0 to 100km/h sprint time of 4.99 seconds puts M235 ahead of S3 and AMG CLA 35.
The BMW M235 Gran Coupe, just like its sibling the M235 Hatch, finds itself in a proper high-performance war.
The M235 Hatch was up against the VW Golf R, and here the M235 Gran Coupe gets into it with the Audi S3 Sedan and Mercedes-AMG CLA 35.
Real-life gaming
With an entirely renewed drive portfolio, extensively enhanced suspension technology and innovative systems for automated driving and parking, the M235 Gran Coupe is the newest of the trio, and it shows. I mean with the latest BMW Operating System 9 you even get in-car gaming. Why game when you can rather drive? And that’s what I did.
Standard features on the M235 Gran Coupe include directly controlled wheel slip limitation, and an integrated braking system. The Citizen Motoring’s test car was further fitted with M Sport package that includes Adaptive M suspension that is 8mm lower than standard, a sports steering and optional 19-inch alloy wheels and M Sport brake system. It looked the part and had the M sport performance goodies to match.
The car is firm as you would expect, but the handling is razor sharp for what is in essence a compact family car with a large boot. The newly designed seats, and in our case the M sports seat provided the support needed when tackling corners at pace. BMW xDrive plays a big part here as much as it does in getting the power down when you want to get off the line.
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Breaking five-second barrier
Talking of which and moving away from the corners and getting to the straight-line performance numbers, the BMW M235 Gran Coupe runs a 221kW/400Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine. The benchmark 0-100km/h time claimed by BMW is 4.9 seconds. We recorded a 0-100km/h time of 4.99 seconds at the Gerotek test facility.
The M235 Gran Coupe is fast, and these numbers put the BMW top of the compact sedan performance pile. Sure there is a lot more to the car than just going fast, but this we have already covered in detail a few months ago.
To wrap up, I get the feeling that if you are lucky enough to be shopping in this league, you will more than likely choose one of these cars based on your badge loyalty. An Audi man won’t buy a BMW or a Mercedes-AMG, and I get that, but in my road test world, I would take the BMW M235 Gran Coupe.
BMW M235 Gran Coupe test results
