M enough for most drivers

If you want to spend around $ 100,000 for a quick two-door BMW, you have a dilemma: Get the full fat M4 in the basic cladding or instead choose the tame 2025 BMW M440i and go crazy. The option list? YIt, the M440i is about 30,000 US dollars cheaper, so you can add so much options to reach the $ 100,000 brand.

However, you can also dive the difference and still receive an excellent BMW-second-door BMW-BMW-BMW, ​​which embodies the best properties of the brand. The M440i is not as exciting or extrovert as the M4, but after I drove it for a few days, I came to the conclusion that it is an excellent daily driver and a better choice in this role than the M4. Let me explain.

Much more expensive in Europe

The 2025 BMW M440i begins here in Romania at € 73,300, while an M4 coupé starts at € 91,100 or € 97,300 if you want the more powerful competitive model with an automatic transmission. If you add XDrive to give it a similar configuration to him like the M440i (which you can only receive as an automatic with all -wheel drive in Europe), the price of the M4 coupé is increased to over € 102,000.

My M440i tester was awarded me by BMW Romania. As part of the press fleet, it was well equipped and had a price of € 91,600. However, experience does not define the options. You can also enjoy the base M440i. It is not the case that the basic car does not come with a frills. It receives the M-Pack as the standard, the large curved screens, heated sports seats, an M-steering wheel, an electronically controlled differential dislocation and excited brakes.

What brought my tester price were the adaptive dampers, the M Sport Pro Pack (which makes the brake calipers red or blue and also gives the seat belts the Trikolor -M strips), a panoramic lick roof that opens, the Harman Kardon sound system (This is a must-option in every new BMW), the innovation package and the comfort package. All options add up to around € 17,000, including VAT.

Perfect at home around a curvy street

The first thing I did was bring it to a nearby Tuny Forest Road. I wanted to see how lively, playful and controllable the car was on the border and it wasn’t disappointed. Even with XDRIVE, the car does not have the feeling of sending electricity to the front axle. It eagerly swings its cock and enables over -tax fun.

Sure, you miss the control that a real M car gives you with its M dynamic mode (MDM) so that you can find the back just how much. Deactivating the traction control and not the entire stability control system, however, you will receive an interim setting in the BMW M440i, with which you slipped some sideways, but also keep things in check and can easily recover from any film.

You can definitely feel the electronically controlled differential for the sum, which makes both entertaining and predictable. As soon as you familiarize yourself with the car, which did not take long in my case, it inspires a lot of confidence not only to push in corners, but also to swing out the tail by applying more electricity than needing more power at the corner output.

As with any current BMW model, the steering is sharp and direct, but it is not missing. It has a variable ratio in the M440i. While you can place the car with absolute precision, it feels a bit artificial. It is also a bit too bright for my taste, even in sports mode when it comes to the company.

But it never feels as good as the steering in older BMWs that turned more arm to apply more lock, but it was somehow more rewarding. BMW seems to make the steering in its newer cars for daily driving instead of delighting the enthusiasts on a mountain road. This also applies to the M4 convertible that I have driven recently.

The interior is a mixture of old and new

We have covered what new ones in the G22 LCI is covered on many occasions, so I won’t do it here. However, if you eliminate all physical climatic rollers and lay them in the touchscreen, the user experience worsens. As good as IDRIVE 8.5 may be (and it is definitely a big improvement compared to version 8), it will never be considering pressing and choosing buttons to adapt the temperature to your taste.

I am glad that this car still has the older buttons in the transmission from the gear. It is not great to have a “My modes” button button that you press and then tap on the touchscreen to select your desired driving mode. You have to do in most new BMWs. The G22 LCI still has dedicated physical buttons for its driving modes and it is undoubtedly a better solution.

BMW seems to be on the mission to remove the extensive ambient lighting that we have got used to in the past decade. This can be seen in the M440i, which I have driven, which has no LED strips on the dashboard, and you only get a diffuse lighting in the new central tag slots. It looks a little less than before and it is a sign of things that can come at BMW.

After driving the M4, most recently without the Carbon bucket seats, which are even deeper than the standard seats, the seating position in the M440i felt noticeably higher. According to industry standards, it is still low, but it is not quite as low as in an M4, and if you have driven one before, you will notice the difference.

However, the revised M steering wheel, which now has a flat floor and a red center mark, is fantastic. It still feels thick and chunky when you hold it, but you can use it better than the previous helmet, and it improves the driving experience.

The B58 is as great as always

BMW has optimized the B58 turbo engine with a turbocharger under the bonnet of the M440i compared to the pre-LCI model. It is still a mild hybrid, and its technical data on paper are unchanged, but for me it felt more muscular and striving to pull on it than before, with more perceived omp than the claimed edition of 374 hp and 368 LB-FT ( 500 nm) you would expect.

The facelift has certainly improved the design, especially on the front, where my tester’s darkened grille is now more subtle. Part of this effect is more horizontal than vertical bars, a design element that has borrowed from actual M models. My tester also had the optional laser decides that look really good from some angles, but from a distance they only see the larger part that illuminates, and not the sensitive laser-lit strands that the focus should be.

The redesigned radiator grille signals a change in the way BMW positions its sub-m performance models. They used to fall into the M category, but BMW has eliminated this and now designated cars like the M440i as M models. BMW now refers to cars such as the M4 as a “M high -performance” models. For this reason, you can see an M logo on the radiator grille in the M440i, which was not available on the model before the Refresh.

The M440i LCI is undoubtedly a six-cylinder coupé with performance, which has a great long-legged character that gives you the impression that it could cross a continent with ease. It is great to drive, its interior sits quality and luxury and by enforcing the continent, which is also good. Drive at 90 km/h (56 miles per hour) and is used under 33 MPG (7 l/100 km), which is fantastic for such a strong car and has permanent all -wheel drive.

Is the M4 the better purchase?

I would still choose the M4 because of its hardcore figure. The M4 is also delivered with a manual transmission, which can make it a little slower, but it increases the commitment to heights that the M440i simply cannot keep up. However, the eight-speed automatic transmission is just as great in both vehicles as always and fits better with the muscular cruiser character of the M440i.

Although I did not drive the 2025 BMW M440i without XDrive (since it is only available with all -wheel drive in Europe), I would say that it is the setup for this car. If the M440i runs with the nannies or is disabled, the M440i still feels like an excess BMW. However, it accelerates with remarkable enthusiasm even at lower grip conditions. The addition of XDRIVE improves the user -friendliness of the car all year round, especially if they plan to bring it to the Alps in winter.