Quote:
Originally Posted by asiflicious
So I just got a 2018 230i XDrive as a loaner car. I'm the first person to drive it (literally has 35 miles on it) and honestly, I'm very disappointed. Nothing about the car feels special. I do like the size of the car, it's perfect in my opinion (the 1er is slightly too small, 3 series is slightly too big) and the grip from the xdrive is very good in PNW rain. The transmission is fucking amazing, lightning fast shifts. The 2 series also has a better dampened suspension and is way less jarring. But the steering is very vague, even in sport + mode, the steering wheel itself feels cheap, the leather feels cheaper than our cars do, and the overall fit and finish feels very budget oriented. I wish I got a rwd M240i so I could have a more apples to apples comparison but as it stands 135i>230i.
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I was given a 2017 230i loaner about 6 weeks ago, and also was able to test drive a 2017 6MT M240i, as well as an M2. The 230i and the M240i both have soft, roulette wheel type steering with virtually zero feedback to the driver. The M240i benefits from a much peppier engine, more responsive and powerful than the engine in the 135i (it's an S55 and makes more HP). The 6MT in the M240i was very good. I found the interior appointments of the M240i to be nicer than in my (now traded in) 2013 135i 6MT with a black leather interior.
I would not even consider buying a regular 2 series vehicle, any of them, if steering feedback were important to me, and it is.
I did ultimately put down a deposit on a stripped 6MT M2, and traded in my 135i on it. The EPS in the M2 is superior to that in the rest of the 2 series, however not as good as BMW hydraulic steering. Since I have other cars and since the 135i was no longer under any sort of warranty, I could not see continuing to drive it while waiting for the M2, since there was no reason to risk any number of multi-thousand dollar repairs on a car I will no longer drive after late March, in any event. I will just drive my Golf R for the balance of winter driving season. That car still has 1.5 years worth of warranty remaining.