The Stylish And Practical Option | First Drive 2022 BMW 430 & M440 Gran Coupe –
over the past few decades bmw has gone from a car company that made just a handful of sedans to a car company that is trying to fill every conceivable niche in the automotive universe except for pickup trucks but i’m sure bmw given time will give us one of those eventually case in point is the new 2022 second generation bmw 4 series grand coupe this is sort of the 4 series sedan which is based on the 2 series coupe the one with two actual doors which itself is a two-door version of the bmw 3 series if that’s about as clear as mud another way to look at the four series is as the more stylish and simultaneously less practical and more practical three series for 2022 the four series is a little bit wider than before we get led headlights here and the same controversial grille that we find in the two door 4 series the leave it to beaver design is definitely a reason that you might want to get the 3 series over the 4 series or the 4 series over the 3 series depending on how you feel about the grill personally i don’t really mind this particular grille it actually reminds me a bit more of classic bmw grilles we have a 360 degree camera right there in front on the side mirrors and of course in the back bmw logo in the middle but one thing that i found odd is that bmw puts the radar sensor right over here a little bit off-center i wish that they had found some sort of way to either make it symmetrical or put it in this area so that way it didn’t look a little off balance the gran pays lift back design is the key to this being both more practical and less practical than the three series if you’re the kind of person that might want to go to home depot and buy a barbecue and just stuff it inside the car that they’ve driven there in this could do that the 3 series could not but you’ll notice that the side profile is different than the 3 series they’ve really dropped the roof line down back here that compromises rear seat headroom and also gives it this more coop like more attractive profile in terms of sexiness this is definitely ranking above the bmw 3 series in my mind let me know what you think about that down there in the comment section it’s also grown considerably for 2022.
this is 5.9 inches longer than before and comes in at 188.5 inches long this is now a little bit longer than the 3 series sedan and that makes sense because in order to make this particular profile work they had to make the vehicle a little bit longer so that we didn’t look awkwardly stubby back here the other difference of course between this and the 3 series is that when we open the doors we don’t have frames around the windows while we’re looking at the side i should mention that these new door handles are not exactly my cup of tea i find them a little bit too short i find my fingers sort of falling off of them like that when i try and open the door quickly under the hood we have your choice of two different engines both of which should be pretty familiar if you’ve driven any recent bmw the base engine in the 430i is a two liter four-cylinder turbo that produces 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque in the m440i which is what i’m driving right here we get a three liter inline six engine producing 382 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque but there is a bit of a twist for 2022.
this is now a mild hybrid inline-six there’s an 11 horsepower electric motor connected to a 40 volt hybrid system that gives you a little bit of extra shove but unlike the mild hybrid system that we find in some modern mercedes models bmw does not give us an electric air conditioning compressor so this simply is an improved start stop system it’s not going to keep the ac on when the engine is off both engines are made to an eight-speed automatic transmission and your choice of rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive there is however one caveat at the moment the two-liter turbo is available only with rear-wheel drive the all-wheel drive model is coming later and the three-liter turbo is available only with all-wheel drive the rear-wheel drive model is coming later it’s a little bit difficult to talk about front seat comfort at the moment because the seats that are in this particular model are not the production seats this is a very early pre-production 4 series and for some reason it ended up with manual seats bmw said that was an accident even though this is the 440i version we have a tilt telescopic steering column with a large range of motion and all four series should have a power seat it looks like the manual extending thigh cushion is going to be standard as well obviously the rear seats are a little bit tighter than the 3 series thanks to the sexy profile of the 4 series but the major difference is headroom i can’t really put my head back to the headrest there without craning my head to one side but if i were to sit back here say for 30 or 40 minutes i could definitely sit a little bit more upright like this the ceiling dishes up just a little bit there there’s just no way to get my head back there to that headrest the front seat is a little bit further back in its tracks than i would normally sit but as you can see i still have a generous amount of legroom this is the kind of vehicle where you could pretty easily put rear-facing child seats as long as you’re not too tall up front and you could definitely put forward-facing child seats across the back or here in the middle with people on each side because the rear bench is about the same size as the three series with this generation of the grand coupe bmw decided to give it a little bit less of a sedan profile than it had before but we still have the immense practicality of the lift back or sport back design now according to bmw this cargo area comes in at 12 cubic feet but i really think that’s a typo because this looks much larger and more accommodating than the three series trunk and it’s eminently more practical because you can remove this little shelf right here you can also remove the cargo cover on top fold the rear seats down they fold in a 20 40 folding fashion and you could stick really big and bulky items in here that you simply could not do in a bmw 3 series even if you end up having to leave the hatch open a little bit things are going to be more secure in here than they would be in a traditional sedan and in that way perhaps something like a bmw x4 is actually a bit more of a direct competitor to the 4 series grand coupe than the 3 series sedan as you might have guessed the interior of the 4 series looks a lot like the interior of the 3 series and a little bit like the 2 series as well we have a decently sized moon roof just over the driver and front passengers heads but it’s not a panoramic design from this angle you can see that the rear seats are a little bit different in design than the three series seats the main difference is right back here on the outboard of the seat back that’s in order to enable that rear hatch moving back up front we find fixed height shoulder belts i’m surprised we don’t have height adjustable belts but we do have four-way adjustable head restraints in here the leather upholstery in this model does not feature any ventilation or any perforations but these seats are heated you can see that we have pretty aggressive side bolsters but this is a very comfortable seat design i’ll reserve final judgement until we actually get to sit in the final north american seats which again are different than the model that i’m driving you can see the extending thigh cushion right there moving over to the front doors the front door design itself is a little bit different than the three series but also pretty similar we have lots of soft touch materials lots of stitched materials going on right here in the center of the door this model has the harman kardon audio system so we find a tweeter up there just above the door release and then one larger speaker right there next to that door handle then storage right at the bottom of the door pocket the general dashboard design is pretty similar to the 3 series and the 2 series we have that large grille right there above the infotainment screen this is a touch screen system running the latest version of idrive some imitation metallic accent trim right here and then various different trims over here depending on the model that you get we have a pretty decently sized glove compartment i was barely able to fit a 10 inch tablet computer inside going back to the middle obviously the support smartphone integration including wireless smartphone integration although mine is not paired at the moment two large air vents there the controls for the front two climate control zones this does have a three zone climate control system touch buttons down there below that a large storage bin this matches the trim on the dashboard inside here we find a qi wireless charging mat which for some reason at the moment is not charging my phone but now that i’ve turned it around the charging seems to work fine on larger smartphones like this max here if it has a case on it it may not fit right there in the qi wireless charging mat so definitely keep that in mind we have a usb charge port there two large cup holders 12 volt power port the same sort of joystick style shifter we find in a lot of other bmws engine start stop button there drive mode selectors over here this does have an adaptive suspension system and then the controls for the idrive infotainment system between the front seats we find a padded center armrest that opens to reveal a moderately sized storage compartment remember the transmission for the vehicle is basically here under the center console we have another usb charge port and this appears to deliver a decent amount of power it charges cameras and things like that pretty quickly on the model that i’m driving today we have a full color heads-up display that’s what’s in that little dish out section right there above this full lcd instrument cluster you can see this is one of bmw’s typical designs with a moving map display in the middle and then configurable information on the right side that’s configured via this bc button on the turn signal stock moving out from there we have an attractive m sport steering wheel with a leather airbag cover that’s a touch that i really like a lot of car companies have really nice feeling leather on the outside but then really scratchy plastic in the middle and i like the fact that bmw has dressed this up with a stitched leather cover button for the heated steering wheel right there adaptive cruise control controls over here on the left side buttons for the infotainment system heads up display etc over here on the right side big shift paddles on the back and the steering wheel is nice and thickly rimmed obviously the m440i is going to be the fastest version of the 4 series grand coupe and has a really great exhaust note thanks to this inline six engine as well i really like the two litter turbo as well i’ve said this before with a lot of modern bmws the two liter engine is a little bit lighter and you will certainly notice that if you’re out on the track or if you’re out on a really favorite winding mountain road that the front end feels a little bit lighter a little bit more communicative a little bit more eager to turn in but obviously the faster and most fun version of the 4 series grand campaign is gonna be the one that i’m driving right now in addition to sounding better being more refined than the four-cylinder engine this also has an active exhaust so if i put it in comfort mode it’s definitely a little bit quieter and if i put it in sport mode it’s a little bit more raucous and you’ll really hear that outside the vehicle especially when changing gears with the flappy paddles at this point in time i don’t have official 0-60 numbers for the 440i or the 430i but expect them to be substantially similar to the 340i and the 330i because the engine lineup is very similar between the two vehicles and the curb weight is pretty similar as well as you’d logically expect braking handling and ride scores are also pretty similar between these two vehicles the 440i is a little bit louder out on the road because it doesn’t have a traditional trunk back there instead we get that sport back but the difference is going to be incredibly minor you’re probably not going to notice the difference out on most road surfaces if you’re on a really loud road surface you will hear a little bit more rumble coming from that cargo area but i think that’s a small price to pay for the added practicality of that cargo area when the road starts to bend the 440i is unquestionably eager but the modern 3 series and 4 series definitely feel a little bit bigger a little bit more grown up a little bit more relaxed than bmw 3 series say 15 20 years ago and that’s part of why bmw now has a 2 series if you want to know more about the brand new 2022 series there’s a video on my channel on that model as well bottom line for the moment the new four series definitely has a more refined feel than the outgoing model you’ll definitely notice a little bit less creaking around that hatch in the rear one of the reasons that we didn’t find too many sport backs say 20 years ago or so is that it’s pretty difficult to make a body this rigid and deliver the same kind of handling and performance dynamics that you’d expect out of a performance car and have a big huge hatch in the rear but modern materials science has enabled companies like bmw mercedes and audi to create performance luxury vehicles like this that drive very much like a sedan but have that big huge hatch in the rear and of course if you want to take things to the next level and you’re willing to give up a little bit more on-road driving dynamics you can get yourself a bmw x4 it’s going to be even more practical have additional ground clearance but honestly follow a very similar formula to the 4 series grand coupe if you want to get your hands on the new 4 series grand coupe these will be on dealer lots around the time that you’re watching this video and it’s gonna start at forty five thousand seven hundred ninety five dollars that buys you the two liter four cylinder engine and rear wheel drive if you want the 440i which i think you probably do because that goes better i think with the personality of the four series that’s gonna set you back at least fifty eight thousand nine hundred ninety five dollars and as equipped in this video this one came in at sixty eight thousand six hundred twenty dollars at the moment the m440i is the pinnacle of four series performance and you’re probably gonna go a little bit faster 0-60 if you choose the one with all-wheel drive even though there will be a rear-wheel drive model coming a little bit later if you’re really interested in the 3-liter engine with rear-wheel drive you’re going to have to wait a while although it’s worth noting that bmw has not said exactly how long that weight will be just that it’s coming later probably not coming later would be an m version of the 4 series grand coupe bmw has not confirmed or denied this but the rumor mill is pointing to there never being an m4 grand coupe at least in the united states because bmw thinks that it would probably interfere with m3 sales a bit too much and the m4 and the m3 they’re honestly pretty similar in size bottom line between the m440i and the m340i it really just comes down to style do you like the styling of the 440i i have to say if i were shopping between these two vehicles and i didn’t need to use the back seat terribly often i would get the 4 series i actually like the look of the front end here i know some people will crucify me down there in the comment section below but i like the extra style and the added practicality cargo practicality that we find in the 4 series grand coupe it really is an interesting twist that bmw gives and bmw takes away with the grand coupe model obviously the rear passenger area is not as comfortable not as practical or pragmatic but the cargo area is much more practical bmw’s 12 cubic feet of cargo capacity is probably a typo in this model because you could certainly fit more luggage in here than you can in the 3 series be sure to let me know what you think about all that down there in the comments section below and of course stay tuned because i will have a number of other videos for my time out here in thermal california at bmw test fest so be sure and stay tuned because there’s a lot of content coming and in the meantime you can find me over at facebook.com alex notice to see what i’m driving today instagram twitter social places all those other things that i’m probably tripping over my tongue on and i’ll see all of you next week you