s to good at what it does, and it may be a bit quite, but I was happy with the sound, but the big one is do you need the AWD option for all year round, that’s the big one I’m not a 100% on and would need this out on wet roads to see what traction there is but it seems far better.
Well done BMW engineers I think for some the balance will be perfect I’m nearly at that position I would say 8.5 out of 10 for me and I look forward to spending more time in one to explore what it has to offer, before I decide and deals to vastly improve to even dream of getting into one.
Any questions feel free to ask had it all afternoon had 4 in the car so possibly out yourself even better.
