Yes, I know what front-wheel drive means, you turkeys. I KNOW HOW THINGS WORK. But on the heels of a BMW sedan concept said to preview a decidedly front-wheel drive new 1 Series, we’re also hearing the beloved 2 Series coupe could go FWD too. But which ones?
To recap, last week BMW unveiled the Concept Compact Sedan, said to be both the next 1 Series in four-door form and their weapon in the sales dominance fight against the Audi A3 and Mercedes CLA. Good. Swell. We’ve known for a while that several FWD/AWD BMWs are in the works using the new Mini platform, which makes sense in this segment.
But now, according to the German publication Autobild, word on the street is the next 2 Series will go FWD as well. That’s a markedly different approach from the current small, turbocharged, rear-drive 2 Series coupe that we love ‘round these parts so much.
Grain of salt as always, but here’s what was reported, via BMW Blog:
While the 1 Series hatchback having its power sent to the front-wheels is somewhat of a logical step, the plan to move the successful and fun-to-drive 2 Series Coupe and Convertible to the same platform is highly controversial. Back in June, Fröhlich – according to Auto Motor und Sport – was advocating for the next iteration of the 2 Series sports models to be built on the company’s next-generation rear-wheel drive architecture which also supports the future 3,5,6 and 7 Series models. Initially called “35up”, the new RWD architecture was later relabeled as CLAR, short for Cluster Architecture.
Whether and why BMW has changed their mind is a big unknown at the moment, but the idea will likely be met with backlash from the BMW community.
Indeed it will, but my question is, will this really include the 2 Series coupe and convertible, or just some 2 Series models? After all in Europe and other markets, BMW already makes two FWD 2s: the Active Tourer and Gran Tourer.
So perhaps the world will luck out and keep their small coupe RWD, as the Roundel gods intended, and in the same lineage as the 2002, E30 and others. I certainly hope so. I love the tail-happy nature of the current 2, and would hate to lose it to torque steer in the name of volume. But it seems at least possible.
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