I now have 1,400 miles of seat time in my first seven weeks of ownership, so I thought I would give an owner’s perspective of the new M440iX. Biased? Of course, I am. I do have a few dislikes, but overall, I love my new G22. This is long, but…
First of all, as the name implies, I am a Corvette guy having owned C2, C3, C5, and C7 models, with a C2 still my garage. I drove SCCA and NHRA back in the 70’s and police cars for 36 years after that. Lately my daily driver has been a Jeep Grand Cherokee. However, my wife traded her Audi for new Cadillac XT5 last year and we don’t need two SUVs. That said, I do need a four-seat daily driver that can haul my chocolate lab every day, handle the occasional trip to Lowes or the grocery store, and accommodate the rare adult sized rear seat passenger.
I decided a new sports coupe or sedan would fill the urge for something new. The car would never be tracked, but it would be driven with spirit and enjoyment around town, and on road trips if this damn pandemic ever abates. Without going into everything that I checked out or drove across several segments, including the C8, 992, CT5V, Audis, and even the Tesla S, I narrowed it down to the Caddy CT5-V or the M340iX because I needed a fun to drive all-weather daily driver. Having already spent some time behind the wheel of an M340iX, I decided to go BMW over the Caddy.
Then I saw the pics of The New 4 and that was all it took. I love coupes. After reading everything I could find, looking at every photo and video, and lurking here, I went ahead and ordered an M440iX in the Arctic Race Blue launch color with a black leather blue stitched interior. My build includes, the Parking Assistance Package, Executive Package, 797 M wheels with performance run flats, Adaptive Suspension, Wireless Charging, and the Harmon Kardon upgrade.
STYLING
Let’s knock this one out now and get it over with… I’m more of an automotive enthusiast than a traditionalist. I remember the pre-internet world of model change leaks and teases, and anxiously heading to the dealerships each September to see the latest and greatest in new car styles from each manufacturer. Being a life-long Corvette guy who still over drives a red ’67 roadster, I fully understand the angst of the traditionalists who don’t like change. I truly do, but… some of the styling cues of The 4 that traditionalists find offensive are some of the very styling cues that attracted me to it.
Photographs don’t show the scale and proportion of this or any other car. The nose is low and the car has an aerodynamic stance. Yes, it could somehow be a few inches shorter, especially on the front, but the overall proportions are not bad, especially comparing it to its sibling G20. Compared to a 2er, yeah it a big car.
The Grille… Okay, it’s different, and its bigger, but it’s simply not as “huge” as haters and click baiters like to spew, many without ever seeing it in person. And, a bunch of poorly composed photographs distort it terribly. Yes, it is about 50% larger than the overall area of a G20 grille. In fact, measured on the circumference of the kidneys, including the surrounds, the G22 grille is approximately 450 square inches, compared to the grille of the G20 that is approximately 300 square inches. The grille of the G22 is 26.5 wide and 17.25 inches tall, and the top edge of the surround stands about 27 inches off the ground. The top edge of the 3 Series grille, with its much more bulbous surround, is about 34 inches wide and 9 inches tall and its top edge stands approximately 28 inches off the ground, actually taller than the G22. Bigger, yes, but this new G22 grille is simply different from what some people are used to in their BMWs. To me, this whole “huge” issue is simply group think started by traditionalist that don’t like it and perpetuated by YouTube experts who like to hear themselves talk while they crouch down in front of it to make it look even taller than it really is.
I will admit… I think the grill would look better with an all-black diamond mesh, without the cerium gray bits or nuggets throughout the mesh. Maybe even in a smaller patterned diamond mesh like the CT4 and 5, or the more traditional bars, like its predecessor or the new G8x cars. I ordered a gloss black replacement grille from a forum vendor even before the car arrived, but the on-line description was flawed and it still had the cerium nuggets in it so I did not accept it. The M Performance gloss black grille with carbon fiber surround is supposedly all-black mesh so I might take a closer look at that when it is finally released for retail sale. Okay, the grille has been beaten to death. I don’t necessarily love it, but I don’t dislike it at all. It’s just not traditional.
Headlights… The Laser Light headlights look cool but they are also bright and the automatic dimmer feature works well.
The Hood… I like the lines of the hood. The only thing I would like to see is the leading edge meeting the top of the grille with the roundel attached to the hood instead of the front facia. I’m not sure why they couldn't carry that over, but it’s probably a combination of styling across the various 4 Models, including the i4 and M4, and maybe something structural in the nose that I don’t see.
The Side Panels… I love the clean look of the sides of the car. To me it does not look weak or boring without the traditional character lines. In fact, the car looks much lower and more aerodynamic, which it is.
Rear Quarters/Roofline… in my opinion, the quarters/shoulders have a solid look but they hide the fact that the car actually has a wider track than its 3 series siblings. Yes, the Hoffmeister kink has been flattened to be barely discernable, but the window lines better compliment the pitch of the roofline and look more aerodynamic this way.
Read Deck and Tail Lights... The rear deck looks good although the little spoiler seems soft. The tail lights look good, but nothing special. The bumper protrudes very proudly so I hope it will absorb accordingly, but the gloss black panel and diffuser help break it up. To me the weakness here is the exhaust finishers, which look as bogus as they are. A pair of round dual exhaust tips on each side would be more appropriate.
Shadowline / Cerium Gray Trim… I like the gloss black shadowline trim parts, but I have mixed feelings about the Cerium Gray trim parts. I bought new gloss black air curtains to replace the stock cerium curtains on the front, but I have not gotten around to installing them yet, but in my opinion, those should make the front vents look cleaner even if I don’t change the grille. As I said above, I would prefer a completely blacked out grille with no cerium “nuggets.” If I ditch the cerium grille surround, I will swap out the mirror caps to gloss black to match the shadowline window trim.
Paint… I couldn’t do any more black, grey or white cars. The Arctic Race Blue changes dramatically with the ambient light. In bright sun the metallic pops and it appears almost a bright blue. Without sunlight the metallic disappears almost completely and it appears to be a grayish medium blue. The car does have more orange peel than a car from Munich should have. I had the paint corrected and XPEL ppf installed on the front facia and mirror caps, then ceramic coated with a five-year Ceramic Pro application. It turned out awesome.
Wheels… These new bi-color 797 M Wheels are beautiful with the frozen black and machined finishes. I don’t necessarily want the calipers upstaging the wheels on my cars, but.... I went with red calipers because I didn’t think the blue went with the blue body color. I would have ordered black if black had been an option.
INTERIOR
Simply said, it’s very nice, and I spend far more time looking at the interior than the exterior. The cabin is extremely quiet in comfort mode with absolutely no wind noise. The quiet is in part because of the excellent weather stripping, but when the front windows are lowered the weatherstripping is so obviously visible on what is really a hidden b-pillar. I don’t care for a sunroof so I would have been deleted it had that been possible, but no big deal.
The interior fit and finish are seriously good compared to other comparable cars, even in this class or price range. It is contemporary but conservative unlike some competitors’ futuristic looking cabins. The SensaTec on the dash and doors feels good, but definitely not like leather, but its texture matches the leather on the seats very well.
Seats/Upholstery… The seats are very adjustable and comfortable with good support and grip, but I would have ordered the M Sport seats if BMW had offered them in the U.S. It’s a shame that BMW does not offer the napa leather and full leather options in the U.S., but that said, the Vernasca leather feels decent and, in my opinion, actually seems more traditionally suited to a sports coupe than a finer leather might. I really like the blue stitching option on the black leather. It matches the Arctic Race Blue almost perfectly.
Instrumentation… I could complain here that the speedo is inaccurate because it stays about 80+ so often, but that might not really be an instrumentation issue. I have the Cockpit Pro so the displays are large and bright. The instrument panel can be little too busy, but I have it minimized and I’ve adapted pretty quick to the layout with the hockey stick speedo and tach setup. I really don’t miss traditional dials any more than an experienced race car drive in almost any circuit does, but BMW could have made these hockey sticks cleaner with one color and a clearly contracting sweep. I would like to be able to program it a little more to my own individual likes. I rely mostly on the heads up which I have configured to see the posted speed limit, my speed (always flashing), and the tach, which is all I need at most moments. I wish the tach display on the HUD was displayed simply in green, then the yellow and red increments, instead of white dashed increments with a bolder white pattern that sweeps above the increments as you accelerate up toward the yellow and red hash marks.
Infotainment Display… One of the things I really like over most other cars is the way the info display is set almost into the dash just below eye level and just slightly canted to the driver, instead of sitting on the top of the dash like an iPad plopped up there as an afterthought and blocking the view. I dislike that even on earlier BMWs, and I especially hate that on Audis. Again, the display is large and bright and the iDrive 7 software and controller makes it easy to navigate. It is so great to have tactile control buttons and knobs, and I almost never touch the screen.
DRIVING
Again, I have only just broken 1,400 miles on the car but I’ve managed to do so in Comfort, Sport, and Sport Plus modes. It’s been a blast so far and I’ve only flogged it a few times. As mentioned, it will never see track time and will actually be driven more as a GT than a true sports car. Having started driving in the 1960s and grown up around SCCA tracks, I could debate what constitutes a true sports car versus a GT car, but that’s for another discussion. I’ll only say that just about any post 1960’s sports coupe or a sports sedan is seldom really a true sports car. Usually just a “sporty” car of some type.
After only 200 miles, and some research, I swapped out the staggered Pirelli summer run flats for a set of Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 all season go-flat tires and added an Air Man mobility kit. Truth be told, I would have never taken full advantage of summer only performance tires on a daily driver, and already this month the temps have dropped as low as 15 degrees here in the St. Louis area. We typically get six or seven snowfalls each winter with an average winter total of 16-18 inches. The roads are usually cleared relatively quickly, so I did not want to go with a full winter tire setup. So far, the Continentals are much quieter and smoother than the Pirelli P7 run flats, and while I have not yet seriously challenged their performance capability, they do feel reasonably sure footed. They have good grip on dry pavement and have been excellent on the wet roads I have driven thus far. Right now, I am very pleased with this change. I really don’t want to test them in the snow, but it is inevitable.
Ride/Handling… No, it’s not a sports car. My seat time has been pretty well split 30% comfort, 60% Sport and 10% Sports Plus. And, I appear to be averaging about 24+ mpg. Overall, the ride in Comfort mode is very smooth and quiet, and much more so without the run flat tires. The electric steering definitely dampens the wheel too much, but overall response is good even if the feeling is numb. I will concede that swapping out the tires to all season cost handling capability as well. The Sport mode takes the ride, shifting, and sound to a nice GT level and I’m finding myself driving in Sport mode more and more. In Sport Plus the auto transmission shifts are very crisp and at relatively good RPM points. Shifting it manually is fun too. My one long run on a good country twisty in Sport Plus proved the car capable with no body roll or flex, and even dodging an errant deer worked out well, thank God.
Exhaust… I’m more attuned to the throaty sounds of an American V8 in my fun cars and always scoffed at some of the sound that people squeeze out of some anemic four and six-cylinder engines that would be better off muffled. In the case of the B58 in this car, the exhaust is pretty plain in comfort mode, but is healthier in the Sports modes. No, I have not heard an overabundance of pops and burbles, but in Sports Plus they are definitely there. The pops and burbles are not that important to me though. Overall, the exhaust is okay but not exciting. You’ll need to upgrade it if you want more sound.
To wrap up…
I still have a lot to learn about the car and what it is capable of, but it’s been a blast so far. It’s certainly not a perfect car. None are. I agree with many reviewers that it is a GT car, but that serves me well. In fact, I suspect that most owners of BMW 3s and 4s, including M cars, drive them as GT cars, not sports cars, and have never even driven a
real sports car.
Overall, it’s a good-looking car that is fun to drive as a daily driver. I have had nothing but positive comments from everyone. When I mention to them that BMW traditionalists hate the grille, I usually hear that they think the grille looks okay, good, or even aggressive, but overall, they don’t seem to dislike it, at least not out loud. Even the manager of the detail shop told me when I picked it back after the ceramic coating that he likes the new look. And, that’s from a guy whose shop does high end cars every day, including Bimmers and Porsches, as well as for the local Bentley, Lambo, Lotus, Bugatti, and Aston dealer down the street. However, my favorite complement thus far has been from the driver of a completely blacked out F32 who rolled down his window at an intersection and gave me a thumbs up and a wave.