Styling
When this generation of 2 Series Coupe arrived ready for the 2022 model year, we must confess we weren't fully enamoured with its appearance. Even in spectacular
Thundernight purple paint. Even so, it was clearly one of BMW's better-looking contrivances, mainly because a lot of the other products the company was, ahem, 'styling' at the time were, well... frankly hideous. In other words, the Two was clearing a very low bar of in-house car design. Nevertheless, there was something about the G42's appearance that meant if you didn't get it on the biggest alloys with the most purposeful bumpers and bodywork, then it could look like one of those knock-off Chinese toy cars that your gran used to buy you instead of proper Matchbox; you know the ones, where the general shape was familiar, but the track widths of the cheap wheels were all wrong and way too narrow.
Here and now, though, in 2025, the 2 Series Coupe has magnificent presence. It's still perhaps a little too overwrought in certain details and angles, but in general the shape has matured into a proper belter. It helps, of course, that our test car was on some £700-optional 'Style 995 M Bicolour' 19-inch light alloy wheels, which completely fill out its bulging arches, but with its single headlights harking back to the fabled '02 series of cars of the 1960s and '70s, plus the sheer joy of driving a
proper two-door coupe these days that isn't, in fact, actually an electric five-door SUV towering up to a couple of metres above the deck, this 230i really looked the part. Oh, and Portimao Blue metallic (£595) is absolutely spot on for even only a vaguely sporty BMW like this; the German company has been doing similar shades for aeons now - Avus Blue on the E36s, Le Mans for the E39 M5, Interlagos in the V10-powered M cars' rule of the early 2000s... if you're a Beemer fan, you know the score. Hence, Portimao. All the way.
Interior
The 'plonked-in' nature of the huge widescreens dominating the 2 Series Coupe's dashboard are the main issue within the BMW's otherwise-excellent interior. Well, that, and the continued insistence by Munich to fit every M Sport car with the most needlessly, um, girthy steering wheel in the world. Honestly, we so wish BMW would take a leaf out of Porsche's book and start equipping a much slenderer item like Zuffenhausen's exquisite GT Sport wheel to the cabins of its own fast cars, but there we go.
However, material quality is fantastic, and both that 12.3-inch instrument cluster and the main 14.9-inch Control Display for the infotainment are supremely easy to operate; the latter mainly because it's not only touch-sensitive, but because the G42 is one of the final BMWs to retain the glorious rotary iDrive controller down on its transmission tunnel. So with everything looking and feeling top-notch, and the operation of the cabin quickly becoming second nature to the driver, then unless you hate the huge digital construct stretching across the BM's fascia or you have particularly small hands that can't properly grip the bloater of a steering wheel, the 230i's interior is a real winner.
Practicality
The passenger compartment of the BMW 2 Series Coupe continues to win plaudits here, especially as it is a two-door car. This means accessing the rear row of seating involves that old-fashioned practice of tipping the front seats forward and clambering in through a narrow, triangular-shaped gap, but in the 230i it's a tad easier than you might at first expect. Also, once installed there, a couple of average-height adults ought to be more than comfortable enough. BMW has sensibly opted against including a token centre-rear seat pew and associated belt (there's a cupholder and storage tray in situ instead), so this coupe is a strict four-seater only, but there's a fair provision of legroom and a decent amount of headroom on offer in the back of the 230i to ensure it is considerably more comfortable and practical than most other coupes of a similar type.
Factor in a healthy amount of in-cabin stowage solutions, plus a 390-litre boot that's bigger by volume than what you'd find in a
Volkswagen Golf GTI, and what you have here is a car which looks highly attractive on the outside, without sacrificing every single shred of real-world usability in the process. Bravo, BMW.
Performance
Let's begin with the obvious: this is a '30i' BMW that
isn't powered by one of the company's majestic straight-six engines. Instead, it's a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-pot. This does sap the 230i of some of the symphonic treats a six-pot Beemer would serve you up, and you could also lament the fact that the lowlier 220i (and, indeed, the 218i that is offered in other markets beyond the UK) uses exactly the same engine, so there's no real merit in opting for the 230i. Is there?
Oh. There is. There really is. You see, the 230i has an extra 61hp and 100Nm of torque from its swept capacity than the 220i possesses, resulting in admirable peak outputs of 245hp and 400Nm overall. This trims more than a second-and-a-half from the 220i's 0-62mph time, allowing the 230i to post an impressive 5.9-second benchmark sprint and to hit the prerequisite German gentlemen's agreement top speed of 250km/h (that's 155mph in old money).
In truth, this powertrain is a gem. It tries its best to provide the finest noises it can, with a rasping voice that's not totally without appeal in regular Comfort mode but then is augmented with some artificial overtones if you click the car up into Sport or Sport Plus (this speaker-generated soundtrack will undoubtedly annoy some folk), but aside from the sonics the 230i's engine has much to recommend it. The throttle response is crisp and keen, the turbo lag minimal, and it's unexpectedly fleet-footed. Not, of course, quick enough to drop something like a
Golf R (indeed, a facelifted and angrily driven
'8V' Audi S3 was all over us like a cheap suit on one B-road, and that's not even the current model of Ingolstadt's all-wheel-drive everyday hot hatch - it's essentially a 12-year-old design these days), but the 230i is more than pacy enough to make rapid on-road progress in all conditions. It likes to rev just as much as it will surf forward with real intent on its brawny midrange torque, so it's a strong unit for a car which only weighs 1.6 tonnes like this.
The engine is mated to a superb eight-speed BMW Steptronic, one of the finest full autos in operation now or, indeed, ever. Sure, it's sad that there's not a six-speed manual option for the 230i, but we guess customer take-up of a H-gate 'box in this sort of car would be so minimal here and now in 2025 that BMW simply can't justify the inclusion of a three-pedal 2 Series Coupe in the range, however much it might have wanted to. Thankfully, then, as we've already said, the 'Stepper' is an exceptional transmission, which is also controlled by some nice-feeling paddles (complete with rubberised backs) on the stupidly chunky steering wheel.
Therefore, the benefit of a turbo four with an ultra-modern automatic gearbox is that the 230i is remarkably efficient when you're not caning it about the place like the small, limber sports coupe that it is. A steady-flow motorway run saw it give back an exceptional indicated 46.2mpg, and while a protracted work-out in the BMW might see it drop into the low 30s or even high 20s for fuel consumption, overall the coupe managed to give back an admirable 32mpg across 143 miles of mixed-roads (and somewhat enthusiastic) testing. A better indication was its 'Since factory' value of 35.4mpg achieved after 2,800 miles-plus, showing that the 230i is as frugal as it is fast.
Ride & Handling
Light. Low. Aerodynamic (it has a drag coefficient of just 0.26). Relatively compact (a 2.75-metre wheelbase in a 4.5-metre body). Rear-wheel drive. Balanced, Agile. Powerful enough to feel swift, not so potent that even exploring the upper reaches of third will land you smack in the national news for setting a new British highways land-speed record. Honestly, the 230i was a truly surprising and most welcome delight to drive.
We didn't expect it to be quite so good when it turned up, but as a genuine mark of a great car, the 230i only got better and better the more we drove it. Admittedly, the weighty steering might be a bit more informative if the driver wasn't having the feedback from the leading axle filtered through what feels like about 80mm of foam padding on that bloody M Sport wheel, but otherwise the calibration of the BMW's chassis is... is... well, it's like a proper, old-school BMW. Always giving hints of the purity of its RWD set-up, without ever being a tail-happy lunatic (you can elicit oversteer in the 230i but it needs a honking big dollop of throttle, all traction off, to get it to break away; catchable when it comes, though), the totally passive M Sport springs and dampers do a fine job of blending off composed body and wheel control with a significant degree of comfort and civility.
Aside from an odd sensation in sharper corners, when you get on the power and there's a weird step-like feeling from the back end as the BMW tightens its line - which we guess is the Cornering Brake Control (CBC) and Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) trimming the inside stoppers and doing its best to stand in for a proper limited-slip differential on the driven axle - the way the 230i handles is fluid, graceful and composed. And rewarding: on a few of our favourite lanes hidden out in the bucolic Nottinghamshire countryside, we had far more fun in the 245hp 2 Series than we would have had if we'd been sampling the foursquare, hammer-blow manners of that aforementioned 333hp Golf R. The VW would've been substantially quicker across ground, but it would've been the BMW pilot with the much bigger grin on their face at the end of it all.
There's no doubt the M240i and then the M2 are operating on entirely other levels of dynamic ability again compared to the 230i, but as subtly set-up fast-road cars go, this 2.0-litre Beemer is about bang on the money. And when you're not enjoying its lively chassis and enjoyable roadholding, it's a beautifully refined and comfortable car to just cover the miles in. The lower-speed ride is cushioned and supple across even broken-up surfaces. Meanwhile, at a 70mph cruise on the A1, the powertrain's noise and vibrations are so damped away from intruding into the passenger compartment that you might for a split-second think you've switched into an EV without realising it. Tyre noise is minimal, wind noise would be next to non-existent we reckon, had we not been driving it on an exposed section of the A1 on a day when the fringes of Storm Floris were blustering into town. Thus, it might sound like a backhanded compliment to say the 230i M Sport is a jack-of-all-trades car, but it genuinely is a very, very good jack-of-all-trades; performing incredibly well in all dynamic departments, and being notably weak in none.
Value
While we can't say £44,000 for a four-cylinder BMW with not much more power than a
MINI John Cooper Works with almost precisely the same engine is outstandingly good value, at the same time the 230i isn't extortionate for a desirable coupe like this that comes with lots of premium kit as standard. You can, for instance, spend a heck of lot more on nothing more thrilling than a
320i Saloon.
Furthering the BMW's cause is that its refreshingly simple premise of a reasonably affordable two-door sports coupe that shouldn't cost the Earth to run is such a rarity these days. Your only alternatives are the phenomenal Toyota GR86, which is a dream to drive but which isn't quite as practical as the BMW nor as quality-feeling inside, and its limited-batch status makes it harder to get hold of anyway despite it being ostensibly cheaper, and then of course the pesky
Porsche 718 Cayman. Which is admittedly sensational when you're behind its wheel, but it
starts from £53,800 these days. And quickly becomes a whole lot more expensive from thereon in. Also, it's strictly a two-seater with no boot to speak of.
But aside from that? This type of car is on the highly endangered species list. Audi doesn't make anything similar, now the
TT has been put out to pasture. There's no obvious two-door alternative from the three-pointed star, because the
Mercedes-AMG CLE has gone striding off upmarket to sit in the straddled realm somewhere between the C- and E-Class vehicles. Volkswagen long ago put the
Scirocco out of its misery. Vauxhall and Ford similarly departed this sector of the market many moons past, and don't dare say
Capri either at this stage (the
Mustang also doesn't count because it's a far-pricier, V8-only confection in the mid-2020s). We're waiting for the Honda Prelude's Lazarus-like return and we've already mentioned the scintillating but restricted GR86, but aside from that Japan is a barren wasteland for performance coupes, when it was once fertile ground for such things. South Korea? Nothing. All of the French companies are absent on this score, presumed missing. Even the Italians don't go in for it, ever since the debacle of the
Alfa 4C. So it would appear as if the BMW 230i has a little micro-niche all to itself in the modern era. And we like it all the more for that reason.
Verdict
Let's be clear, the BMW 230i Coupe M Sport is far from perfect, nor is it going to deliver the sort of seminal driving experience that will have you thanking the gods of chassis dynamics for its mere existence. Its flaws are that it's not the most tuneful car in the world, while the majority of all-wheel-drive hot hatches these days would make mincemeat of its speed and handling on a variety of roads. The steering wheel is just too fat, the screens in the cabin look like any form of neat integration into the surrounding fascia was simply an afterthought, and a £44k two-door like this is only 'affordable' in the context of all modern cars being so terrifyingly expensive when new.
There are also, on the face of it, stronger choices elsewhere in the 2 Series Coupe family that might entirely scupper the 230i's cause in some people's eyes. And we get all that, we really do. But having driven this unheralded little BMW two-door for a week, we came to a sudden, nostalgic and ultimately thrilling realisation: this is as close as you will get, in theory, to a current-era E46 330Ci. An E36 328i Coupe. Whisper this, as it is tantamount to sacrilege to diehards of the blue-and-white roundel, but even an E30 325i Sport.
It's a glorious genre of BMW we thought had long since been killed off by a phalanx of terribly ugly SUVs and virtue-signalling yet hefty EVs from this once-heralded 'ultimate driving machine' firm. A sporty yet everyday BMW, that doesn't need a full-on M badge (or, in later years, an M Performance trinket) on its rump to make it thoroughly worthwhile. A car that, in the simplest terms, takes us back to the good old days. So don't just buy the 220i, M240i or M2 without thinking carefully about it; give the discreet yet delicious 230i a whirl. Because if you're of a certain age and hankering after an automotive epoch you thought was utterly inaccessible through anything other than the used-car route, then you'll be extremely glad you did.
