Why we’re running it: To celebrate the survival – and indeed evolution – of the proper sports coupé
Month 1 - Specs
Life with a BMW M2: Month 1
Welcoming the BMW M2 to the fleet
Is it possible for a car to be at once gloriously minimalist and excessive and overgrown? Because somehow the BMW M2 that I will be running for the next few months feels like both.
In an age when the BMW range has expanded to 17 models and is headlined by brash Teutonic titans such as the iX and XM, there's real throwback charm to the simplicity of a small two-door coupé. And yet this second-generation M2 isn't as small or simple as its predecessor.
It has grown notably in size and stance, such that it now feels more like a mini M3 than a descendant of the 1M Coupé - which in a way it is.
A quick recap: the previous 2 Series Coupé shared a rear-wheel-drive platform with the 1 Series hatchback. But when the latter switched to front-wheel drive for commercial reasons, the only way the 2 Series Coupé could survive with a driven back axle was to switch to a specially shortened version of the CLAR platform used by the 3 Series saloon.
Power still comes from a blown straight six, but it's a newer, twin-turbocharged unit tuned for 453bhp - a hefty chunk more than the 405bhp in the previous M2. The result is a model that's bigger and beefier in almost every aspect.
However, the fact that the 2 Series Coupé - and by extension the M2 - survived at all is a testament to BMW's continued passion for driver's cars. There's a reason why both the standard and M ranges are full of big SUVs, after all.
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Described as small yet, heavier than some versions of the E39 5series.