BMW's are expensive to purchase and service but they give you a loaner when you drop your car off to have work done on it. Least they can do, right? Recently my buddy Blake dropped off his 2009 BMW 330i for some front end work and the loaner they gave him was this brand new M240i. Blake, being the wonderful friend that he is, stopped by my house on his way home, threw me the keys and said, "have fun".
And...much fun was had. The BMW M240i is one of the strongest performing, most fun automobiles, this side of a Ferrari 458, I've ever driven. Just like the 458, the M240I left me with the feeling that I was unable to fully experience everything the car was capable of. It feels...limitless. What's worse, its sheer greatness making me feel inadequate as a driver. Even if I had a race track or road course to really open it up on I doubt I could do the car any justice. This is quite an automobile and I would wholeheartedly recommend it were it not for one serious fatal flaw. I'll get to that in a moment.
The heart of the M240i lies under this innocuous engine cover; a 3.0 liter, twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder making 335 horsepower and 369-pound-feet of torque. Now, those are not herculean, out of this world specs but somehow this engine is able to yank this 3,500-pound little porker from 0-60 miles per hour in an astonishing 4.4 seconds. That tells me either the engine's power is underrated, for certain on paper, a power to weight ratio of 10:1 wouldn't warrant such neck straining performance, or the 8-speed automatic it has is just that good. Cars equipped with it are .2 of a second faster to 60 than cars with the optional six-speed manual. This wouldn't be the only car out there today that's faster with an automatic than a manual. Reason being today's high performance transmissions can out shift even the most fleet-footed of drivers.
Fast cars get boring real quick if that's the only thing they have going for them and the M240i has handling and braking prowess on par with its stellar engine. Although the steering lacks the tactile feel of BMW's of yore, the car feels completely unshakable - even over railroad crossings not to mention the pothole-pocked stretches of asphalt and concrete they call roads here in Cleveland. Then there's the track inspired front seats that coddle you so well you'll feel as though they were custom made for you. The BMW M240i also has the sickest sound system I've ever heard in a car.
About the only problem I had with the interior was the transmission gear selector. It's one thing that many cars today have electronic shifters but the shift pattern on this thing is counter-intuitive. Reverse is forward and park is up, down and around. Actually, I forget what it is but it's not something that's obvious to figure out. Had Blake not showed me how this thing worked I think I would have put the car into my basketball pole rather than backing it up.
So, is the M240i the new name for the "M2"? No. This car is a 2 series that BMW's Motorsports division has liberally breathed on. In fact, there's so much "M" in this thing that it all but negates any reason to spring for an M2 and blow $9,000 more. Why BMW would make a car that competes with something else they're selling is beyond me but I'll never own either so I don't care. Still, makes me wonder.
Now for the fatal flaw. It would seem that the BMW M240i has it all. Hellacious performance, comfort and...well. It doesn't have it all. The one thing it's missing is good looks. This is a homely, awkward looking little car whose balance and proportion seemed to have been left on the drafting table. I felt the same way about the car it replaced in the BMW portfolio, the equally disappointing looking 1-series. This is a real shame too because everything else about this car is freaking awesome.
Sorry, at the end of the day, a car that stickers closer to $60,000 than $50,000 should be as visually appealing as it is a strong performer. For my money, the BMW 4 series coupe is a much better looking car. While not the screaming performer this car is, it's performance is good enough, and that's saying a lot considering it's a BMW. And no, BMW doesn't offer an "M" version of the 4 series coupe. They do, however, at almost $69,000, sell an M4 coupe.
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