When you think of cars that appreciate in value they typically are cars that started out as ultra-expensive or they were so rare to see and find that that willing to buy one paid much more than the sticker price that was presented at the time the car was built. The BMW 1M Coupe was one such car. With only 740 units sold in North America because this car came with a very high price tag but came in such fanfare that it had to go up in price after only three years as those who missed out the first time started buying them for more the second time around.
Because BMW stopped making the 1M Couple after only three years what have they brought us to be the successor to this car? The M235i is the car that has taken over the spot the 1M occupied for such a short period of time and while there is no telling if this car will appreciate in the same way as the 1M, it’s a great little sports coupe to drive that takes advantage of the small size and the xDrive AWD system that is a great entry level power player in the lineup that already has a large variety of great sports coupes.
To start with the power, the M235i shows up with a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine that makes 320 horsepower and 330 lb.-ft. of torque. This is more than enough power to get this beautiful little speedster going and let it make some noise in other areas of performance. With the xDrive in place the car comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission in order to give you a great drive with the full all wheel performance that is loved in many other BMW models.
Reaching sixty mph takes only 4.6 seconds in this car but the real fun is when you take this car out for a drive and find some great curves and turns to challenge the suspension and steering of the car. This little beauty offers selectable drive modes in order to make the drive even better. When the Sport and Sport+ modes are chose the throttle is more responsive, the sift points are more aggressive and the adaptive M suspension becomes firmer giving the entire drive a bit more aggression and allowing you to have more traction leeway to throw the car in and out of curves in order to make the drive more active. These settings also make the steering heavier which allows you to feel the steer more than you do in a Normal mode.
From the inside, as you would expect, there can be a wide range of great luxury features for you to enjoy in your M235i. The infotainment system has been considered one of the best in the automotive world and it includes navigation and traffic information. An upgraded Harmon/Kardon sound system is also in place in order to help give you noises you might want to hear when it’s time to not listen to the engine and exhaust.
The interior also packs in heated seats, a heated steering wheel, a rearview camera, parking distance control, and a great driver assistance plus package which is capable of reading speed limit sings and let you know if you are too close to the car in front of you. Add in the beefier M-Sport brakes, a moonroof, dual zone automatic climate controls, an auto start/stop in the engine and rain sensing windshield wipers. If these features aren’t enough to get you excited about the M235i as it adds all this to the awesome driving performance I don’t know what will.
This car starts at $46,445 but can easily reach well over $50,000 with the addition of all the features and equipment. Overall this little coupe makes for a very livable car to enjoy. You can take it for a drive and enjoy the countryside or you can turn this car into a mobile office that lets you get things done on the road. As an attractive and small offering from BMW the M235i gives you a model that will easily make a lot of friends and should sell much better than the 1M ever did. Even though the 1M has gotten more expensive with age the M235i is not expected to do the same, but as it comes into its own and we see how much fun can be had in one of these cars it just might surprise you when it’s time to trade or sell it for a new model.
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