After work I went to a BMW dealership and tried:
2020 M240i Automatic - Was ok. Felt as dull as all the other automatics I've driven. Like you push down the gas and there's this half a second pause like it's beginning to pull the weight of the car forward and then it shoots off like a rocket at a steady speed 0-60. I've always thought that kind of acceleration felt weird and disconnected. Otherwise it drove fine. The seats in this were nicer than my S2000 but not as good as other BMW Sedans/Luxury cars I've been in. Still felt like sports/racer seats. Walked away feeling like this wasn't worth $50,000 kinda of car.
2020 M340i Automatic - The car sales guy wanted me to try the full sedan introduced in 2019 with the 340i series. I liked it. Was a very comfortable full size sedan. Seats were real nice, interior was great. Was a little boring to drive but generally drove well. But sticker on this was $60,000 which is a lot. I asked if there were any pre-owned but he said since it was just introduced in 2019 they didn't have any. If this car was $40k, even $40k off a 3 year lease with <30k mileage, I'd probably go for it.
Then I went to another BMW dealer because I had glanced when looking that the had a 2017 240i in Manual and I wondered if the issues I was having with these BMWs feeling unresponsive and not enjoyable to drive wasn't coming from the way they drive but just coming from them being automatic and I've been driving manual cars for 22 years.
2017 M240i Manual - This was fun. I didn't like the shifter as much as my S2K. It's a lot smaller or less movement between gears. Feels like a videogame controller vs. the old metal stick with a golf club stitching on top that I'm used to. I jumped from 2nd to 5th the first time because the reach between gear is pretty small. Also the shifter is in a different place (my S2K has drink holders behind shifter so it's more towards the dash, this has the drink holders in the front so the shifter is pushed back further), but that just takes some adjustments. Now otherwise, this was a fun car to drive. It was a quicker, peppier version of my S2K that was quieter (coupe v soft-top there), had 4 seats instead of 2, had really comfortable seats (I think this one had some upgraded leather), and full trunk space vs jack shit. The steering was softer and smoother but that's not necessarily a plus (I prefer feeling all the bumps) but that's fine for a daily driver. Plus it had all the latest safety features and doodads that my 2008 car lacked. Basically seemed like an upgrade from my S2K that brings the mileage back down to a car with 28k and 2 years left on the warranty which brings reliability and I'd probably get used to the shifter. Didn't even have a chance to try it in "sport" mode. Also had a red interior
(black exterior). Was a little more expensive than the $32k one I was looking at w/22k mileage, was $38k w/28k mileage which I swear is because manual makes it more niche and attractive, but also the seats were nicer.
...but yeah, it's probably because 2017 was the last year M240i came in manual so it's niche:
https://www.bmwblog.com/2017/06/29/bmw-2-series-lose-manual-transmission-north-america/*edit* maybe not. The 2018 info I'm looking at says it still comes in manual.
Going to go back and give the M240i manual another run soon, mess around with the sport mode and just drive it some more. Right now feeling pretty good about going for it. Only downside is my family and friends all hate me because they can't drive stick and so no one else can drive it, but I just can't see myself driving an automatic on a daily basis for years. I'm just too spoiled by manual speed shifting. That acceleration in rpms to shifting just feels like how cars are supposed to accelerate.