From £33,1658

Does the junior BMW two-door still make a convincing buy in a world of coupe SUVs?

It doesn’t get much more ‘traditional BMW’ than the BMW 2 Series Coupe. All the aforementioned traits are present and correct. There are no hybrids and you can even get it with a straight-six petrol engine.

Is this design one that the old guard sneaked through while the new kids weren’t looking? Not at all. It’s a deliberate strategy to retain the more traditional buyer as well as appeal to younger buyers.

The kidney grilles are modestly sized and close when the engine doesn’t need cooling.

Manufacturers’ claims that their car is a pioneer or completely unique are usually fairly hyperbolic, but in this case it’s probably true. A relatively compact 2+2 coupé has become a rarity, especially with rear-wheel drive. The Mercedes CLE is larger, the Ford Mustang heavier and more expensive, while lower-spec Porsche 911s are a completely different beast. 

BMW 2 Series Coupé range at a glance

The 2 Series shares its mechanicals with the larger 4 Series. It comes with three engine variations. The 220i (181bhp) and 230i (241bhp) are both four-cylinder units and rear-wheel drive, while the 240i is a 379bhp straight-six with four-wheel drive.

BMW makes you spring for a full-fat BMW M2 if you want a rear-wheel drive six-cylinder 2 Series.

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DESIGN & STYLING

02 BMW 2 Series Coupe 220i 2022 RT DE side pan

The 2 Series Coupé has had a bit of work done to it lately. Cosmetically this consists of a new front end, side skirts painted in the body colour, a new rear diffuser and updated wheel and paint options.

In BMW's nomanclature even numbers are coupés or otherwise swoopier versions of the odd numbers. The BMW 4 Series is a BMW 3 Series coupé, the BMW X6 is a BMW X5 with a sloping roofline, and so on. That would make this 2 Series a BMW 1 Series coupé.

It may not look like it in all pictures but the 2 Series has some seriously blistered wheel arches, creating somewhat of a Coke-bottle shape and evoking the E30 M3.

In terms of the relative positioning in the range, that may be true, but in fact, it's mechanically unrelated to the front-wheel-drive 1 Series, or indeed the equally front-driven BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé and BMW 2 Series Active Tourer.

Instead, it rides on a short version of the CLAR platform that is used for all the other BMWs with a longitudinal engine. Intriguingly, that means it probably wouldn’t be impossible for BMW to make a hybrid or fully electric version of the 2 Series Coupé. We have no knowledge of such a plan, however.

INTERIOR

10 BMW 2 Series Coupe 220i 2022 RT dashboard

 

Inside the car, there has been a significant change: it now features BMW’s huge, crisp digital display, comprising a 12.3in instrument display and a 14.9in infotainment touchscreen. 

Buttons have been slimmed down in favour of a bigger screen. It largely works, but I would prefer heating controls to not be on a touchscreen.

Which means the temperature controls are no longer on dials and knobs; they’re on icons locked to the bottom of the touchscreen. They’re well-sited and responsive, but still… I’m assured there have been lots of changes to the ambient lighting too, if that’s your bag. 

Most importantly, the low-seating position has been maintained along with BMW’s thick-rimmed M wheel. Fit and finish is probably slightly above Mercedes’ and ergonomically, apart from the heating controls, it’s all spot on. 

Rear leg room is poor and adults wouldn’t want to cover a long journey in the rear, but this car is billed as a 2+2, to be fair.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

19 BMW 2 Series Coupe 220i 2022 RT performance pan

We're yet to sample the six-cylinder, which is a shame.

But...while straight sixes are inherently smoother, torquier and more balanced than four-bangers, and they sound good too – and all of this should matter in a BMW. Yet… The 230i’s four-cylinder is smooth, torquey, powerful and sounds pretty good, if a bit muffled. 

The mandatory auto 'box can be specced in regular or sport tune. Sports just alters the shifting points - accelerations and emissions remain the same.

Boot it coming out of a T-junction and there’s enough power to raise the traction control from its slumber and the 0-62mph scamper is over and done in less than six seconds, which is plenty, really, if you’re not after a serious sports car

In-gear acceleration is strong, there’s no hugely notable drop-off of pace while you’re doing legal speeds and the 295lb of torque is measured out neatly, although it does feel a bit like it’s running out of puff by 6000rpm. 

The shift paddles are also super quick to respond, even though they are small and feel plasticky. 

Every 2 Series Coupé gets the excellent eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox, but you could easily be fooled into thinking it was a dual-clutch transmission given the speed of the changes, the way it responds to the paddles and how it occasionally thumps through a less than smooth shift. What’s more, the engine response shows no sign of any slip from the torque converter.

Like all modern BMWs, the 2 Series lets the driver configure various aspects of the way it drives. Eco Pro dulls all the responses, while Normal is, as the name suggests, fairly normal, except that the gearbox calibration can feel slightly too optimised for the WLTP cycle, coming at the detriment of refinement as it lugs the engine.

Sport mode makes it more responsive, without hanging on to gears for too long like it will when you knock the gearlever into its own Sport mode. Sport also makes the throttle response keener, dials up some synthetic engine sound, weights up the steering and makes the brakes touchier. 

All of those aspects can be turned back down in Sport Individual, except for the grabby brakes. That’s frustrating, because the gearbox is at its best in Sport and the synthetic engine noise actually adds to the experience, making the car sound neither like an in-line four nor a straight six, but somewhat like an old Ford V4 in a fruity tune.

RIDE & HANDLING

21 BMW 2 Series Coupe 220i 2022 RT front corner

The whole point of the car is the chassis balance afforded by the native rear-wheel drive. By and large it does a great job, assuming you're not expecting it to be a hardcore sports car.

It is sometimes said that the more modestly engined BMWs have never had enough power to feel particularly rear-wheel drive, but that is not the case with the 2 Series. Not because it wants to oversteer on the road, but when you try a bit harder, it always feels like you’re being pushed through the corner rather than pulled towards the hedge on the outside.

Low driving position, low centre of gravity and rear-wheel drive keep things interesting through corners.

The car’s low centre of gravity and the option of an ultra-low seating position also help the 2 Series’ natural flow on a twisty road. Yes, there is a fair bit of mass being asked to change direction, but it does so more willingly than in a tall car.

The steering needs just 2.2 turns lock to lock, which suggests it could undo a lot of the chassis’s poise with nervousness, but BMW has used a variable rack to good effect here. The pace feels natural and you only really notice how quick the rack can be when parking. On the open road, you’re never left second-guessing how much lock to use.

With that said, it’s not the last word in feedback. For a modern steering rack it’s about average, with reassuring weight and a decent sensation of when the front axle is loaded up, but there are more talkative steering systems out there. There is a Sport mode that adds artificial weight but no feedback.

As is often the case with BMWs that aren’t full-fat M cars, the 2 Series does have its limitations, though. Through some medium-fast corners, the front axle can feel like there are some rubber bushes that need a fraction of a second to settle laterally. The car is gripping, but it just saps 5% of your confidence.

The other area where the 2 Series is lacking is in sophistication. BMW doesn’t offer adaptive dampers on the four-cylinder models. It probably should, because its passive M Sport set-ups have a habit of dealing with uneven roads slightly clumsily.

Over bigger bumps, the suspension can’t control the body’s mass with the insouciance of some Jaguars or even some adaptively damped BMWs. It means the big up-down motions are more clearly felt.

Meanwhile, the 19in wheels can crash through potholes and the ride feels permanently unsettled and jittery over bad surfaces. It’s not that the suspension is too stiff – it’s appropriate for a sporty coupé – but you might hope for a bit more control.

It’s not unbearable for the daily grind: a lot of hot hatches will beat you up more and the excellent seat comfort compensates for a lot. The padding is quite firm but very supportive and there are few cars that offer more adjustment to the driving position.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

01 BMW 2 Series Coupe 220i 2022 RT Lead

We're yet to do much in the way of any proper mpg testing. But during a week of mixed motoring that included performance testing, we averaged 34.0mpg in a 220i. But on long motorway journeys we saw over 40mpg. Officially this engine variant will do 42.2-44.1mpg.

Upgrading to the 230i results in a slight drop in mpg. It gets an official rating 39.8-42.8mpg, while the 240i with four-wheel drive gets the lowest of the lot with 32.1-34.9mpg.

Spec advice? Upgrade to the more powerful 230i and choose your option packs wisely.

VERDICT

23 BMW 2 Series Coupe 220i 2022 RT static with logs

Looking for an everyday coupé that offers more style than the usual SUV, with more driving engagement than than a front-wheel drive hot hatch? Then the 2 Series is extremely compelling.

It’s not perfect: we suspect both the comfort and dynamics would benefit from losing the standard M Sport suspension and wide tyres, but that slight black mark fails to detract significantly from the other BMW-typical high points like the mature powertrain, ergonomic interior and excellent multimedia.

Coupes like this are very thin on the ground now. Snap this up while you still can.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.