BMW M2: The Best M Car You Can Buy? - Carfection

on the list of cars that I've been really looking forward to driving in 2016 the BMW m2 is up there with the Focus RS and Astin's DB 11 you see BMWs little coupe way that could has been given a working over by the guys in the end division and I hope to whichever deity is least jumpy this week that it's not rubbish the ingredients are all there it's got a turbocharged three litre inline-six with the Pistons and crank from the m3 and an improved cooling system it kicks out 365 brake horsepower and 343 pound foot and it's promised to hit 60 from rest in 4.3 seconds with a dual clutch 4.5 if you keep the stick shift top speed is 155 miles an hour unless you spec the M drivers package then it's 168 but as we all know there's more to a good car than just power and numbers it has to handle right it has to feel right it has to be not thankfully the guys are M know how to make cars that well aunt M cars tend to offer a mix of silly performance scalpel like handling and a hint of heroism the M 2 promises March Bart can it deliver and if so how well there's lots of crossover bits from the m3 and m4 in the engine and to make it handle right it's got massive brakes bespoke tyres just for the car it's wider at the front and the rear than a standard 2 Series and it's got the M differential which allows for some ourself fun when condition so now there are a few driving modes and if you split the manual in Sport and Sport Plus it will auto blip on downshift to make you look like a proper heel-and-toe hero there's also the EM dynamic mode that allows for controlled drift and the fabled smoky burnout mode yeah the cheaper Ford Mustang has it but there's a certain joys of having it on a straight-laced BMW isn't there a touch of hooliganism in a tweed suit when I drove the m235i the previous fastest two series money could buy I wondered whether BMW actually needed to make an m2 it was that good but now the m2 is here so it's time to find out whether the new fastest two series money can buy is actually any cop the m235i is fantastically fast it's turning paces well it's awesome this though is another level they've turn the wake up and it just flies low down a little bit of grunt and then the turbos kick in you push to the back of your seat and it slings itself down the road it's got a really nice counter and it really adds to the experience of the car it is profit Rorty proper angry proper loud a little bit of it is pumped into the cabin but not much and it still sounds good from the outside the manual gearbox is wicked it's so good it's kind of not cheap but it's a really nice short direct action and with the manual if you're in Sport and Sport Plus it does that also blimp thing which is quite handy if you're not that good at the heel and toe or anything like that and it sounds really cool as well so right now we're in sixth gear traveling at not fast just knock it down to fourth little blip maybe down to third and you have seamless down changes it's a really nice smooth gearbox the collapse is nice and light as well so the whole thing just works beautifully together the brakes on this are a little bit grabby but they do need to be to scrub off speed they work really nicely it's a decent movement to the pattern as well and then you throw in the throttle response and well it's silky smooth BMW must have spent so much time making sure this is perfect it's so much different to the m3 and m4 this feels more like a sports car this feels a bit more hardcore a bit well a bit better to be honest it feels awesome it feels taut it feels live the steering is fantastic you can thread it through corners you know exactly where the front wheels are everything about the car is so communicative it wants you to know what it's doing it wants you to know what's going on and if it does start to slide either intentionally or unintentionally you can feel what the cars doing and you can either correct it or have a bit more fun with it and it won't bite you won't spit you out into the wrong bits of the road it wants to work with you to give you a proper driving experience and that is something that's missing these days when you look at the class this is in the cars this is up against what you got an Audi rs3 and mercs cla45 BMW says a Porsche Cayman boy sure I agree because it's quite a bit more expensive but you're basically looking at hyper hatches and things like that and they are great but they're all wheel drive and quite as smooth they're not quite as driver-oriented the Focus RS is a fantastic car for this to go up against but it's a bit harder edged it's a bit more hardcore whereas this six of that balance where it's comfortable when you want it to be but then you can press a few buttons and make it go mega quick but again when it is going hard it's not uncomfortable it's still manageable so you can drive down the motorway in sport or Sport+ and your spine won't fall out I will say that the seats are not comfortable I spent a day in this yesterday and I got out my back was on fire it was the pedal box as well is quite small so don't wear white shoes if I end up tripping over yourself a bit but the rest of it is fantastic this is a car that's been designed and engineered for driving pleasure BMW wants you to have fun in your m2 and it gives you every allowance to do so M has a huge legacy and BMW really can't afford to naff that up and thankfully I really don't think they have this car is fantastic it feels break it looks great it sounds great it's an analogue car in a time where analog is dying out where people want the cars to do stuff for them this allows you to get involved to get stuck in there's a tiny performance penalty for going with the stick shift but that's it long live analog and long live the m2 that allows us to enjoy it having thoughts about to having spend time with it I honestly think that the m2 is going to go down as one of the great end cars

Channel: Carfection

Views: 240,884

Keywords: XCAR Films, Carfection, Cars, Supercar, xcar, sports car, engine, review, turbo, crashes, races, drive, track, drift, bmw, m2, bmwm2, M3, M4, M5, M6, BMW M, road test, top gear, audi, rs3, rs 3, mercedes amg, a45 amg, amg, 2 series, M235i

Id: 5381x5IDg8U

Length: 7min 44sec (464 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 18 2016