New BMW M235 2025 exclusive drive: behind the wheel in the hot new 2 Series Gran Coupe

Verdict

Our incredibly brief test drive in the new BMW M235 wasn’t enough to give it an official star rating, so we’ll reserve proper judgement until we can drive it on public roads in the coming months. However, it’s obvious that BMW has made some worthwhile performance upgrades, and we’re looking forward to finding out what it can do on some much twistier UK roads. 

The first examples of the new BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe won’t arrive in the UK until early 2025. However, we were fortunate enough to get behind the wheel before anyone else, taking the new M235 out for two very quick laps on a short test track at the BMW Performance Centre in South Carolina, US. 

Naturally, we didn’t fancy spending our limited time with the performance hatch testing it in Comfort mode or toying with the new infotainment system. So as soon as we had the turbocharged four-cylinder engine fired up, we switched into Sport and activated launch control. 

Releasing the brake pedal, the car sends all 296bhp and 400Nm through all four wheels and pins you to the body-hugging M Sports seats. As you approach the redline, pulling on the very large shift paddles on the steering wheel, the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission delivers sharp, quick gear changes. 

BMW says the M235 will do 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds, and will hit a top speed of 155mph. The M235 accelerates to high speeds with ease and feels incredibly stable, so should make a great motorway cruiser. Our only gripe was the wind noise caused by the little extrusions on our test car’s M-style wing mirrors.

Approaching one of only two corners on the track, we get to test out the M235’s upgraded brake system borrowed from the much larger, much more powerful BMW M3. We’re told it uses the largest brake discs that BMW could fit within the 19-inch wheels. Combined with a set of four-piston calipers on the front axle, the set-up certainly delivers plenty of stopping power. If we’re being picky, we would like more initial bite. 

We were told that BMW has also revised the steering on the M235 to make it quicker and more precise, which was immediately noticeable as we entered the few corners available to us. The car felt darty and handled changes in direction very quickly. There is a bit of body roll and movement, although it is kept largely in check – even at high speeds.