A small car with plenty of grunt
BMW’s M2 two-door coupe might be small, but it’s a fully-fledged M car, as Rob Maetzig experiences.
The other day when one of our summer cyclones bore down on New Zealand and closed airports all over the place, it meant this writer had to drive several hundred kilometres to attend a motoring function.
But it was no worries – because the car for the journey was a vehicle that might have been small both in stature and the length of its name, but very big in performance.
It was the BMW M2, which is essentially the M version of the
2-Series coupe.
But it’s been widened so it can accommodate the suspension setup of the larger M3, and it is powered by a 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six that has had all sorts of things done to it – pistons are from the M3 and there are unique induction and cooling systems – all in the interests of one thing: performance.
So was it a hassle taking on the return journey to the motoring function?
Nope.
In fact the drive there and back was so enjoyable it almost overshadowed the function itself.
I shouldn’t have been surprised.
After all, with the M2 we have a little two-door rear-wheel driven coupe with its specially designed engine that delivers 272 kilowatts of power and 465 newton metres of torque, that can be swelled to
500Nm via an over-boost function. That’s an enormous amount of grunt for a car that weighs in at little more than 1500kg.
All that drive torque is distributed to the M2’s aluminium rear axle via an electronicallycontrolled ‘‘active’’ differential which works its magic to maximise traction – it can split the torque anywhere between zero and 100 per cent to either rear wheel.
And the chassis is a bespoke creation that has borrowed hardware and technologies from the little coupe’s M3 and M4 siblings.
Also borrowed from the M4 are M compound brakes that offer great stopping power.
Our vehicle was fitted with the
M2’s standard M DCT seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmission, which is very fastacting and can get the car to
100kmh in just 4.3 seconds.
It can be used as a straight automatic or the driver can choose the manual way by putting the transmission into a Sport mode and using paddles on the steering wheel.
End result of all of this is a car that has to rate as one of the purest examples of performance motoring around.
It’s a beautiful drive – surprisingly docile at the lower speeds although that trick rear differential does thump and bang a little at very low speeds, and during ordinary operation it is capable of achieving a combined fuel economy of 7.9L/100km.
It’s comfortable too, although the M2 is really only a two-seater because there’s not a lot of legroom for those unlucky enough to have to use the rear seats.
But up front the environment is snug and classy.
The M2 has been on the New Zealand market for some time now, but late last year it received its first facelift.
The update is more cosmetic than anything else, with previous bi-xenon headlights replaced by adaptive LED versions.
At the rear, new single-piece full-LED tail lights are L shaped to help lower and widen the car’s rear-end appearance.
On the inside, there’s a new instrument display with M-specific content, and the vehicle has BMW’s iDrive6 infotainment system with a customisable 8.8-inch touch-screen.
Front sports seats are leather with nice ‘‘design’’ stitching, and the steering wheel is also leather. And that’s about it. Nothing has been done to the car’s mechanicals, which means the M2 continues to do what it does best – offer a fantastic drive.
It’s easy to operate at the lower speeds, and it is comfortable too.
But the M2 is there to be driven with enthusiasm, and when Sport mode is selected it can certainly offer that. The M2 also has a specific M Dynamic mode which lessens the influence of the traction control – perfect for racetrack work.
All of this action doesn’t come cheap, of course.
The facelifted M2 carries a retail price of $117,050, and our test vehicle was also fitted with a $2,100 Driver Assistant which provides the safety benefits of approach control warning, lane departure warning, and pedestrian warning.
But despite the high price for a two-door coupe, the BMW M2 remains a value package because it is such a high-performance car.
All of which meant it was no hassle at all when, thanks to those weather-related airport closures, I had to take my Long Beach Bluepainted press model all those hundreds of kilometres on the return journey to the motoring function.
Lovely.