BMW M235 xDrive Gran Coupe 2025 review – Audi S3 saloon fighter isn’t a full-on M car

The M235 xDrive Gran Coupé is, as its full title implies, the four-door coupe version of the M135 hot hatch, with both dropping the ‘i’ to avoid customers getting them confused with the electrified products with which they share showroom space. 

Obviously that still leaves the problem of then explaining to customers that the 2-series Gran Coupé is a totally different and unrelated car to the two-door 2-series coupe, but such is the challenge of badging the ever-more-diverse, niche-filling model ranges of German premium car companies. 

Should a customer find their way to be face to face with the M235 does it justify itself against its £43k+ starting price and indeed, against Audi’s S3 saloon? We found out over the course of 400 miles on UK roads, from the picturesque driving roads of the Cotswolds and West Sussex to the maelstrom of the M25 and A1.

Engine gearbox and technical highlights

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Looks-wise, the M235 is M135 up to the B-pillar, before the roof, doors and glass begin to taper down towards the boot. The result is a sort of swooping miniaturised saloon-y coupe; a caricature of the 4-series and 8-series that this little tike of a rotund three-box looks up to.

It’s essentially a heavily facelifted and updated car, but such are the changes that BMW saw fit to re-code it as F74, from the F44 designation that first launched in 2019. As well as being 25mm taller and 20mm longer, there’s sharper lighting, an M5-esque gaping mouth, and kidney grilles with vertical and diagonal elements in line with BMW’s new design language. At the back, much tighter, more technical lighting is complemented by a boot lip and four rorty exhausts. It’s sharper-suited overall than the original, harder to confuse at a distance with cars from lower-tier European brands, with more soft-focus M car addenda than before too. Under the skin the structure has been stiffened, the kinematics and dampers revised and caster on the front wheels increased.

That last detail is an important clue to temper your expectations because, fundamentally, the M235 is a front-biased car, being based on the UKL2 platform that underpins as many Minis as it does BMWs. Its closest relation is, of course, the M135, with which it shares its engine, transmission, adaptive dampers, 8mm ride-height drop and four-wheel-drive system, if not its kerb weight. While the M135 weighs 1550kg, the M235 gains an extra 25kg by comparison, coming in at 1575kg. 

In the transition from M235i to M235, the B48 four-cylinder has dropped slightly in power from 302bhp to 296bhp, while torque is also down, by 37lb ft to 295lb ft. These are nominal enough changes that you don’t really notice any kind of deprivation. That said, the Audi S3 saloon is up by comparison in terms of power and torque, with 328bhp and 420lb ft.

Performance and 0-62mph

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The engine gets you going up the road with acceptable urgency, in part thanks to the move from BMW’s eight-speed torque converter to a seven-speed DCT. The engine needs some revs to get the best out of it, the power coming on in full from 5000rpm, though max torque comes in from just 2000rpm. 

The official figures are 0-62mph in 4.9sec, on the way to a 155mph top speed. For context, the M235’s closest rival, the Audi S3 saloon, completes the sprint in 4.7sec – a hair quicker thanks to the extra grunt on tap.

The dimpled, wheel-mounted shift paddles have the new ’box responding well, with the engine delivering flatulent shift theatrics when in Sport mode. Just be sure to actively select manual or you’ll forever be one gear too low and cursing as the ’box delivers a 4000rpm downshift accompanied by silly exhaust noises in sleepy village traffic. Sorry, West Sussex. In terms of efficiency, the M235 will sip at its fuel reserves at a cruise delivering comfortably over 30mpg on average, even with a few extensions of its mechanical muscle.

Ride and handling

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The M235 adopts the My Modes menus that confusingly conflate driving modes with interior ambiance. In Sport you can adjust the amount of stability control, the aggression of the powertrain and the steering, if not the dampers. Personal mode meanwhile is where the M235 is at its most comfortable and compliant.

Happily, the stiffer set-up you’re forced into in Sport is far from a deal-breaker. There’s balance and control to the M235’s damper strokes. It’s useable on the road, melding a firmness that gives you confidence to push, but doesn’t go so far as to make the car feel unsettled. It’s as if BMW benchmarked the VW Group DCC system in its best installation, found the optimum point along the 15-way slider and went ‘yep, that’s our Sport damping’. That’s to say, too, that it’s far from perfect. Low-speed impacts come through with an occasionally startling thud, but it’s generally tolerable. Perhaps not going for the £600 19-inch Y-spoke alloy wheel option and sticking with the standard 18s would alleviate the harshness.

The M235’s chassis is allowed a bit more freedom to float than some more stiffly sprung rivals, giving you a greater sensation of weight transfer. The steering is nicely geared, if a little light, and does without a razor-sharp rate of response that would feel out of step with the rest of the car’s medium-heat dynamics. The xDrive four-wheel drive is keen to pull you straight as you exit a turn but isn’t a total party pooper. Overall, while the M235 may not entice you into a spirited drive with how it feels initially, it rewards just enough to render you surprised once you get on top of it.

Driver's note on the pre-facelift M235i

'Remove the M from the beginning of the name and it would be much easier to like the way the 235i drives. It steers well, the 4WD chassis is nicely composed, even if it does have a tendency to understeer on throttle (oddly), and the brakes, steering, ride, turn-in etc., are all absolutely just fine. More than fine in many respects. But nothing about the way the 235i goes down the road deserves to have an M badge attached to it. As a result it feels like a car that’s trying to be something it isn’t.' – Steve Sutcliffe, who drove the M235i on the launch in 2020.

Interior

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Back to the ergonomics and those My Modes settings, which are just plain strange. A moment’s silence too for the rotary BMW clickwheel and physical climate controls, dearly departed. The latest BMW iDrive OS9 is responsive enough and with familiarity, becomes intuitive.

There’s theatre to the M235’s cabin. Three lines of stitching in the M colours streak diagonally across the dash, while the M Sport seats bundled in with M Sport package pro add a bit of visual spice (especially in Coral Red) as well as just being a better seat in terms of support, positioning and comfort. Quality is a question mark, mind. Some less than premium plastics aren’t too far from reach, while the new column stalks for the indicators and wipers feel a little light and tinny – not so much of a problem on this as it is on the £100k+ M5…

You lose a little headroom in the back compared to the hatchback but actually, you could ferry around average sized adults in adequate comfort. The boot’s decently sized too with a good aperture size.

Price and rivals

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Featuring the M Sport Pro Pack, our test car came with the upgraded M Sport brakes (larger, but not carbon-ceramic – that would be overkill) as well as M Sport seats. Both are worthwhile additions that reinforce the M235’s case for sub-junior M car status. You’re better positioned, better supported and can lean harder on the brakes than you otherwise would – £2075 well spent. The £2750 Technology Plus Pack could be a good call too, bringing adaptive LED lights, a head-up display, wireless phone charging, comprehensive parking assistance tech and more, though we can’t help feeling the £175 heated steering wheel should have been included. We’d happily skip the £1050 panoramic glass sunroof, though.

A basic M235 will set you back £43,590 before any of that; less than an Audi S3 Saloon at £48,660. However, the car we tested came to £55,038, which is a hair more than a top-spec Vorsprung S3. If you’re not wedded to the Gran Coupe body style, the M135 is right there next to it. There’s also the Mk8.5 Volkswagen Golf R, Cupra Leon 300 (sans-AWD) and Mercedes-AMG A 35 to consider. Though the latter is soon to be off sale if it isn’t already, there ought to be dealer stock to choose from. Likewise the CLA 35, which is also discontinued.