Yes, we’re all familiar with how BMW plasters the M badge on damn near everything it makes these days. And we don’t have to be happy about it. But there are still plenty of cars that keep the M flame burning bright, and still have the raw speed to back up the badge. Chief among them, perhaps, is the BMW M2 Competition coupe. I just had one for a week. What do you want to know about it?
As you may or may not know, the “regular” M2 was discontinued last year and directly replaced with this hotter, better model, now called the M2 Competition. Until the reported M2 CS drops it’s the hottest 2 Series you can buy.
In Competition guise it now gets the S55 3.0-liter twin-turbo engine out of the M3/M4, here slightly detuned to make 405 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque—a lot for a coupe this size. Previously the M2 used a performance-tuned version of the N55 inline-six cylinder from the regular 2 Series rated at 370 HP.
I drove that car two years ago and liked it a lot, and I like this thing too. It’s a hard car not to like and it’s actually a pretty great performance value. But it’s not for everyone.
This one ran about $67,045, which includes the seven-speed dual clutch automatic.
What I Like:
- It’s very quick, though I can’t tell you it feels significantly different from the last M2 I drove, which was also very quick.
- It sounds awesome. The dual exhaust has a deep bellow that will have you hunting around for tunnels to blast through.
- I’d definitely prefer this with the six-speed manual, personally, but the DCT is good. It’s not nearly as flawless as Porsche’s PDK, but it’s easy to live with.
- Superb handling.
- M stripe seat belts!
What I Don’t Like:
- Like most modern M cars, the ride quality doesn’t get along with potholes very well. It’s pretty frustrating in ordinary city driving.
- The 2 Series has been around a while now so the interior feels a bit behind some of BMW’s newer stuff, but you’re not buying an M2 Competition based on how good the touch screen is.
- It’s one of those cars where you have to do borderline illegal shit in it to have much fun, and good luck finding places to take advantage of its abilities that aren’t race tracks.
I’m going to write about it because that is ostensibly what I’m paid to do. But I’m not sure what I want that to look like yet. Straight review? Some kind of comparison? A Q&A? Something else? I’m open to ideas here—the car’s not exactly brand new, per se, so let me know what you want here.
In the meantime, drop your questions and ideas in the comments.