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BMW M2
HELLO
£65,830 OTR/£70,295 as tested/£803 pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
BMW says it’s easier to live with, but is that what we want from an M2?
DRIVER
Ollie Kew
HAVE I MADE A HUGE MISTAKE? SHOULD I DEACTIVATE ALL MY SOCIAL media profiles, claim I was hacked and enter a witness protection scheme? Feels like it. We asked BMW if we could replace our retiring i4 saloon with the baby M car. The M2. The last manual M car. And guess what? We’ve gone for the automatic.
Yes, we’ve taken the only stick shift M car you can buy in the UK and snipped £1,200 off the enthusiast baiting price by selecting the standard fit eight-speed flappy paddle auto instead of the optional manual. Sacrilege? Madness? Heresy?
Allow me to explain myself. First off, whether you approve of it or not, most M2s will be autos. The DCT outsold the manual in the old M2 despite being £1,500 pricier, and BMW’s data brain says (outside of the US) only one in 10 of this generation will go manual. So this is the more relevant car, to more of you.
But I also suspect it’s just better. Knowing the automatic is more popular, easier to pull better economy and CO2 out of, and simpler to integrate modern conveniences like adaptive cruise control and autoparking into, I suspect it’s had more development time lavished upon it.
That would explain why the manual is actually a bit awkward. Look, I love a good stick shift as much as the next guy, but I’m just not convinced the M2’s DIY gearbox is actually as brilliant as we all hoped it would be. The shift action itself is fine and the lever pleasingly unadorned, but in the examples we’ve tested the lengthy clutch pedal travel is obstructed by the carbon speed bump amid the S&M Division seats. So we’ve binned those too, and gone for the standard chairs.
Somehow, this is the everyman M2, with an as tested price just north of £70k – a mighty seven grand less than the carbon dipped manual example that joined us for Speed Week 2023. It’s also in a guise most M2 buyers will actually choose. And most importantly, I think most buyers are right. I suspect it’s the new M2’s comfort zone.
The M2 has changed size and shape. Now based on the M3’s platform, it’s swelled in dimensions and weight. It’s not a terrier. It’s a bulldog. Big. Thuggish. An XXL Bully. So, a sharp shifting automatic gearbox with shorter, punchier ratios and an easy cruising top gear feels more appropriate. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
I think you’d prefer to hear about a different side to the M2 than have me spending six months complaining the inseam of my jeans is being chafed by the centre of the seat. And if you want to save 20 grand, buy a Honda Civic Type R and enjoy a more precisely engineered gearshift.
Now that’s off my chest, let’s have a look at the rest of the spec. ‘Congratulations – it’s a Boy!’ aka Zandvoort Blue is a free of charge choice I rather like. Its cuteness weirdly juxtaposes the M2’s squarejawed villain styling. Odd name though – don’t we all associate Zandvoort with orange these days?
Silver wheels
