BMW prove that coupes come best in fours...

Impressive sports car which looks good and has a practical side, too

SO, coupes are two-door cars, right? They have been as long as I’ ve been interested in motoring. Forget power, performance and style - it’s the number of doors which denotes the model style.

But if anyone is qualified to re-write the text book on such matters, it’s BMW. And if the great motor manufacturer from Bavaria declares that a four-door can be a coupe, then who am I to argue?

There is merit in the argument for a four-door coupe. The term has generally come to describe a sporty car and cars with four doors are often much sportier than those with two.

Coupe is French in origin and means ‘cut’, as in a shorter - and therefore lighter and sportier. Like most car styles, the term was originally applied to horse carriages.

So, while this car - the M235i - is a four-door, it is most definitely a coupe in performance, looks and feel. It is billed as a Gran Coupe, a big coupe if you will. It has a top speed of 155 mph and can hit 60mph in 4.9 seconds. It looks quick, even when it’s standing still. And it has a sloping rear roof which makes it look like a coupe. OK, so it impinges on the headroom in the rear seats, but you can’ t have everything.

This is a 2.0 litre turbocharged car which is an immense engine for a compact vehicle. It feels quick and firm and it has incredible ride and handling.

Its strength is definitely in its ride and handling and in how it is essentially a driver’s car. The controls, the seating position, the way the car responds are all exceptionally good.

So does the car have any shortcomings?

Well, the styling from the rear isn’t as strong as it could be, but from the front it has that beautiful BMW blend of men ace and culture. The boot is compact and rear headroom is limited but in every other way this car is sublime. Even the price (£37,180) is competitive against other compact performance vehicles.

Four-door coup es have been for a while at BMW.

The story began in 2012 with the 6 Series Gran Coupé, followed two years later by the 4 Series Gran Coupé. The 8 Series Gran Coupé has been available since September 2019 and first UK customer deliveries of the 2 Series Gran Coupé took place in March.

It features the latest frontwheel-drive and all-wheel-drive architecture also seen in the 1 Series, along with an array of other technological developments.

It is a standalone model with exclusive exterior design details including eye-catching contoured kidney grille bars, a mesh grille for the flagship BMW M 235 ix Drive M Performance, tested here. It has frameless side doors. Sounds simple, but few things mark a car out as special quite as well as frame less windows.

The car is 4,526 mm long and 1,800mm wide, but stands just 1,420mm tall. The boot is compact but at 430 litres it is bigger than you might imagine. Rear legroom may be limited but it is greater than in the two-door coupe. It is a dashing car, from the red leather upholstery to the 19in alloy wheels, from the large panoramic sunroof to the ambient lighting, this is an impressive car.

I love the iDrive controller, which is an intuitive way to control some of the car’s functions. Think of it as a computer mouse, if you will. In addition a number of voice control systems with online speech processing are included, enabling the driver to control a number of functions and features simply by speaking.