Litchfield BMW M2 2018 first drive

Lichfield’s package of upgrades for the BMW M2 is so expertly judged and so brilliantly executed that this now feels like the car the M2 should have been all along.

That’s not to say BMW missed the mark with its smallest M-car. In fact, even in standard guise, the pumped-up two-door is a really entertaining machine. But the engine is short on character and on yumpy, cresting roads, the suspension just doesn’t keep the mass of the body under tight enough control.

Fling an M2 along a moorland road at speed and on more than one occasion you’ll feel the rear end go light over an undulation as it continues to rise skywards, making you worry for an instant that it might drag you off the road entirely. It’s heart-stopping stuff.

Litchfield is the Gloucestershire tuning company that’s perhaps best known for its Nissan GT-R upgrades. Nowadays, though, the company modifies everything from Porsches and Ferraris to Audis and, of course, BMW Ms.

Litchfield’s M2 upgrade package includes an ECU remap and bigger intercooler to lift power from 370 to 420bhp, a titanium Akrapovič cat back exhaust system and adjustable AST suspension. The kit also includes a set of 10mm spacers that help to fill the wheel arches and make the most of the modest drop in ride height.

Running a little lower to the ground and with its wheels squeezed out slightly, the M2 looks better than ever. 

The AST suspension is road-biased rather than being set up for the track; this certainly isn’t an ultra-stiff, very uncompromising chassis. The dampers are adjustable for bump and rebound so owners will be able to tweak the ride and handling to their own tastes and tighten things up for circuit use.

Set up the way it was during our test, the Litchfield M2 rides with an underlying tension at very low speeds, which matures into a very well controlled and sophisticated ride quality at higher speeds. Given the short wheel travel, the relatively stiff springs - this is a high-performance car, after all - and the rubber-band tyre sidewalls, the car dealt with an uneven and bumpy road surface quite brilliantly. Whereas some performance cars jab at a spike at your kidneys as their body skips and hops over bumps, the Litchfield M2 is fluid and composed – BMW more so, certainly, than the standard car.

Body control is also massively improved, meaning you feel so much more confident now that the car will keep its mass in check as the road crests and falls. Litchfield’s suspension upgrades are transformative.