derBayerische July /August 2022 - 37

T H E
the Plymouth Superbird Roadrunner
and the Dodge Charger Daytona for
the same reason - poor sales. It was
the efforts of BMW NA that made a
permanent place in the US market for
the BMW M Series. However, the E36
M3 that came to the US was different
from the European version. While
both versions had the BMW's famous
naturally aspirated in-line six-cylinder
engine, the European version had
the VANOS system, which produced
286 horsepower - with later versions
producing 321 horsepower. The U.S
versions produced 240 horsepower.
In addition, the European versions
featured a six-speed manual shifter,
while the U.S. customers had a
choice between the five-speed
manual or five-speed automatic
transmission.
Having the nearly identical
exterior and interior designs as the
European versions, with the reduced
horsepower in the North American
E36 M3 achieved the " Yin & Yang "
that was missing from the E30.
Since that time, the performance
war between BMW M,
Mercedes AMG, and Audi RS has
produced a number of great street
legal sport vehicles that focused on
realizing the performance potential
of the vehicles at the expense of
everything else. While I very much
enjoy every BMW M Series vehicle
(see the Sept/Oct 2019 dB F22/F23
M2 article) the high total ownership
costs prevent me from purchasing
one. It's the only BMW vehicle that I
would lease, rather than buy.
However, as BMW decided to
expand their market appeal to
capture CamCord and Crossover
SUV intenders, the " base " models
began featuring the proven and reliable
TwinPower Turbo four-cylinder
engine and a softened handling
setup. In the BMW product line-up,
this created a large gap between
" entry level " and M. Being generous
to the BMW AG Product Planning
and Marketing groups, perhaps
some remembered the success of
the North American E36 M3
which led to the creation of the
July I August
Y I N
A N D
T H E
Y A N G
their Spartanburg and Thermal test
track locations. There is something
about having a " Yin & Yang " sports
sedan which has 80% of the Mvehicle's
performance, performs
perfectly as a daily driver, and has
only 60% of the M-vehicle's lifecycle
costs; it puts a smile on any car
enthusiast's face.
When Klaus Frolich, BMW AG
■ Showing off the Pearl White paint.
" M Performance Editions. "
Launched in 2014, the M
Performance Editions were immediately
derided by the know-nothing,
" Me like car, me drive fast " auto
critics; all loudly declaring that the
" M " in those models stood for
" Marketing " not " Motorsport. Those
" critics " all were proven wrong.
Using the new F22 2 Series,
BMW boldly positioned the M235i as
■ It's going to be a good day.
a direct spiritual descendant of the
famed 2002. Modifying the proven
F20 chassis (the one used for the
2008 1 Series), BMW was determined
to show the car enthusiast that
the M Performance Editions were not
simply " base " BMWs festooned with
M badging. BMW featured the M235i
at both the regular BMW Ultimate
Driving Experience tours as well as
the Enthusiast Driving Experiences at
Member of the Management Board for
Development announced that the G42
2 Series coupe would be rear-wheel
drive, the car-enthusiast cheers were
heard around the world. There had to
be quite a battle within the BMW
Management Board - if you review
the BMW Global website, you'll see
that all other 2 Series models (including
the minivan - we're not kidding)
are front-wheel drive. To make the
business case close, the G42 2 Series
is built on the proven and versatile
CLAR platform with 50:50 weight
distribution, sharing many mechanical
components and engine with G20
3 Series and G22 4 Series. For that
reason alone, we were very eager to
evaluate the new 2 Series.
As you approach the 2022
M240i, you'll notice that the exterior
design is an homage to the Neue
Klasse, as well as to the E30, E32,
E36, E46, F20, and F22. The single
headlights are from the Neue Klasse.
The door handles are from the E30,
E32, and E36. The upright frontend
and small grills are from the E46 and
F20. The hood " power bulge " is from
the F87 M2. You can see lines and
curves from the F20 and F22. The
black rocker panels, exclusive to the
M240i, give the vehicle a sleek, " coke
bottle " look. And while the Alpine
White color of our test vehicle is nice,
it lacks the depth to accentuate
the M240i's sleek, seductive, and
passively aggressive exterior design.
Selecting one of the metallic color
options quickly corrects this.
Once lagging behind both Audi
and Mercedes in terms of interior
design, the 2022 M240i's interior is
yet another example of BMW now
surpassing both competitors.
Ergonomically designed with tactile37
derBayerische July /August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of derBayerische July /August 2022
