The best M car money can buy?

After testing the new BMW M2 at Laguna Seca, thinks it could well be

While many BmW aficionados have been hoping that the new M2 Coupé is really a modern-day E30 M3, BMW shies away from such comparisons, instead placing the new car on a pedestal with its most recent precursor, the limitededition 1 Series M Coupé and, for a bit of nostalgia, the BMW 2002 Turbo.

Yet a turbo and bulging wheelarches are about all the M2 and its groovy ’70s grandfather have in common. The new car’s development was driven as much by its business case as it was by the search for high performance in a compact package. Nonetheless, the M2 has been the subject of much hyperbole. After all, it borrows the best bits of the M3/M4 twins (high-tech differential, big wheels, components from the straight-six engine) and marries them with a 2 Series Coupé body on steroids. And yet, it takes less than a lap of the Laguna Seca circuit to realise that the M2 is far more than a cut-and-shut M4.

Turn-in to a corner is incisive, even with overheating tyres. The rear end is more than willing to drift if you’ve got the space and guts, but for most it’s reassuringly planted and highly predictable in its responses. There’s huge mechanical grip on offer, yet not so much as to stifle the 365bhp engine, so it’s playful, but the chassis has been set up to be incredibly forgiving too – even over bumpy roads. Through all this shines direct and communicative steering, plus strong brakes and excellent fixed-rate damping. It sounds purposeful, especially at low revs, and is as indecently fast as any road car needs to be.

There is just one main specification (though you can choose between the DCT auto or six-speed manual – both are fab) and it simply works. No adaptive damping, no big brake options: simply a well-sorted sports coupé that would not only leave its E30 M3 relative for dust, but also give its owner just as big a smile.

This is the best car BMW’s M division makes right now.