BMW RETURNS TO ITS ROAD-HUGGING PAST
BMW’s 440i xDrive coupe marks reversal of complacency that’s been going on too long
BMW has been atop the entrylevel luxury segment so long, it’s tough to find records of the last time its 3 Series sedan and 4 Series coupe — essentially a 3 Series with two doors — did not rule the near-luxury roost.
My aggregator of choice has no record of the BMW ever being beaten, with its statistics going back to 2002. Mercedes-Benz may rule the flagship sedan roost and Ferrari the independently foolish’s supercar of choice, but no one outsells BMW when it comes to the highly profitable entry-level segment.
But with great success — to paraphrase Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben — comes great responsibility. Or, more accurately, fearfulness. The uncertainty so willingly embraced on the way up gives way to trepidation lest one head back down.
Hence, the sacrifices to mediocrity BMW has made over the past decade or two. Secure in its “ultimate driving machine” persona, BMWs have become a little soft, a tad complacent and more than a touch paunchy. M5s now weigh as much as SUVs, virtually all its engines are turbocharged and where suspension and steering alike were sporting firm, neither is as resolute as they once were.
The good news is BMW may have heard your plaints. The new M5 is lighter, the M2 shows the
M performance division has lost none of its moxie, and the subject of this test, the 440i xDrive coupe, long suffering from a certain Audi-like squidginess, has returned to a more BMW like firmness in both suspension and steering.
Oh, the steering is now electrically boosted, so it still lacks the seemingly intuitive feedback of previous hydraulic systems, and yes, there’s still a lightness to the steering that speaks more to parking lots than hairpins, but the 440i still marks the reversal of a complacency that has been going on too long.
Ditto for the suspension. My test unit, decked out in M Performance attire, was expected to dial up the roadholding. But BMW claims even the base 440i’s dampers have manned up a little, the better to strafe hairpin turns. It also rides some 40 millimetres lower than the sedan and 20 mm closer to the ground than the convertible. The result is the 440i feeling more responsive than any in recent memory.
One thing BMW has never needed to apologize for is the might of its 3.0-litre in-line six. The latest renditions of V6s are catching up, but there’s still precious little internal combustion as silky as an in-line six from Munich.
It’s also more than passably rapid. BMW officially rates the turbocharged in-line six for 320 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque. Opting for the surprisingly cost-effective M Performance II package, however, sees those numbers swell to 355 ponies and 369 lb-ft of torque. And even those numbers don’t give the 440’s swiftness its due.
A few impromptu drag races had the 440i showing up peers with 30 and even 40 more horsepower. Flip the car into Sport and response perks up, not to mention growl with significantly more authority.
The interior, still designed with typical Teutonic restraint, is nonetheless luxurious and the rear seats, once you’ve scrambled past the front buckets, are surprisingly roomy.
But such practicalities are not why you buy a BMW. At least, they’re not why you’re supposed to buy a BMW. One forks over big bucks for the badge because it is supposed to promise superior roadholding to its competitors and a sense of connection with tarmac not seen this side of a Ferrari. BMW forgot that for a while; let’s hope they don’t get self-satisfied again.