M Sufficient for Most Drivers

If you wish to spend round $100,000 on a quick two-door BMW, you might be confronted with a dilemma: do you get the full-fat M4 in base trim, or do you as an alternative go for the extra tame 2025 BMW M440i and go loopy with the choices listing? Yes, the M440i is about $30,000 cheaper, permitting you so as to add that a lot in choices to succeed in the $100,000 mark.

However you can even pocket the distinction and nonetheless get a superb dealing with BMW two-door that embodies the model’s finest qualities. The M440i isn’t as thrilling or extroverted because the M4, however after driving it for a couple of days, I’ve concluded it’s an excellent every day driver and, on this position, a more sensible choice than the M4. Let me clarify.

A Lot Extra Costly in Europe

The 2025 BMW M440i begins at €73,300 right here in Romania, whereas an M4 coupe begins at €91,100 or €97,300 if you would like the extra highly effective Competitors mannequin with an computerized gearbox. Including xDrive, to present it an identical configuration to the M440i (which you’ll be able to solely get as an computerized with all-wheel drive in Europe), pushes the M4 coupe’s value to over €102,000.

My M440i tester was lent to me by BMW Romania. Being a part of the press fleet, it was well-equipped and had a price ticket of €91,600. The choices don’t outline the expertise, although; you possibly can benefit from the base M440i simply as a lot. It’s not like the bottom automotive doesn’t include bells and whistles; it will get the M pack as customary, the big curved screens, heated sport seats, an M steering wheel, an electronically managed limited-slip differential and uprated brakes.

What introduced my tester’s value up had been the adaptive dampers, the M Sport Professional pack (which turns the calipers purple or blue and in addition offers the seatbelts the tricolor M stripes), a panoramic glass roof that opens, the Harman Kardon sound system (which is a must have choice in any new BMW), the Innovation pack and the Consolation pack. All of the choices add as much as round €17,000, VAT included.

Completely at Dwelling Round a Twisty Highway

The very first thing I did was take it to a close-by twisty forest street. I wished to see simply how vigorous, playful and controllable the automotive was on the restrict, and it didn’t disappoint. Even with xDrive, the automotive doesn’t really feel prefer it’s sending energy to the entrance axle. It eagerly swings its tail out, permitting for some oversteer enjoyable.

Certain, you miss the management {that a} true M automotive offers you with its M Dynamic Mode (MDM), which lets you dial in precisely how a lot you need the again to step out. However disabling traction management and never your entire stability management system offers you an intermediate setting within the BMW M440i, which permits you some sideways slip within the again but additionally retains issues in test, and you may simply recuperate from any slide.

You’ll be able to positively really feel the electronically managed limited-slip differential, making rear-end slides each enjoyable and predictable. When you get snug with the automotive, which didn’t take lengthy in my case, it conjures up quite a lot of confidence to not solely push into corners but additionally swing the tail out by making use of extra energy than wanted on nook exit.

Like all present BMW mannequin, the steering is sharp and direct however lacks really feel. It has a variable ratio within the M440i, so whereas it means that you can place the automotive with absolute precision, it feels a bit synthetic. It’s additionally a bit too mild for my style, even in Sport mode when it corporations up.

But it surely by no means feels nearly as good because the steering in older BMWs, which required extra arm twirling to use extra lock, nevertheless it was one way or the other extra rewarding. BMW appears to be tailoring the steering in its newer automobiles for on a regular basis driving slightly than pleasing fanatics on a mountain street blast. This additionally applies to the M4 convertible that I drove just lately.

The Inside Is A Mixture of Previous and New

We’ve lined what’s new within the G22 LCI on many events, so I’m not going to do it right here. Nonetheless, eliminating all bodily local weather controls and relocating them to the touchscreen makes the consumer expertise worse. Nearly as good as iDrive 8.5 could also be (and it’s positively an enormous enchancment over model 8), it’s by no means going to be superior to having buttons to press and dials to show to regulate the temperature to your liking.

I’m blissful that this automotive nonetheless has the older fashion buttons across the transmission selector. Having a “My Modes” button, which you press after which it’s important to faucet on the touchscreen to pick out your required driving mode, like it’s important to do in most new BMWs, shouldn’t be nice. The G22 LCI nonetheless has devoted bodily buttons for its driving modes, and it’s undeniably a greater resolution.

BMW appears to be on a mission to remove the in depth ambient lighting that we’ve change into accustomed to within the final decade. That is evident within the M440i that I drove, which doesn’t have LED strips on the dashboard, and also you solely get some diffuse illumination within the new central air vents. It seems to be a bit much less fancy than earlier than, and it’s an indication of issues to return at BMW.

After driving the M4, most just lately with out the carbon bucket seats that go even decrease than the usual seats, the seating place within the M440i felt noticeably increased. It’s nonetheless low by business requirements, nevertheless it’s not fairly as little as in an M4, and should you’ve pushed one earlier than, you’ll discover the distinction.

The revised M steering wheel, which now has a flat backside and a purple middle marking, is implausible, although. It nonetheless feels thick and chunky once you maintain it, however you possibly can grip it higher than the earlier helm, and it improves the driving expertise.

The B58 Is as Nice as Ever

BMW has tweaked the B58 turbocharged straight-six engine below the M440i’s hood in comparison with the pre-LCI mannequin. It’s nonetheless a light hybrid, and its specs on paper are unchanged, however to me it felt extra muscular and keen to drag than earlier than, with extra perceived oomph than the claimed 374 hp and 368 lb-ft (500 Nm) output would have you ever count on.

The facelift has definitely improved the design, significantly on the entrance, the place my tester’s blacked-out grille is now extra delicate. A part of that impact comes by way of the usage of horizontal slightly than vertical bars, a design ingredient that it borrowed from precise M fashions. My tester additionally had the non-compulsory laser hind lights, which look actually good from some angles, however from a distance all you see is the bigger half that lights up and never the fragile laser-lit strands that ought to be the point of interest.

The redesigned grille alerts a change in how BMW positions its sub-M efficiency fashions. They used to fall into the M Efficiency class, however BMW has performed away with that, and it now designates automobiles just like the M440i as M fashions. BMW now refers to automobiles just like the M4 as “M high-performance” fashions. For this reason you see an M emblem on the grille within the M440i, which wasn’t there on the pre-refresh mannequin.

The M440i LCI is certainly an achieved efficiency six-cylinder coupe, which has an excellent long-legged character that offers you the impression it might cross a continent with ease. It’s nice to drive, its inside oozes high quality and luxurious and to implement its continent-crossing character, it’s good on gas too. Cruise at 56 mph (90 km/h), and it’ll use below 33 mpg (7 l/100 km), which is implausible for a automotive that’s this highly effective and has everlasting all-wheel drive.

Is The M4 The Higher Purchase?

I’d nonetheless decide the M4 for its extra hardcore character. The M4 additionally comes with a handbook gearbox, which can make it a bit slower, nevertheless it elevates the extent of engagement to heights that the M440i merely can’t match. The eight-speed computerized transmission is simply as nice as ever in each automobiles, although, and it suits the M440i’s muscular cruiser character higher.

Whereas I haven’t pushed the 2025 BMW M440i with out xDrive (because it’s solely obtainable with all-wheel drive in Europe), I might say it’s the setup to have on this automotive. When driving spiritedly with the nannies turned down or disabled, the M440i nonetheless appears like an oversteery BMW. Nonetheless, it additionally accelerates with exceptional gusto even in decrease grip circumstances. The addition of xDrive enhances the automotive’s usability year-round, significantly should you plan to take it to the Alps in winter for snowboarding.