IT'S hard to muster much excitement for this car, though it does have the benefit of being less visually, erm, arresting than some of BMW's other recent efforts, writes William Scholes.
BMW calls it the 2 Series Gran Coupe; you might call it a sort-of-small-four-door-saloon-meets-a-kind-of-coupe.
It's a sister car to the latest 1 Series hatch, and shares that car's front-wheel-drive chassis and associated hardware. This in turn means it also shares much with the Mini.
From a technical standpoint, this is a good thing. The 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine, badged 218i in this application, is a cracking unit. There's also a more powerful four-wheel-drive M235i model and a diesel 220d.
BMW obviously wouldn't build these cars if there wasn't a market for them, and therefore profit to be made.
The prices certainly suggest there is good money to be made for BMW here, especially considering the humble origins of the main mechanical parts - a 218i costs from £25,815, a 220d from £31,355 and the M235i from £37,255.
All will doubtless be nice to drive and well screwed together... but increasingly I find myself shrugging my shoulders when another of these rather soulless niche-within-a-niche cars wanders into view.
My expectations sank, I have to say, when the accompanying press release waxed about the "all-new design of rear lights, which extend well towards the centre of the rear" - big deal...
