> Best new coupes on sale now What’s it like to drive? It’s an engine you want to wring out time and time again just for the hell of it. It’s enough to make Porsche 718 Cayman owners weep.
It pulls from low down with the same lag-free muscle of the old unit, but it now has hunger for revs, eagerly spinning around to 7500rpm redline with a lovely mechanical growl and just a hint of turbo whistle. What’s changed is the way it delivers the goods – and it’s very much for the better. In fairness that’s not much faster than the old car.
The benchmark 0-62mph sprint is dealt with in 4.2sec (4.4sec in the manual), while top speed is 174mph if you stump up for the optional M driver’s package.
#BMW M2 EVOM MANUAL#
As before, drive goes to the rear wheels either through a six-speed manual gearbox or an optional seven-speed DCT twin-clutch.Īs you’d expect from such a big engine in such a relatively small body, the performance is startling. The result is 404bhp and 406lb ft – increases of 39bhp and 37lb ft respectively. There’s also a new exhaust system, complete with de rigueur active bypass valves for a more bombastic soundtrack. Out goes the old M135i based engine and in comes the glorious S55 motor, with its twin-turbos, ‘closed deck’ block, lightened crankshaft, enhanced cooling system, strengthened pistons and all. It would have been all too easy to simply treat the M2 to a light facelift, but BMW’s M Division doesn’t do things by halves and instead its entry-level motor has been subjected to a full-on heart transplant. In fact, the spring and damper rates are carried over unchanged.
#BMW M2 EVOM UPGRADE#
However, like the old car there’s no option to upgrade to adaptive dampers.
Elsewhere, the multi-link rear axle gets ball joints in place of the old car’s rubber bushes, while both the electronically controlled rear differential and the stability control have been treated to some digital development to cope the car’s ‘greater agility’. The bigger car already donated its front and rear suspension assemblies, but now it also hands over its carbonfibre front strut brace and bulkhead brace, increasing rigidity and therefore delivering more precise and accurate steering, or so the theory goes. In updating the M2 BMW has looked to the larger M4 for inspiration, and parts. The engine now sounds as good as it goes, while the extra precision in the chassis allows you to better exploit the M2’s natural balance. Together these changes make for a far more desirable machine one that finally fulfils the early promise of the original. Inside, there are the same high-backed seats used in the M3 and M4 (complete with illuminated badges in the backrests) and a smattering of extra buttons on the transmission tunnel (these give the opportunity to tailor the steering and throttle individually, just like on the other M cars). There’s also gloss black treatment for the some of the trim and the rear badge. > BMW M2 CS revealed to rival Porsche Cayman GT4Įxternally, the M2 Competition can be identified by its even more aggressive looking grille and a front bumper that features larger air intakes to feed the upgraded cooling system. To maximise the gains delivered by these tweaks BMW’s engineers have also recalibrated both the ESP and the electronically controlled limited slip differential.
There have also been chassis tweaks that run to extra strengthening for the bodyshell and stiffer rear axle mounts. For starters, the old M135i 3-litre straight-six has been ditched in favour of the full-fat twin-turbocharged version from the larger M4 (and M3, of course). Happily, both of these areas have been addressed in the new M2 Competition. Some of the shortfall could be traced to the slightly ragged on-limit handling, the rest to an engine that was effective enough but lacked heart and soundtrack of a true M unit. Yet while it had the measure of more traditional hatchback rivals such as the Audi RS3 and Mercedes-AMG A45, the M2 never really caught the imagination like it should. With its pugnacious looks, compact dimensions and biddable rear-drive handling it had all the key ingredients to fill that E30 M3-sized hole in the BMW line-up. The BMW M2 was a car that came so close to greatness.
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