Page 52 - SHARP Winter 2022

2022 BMW iX xDrive50 Engine: Dual-motor electric Range: 475 km (EPA est.) Power: 516 hp
Price: $89,990
AUTO
The Best Interior of 2021
With the iX, BMW rethought what a car should be
E ARLIER THIS YEAR, WE TOOK A DRIVE ACROSS GERMANY IN THE BMW IX — the spiritual successor to BMW’s groundbreaking i3 — and realized that the best thing about it isn’t the fact that it’s all-electric or that it comes loaded with next-gen tech. It’s that the iX is the first car that succeeds in offering an
alternative vision of what driving should feel like.
Sitting in other nice cars tends to feel like sitting in a fighter jet, an
office, or a hunting lodge. But the iX feels like walking into the lobby of your favourite hotel in Copenhagen or being seated at the best restaurant in town. It’s more social, and is emptied of all the usual fancy-car trappings: stereo speakers are hidden invisibly behind fabric door panels, buttons are embedded in wood and topped with a crystalline dial, the new widescreen display could be an Apple product, and the (optional) blue-grey fabric with copper accents is a palette worthy of an India Mahdavi interior.
That this machine runs silent, powered solely by electricity, only adds to the blissed-out driving experience. As the first of BMW’s new fifth-generation EVs, driving range is a very healthy 475 kilometres (based on EPA estimates), and DC fast-charging ability means 30 minutes is all it takes to charge from 10 to 80 per cent, so no stress there either.
If we had to be in rush hour (or get across the city or to the cottage in long-weekend traffic), the cabin of the iX is where we’d want to be.
THE BEST SPORTS CAR OF 2021 (THAT WON’T BREAK THE BANK)
The all-new 2 Series coupe
is what happens when BMW throws a bone to its biggest fans
Let’s make this easy. If you’re looking for a classy, en- tertaining, and practical sports car under $70,000, you should get the all-new 2 Series coupe, prefera- bly in six-cylinder all-wheel drive M240i xDrive trim. Why? Well, for one thing, where BMW’s latest M4 looks challenging, the new 2 adopts a more classic, timeless style. That alone is cause for celebration among diehard fans, who will surely welcome the return of classic BMW design cues like the Hofmeis- ter kink and horizonal kidney grilles. For another, it’s sized just right, with a longer wheelbase that grants more usable rear seats and a better stance on the road. As a result, the car’s silhouette is reminiscent of the early ’00s M3, one of BMW’s all-time greats.
Of course, there’s also how the 2 drives. With adaptive dampers, it’s both more comfortable for daily use and much sharper on a racetrack than the old M240. There’s less understeer, less body roll, more grip, and even more power. The fact that 0–100 km/h comes up in 4.3 seconds is less important than the fact that the steering feel is intuitive, and the rear-biased handling means powering out of corners never fails to entertain.
This new-generation 2 Series, which should be with us for roughly seven years, is likely to be the last generation of classic little gas-powered coupes from BMW. The future is hybrids and electrics, but if this is indeed the beginning of the end, it’s a hell of a send-off.
2022 BMW M240i xDrive
Engine: 3.0-litre turbo I6 | Power: 382 hp Price: $56,950
52 AUTO • WINTER 2022
SHARPMAGAZINE.COM
THE BEST CAR FOR SPEED-DEMON PARENTS
The BMW M5 CS didn’t need to exist — but we’re glad it does
All four seats are deeply bolstered in the M5 CS, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how absurd this thing is. Only M could make such a big car drive so sweetly when pushed
to the limit. Good luck finding three people brave or foolhardy enough to ride along as you flog this lighter, quicker, more powerful M5 around a race- track, though. $165,900.