BMW’s long history of consistently diminished chassis purity
While it is hardly a ‘con-job’, states Iain Robertson, the noticeable shift by BMW from being ‘The Driver’s Choice’ to being ‘The Connected Choice’ is, in reality, simple par for the course, as the latest 2-Series M Coupe is readied for sale.
Believe the hype and you might believe that the motor industry’s subscription to driving autonomy and the relative dullness of the typical electrified vehicle’s handling dynamics were significantly more popular than they are. Yet, there is a sizeable slice of the motoring population, predominated in the UK by the company car sector, that wants a lot more than sloppy steering responses, poorly damped ride qualities and unforgivingly poor traction.
To the corporate vehicle user, even the one not describing himself as an ‘enthusiast’, German carmaker BMW has been a haven of excellence. As evinced by the on-going chassis dynamics work being carried out on what is the run-out version of the current 2-Series Coupe, BMW continues to refine and enhance the on-road performance of its road cars, although I am now questioning just how pure those intentions might be, when the engine power graph is hiked someway above what might be termed as feasibly sound for perfect balance.
BMW’s transformation from 3-wheeled ‘ugly ducks’ to Teutonic upmarket driving machines took place most dramatically during the early-1960s. Since that period, neither the Quandt family that owns the majority of its shares, nor its ardent fan base, has scarcely had enough time to reflect on the past. The forwards push has been relentless and immensely fruitful for the company.
Yet, the consistent chase for ever greater engine potency has provided nightmare scenarios for the Bavarian firm’s chassis engineering team. I can recall during Swedish carmaker Saab’s development of its unusual front-wheel drive chassis layout, as it readied its 99 model for a glittering career in the world rallying scene, just how fraught was attaining the commensurate balance between acceptable and adequate power delivery. The company’s engineers were adamant that directing 245-260bhp through the front wheels was an optimum figure…any more and the car, even in competition form, would be undriveable.
Naturally, as Saab found out to its considerable cost, when it introduced the 9-3 Viggen road car, even marginally less power led to questionably dangerous on-road manners (a downwards spiral made worse in the drop-top variant, thanks to considerable chassis flex). A subsequent but stillborn 285bhp 9-5 Viggen was canned due to poor dynamics. However, much of this is understandable, when you recall that front-wheel drive, by which the front wheels are expected to suspend, steer and brake, let alone transmit power, combine to create one immense dynamic ‘ask’.
BMW has always had the core benefit of being rear-wheel drive, allowing the front end of the cars to manage the directional aspects, while the rear managed power output and, despite a safety lobby calling for front-wheel drive and its inevitable shrieking understeer, enthusiasts wanted the opposite layout (even with potential bundles of oversteer). BMW’s reputation was virtually unassailable, for the best part of fifty years…but, then, it developed front-wheel drive.
The latest 2-Series M Coupe is an ideal case in point of a carmaker deserting subtly one of its key selling attributes. Let’s face it, 374bhp is one hell of a chunk of potency to transmit in a road car. Yet, despite the firm’s much-vaunted 50:50 weight distribution and assured body rigidity that contribute to ‘perfect chassis balance’, there will only be physics-exceeding power oversteer on the absolute blinding limit of its capabilities, with hooligan-mode engaged and the traction and stability controls switched off, because this sporting BMW is also four-wheel drive, the ultimate downwards-dumbing, chassis engineering solution.
Oh, it is ‘safe’ but is certainly no longer challenging and you can guarantee that there will be more than enough ‘nanny’ in the control packaging to ensure that the driver arrives home from the office seldom less than shaken and never stirred beyond straightline outstripping during the ‘traffic lights GP’. Of course, we are talking about a car capable of zipping from 0-60mph in around 3.9s, all the way to a politically restricted top whack of 155mph (or 170-ish mph, with an M department tweak). Its six-cylinder power unit delivers its almighty heft accompanied by a guttural grumble and much farting and popping (thanks to the company’s M division exhaust) but the aural delights are no longer matched by dynamic thrills.
Four-wheel drive delivers dull steering responses, regardless of how much can be re-engineered electronically into the mix to ‘fool’ the driver. However, extensive work on controlling yaw motion, which is at its most evident should the car be drifting around bends at higher speeds, also has a dynamic dumb-down effect. No longer can BMW boast of dynamic perfection, which is a really good reason for its marketing to drop the ‘driving machine’ soubriquet that it owned for so long. Naturally, to the majority of BMW drivers, much of this will pass them by unnoticed. Yet, it is the tranche of hardened enthusiasts, those paying for the privilege of joining its sometime distinguished dynamics club, that will find their ultimate aims cast to the wind created by the safety lobby.
In my occasionally jaundiced view, I find this desertion of duty to be intolerable. Okay, I may not be ‘young’ enough any more to indulge in clear road derring-do, as perhaps I once might have done, but the degrees of positive, lively and pure feedback to both fingers and driver’s bottom are reduced and made woollier by the same ‘electrickery’ that makes ordinary cars plain ordinary. As such, BMW is simply joining the throng and, while it has hardly been an overnight transition, it is now the measure of the breed. If enthusiasm for driving remains in your personal portfolio, I might suggest acquiring a Mazda MX-5 privately for your weekend jaunts, leaving the 2-Series for the business commute.
