I've had my M235i for around 4 months now and I figured I would give everyone a short review of the car. Overall I absolutely love this thing, it makes great power, handles very well (even with the stock run flats), and it is very comfortable. The 8 speed auto is actually a great transmission. My wife drives a '15 GTI and I think the shifts of the ZF 8 speed are nearly as quick as the DSG tranny in her car. The 3 liter single turbo six is an absolute beast especially at 5,000~ feet above sea level. In my neck of the woods turbo cars rule the roost and for a stock car this thing rips...it feels nearly as quick as my modified '09 135i. My only real beefs with the car are the fuel economy (averaging around 25.5 MPG) and the way people seem to treat me driving this car... I know it is a bright red BMW but for some reason I get cut off, flipped off, brake checked and generally treated like **** by the driving public. I know what everyone is thinking that I must drive like a dick but i really don't. Even my wife who drives like a grandma gets road raged on while driving this car. I think it might have something to do with the aggressive looks of this car.
I elected to get an all wheel drive car since I live close to the rockies and we get snow and I like to head to the mountains for various snow sports. This big benefit of the all wheel drive and auto tranny is the launch control system. Besides my wife's GTI I have never owned a car with launch control and the system in this car is awesome. It throws your head back into the headrest when it launches. The only thing I can even compare it to is a 996 911 Turbo I rode in when I was much younger.
I skipped the Nav package as I never use the nav on any car I have owned. The upgraded Harmon Kardon stereo sounds really good all things considered. Idrive has come leaps and bounds from its first iterations and is actually really user friendly overall...
As far as mods I'm looking at putting a JB4 and maybe a few other bolt ons as well as wheels and maybe some lowering springs. Sorry about the potato picture quality of my garage pics...didn't feel comfortable backing the car out for a photo shoot after a few brewskis.
