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 record? 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 may as well pocket the distinction and nonetheless get a wonderful dealing with BMW two-door that embodies the model’s greatest qualities. The M440i isn’t as thrilling or extroverted because the M4, however after driving it for just a few days, I’ve concluded it’s an excellent day by day driver and, on this function, 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’d 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 solely get as an computerized with all-wheel drive in Europe), pushes the M4 coupe’s worth 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 may benefit from the base M440i simply as a lot. It’s not like the bottom automobile doesn’t include bells and whistles; it will get the M pack as commonplace, 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 worth up have been the adaptive dampers, the M Sport Professional pack (which turns the calipers crimson or blue and in addition provides the seatbelts the tricolor M stripes), a panoramic glass roof that opens, the Harman Kardon sound system (which is a must have possibility 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 House Round a Twisty Street

The very first thing I did was take it to a close-by twisty forest street. I wished to see simply how full of life, playful and controllable the automobile was on the restrict, and it didn’t disappoint. Even with xDrive, the automobile 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 automobile provides 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 all the stability management system provides 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 undoubtedly really feel the electronically managed limited-slip differential, making rear-end slides each enjoyable and predictable. When you get comfy with the automobile, which didn’t take lengthy in my case, it evokes a variety 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 every 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 automobile with absolute precision, it feels a bit synthetic. It’s additionally a bit too mild for my style, even in Sport mode when it companies up.

But it surely by no means feels pretty much as good because the steering in older BMWs, which required extra arm twirling to use extra lock, but it surely was in some way extra rewarding. BMW appears to be tailoring the steering in its newer vehicles for on a regular basis driving relatively 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 coated what’s new within the G22 LCI on many events, so I’m not going to do it right here. Nevertheless, 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 undoubtedly 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 completely happy that this automobile nonetheless has the older type 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, isn’t nice. The G22 LCI nonetheless has devoted bodily buttons for its driving modes, and it’s undeniably a greater answer.

BMW appears to be on a mission to get rid of 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 appears a bit much less fancy than earlier than, and it’s an indication of issues to come back 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 greater. It’s nonetheless low by trade requirements, but it surely’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 crimson heart marking, is implausible, although. It nonetheless feels thick and chunky while you maintain it, however you may 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 beneath the M440i’s hood in comparison with the pre-LCI mannequin. It’s nonetheless a gentle 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, notably on the entrance, the place my tester’s blacked-out grille is now extra refined. A part of that impact comes by means of the usage of horizontal relatively than vertical bars, a design ingredient that it borrowed from precise M fashions. My tester additionally had the elective laser back 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 indicators a change in how BMW positions its sub-M efficiency fashions. They used to fall into the M Efficiency class, however BMW has carried out away with that, and it now designates vehicles just like the M440i as M fashions. BMW now refers to vehicles just like the M4 as “M high-performance” fashions. That is why you see an M brand on the grille within the M440i, which wasn’t there on the pre-refresh mannequin.

The M440i LCI is definitely an achieved efficiency six-cylinder coupe, which has an incredible long-legged character that offers you the impression it may 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 beneath 33 mpg (7 l/100 km), which is implausible for a automobile 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 guide gearbox, which can make it a bit slower, but it surely 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 autos, 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 out there with all-wheel drive in Europe), I might say it’s the setup to have on this automobile. When driving spiritedly with the nannies turned down or disabled, the M440i nonetheless seems like an oversteery BMW. Nevertheless, it additionally accelerates with outstanding gusto even in decrease grip circumstances. The addition of xDrive enhances the automobile’s usability year-round, notably should you plan to take it to the Alps in winter for snowboarding.