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  • 1 week ago
BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe F74 arrives with a sharper look, updated driver assistance tech, and a few surprises under the skin, but it is not the clear upgrade the badge suggests. In this compact sedan review, the new 220 Gran Coupe is tested on the road, in the cabin, and around the practical details that matter day to day.

BMW has stretched the rear door visually, changed the roofline slightly, and made the profile more attractive than before, even if the body shape and rear space remain familiar. The 220’s 1.5-liter three-cylinder mild hybrid delivers more punch than expected, with acceleration that beats the official figure in the test and fuel economy that is not especially impressive. Ride and handling stay firmly in BMW territory, with agile steering, decent comfort, and a chassis that still feels engaging despite front-wheel drive.

Inside, the F74 uses a stripped-down OS9 setup with no iDrive controller, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a wireless charger, and improved assistance features such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, and a reversing assistant that remembers the last 200 meters. Rear headroom is still limited, the boot is reduced to 360 liters in the mild hybrid, and the tested car’s price climbs sharply with options.

For anyone searching for a BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe review, compact sedan test drive, BMW 220 mild hybrid, front-wheel-drive BMW driving impressions, or a practical premium small car comparison, this review covers design, comfort, infotainment, ride quality, and real-world usability in one detailed road test.

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Motor
Transcript
00:00this is the new or so they claim bmw 2 series grand coupe based on technical specification
00:06in many areas this car is actually inferior to the model it replaces but what's it really like
00:13well as they say where you stand depends on where you sit so let's find out together
00:32so
01:07in some markets BMW does not offer a one-series hatchback only a two-series
01:12coupe and a two-series grand coupe in my review of the previous generation five
01:17years ago I made fun of classifying an ugly sedan as a coupe while I still
01:22believe the car marketing departments are taking the mickey out of their
01:25clients I will spare BMW from further dwelling on its nomenclature there are
01:31other issues worth addressing first the dimensions the new BMW 2 series grand
01:36coupe f74 is just two centimeters longer and 25 centimeters higher than the
01:41previous generation f44 and that's about it the width is the same the wheelbase
01:47is identical the truck is different by a couple of millimeters for some reason the
01:51ground clearance has been reduced from 152 to 145 millimeters the car has
01:58obviously gained weight and I could go on knocking on it but I'll start with one
02:02area where BMW has actually improved something looks are subjective but in my
02:08review five years ago I said that from the side you see the rear doors are too
02:13short and they are a telltale sign of the segment this car is in BMW listened probably
02:20not just to my whinging and extended the rear door but only optically because the
02:27opening is still as small as it was however in my opinion the 2 series grand
02:32coupe a profile now looks better also the falling roofline is at a slightly
02:38different angle and the car is just more pleasant to look at it's something like a
02:44miniature 8 series grand coupé
03:01this type of tweaks here and there make the 2 series grand coupé quite pleasant to
03:06look at in my opinion there is no place in my life for this type of the car but
03:10now I find it almost nice while the previous generation had two visible
03:16exhaust tips even in the diesel variant now the 2 series even with an M package
03:22has a single exhaust tip hidden away under the rear diffuser partly because the
03:27current 220 is a three-banger formerly known as the 218 I
03:46to be honest for the first couple of days driving the 220 grand coupé I didn't
03:51even realize it was a small displacement engine the car has got decent punch and
03:56rather indecent fuel economy in my non-scientific combined cycle the car
04:03used about 8 liters per 100 kilometers I was a bit surprised because the x320 I
04:09drove recently had similar fuel economy but I thought okay the 2 liter 4
04:15cylinder engine is just so good it can efficiently propel even an SUV I was
04:22astonished to find out this is actually a 3 cylinder 1.5 liter engine
04:30at least acceleration is BMW style under promised and over delivered instead of
04:367.9 seconds I got 7.6 seconds in sport mode 8.3 seconds in normal mode and this is
04:43one of the very few parameters where the 220 improves on the old 218 I fuel economy
04:51should be 5.8 liters per 100 kilometers combined in the 220 and 5.6 liters in the 218 I
04:59also the 220 is
05:01about 100 kilograms heavier than the 218 I better dynamics are achieved thanks to the mild hybrid which
05:08adds weight and some 20 kilograms which the 220 now has 170 and I know too many numbers complicated
05:21ride and handling I had no complaints in the previous generation and I have no complaints here either the BMW
05:302 series
05:31is even though it's front wheel drive drives like a BMW it's fast it's agile it responds
05:38immediately to drivers commands in addition the suspension is suitably comfortable but firm the car
05:44goes over bumps without a problem despite 19 inch rims optional of course to be fair I got into the
05:512 series
05:52Grand Coupe from a Mazda CX 60 which in addition to being an SUV a much bigger car has absolutely
05:58terrible ride
05:59it's both too soft and too crashy so where you stand depends on where you sit
06:07similarly a few months ago I drove the M135 X drive and complained that the car was too easy to
06:13drive too
06:14fast especially for an inexperienced driver because it could end in tears in 220 I feel like I have more
06:22feedback at lower speeds it could also mean that I'm just not a good enough driver for BMW's more powerful
06:28models but I will stick to my guns that it's probably more fun to drive a car in which I
06:35can feel what's
06:36going on before it's too late the biggest leap forward in the f74 compared to the f44 is the
06:47introduction of newer generation of driver assistance systems the previous generation was designed at a time
06:52when models on the UKL platform lacked systems offered on more expensive models finally there's
06:59adaptive cruise control with lane keeping assist parking assistant was available in the previous
07:03generation but now you can save a parking space and the reversing assistant remembers
07:08not the last 50 but the last 200 meters of maneuvers objectively visibility cannot be better because
07:17it's roughly the same body shape but in the meantime I have driven so many cars with thick a pillars
07:23that
07:23the BMW 2 series grand coupe is not so bad after all the same goes for soundproofing in the era
07:31of reducing
07:31emissions soundproofing is also being thrown out from cars so the 2 series grand coupe is not too bad
07:38however I have not yet driven the new Mercedes-Benz CLA
07:45and that's a good segue to the engine lineup while the new generation of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class
07:53debuted in CLA form as an electric only model at least for now BMW is sticking at least for now
08:01two internal combustion engines in the compact segment namely the 300 horsepower m235 x-drive 218
08:09horsepower 223 x-drive the 170 horsepower 220 the 122 horsepower 216 the 163 horsepower 220 d and the
08:20150 horsepower 218 d 223 220 220 d or mild hybrids if someone wants an electric car from BMW group
08:27they will
08:28have to go to go to mini for an aceman or a cooper e however considering the level of advancement
08:33of the
08:33compact electric car from mercedes-benz if you want that electric compact bmw you will have to wait for
08:40the neue classe to debut and its technology to trickle down to lesser beamers
09:03the cockpit of the bmw 2 series grand coupe is a stripped down version of bmw os9 meaning there is
09:11no i drive controller wheel almost everything is operated from the screen with two shortcut buttons
09:18physical one takes us to the basic car settings and the other one to light settings and yes light
09:26settings on the screen are the work of the devil and i hope bmw and other brands guilty of this
09:32offense will be punished for it by euro n cup and the customers on the plus side the infotainment system
09:39works pretty well it doesn't crash and once you have set up everything and stored it in the cloud
09:45hopefully you're not going to use it anymore because there is wireless android auto and apple carplay
09:51there is a wireless charger down here at the bottom of the console however although it works
09:57if there is any actual cooling of the phone here it's insufficient above the charger is a little cubby
10:04from which objects fall when you accelerate too hard there are cup holders small storage under the armrest
10:13and the glove box is also pretty small the door pockets are sufficient the seats are also very
10:20comfortable in this version seats in the m135 which i reviewed a couple of months ago had integrated headrests
10:28which often leads to compromise but they turned out to be good and in this 220 grand coupe review unit
10:34we have optional sports seats which are part of the m package and they are surprisingly comfortable as well
10:41now i know that the m package looks cool but if you value comfort avoid anything with sport and m
10:49in
10:50the name the rear is identical to the previous generation there is enough leg room but not much
10:56headroom i wondered where the extra centimeters resulting from extra body height and lower ground
11:02clearance went perhaps the roofline starts to drop a little earlier in the rear and as a result the
11:08passenger in the back ends up rubbing their head on the headliner anyway while the 220 grand coupe is
11:14classified as a five-seater the rear middle seat passenger seat belt is for occasional use regardless
11:21i suggest buckling it in because when it's in its attachment point on the rear parcel shelf
11:29it rattles it took me a while to find the source of this annoying noise now if it was my
11:35own car i would
11:36probably just put some felt in it but on the other hand this is not some 10 year old dacia
11:42but a brand
11:43new premium car in normal circumstances the boot volume remains unchanged 430 liters with underfloor
11:51storage but because the 220 is a mild hybrid we are left with 360 liters and half of the space
11:58under the
11:59floor of course more is better but as you can see i still manage to fit a lot of shopping
12:04in the deeper
12:05part of the boot prices of the bmw two series grand coupe start at 36 200 euro for the 216
12:13grand coupe
12:14this test car is a 220 grand coupe and with options it costs 57 590 euro which is an absurd
12:22amount of
12:23money and i'm not even going to try and defend bmw here 35 grand and hold out your hand but
12:30seriously the
12:30new two series grand coupe is in some areas better than the previous generation but in other areas
12:37it's the same or unfortunately worse at least it's not an audi so i don't have to think of a
12:42corny
12:42progress through technology joke and what do you think about the new bmw two series grand coupe
12:49maybe you prefer the audi a3 limousine or maybe you're waiting for the new electric mercedes-benz
12:55cla let me know in the comments section below if you like my sarcastic down-to-earth and possibly
13:05mildly amusing car reviews join me every friday at 3 p.m central european time and don't forget
13:11to subscribe and like this video as it helps me with the youtube algorithm thanks for watching
13:17and i will see you in the next one
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