FUN TIMES 2

The BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe may be front-wheel driven, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a proper BMW at heart

- Pablo Chaterji

So you’re a BMW fan — always have been. From the moment you sat in the back of your friend’s 5 Series (which she inherited from her dad), you were hooked. The way that thing drove (your friend didn’t believe in holding back), the way it felt like it was wrapped around you even in the back seat, the impeccable quality of its build — the whole lot made you tell yourself that when you were able, you would install a BMW in your garage. A later drive, at the wheel of another friend’s 330i (he’d helpfully said, ‘Break it, buy it’) had blown your mind; you’d questioned how an executive sedan could go, handle and sound like that, and you’d considered getting the famous propellers tattooed on your chest. You were more determined than ever to walk into the nearest BMW showroom, point imperiously at the shiny 3 Series in the corner, and say, ‘That one. I’ll have that one.’ Then you’d slap a cheque down on the table, grab the keys, and lay rubber out of there.

Except there’s just one problem — your bank account doesn’t quite extend to the heft of the cheque required to gain possession of that 3 Series, so you’re clean out of luck. Or at least you would have been until now, but here’s the thing — BMW has picked up on the unexpressed desires of people just like you, and is bringing the 2 Series Gran Coupe to India, as its gateway drug (as it were) to the world of BMW. It will be its most affordable offering in India, and naturally BMW hopes it’ll have a positive effect on sales graphs, although with the Armageddon upon us, it will have its task cut out for it in no uncertain terms.