BMW M2 review

The car uses BMW’s CLAR platform, now used for all of its longways-engined models from the 2 Series Coupé all the way up to the X7. Beyond that, M division elected to use as many of the proven mechanical components of the bigger M3 and M4 as it could, accepting that there would be an associated weight penalty but embracing the will to give the M2 as much of the performance and technical capability of a full-sized modern M car as it could – and hoping the latter would have a greater influence on the finished product than the former.

The former factor certainly isn’t insignificant. Compared with the original M2 of 2016, this car weighs some 205kg more in running order – less, though, compared with the updated M2 Competition of 2018.

Like the bigger M4, the M2 uses M division’s proven axle hardware (a lightened, widened, rigid-mounted multi-link axle at the rear, with lightened, stiffened struts at the front), but unlike the bigger car, it's rear-wheel-drive only.

It's also offered with either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic gearbox, a choice denied to M3 and M4 buyers in the UK. Both transmissions drive through an active M locking rear differential.

Power comes from a slightly detuned version of the ‘S58’ inline six-cylinder twin-turbo petrol engine. At launch, it made 453bhp at 6250rpm and 406lb ft across a very healthy rev range, from 2650-5870rpm. For 2025, it has received a 20bhp boost, to 473bhp at the same 6250rpm. BMW doesn’t say how that extra power was liberated, but the same engine makes 523bhp in the M3, so presumably it has just fiddled around with the software.

Peak torque remains the same, at 406lb(or 443lb if you choose the automatic), albeit over a slightly wider spread of revs (2650-6130rpm).

The M2 rides on 19in front and 20in rear alloy wheels, here wearing the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres rather than the Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber that normally comes as part of the M Race Track package that our car was fitted with. 

Thread it into a sweeping 50mph corner and it hangs on hard, not turning in rampantly but with balanced assurance. Leave it in third gear and with the electronics active and you will have great stability and precision, unflappable composure and massive traction on exit. Or, if you prefer, try the same bend again at higher revs in second with the stability control dialled back. Suffuse the driven wheels with high, trailing revs and negative torque as you turn in, enliven the chassis with a neutral posture at the apex and enjoy a classic, oversteering M car as you exit on the power.

This M2 has undoubtedly had to do some dynamic growing up in order to wield its new performance level, but it remains an authentic, lovable M car rogue underneath it all – one whose greater mass, grip level and supply of torque make it a little more of a handful in its wilder moments than the old M2 was but whose greater composure and adaptability is even clearer to see.

Comfort & Isolation

What a difference three years make. When BMW introduced the M2 CS, it made a fuss about never before having offered adaptive dampers on an M2. The new M2 has them as standard and can adopt a more settled, comfortable cruising gait than the F87 ever could.

You adapt its suspension via the set-up menu accessed through the corresponding button on the transmission tunnel. Comfort damping mode deals with bumpier A- and B-roads with just enough suppleness to let the chassis flow along fluently while remaining reined in over bigger inputs. We rarely used any other suspension mode on the road.

The noise made by the M2’s 285-section, 30-profile rear tyres, conducted through those rigid rear axle mounts, is marginally more likely to test your appetite for miles in this car than anything else – but not seriously so. A 70mph cruising noise level of 72dBA is some way off a Porsche GT-like roar and broadly comparable with what we recorded in the current M4, but it’s still significantly noisier than most modern passenger cars.

You get quite good all-round visibility in the M2, by compact coupé class standards at least. And if the combination of bucket seat and pedal offset does bother you, it would be well worth test driving a car with BMW’s standard front seats, with their less aggressively shaped bolsters.

Track notes (Hill Route, Millbrook Proving Ground)

The M2 hauled itself to rest with real tenacity over the final 10 yards of its stopping distance tests – a clue that Munich has increased the mechanical grip for this generation of the car.

Although the chassis response isn’t quite as spring-heeled as that of the old M2, the car has lots of lateral grip on turn-in and declines to nudge into steady-state understeer even with lots of speed in the mix.

That kind of grip and composure invites you to pick up the power early and put faith in both axles to remain in line and under control, which they will do most assuredly unless you go out of your way to unsettle them.

That high mechanical grip level makes on-demand oversteer less accessible, perhaps, than it has been in previous M2s. The extra weight of the car is seldom more evident than when it starts to slide, but those adjustable driver aids and that super-linear torque delivery do ultimately make it obligingly hooliganistic given a chance.