Marvellous Multi-Tasking BMW 440i Coupé M Sport

If you’re out of pocket for a M4, will the 440i, BMW’s feistiest non-M 4 series, cut the mustard?

As the 440i’s handsome 18-inch alloys roll onto my driveway, I peer through my wooden blinds to take a look. It’s beautifully proportioned but completely unassuming – it may as well be a 420i with some added M-bits and bobs.

In case you were wondering, the 440i is BMW’s flagship TwinPower Turbo replacement to the 435i, a cracker of a straight-six engine, with an almost musical howl when pushed. The six-cylinder setup remains, but it’s 15kW hotter, and according to the Bavarian automaker, fuel consumption is down by 12 percent.

Inside the organized cabin, things look familiar. I love BMW’s no-frills attitude. The cockpit and its controls are beautifully angled towards you, with the flowing dashboard and touch screen atop the centre console. Silver Aluminium Hexagon trim with sparingly used Estoril Blue and piano black accents keep things simple, yet stylish. BMW never tries to distract you from the driving experience with clutter.

With my little bag packed for Cape Town, I open the boot to find a surprisingly large 445 litres of load volume. I also get into the rear to check out the legroom. It’s a two-door Coupé, and Coupés aren’t known for being particularly knee-friendly to the rear-benchers. But look at all that space between my patellae and the seatback in front! (See photo)
Duly impressed, I get into the front, adjust my seat (electrically) and the polite Bimmer hands me my red seatbelt. I press the Start button, and there’s just a hint of dramatics as the 6-cylinder pot springs to life. No, there’s no fanfare, but just you wait, Mr. Higgins, just you wait. I can’t exactly go full throttle out of my security estate’s drive way – the neighbours will report me and I’m worried for the safety of the estate cats.

I exit at the gate, going slowly over lumpy gravel and other half-finished road surfaces. For a sporty Coupé shod with low profile tyres, I’m not losing any fillings. Even as I take the red gravel detour to the other side of town, it’s never uncomfortably hard, for standard Sport suspension.

The one thing that bugs me though, is the 440i’s uninvolving steering. It’s disappointing, frankly – the weighted meatiness that I adore is nowhere to be felt – but it does make the 440i effortless to park. Since I am still navigating my way through town, I hope that it will get better once highway speeds are reached. Before the robot turns green, a red, previous generation Audi TT pulls up next to me. The driver eyes me suspiciously. I pretend to be oblivious of him, then the light changes and I am tempted to floor it. Bye Bye, TT… and then I remember I am a responsible person, and someone’s mom, and I slow down so I don’t go over the 80 km/h speed limit. I will have to wait for a Killarney track day to indulge in this 440i’s swift talents. Just for the record, it would have taken me 5 seconds to reach 100 km/h.

On the Overberg’s smooth roads, the 440i continues to delight as I tackle a particularly long, but tight bend between Kleinmond and Betty’s Bay – it’s a formidable turn, and has often been underestimated by drivers unfamiliar to it. The 440i’s 18-inchers just grip and grip, while its body remains tight as a bowstring, and yes, the steering is sharper at this speed, and in Sport mode. With the Driver Experience Control setting on Sport, the 440i also holds on to the gear ratios for longer, keeping you in the right power band for optimum performance and control. It comes at a price though, as your trip computer & fuel gauge will point out. Other settings include Comfort (for everyday driving) and Sport Plus (not recommended unless you’re Sarel van der Merwe, as assistance systems are limited) and EcoPro, which uses regenerative braking (amongst other things) to shrink your fuel consumption to a super 7.5 litres per 100 km on the combined cycle. And the EcoPro setting is not as boring or tardy as you think it might be. It became my default setting when I wasn’t driving mountain passes or thrill-inducing bendy bits.

It’s difficult to critique the 440i. Its interior may not have the same in-your-face opulence as its Mercedes-Benz counterpart (the C43 Coupé), but why does it need to, when it has nothing to prove? I should also add that I had the insanely powerful Audi R8 V10 Plus before this car, and the 440i didn’t feel like that much of a step down!

The 440i can snarl and pounce like an overgrown Caracal, yet it’s quite happy to be your daily do-it-all wheels as you pick up kids or do the weekly shop. Keep it in EcoPro mode and you can have your cake, and eat it. Standard specifications are rather generous, with gorgeous Black Dakota leather seats, the 3D Professional infotainment system (with 20Gb of music storage), BMW ConnectedDrive, and the previously mentioned electrically adjustable seats (with memory function) and rear parking sensors with rearview camera, to name but a few. Check out the full list at www.bmw.co.za .

Easy to park and to maneuver, relatively kid-friendly (access to the back is easy and there’s enough space), fast, lithe and nimble, the 440i is a glamorous multi-tasker. It’s that little black dress that can be worn to the disco, a wedding, and to work. And it doesn’t carry a R 1 152 976 M4 Coupé price tag…

Facts & Figures

Model name	: BMW 440i Coupé M Sport
Price	: R 851 376
Engine	: 3.0-litre, inline six-cylinder turbo-petrol
Transmission	: 6-speed Steptronic (auto)
Power	: 240 kW
Torque	: 320 Nm
0-100 km	: 5 seconds
Top Speed	: 250 km/h
Fuel tank	: 60 litres
Realistic Fuel Consumption (combined)	: 7.5-12 litres per 100 km
Luggage volume	: 445 litres
Warranty	: 2-year unlimited km
Maintenance Plan	: 5-year/100 000 km
Also consider	: Mercedes-Benz C43 Coupé