What’s it like to live with the BMW 218i Gran Coupe in Malaysia? | Review

When I say ultimate driving machine, one brand will probably pop into mind. And that is an incredible feat of marketing success by BMW because for years growing up I was convinced that if I wanted the purest driving experience, I had to own a BMW. So, imagine my surprise when I drove this: the BMW 218i Gran Coupe. Because right from the get go, things are looking a little bit…off.

Ask any driving enthusiast and they’ll probably tell you that the most fun car layout is the one with the engine in the front, where power goes to the rear and you sit in the middle. Arguably, not many do this layout better than BMW. So, as someone who hasn’t experienced the “sheer driving pleasure” of a well-set-up front-engine rear-wheel drive car, I was excited to be testing out my first BMW.

However, when you look at the BMW 218i Gran Coupe, immediately there seems to be a problem. This car is powered by a 1.5 litre turbocharged in-line three cylinder engine that makes about 140hp and 220Nm of torque…but that power is sent straight to the FRONT wheels.

Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t front wheel drive cars that are fun to drive—most hot hatches are a testament to that. It’s just that this BMW 218i Gran Coupe doesn’t come very close to topping that list. For starters, the power figures don’t really line up with how sporty this car looks, or how many M badges BMW has included in the price tag.

Even in sport mode, if I were to put my foot down…it’s like I just spend the whole time waiting for the power to come in, and when it sort of comes in, the gear shifts and you’re back to square one. Some of that probably has to do with the fact that the car just isn’t very powerful. I mean, even the Proton X50, which also has a 1.5 litre 3 cylinder turbocharged engine, makes more power.

But to me, my least favourite part about the powertrain has to be the gearbox. Yes, it may say dual clutch transmission on the brochure, but it feels incredibly lazy especially on twisty back roads. Put your foot down at the exit of a slow corner and you don’t feel anything from the powerplant–something I have yet to experience in a car that costs more than RM200,000. Much less one that looks as sporty as this.

To make matters worse, there are also no paddle shifters on the wheel. Instead, if you want to bang up and down the gears yourself, you’ll have to use the gear stick the old fashioned way. And this would have been fine if you had a nice substantial stick to grab onto, but all you get in the 218i Gran Coupe is a tiny knob.

Coupled with the tyres that screech a lot without providing a lot of grip and I have to say that the BMW doesn’t feel like it was designed for a particularly sporty drive. At least, not in my novice hands.

At this point, it may sound like I’m giving this car a hard time for not being what it probably was never meant to be. And I know that the M Sport moniker adds as much performance to your car as RGB lights adds performance to your gaming computer. But the reason I wanted it to be a more sporty drive is because you’re actually giving up quite a lot of practicality to get that “sports car feel” in this 218i.

The front seats, for example, aren’t nearly as plush as I would have liked it to be, and when you couple that with the relatively firm ride, it’s not a particularly comfortable car to be in for long periods of time. For my height, I also have to have the seat almost to the floor so I can see out the windshield that’s attached to the low swooping roof line. That means my thighs are not supported by the seat and my seat is pushed quite far back.

When this happens, the rear gets really cramped. Now, I’m not a tall guy, I’m just under 180cm, but with the driver’s seat pushed back for someone of my height, I can’t sit comfortably in the back seat. If I want legroom I’ll have to sit upright and run my head into the low swooping coupe roof line, or give my head space by squeezing my knees around the side of the seat.

Now maybe I would be able to forgive that if the rest of the car was just excellent. Like if it had a really nice premium cabin experience. And I guess in some ways it kind of is…but there are also some very peculiar design choices. For starters, there’s nowhere to put your sunglasses in the 218i. I know this sounds like such a small thing to point out, but when you consider the fact that there aren’t really a whole lot of specialised compartments for your stuff, like phones, keys, and sunglasses, I ended up stuffing everything into the centre console’s armrest storage…like a poor person.

Then, there’s the door lock mechanism, which looks to me like it came straight out of the stone ages. I honestly haven’t seen one of these in such a long time that I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. I mean, even my Myvi doesn’t have this anymore. I guess the up-side is that you now have somewhere to hang your teh tarik ikat tepi.

There are two very nice screens here. The digital cluster and infotainment are crisp, easy to see, though they could be a little bit bigger. The thing I found absolutely ridiculous though is that you have to PAY extra to enable Apple CarPlay. And it’s not like a small token fee, it’s RM1,299. That’s the one entire top spec Redmi Note 11 Pro just so you can connect your iPhone to your BMW via CarPlay.

You may argue that I shouldn’t be looking at BMWs like this. That this is just what comes with the territory when you buy a brand new car in the premium segment. But that’s the thing, if you spend any time in this BMW 218i at all, you can see where this car was built down to a price. There are a myriad of hard plastics and cheap-feeling bits and bobs scattered around the car. But particularly obvious to me were the buttons in the centre console. It does that thing where if you press one button, the whole row moves, and that’s usually a sign of cost cutting.

Honestly, as my first BMW, that was a little disappointing to see.

Unfortunately, things aren’t that great looking from the outside either. I remember the first time I saw pictures of it online and I just thought that the proportions were all wrong. The nose looked a little too big especially when you contrast it with the rear where the light elements are all small and squinty.

I also don’t like the ridiculous number of M badges tacked all over because to me that badge should represent performance—and as I’ve established earlier it drives nothing like a performance car. There’s even a ridiculous light under the side mirrors that project a BMW wordmark onto the floor in case you forgot what car you were driving. It was all a little too much at first—a little too Ah Beng for my liking.

I will say though that it has grown on me a little in the time I’ve spent with it, and it does look a little better in person. Like if you get it in this red colourway, and you look at it from the back at an angle, I think that’s its most attractive angle.

I’ve also started to notice and appreciate the more subtle touches that elevate your car ownership experience the more time I spent with it. Like the big chunky steering wheel which I did not like at first. But as it turns out, when you’re hooning it on the twisty roads, it’s really nice to have a big chunky wheel to hang on to.

And yes, while I did rag on some of the interior finishings in the first place, it’s not all bad. The main elements in the cabin that you interact with daily, like the wheel and door grab handle feel like they’re finished well with nice stitching and soft-touch materials.

There’s also a strong sense of practicality when you drive this car more often. I love, for example, that BMW didn’t shy away from including buttons for all your important controls on both the steering wheel and the centre console—though they may have added a couple too many buttons in my opinion.

I also appreciate the inclusion of an iDrive controller despite the fact that you can adjust and control everything via the touch screen. They could have very easily left it out, but I’m really glad they didn’t because it makes navigating the infotainment so much easier when you’re on the move. Then there are the more premium touches, like the lovely frameless windows and keyless entry system. I love being able to just walk away from the car with the key in my pocket and have it lock itself.

Yes, it’s definitely not the ultimate driving machine I was led to believe growing up. At least, this one isn’t. But, I mean, and I know the purists are going to hate me for this, it still does have this badge, and it’s still technically a BMW. And it being a BMW, especially in our modern society that’s so obsessed with brand and image—may just be worth its weight in gold.

Let me give you an example: when I reviewed the Volkswagen Arteon I thought it was a gorgeous car. I thought it had more presence and visual weight than any of the BMWs or Mercs in its class. And I still stand by that opinion. But what you didn’t see, and what we cut out from that review was a segment where we drove around and parked it in various places just to see how many double takes the car would get from people on the street. And the reason you didn’t see that clip was that we got zero double takes.

But when I started reviewing this BMW 218i Gran Coupe, which I think looks way less impressive than the Arteon, people actually came up to us and gave us thumbs ups and said “hey nice car”. I even got comments from people who somehow recognised it in my video about the passport renewal process in Malaysia, congratulating me on my new BMW. And that’s the thing about a BMW that you won’t get with like a Proton, or a Volkswagen, or a Hyundai. It’s that recognition of achievement from society, the recognition that you’ve hit a milestone in your life—that you’ve made it.

And if you’re talking about being that kind of symbol, I think the BMW 218i Gran Coupe is the perfect car for the job. It is, after all, the most affordable BMW you can buy, and yes it’s not particularly great to drive, nor is it particularly spacious or high tech, but it gives you just enough to give you a taste of what it’s like to own a premium car. Those frameless windows, that leather upholstery, the nice chunky steering wheel, and most importantly that BMW logo.

This is probably a really upsetting reflection of our modern day society, and how obsessed we are with image. But I’ll tell you what though, if I sent a photo of me driving a BMW to my mum, she would be so proud of me. And that alone might be worth it.