2020 BMW M235i Gran Coupe vs. 2020 Cadillac CT4-V vs. 2020 Mercedes-AMG A35

"Is that the one with the Corvette engine?" The guy who admires the sweet red Cadillac wants to know if he's in the presence of the mighty 640-hp CTS-V.

Not quite, friend. This is the one with the four cylinder truck engine.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure it's still fast."

That passing interaction perfectly captures why the Cadillac CT4-V, the BMW M235i Gran Coupe and the Mercedes-AMG A35 exist. A decade ago, each of these cars could have been the forgotten child of the middle in a three-engine lineup. Today, they wear the coveted V, M and AMG badges to race in the draft of legends like the Cadillac CTS-V, BMW M3, and Mercedes-AMG E63 S. If the casual observer believes that these entry-level performance vehicles they have twice the number of cylinders and twice the power of what they really have, everything is going to be planned.

The Caddy, Bimmer and Merc gathered here are the top performers in their respective model lines, but only for the time being. Cadillac has teased us with the CT4-V Blackwing, which will land on the V. An M2 Gran Coupé is as safe as tomorrow's sunrise. And while Mercedes may not deliver an AMG A45 sedan in the US, you'll get the same experience in its fraternal twin, the CLA45.

Low-performance models like these are a booming business. BMW and Mercedes now offer more models with some form of M or AMG branding than without. Fortunately, there is substance to add credibility to this marketing exercise. All the contenders are armed with sticky summer tires, capable suspensions, and power-packed engines. They are true sports sedans and offer a sample of the performance models at a discounted price.

The $ 50,795 M235i and $ 52,705 A35 emerge from similar molds. Both use cross-mounted 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four cylinders that drive all four wheels. While the 302-horsepower Mercedes engine outperforms the four-cylinder BMW in a single pony, BMW's automatic transmission has one more gear than the AMG's seven-speed dual-clutch. But where Mercedes has already prepared us for this format with the old CLA class, we are still trying to make peace with the idea of a BMW sports sedan, especially one with an M badge, with a transverse engine.

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The Cadillac CT4-V avoids the problem entirely by sticking to tradition. All-wheel drive is available for an additional $ 1,100, but this particular $ 52,165 CT4-V drives only the rear wheels, as nature intended. The 2.7-liter turbocharged inline-four that's shared with the Chevy Silverado makes 325 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque here and is paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission.

We wanted an Audi S3 to complete the package, but that model is at the end of its life cycle and there are still many months to replace it. Audi refused to participate. With a distribution of just 24 horsepower, 115 pounds, and less than $ 2,000 among the three vehicles, this is one of the most similar comparison tests we've run in recent history.

Third place: BMW M235i xDrive Gran Coupe

Highs: happy engine, precise steering, admirable performance. Low: punishing ride quality, front tires give up early, doesn't look like a BMW. Verdict: emphasizes performance figures over day-to-day habitability.

Add in the bronze exterior trim, blue brake calipers, yam-colored seats, and chunky steering wheel, and it's clear the M235i is struggling to prove itself worthy of the M badge on its rear. The performance figures largely support the M-club membership. The BMW is fastest in the 60 mph test, with a 4.2-second blitz. Its quarter-mile run equals that of the Mercedes: 12.9 seconds at 107 mph. The 156-foot 70 mph stop lands right between the performance of the Cadillac and the Mercedes. And its last-place skidpad finish is a respectable 0.91g.

The illusion shatters when you drive the BMW on uneven pavement or down a challenging road. The stiff suspension punishes the driver at every bump and crack. The undulations in the road make the body sway and sway. For a transmission with a torque converter, the eight-speed automatic transmission surely has a hard time slipping into first gear gracefully.

Strong steering targets the M235i with precision Precise steering, admirable performance. Low: punishing ride quality, front tires give up early, doesn't look like a BMW. Verdict: emphasizes performance figures over day-to-day habitability.

Strong steering aims the M235i precisely to its limits, but the front tires lose grip much earlier than the rear. There's too much understeer here, and it constantly reminds you that the engine is cross-mounted, economy car style. The torque going through the front tires does not affect the BMW's trajectory under hard acceleration, but attentive hands may notice the software trim feature that uses the electric power steering motor to silence and counteract compromised front end geometry. You'll feel the steering wheel alternately stiffen and lighten as it tries to stifle the front-end's predisposition to winding its way.

A low-end torque spike and relatively high power spike make the M235i's engine a bright spot. Pull hard and turn smoothly no matter where the tachometer needle points. But it hardly makes up for the chassis, which was too tough on all the roads we drive it on, or the annoying road noise on the highway. It is as if BMW has forgotten that this four-door will be used as a daily driver. There's a reason no one travels to work on a shift kart, BMW.

Speaking of roominess, the Gran Coupé lacks headroom in the rear. There is hardly room for the neck. It's best up front where the seats are comfortable and the iDrive infotainment system is easy to use. While the low roofline compromises the view, an M235i is better to look at than an M235i. The styling can't hide the awkwardly tall trunk lid or chubby front end.

We entered this comparison test thinking that it would be a close race from top to bottom. The M235i has the performance to keep up with the rest, but when it comes to enjoying time behind the wheel, the A35 and CT4-V are so far ahead they are virtually unseen.

Second place: Mercedes-AMG A35 4Matic

Highs: tough cargo attitude, sleek interior, making us feel young again. Lows: structural nervousness, awkward infotainment interface. Verdict: more of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo than a C-class.

The A35 looks like some kind of tuned sports compact to us dressed in fancy car gear. It's more Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and Ford Focus RS than C-Class. The 4.3-second assault at 60 mph begins with a suction cup punch launch control boot, and with its raucous 85-decibel exhaust, easily the best sounding here, the A35 could hold up in a shouting match with an eight-cylinder Mustang. Can an internal combustion engine run on Red Bull and Adderall? How else could this car be so wired and so focused at the same time?

The A35 has all the easy stability of a cross-engine all-wheel drive vehicle. However, it manages to feel more agile than the M235i thanks to its astonishing grip up front and the alert response that grip produces. Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires help the lightest A35 in the test achieve the highest skidpad number by a wide margin at 0.99g. It all adds up to a car that approaches its lofty limits without feeling nervous or unpredictable.

However, the analogies to the Evo and Focus RS are not entirely good when a car costs $ 52,705, however. Highway speeds create excessive road noise within the A35. The dual-clutch transmission sometimes falters when engaged from a slow turn and tends to jerk during downshifts under deceleration. And while the AMG's $ 850 adaptive dampers help eliminate big suspension bumps more gracefully than BMW's suspension, harder impacts reverberate through a body structure that feels a bit small for a Benz.

The Mercedes urban cabin puts BMW and Cadillac interiors to shame with its exclusive, technological styling. For another $ 400 in addition to the $ 600 AMG Performance steering wheel, Mercedes will mount controls for driving modes, shock settings and stability control on the spokes. Cold.

The MBUX infotainment system is the least intuitive of the three. It can be controlled via the touchscreen on the dash, the touchpad on the center console, and the thumb control on the steering wheel, but either method seems like a compromise, as if the designers couldn't decide which was the main entrance.

The AMG A35 illustrates how these transverse engine architectures present new challenges for companies that are adept at building longitudinal engine cars. The first-generation CLA-class felt blatantly cheap inside and abused its occupants with a stiff ride. Now, BMW seems to have similar problems. This AMG rectifies those earlier shortcomings while still celebrating with equal force. The A35 is an excellent sports sedan; it just falls short of the chassis refinement we expect from a $ 50,000 luxury car.

First Place: Cadillac CT4-V

Highs: excellent dynamics, luxurious ride quality, intelligent transmission. Bass: low revs engine and gritty sound; Monotonous interior design. Verdict: An excellent sports sedan built around the right fundamentals.

Give Cadillac credit for sticking to its principles. In a world that over-prescribes four-wheel drive and inter-brand part swapping, Cadillac remains stubbornly and admirably committed to rear-wheel drive sports sedans. And while fashion dictates that a $ 52,165 vehicle must roll on 19- or 20-inch wheels, the Cadillac came with its standard 18-inch wheels. The CT4-V is a better car for him.

Not as edgy as the A35 but just as nimble, the CT4-V feels just as at home on country roads and highways. Its steering is precise, linear, and weighted to perfection, yet it offers less feedback than we expected considering how good the ATS-V's steering was. The higher sidewalls, longer wheelbase and standard Cadillac magneto-rheological dampers help it drive significantly better than the BMW and AMG. That also translates to a subjective handling advantage. Compared to the others, the V keeps your body flatter and calmer as you dance on the bumpy back roads of Michigan. Thanks to its unflappable serenity, quiet demeanor, and better balanced weight distribution, the Cadillac drives like a much more expensive car than the BMW or Mercedes.

Unfortunately, we can't say the same for the cabin. While the finish and materials are on par with those of the BMW, the vast dark expanses remind us that February is only four months away and that we live in Michigan. Sad. At least the CUE infotainment system has been happily turned into a nice interface. You now have not one, but two (!) Volume knobs (one below the display and the other in front of the rotary controller).

The interior design feels like a General Motors product rather than Cadillac. The engine is definitely a product of the great GM. Cadillac vehicles have long been paralyzed by the mass-market engines that the brand shares with Chevrolet, and the CT4-V is no exception. While the weather is fine in our instrumented tests, the 2.7-liter is controlled by a low 5500-rpm power peak and out-of-tune exhaust note. The Big Four, which were more thirsty than both 2.0-liters, sound neither luxurious nor sporty. Its low hum is as pleasant as listening to a lawn mower at 7:00 a.m. On a Sunday.

This comparison could have ended with a different finish order if not for the clever shifting of the transmission. Smooth and fast in its gear changes, the conventional automatic 10 The 10-speed automatic is always ready to put the engine in the thickest part of its torque curve. It takes the hectic job of matching a low-revving engine with one of 10 gear ratios and makes every shift a satisfying event.

While the CT4-V falls into the same traps that have plagued Cadillac for far too long, the brand's insistence on doing things the old-fashioned way is what makes this V so good. Built on the right architecture and perfected by GM's vastly underrated Chassis Tuning team, the CT4-V is the best sedan in this segment you can buy right now.

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$ 50,000 Sports Sedans Compared: BMW M235i Gran Coupe vs. Cadillac CT4-V vs. Mercedes-AMG A35 2020