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Bruce Newton30 Nov 2020
REVIEW

BMW 218i Gran Coupe 2020 Review

It looks like a cool idea on paper, but does style win out over substance with this small and relatively expensive three-cylinder four-door ‘coupe’?
Review Type
Road Test

The BMW 218i Gran Coupe wants to be all things to all people. It’s a four-door sedan, looks more like a hatchback and is called a coupe. It’s got a semblance of rear-wheel drive proportions, but it’s really front-wheel drive. Under that long bonnet you might expect to find a small inline six or a big four-cylinder, but it’s actually a three-cylinder 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine (103kW/220Nm) mated to a dual-clutch transmission. The one thing that is obvious the moment you spy that BMW roundel is you’re going to pay a premium price.

The ins and outs

The BMW 218i Gran Coupe is the entry-level variant in the three-tiered 2 Series Gran Coupe range and will set you back $50,990 plus on-road costs. That’s $3000 more than when it launched in March.

Logical rivals at that price include the Audi A3 sedan (about to go through generational change) and the Mercedes-Benz A-Class sedan. You could also toss the Mercedes-Benz CLA in there, but it starts a lot further up the price scale in the region of the flagship M235i xDrive (from $68,990 for the Pure model).

A more logical competitor is the newly updated Audi A4 – yep it’s bigger, we know – that has just arrived with a price starting in the mid-$50K bracket.

So what does the 218i deliver in terms of equipment? Cloth upholstery, excellent sports seats, single-zone air-con, an M Sport multifunction leather steering wheel, BMW’s Connected Drive package including emergency-call web services, a tuneable digital instrument display, a digital radio, wireless phone charging, 18-inch alloys and LED exterior lights all-round.

The M Sport moniker also denotes it comes with sports suspension that’s lowered 10mm compared to the (no-cost) optional comfort tune. Keep reading to find out which we recommend.

At this price, the cruise control should be adaptive, the air-con should be multi-zone and paying extra for any colour apart from white is not appropriate.

BMW is also sticking with a three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty despite the industry-wide move to five years. Servicing is needs-based, but note that a five-year/80,000km ‘basic’ plan will cost $1550. The ‘Plus’ program is $4154.

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AEB ‘lite’ not welcome

The BMW 218i Gran Coupe comes with six airbags and an autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system that will warn you of an obstacle, slow you, but not stop you. To be brought fully to a halt it’s an extra $654. That’s also not appropriate for a car of this asking price.

Driver assistants you get standard include lane departure warning, lane change warning, rear cross traffic warning and rear collision prevention. There’s also parking and memory reversing assist, front and rear sensors, a rear-view camera and a head-up display.

Another feature BMW touts has a long German name that turns into the acronym ARB, or the Australian translation ‘actuator contiguous wheel slip limitation’. Essentially, it’s a super-fast version of stability control that’s claimed to limit wheel slip and improve traction

The 2 Series range does not have an ANCAP safety rating, but achieved the maximum five-star rating when assessed by Euro NCAP in 2019.

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Triple treat

While the triple-cylinder powertrain in the BMW 218i Gran Coupe might surprise some, the reality is this petrol-turbo family of engines codenamed B38 has been around since 2013.

It’s part of a modular engine plan BMW developed based around 500cc cylinder capacity. Hence the 1.5-litre engine tested here is a triple (although confusingly, there’s also a 1.2), the 2.0-litre is a four-cylinder (B48) and 3.0-litre is an inline six-cylinder (B58).

Fun fact: the B38 first appeared in the now-defunct BMW i8 hybrid sports car where it was mid-mounted and transverse.

Key features of the engine include all-alloy construction, direct injection, variable timing of the double overhead cams and 12 inlet and exhaust valves and a single-scroll turbocharger.

Peak power of 103kW is present from 4600rpm to 6500rpm, while the 220Nm torque peak is delivered from a low 1480rpm through to 4200rpm.

Clamed combined-cycle fuel consumption is 5.9L/100km, while our on-test result was a 6.7L/100km after a week of varied driving. That’s pretty darn good.

Pricing and Features
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The standard transmission is a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic sourced from Getrag that from 2017 began replacing an eight-speed torque-converter auto previously paired with this engine.

At its core, the 218i rolls on the same front/all-wheel drive modular architecture coded UKL2 as the BMW 1 Series, X1 and X2 SUVs and the 2 Series Active Tourer (remember that) and several models from MINI.

The 218i includes a MacPherson strut front-end and multilink rear suspension, non-adaptive dampers, electric-assist steering and vented disc brakes clamped by a single-piston floating calliper front and rear.

It measures up at 4526mm long, 1800mm wide, 1420mm wide and has a 2670mm wheelbase. That’s about the same size as the iconic E46 BMW 3 Series.

The maximum luggage capacity is 430 litres (before rear seats are lowered), the kerb weight is 1350kg (DIN) and the turning circle is 11.4m. All good.

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On the road

The BMW 218i Gran Coupe isn’t helped by the company’s reputation as the ultimate driving machine – funny how that sticks after all these years.

Officially, this car accelerates from 0-100km/h in 8.7sec. That’s tardy for a BMW. In the real world, even in sport mode that sharpens up the throttle, it feels underwhelming.

The higher the revs the better the engine behaves and it does have a cheery burbling nature, but there’s never a deep well of response. Shift manually via the lever – there are no small flappy paddles – and it’s at its sharpest for keen driving typically associated with BMWs.

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For around-town cruising there’s a lack of civility to the stop/start system that’s disappointing. It ka-chungs in and out brutally and is best switched off altogether. Sorry, planet. Happily, the DCT shows few signs of the tip-in lag that still bedevils Volkswagen’s dual-clutch auto.

Unfortunately, there’s a firmness to the M Sport suspension that simply makes it unappealing. It may help control the body when having a drive for fun, but there’s not enough response from the chassis and steering to really make this an engaging experience.

Sport mode heavies the steering weight unacceptably. Thankfully, there is an individual mode to pick and choose the attributes you want.

Best to go for the (no-cost) optional comfort tune and enjoy the relaxation. That’s allied with excellent sound deadening that only the run-flat tyres invade on coarse-chip surfaces.

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Our test 218i did have a sense of the theatrical. Approach it with the sensor key and the wing mirrors flared, the puddle lights shone BMW logos on the ground and blue mood lighting bathed the interior.

Inside, the Gran Coupe looks after the driver best, with a supportive and adjustable seat, chubby little steering wheel and easy access to important instrumentation and controls including the now familiar iDrive. Surfaces are generally soft to the touch.

Back seat passengers, by contrast, don’t get much of a look-in thanks to the form-over-function styling. The problem is headroom for adults and kneeroom for just about everyone. There are no visible vents, but there are USB-C outlets. Priorities.

Storage options are pretty good. The front door bins are big and there’s a commodious lidded bin in the centre console.

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We think

The BMW 218i Gran Coupe sounds like a really cool on-paper idea that doesn’t quite translate into three-dimensional in-the-metal satisfaction.

For this sort of money – and less – there are many and varied front-wheel drive warm and hot models to deliver sporting joy akin to what BMWs traditionally deliver.

Or if you need space and a prestige badge is important, then the larger and aforementioned Audi A4 would make a lot of sense.

The 218i Gran Coupe slots into a sliver of a niche for people who want a modicum of style and are willing to give up performance and functionality for it.

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How much does the 2020 BMW Gran Coupe 218i M Sport cost?
Price: $50,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 103kW/220Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 5.9L/100km
CO2: 135g/km
Safety Rating: Five-star (Euro NCAP 2019)

Related: BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe 2020 Review – Local launch
Related: BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe 2020 Video Review
Related: BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe 2020 Review – International
Related: BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe pricing revealed
Related: BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe: carsales Car of the Year 2020 contender

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Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Expert rating
70/100
Price & Equipment
14/20
Safety & Technology
14/20
Powertrain & Performance
14/20
Driving & Comfort
14/20
Editor's Opinion
14/20
Pros
  • Good cockpit presentation and ergonomics, with easy access to all controls
  • Supportive and comfortable front seats
  • Excellent fuel consumption from the small three-cylinder turbo engine
Cons
  • Powertrain tardiness and stop/start roughness
  • Limited rear seat space due to the form-over-function styling
  • AEB system that doesn’t actually stop the car, unless you pay more
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