Living in the fast lane ... briefly

ALL THAT WAS EXPECTED, AND MORE The dream of cruising around in teenage me’s fantasy car finally realised.

Irecall, as a teenager I had a love for the BMW M3 German spec. I loved it so much, I set a personal goal, to own one by the time I turned 25. There was just something about that M badge, which had legendary status. I loved everything about BMW M cars, from the looks, to the soundtrack and the speed.

Unfortunately, I’m a frugal person, and when I discovered the price of maintenance on BMW performance cars, I took a step back from my dream.

Little did I know, a decade later I would have the opportunity to live the dream of cruising around in an M car, when a colleague gave me the chance to test the all-new BMW M2.

Sitting behind the wheel for the first time, with the M2 emblem lighting up on the seat, was an emotional moment.

I hit the start button, and the exhaust roared in true M fashion.

The six-cylinder beast made me feel invincible but scared at the same time.

This is a vehicle with a huge power output of 338kW going straight to the rear wheels, and although BMW has a state-ofthe-art traction control system, things could go wrong in the blink of an eye if you are too eager.

With great power comes great responsibility – after all, you wouldn’t want to crash a car that costs more than R1.5 million.

So, I took a nice cruise to familiarise myself with the handling.

The first thing I noticed was that the drive was rigid, due to its sport suspension.

The performance was the star of the show: this car hits 100km/h from a standstill in 4.1 seconds and the adrenaline rush from the G-force was mind blowing.

Of course when I got home my son fell in love.

He wanted me to do the school run, and the car was spacious enough to carry the kids’ luggage. My only gripe with the boot was it didn’t open and close automatically, which was a bit old-fashioned for such an expensive car.

The children at school lost their minds when they saw the M2. Everybody just wants you to rev it, which is senseless in these newer cars.

The M2 does have an exhaust valve, though, so if you like a loud exhaust, you can just push a button to make it sound sportier.

This experience was eye opening because it showed me my decision back then was a good one.

Although the M2 is fun to drive it is completely impractical for the daily commute unless you have very deep pockets.

I will always love and appreciate M cars, but unless I get another opportunity like this, I will do it from a distance – my budget isn’t flexible enough for this beast.