M To The Power Of 2

BMW’s greatness distilled 

BMW did a pretty neat thing when they introduced the 1M coupe back in 2011. Bits from the M3, but in a smaller classic BMW proportioned package, and their bread and butter straight six. I fell in love. Five years later they concocted a similar recipe with the M2. I fell in love all over again. 

Let’s get right to the point. Dynamically this car is stellar. I’m not talking about numbers here, I’m talking about the way it produces a beautiful driving experience. The legendary straight six is alive and well. After having driven both the manual and auto versions of the car, three years later I can’t decide which I’d prefer, a sign of a well sorted out product. The DCT auto is faster, more alert, and it feels it, but the manual provides a sublime shifting experience with lovely built in features like auto rev matching to help you out here and there. Ultimately, I chose the DCT because I’m “lame”, “boring”, or “insert other dumb gearhead phrase here”. I will say though, slicing through canyons and having precise, quick shifts at the flick of the wrist, makes for an equally appealing drive. The accompanying burbles and pops that come along with driving a dual clutch vehicle is, at times, entertaining as well.

They say 365 horsepower, my butt says closer to 400, but again, this car is not about the numbers. The smiles on your face it will undoubtedly cause, and feeling you get when you swear you can feel all the moving parts working together in harmony is what its about. The handling is pure Bavarian genius, what you’d expect from a small sporty BMW. The “Ultimate Driving Machine” slogan has never weighed so heavily as it does on the shoulders of the M2, and in the way it goes about taking care of business, lives up to that slogan.

The noise, oh my god, the noise. The M2’s N55 engine has to be one of the best sounding engines (but definitely not loudest) ever produced, certainly among six cylinders. The way the engine builds boost is both instant and predictable. The shove you get as a result is intoxicating. But the noise though, seriously, I’m grinning just thinking about it.

This thing takes care of you, mostly. BMW hit the nail on the head by engineering the car in a way that both makes you feel like a hero by rewarding precise inputs, but also cleans up your sloppy mistakes when you inevitably become a little lazy. You can take some liberties, but also need to be awake. Honestly it does contain enough power and capability to get you into trouble, but will warn you in subtle ways before you lose control. I suspect the working bits like the brilliant electronic M differential has something to do with this too. In other words, it’s a small beast that is somewhat easy to tame. 

The M2 is stellar at just being a car. I know its odd to say, but it’s far from impractical with things like seating for four (yes actually, I’ve had tall people in the back), folding rear seats, a decently large trunk, and a normal ride height. Day to day driving really isn’t an issue. It also has some tech to keep you just busy enough for the very few amount of boring journeys you might find yourself on when driving an M car. 

So let’s address the bad. As perfect as I would love for the M2 to be, it, like any car, has its faults. First and foremost, the ride. I cannot explain how annoying it is to drive a car that handles this well and has so much capability, yet rides like garbage. Rough, bumpy, harsh, your lower back will snap, crackle, and pop just as much as the exhaust in sport+ mode. Anybody looking to fix this problem should look no further than a set of 18’’ wheels. Since the brakes/hubs are parts bin items from the M3/M4, you can source those cars’ 513M style 18” wheels, perhaps from the forums, and they will already be the perfect offset, bolt pattern etc. This simple swap made a world of difference on my car and I haven’t looked back since.

The weirdest “feature” on DCT cars is that they don’t have a “park” position. You just turn the car off in gear and it sets the trans to park for you. This saves a step when running to the market, but makes you look stupid when you want to just park the car after driving spiritedly, but don’t want to heat soak the engine by just shutting it down. The same situation happens if your brakes might be hot. I get it, they wanted to make the DCT feel more like a manual by not having a park position, but come on. They also didn’t engineer “creep” into the DCT, so it will sit stationary when in gear, again, more like a manual. I actually find the absense of creep to be more useful, especially when sitting between lights, I can adjust my feet or stretch for a second without the car moving forward at all.

Maybe the interior isn’t as stylized as competitors, but the material quality is there. Particularly, the alcantara, open pore carbon fiber, and little leather knee pad on the drivers side makes for a pretty good sports car interior and separates it from the more pedestrian 2-series. The thicc with two C’s steering wheel ain’t bad either, although I upgraded to an even thiccer M-performance wheel. The standard seats are good, but damn BMW for not throwing in the true M seats until the competition model. Maybe I’ll scour the forums for a set of those as well.

On track the M2 is a bit of a weapon. Not a monster, but you can really wrestle with it, and whiz around a circuit extremely quickly. It likes to put power down which is super helpful, and keeps things mostly predictable. The racetrack is perhaps the only place the M2’s suspension doesn’t feel crashy or harsh on its stock 19s. The car feels calm, cool, collected ready to take anything you throw at it. It begs you to drive faster. You can launch out of corners, brake as hard as you want, slide it, whatever, in almost any temperature. Here is where the DCT really shines allowing you to shift lightning fast but never upsetting the balance of the car. It’s an honest and consistent experience that allows you, the driver, to work on yourself and your driving skills because of that consistency. 

• 

• 

Overall the M2 is lovely. Anyone interested in M cars, or BMWs in general should drive this car, in any flavor, on any road. Whatever you want to do with it, the M2 will be your road going, canyon carving, track terrorizing companion.