Renting a car is like playing the slots — you never know when you’ll hit. I thought I hit big when renting a “Jetta or similar” netted me this BMW 228i. But it turned out not to be any more fun to drive than the Jetta I already own.
That Jetta is a GLI, with its turbo two-liter four and upgraded suspension. I had treated myself to a new one at the beginning of the 2024 model year, a special 40th Anniversary Edition of which only 1,984 were built. It’s the fun car I’ve wanted for years and years. It checks all of my boxes: fast but not flashy, well handling, tame in everyday driving, manual transmission. It’s has gobs of power and strong brakes.
Ten months in, a mishap. Off to the body shop with it.
The rental company said, “Do you want something similar to your Jetta?” I thought they meant “regular Jetta” and said yes, because its low cost would maximize the number of days insurance would pay. But they meant “fast sedan” and rented me this at more than twice the daily cost. But YOLO, and off I drove.
I’ve long dreamed of owning a BMW, specifically a 3-series coupe. Shame that new ones are sedans only. But they’re still traditional RWD BMW, although the once-standard straight six is an option today. A turbo four powers the base car. The 228i, on the other hand, shares a platform with Mini. Purists will recoil: it’s FWD, with a turbo two-liter four. Just like the GLI. (This rented 228i has BMW’s xDrive AWD system.) Both cars even produce the same horsepower and torque: 228 horses and 258 foot-pounds. They even have 0-60 times within a hair of each other at just over six seconds. The 228i does the quarter mile in slightly under, and the GLI in slightly over, 14 seconds.
Learning all of this, driving this 228i became a throwdown of sorts for me. Is the 228i worth the extra dozen or so grand over my GLI?
Nope. Not to me, anyway. The BMW had goodies my GLI lacks, such as a huge sunroof, a heated steering wheel, a terrific audio system, power memory leather seats, and more. (The uplevel GLI Autobahn brings most of this, still at a far lower cost than the 228i.) But where it counts, in the driving, I found these cars to have about the same hustle and handling. The 228i’s automatic has a little lag when you mash the pedal, but once things kick in you have more power and speed than you can use on any US highway. (Its top speed is 155 mph, compared to the GLI’s 126 mph.) Steering is direct and firm, and there’s very little lean when you throw the car into a curve. Press the brake and the car stops right now. But all of this also describes my GLI, minus the acceleration lag thanks to its six-speed manual. The 228i is slightly smaller than the GLI, however, by eight inches in length and two in height. I was surprised to learn this — the 228i felt bigger to me. I think it’s because I sat lower in the 228i. The GLI is an economy car at its roots, and is tall and upright.
The 228i’s cockpit manages to be simultaneously tidy and chunky. It didn’t take long to find the controls I needed, and once found, they always fell right to hand. As you can see in the photo, the touch screen offers Apple CarPlay (and Android Auto), meaning I got to skip a lot of touch-screen learning curve. I appreciated having actual buttons on the steering wheel; the GLI’s haptic “buttons” are comparatively sloppy and uncertain.
I liked the adjustable thigh pad on these seats. I’m long of leg and this made the one long trip my wife and I took in it a more pleasant experience. The seat bolsters are adjustable, thank heavens, because I had to adjust them all the way out not to feel pinched. I’m carrying 25 more pounds than I like these days, but I’m still not a particularly wide dude. I imagine a stouter person would never find comfort in these seats.
Despite clearly having four doors, BMW insists on calling it a “Gran Coupe.” I say it looks too much like a Chevy Malibu in profile. And where’s the Hofmeister kink?
As long as I’m criticizing this car’s styling, I might as well rag on these über-chonky twin kidneys. I miss the graceful BMW grilles of yore.
In the end, the BMW 228i is a fine, fast German sedan. I enjoyed driving it. I even enjoyed seeing the occasional head swivel when I pulled up in it. Nobody ever does that when I drive my GLI.
Yet I was excited to retrieve my un-dented GLI from the body shop. The rental company said they’d pick up the BMW from there, which gave me a moment to photograph the cars side by side. As I raised my iPhone to make this shot, I realized that I no longer have any BMW lust. VW made a terrific fast sedan out of their Jetta, and it puts all the smiles on my face I could ever want.
Interesting review. This smaller 2-series is not like the 3-series of years ago. You mentioned the 3-series coupe. I also loved that car. But the current version is the 4-series 2-dr coupe. You mentioned no longer having the “BMW lust. Perhaps that lust just belongs with another vehicle. Your review is well written, well thought out and very interesting observations.
It seems several with CC have won the rental car lottery this calendar year. How the rental company correlates your Jetta with this BMW certainly worked in your favor.
We test drove a new Jetta several months ago, but it was the mid-trim LE (I think that’s what it was), not a GLI such as yours. There was GLI identical to yours sitting on the lot and my eye went to it more than it did the one we test drove.
Glad you enjoyed the BMW, but it’s obvious it reinforced your happiness in having purchased the VW. If it’s like your old Passat, it will treat you well.
The ’25 Jetta GLI is the last USA-market Volkswagen to offer a manual transmission; a stick is no longer available in the Golf (GTI and R) and non-GLI Jettas. The Golf gets real buttons on the steering wheel for ’25, not sure about the Jetta.
Wow, some things have not changed in 40 years. In 1985 a top spec VW (GTI back then) did almost everything a more expensive BMW could do if you were willing to forgo the snob factor. It is nice to see some things in this world have permanence.
This would have been so much nicer than the Chrysler Voyager rental I drew. But to stick with your theme, I liked my old car better too.