[VIERsr]

Originally Posted by gottacatchemall

Echo the OP on the ZF8 and S58. Both are fantastic and the strong points of the car. However, the steering feedback is minimal to none and braking is underwhelming.

I found the brakes with the cooling package and high performance tyres good enough for road driving, pedal feel isn't that good though, but it's what you should expect from a street car with no track orientation.
Note that the wider hi-performance front tires help a lot with braking power and steering feel, most of the reviews I've read so far were based on cars with all seasons or narrow runflat tires (225 instead of 245).
But again, it's not an M-car and you shouldn't expect exceptional braking.

Originally Posted by Germanauto

Thanks for the writeup but most reviews seem to disagree with you OP. Everybody says that while highly competent and reasonably good to drive, it's not an analog car. That's a bold claim to make.

Regardless, this car bodes well for the M2. I'm sure the eventual RWD 240 will be great as well.

Yes, most of the review compared this to the OG M2, some even to the Cayman (!), I find it is quite pointless, of course M2 and Cayman give you a better driving experience, no doubt about it.
Anyway for some reason they forgot that this is the replacement for the F22 M240i xDrive, and the improvement over that is tangible in every way.
And when you consider what the competitors are offering, this is the most engaging, analog experience you can have right now for this money. Of course you can't compare it to a Cayman, price and purpose are on another level, but when you consider that in Europe the M240i is priced between the Audi S3/MB CLA 35AMG and the RS3/CLA 45AMG, from my perspective the Bmw is worth every penny and offers the best driving experience overall (although it's not a perfect car).

Originally Posted by NHRef

Thanks for the thorough evaluation!

Regarding the comment, "It's not a light car but I can say that it masks its weight very well, it would probably suffer on the track but that's not its purpose," are you suggesting the car would not be suited to racing? Or perhaps referring to occasional on track driving schools?

Well, on the road even if you drive fast but within the limits of common sense, a good chassis can mask the weight, but on the track you can not override physics and I guess the limits come out in the form of fading and overheating of brakes and tires.
But for occasional track driving it should be ok with proper brake pads and fluid without expectations of setting a track record