BMW 4 Series Coupe review - Interior, design and technology

Although everything’s a little lower-slung, the 4 Series is basically the same as the last 3 Series inside, and there isn't anything wrong with that. You get all the bits you expect from a BMW – clear, handsome instruments, great seats and a steering wheel that feels just right in the palms of your hands. Quality is generally excellent, although the less well-appointed versions can look and feel quite plain. There are also some cheap plastics to be found if you go looking.

It’s best to avoid the default black leather trim. Practical it may be but it just sucks all the light from what is already a very dark cabin. Beige or biscuit-coloured leather might be a bit harder to look after, but it really lifts the ambience inside.

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You can, of course, go mad on the spec of the interior by adding sportier seats, carbon or wood trim and lots more. It’s best to keep a sensible head when perusing the options list though. The standard seats are just fine and too much wood makes everything look a bit eighties – keep things simple, choose some bright colours and lots of add-ons for the infotainment and you won’t go far wrong. 

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

The basic infotainment comes with a 6.5-inch screen and the iDrive system with its rotary controller and ‘hot-key’ buttons. It’s just fine in this form, and it comes with DAB radio as standard.

The iDrive system has also improved out of all recognition since it was introduced in 2001 – it’s now one of the slickest and simplest of such systems to use. You can upgrade the infotainment pretty much as much as you like with a bigger screen (the presence of which really lifts the cabin ambience), live traffic updates in the sat-nav, a Harmon-Kardon sound system, heads-up display, parking cameras and more.

Added to which, BMW’s Connected setup now offers buyers a lot of extra options, although many of them can only really be exploited when the car is sitting still. Weather and news headlines can be accessed once you’ve selected upgrades, plus you can specify a very useful Wi-Fi hotspot, which can also use the car’s aerial to boost your mobile phone’s reception.