The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
This BMW M2 is a sophisticated racer
For those who like small and fast cars, the newest BMW M2 Coupe will simply warm the cockles of their hearts.
The 2017 BMW M2 is the absolute epitome of what a boy racer wants to drive.
Beyond that, it is also a sophisticated car, easy to use as a daily driver. That’s because this car has better manners than most of those who will drive it.
It feels and sounds so wonderful that it is almost impossible to not push it just a little bit. However, with a bit of self-restraint, there’s no reason you can’t take your grandmother for a pleasant Sunday-afternoon drive. And although you can, that certainly isn’t what this car was created to do.
Frankly Gram needs to be either the adventurous or forgiving type, because compared to most of the cars she probably rides in, the M2 is just a bit unforgiving in its demonstration of its performance suspension. Let’s face it, compromises are compromises, and this is the straight-forward go-fast kind of a car. If you are going to be taking her for frequent Sunday drives, for her sake you ought to add a Seven-Series to the garage.
Because this is the car for the affluent hot-rodder who doesn’t want anything but his Porsche Turbo to go faster than he’s able to in this car. Truth is, that’s probably accurate. This is a small coupe with massive power, as well as the brakes, suspension and steering to handle it safely. It is truly track ready – probably more so than the majority of its owners.
That performance begins with the engine. BMW is famous for their inline six cylinder engines, and this one reminds you exactly why. All the noises out of it are pleasant, at least to motorheads. When you play with the accelerator, you feel like the conductor of an orchestra as you can vary and combine these sounds into a heartthrobbing melody.
It is also producing a plethora of power. The 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder gasoline engine develops 335 hp. and 369 lb.-ft. of peak torque. This engine shares its pistons, crank bearings, and redline-smooching spirit with the M4’s 425-hp engine. This is a highly sophisticated powerplant, but the important part is that it makes seriously sensuous noises and can make your eyes bleed.
Its not that the off-theline acceleration is so out of the world, but if you opt for the double-clutch transmission, when you put your foot down, it shifts with the speed and violence of a race car. That’s not something most of us have experienced, let alone done.
This is a seven-speed double-clutch transmission. The system’s control unit is quite bright, and gives you tractionoptimized gear selection, launch control, low speed assistance, and an automatic start/stop function. With these, the car can change gears extremely quickly without any loss in power even at lower engine speeds. The DCT does come with paddle shifters so you can join the fun.
The suspension makes no apology for its capability. It is stiff, harsh and wonderful. The M2’s big brother the M4 has electronic damping control, but not this one. It is a nocompromise setup.
This comes from reducing as much unsprung mass as possible, which is helped by the suspension bits being aluminum. That improves driving dynamics, traction and response by reducing how much suspension must react to driving dynamics. The M2 fiddles with axle load distribution to keep as close to neutral driving characteristics as possible. That so whatever input the suspension reacts to should come from the road or the driver, and not much else.
The rear axle is also lightened. The five-arm rear axle’s arms and wheel carriers are forged aluminum as are the arms, wheel carriers, subframe and the two-joint spring-strut front axle’s shear panel.
The brakes are direct carryovers from the M4, though, and that means four-piston calipers in front and two-piston units in the rear with ventilated brake disc rings. The calipers are a neat blue, peeking through the 19-in. wheels shod with Michelin Pilot Super Sports size 245/35R19 in front and 265/35R-19 at the rear.
With these truly excellent tires, the M2 registered 0.99 g. lateral acceleration. This is beyond pretty much all but the well-trained driver, and is really only appropriate on a racetrack.
But even in traffic these brakes really haul you down, and they are also quite easy to use for throttle steer and other brake-related driving inputs. Again, these are mostly useful on a track, or maybe a lonely Sunday morning drive on empty twisty bits.
The steering lives up to BMW’s reputation of having the best steering going. This setup is quick, precise and gives plenty of feedback. It is only in true performance-oriented cars to you get this kind of steering.
That’s because the system must be exactly balanced right-to-left. This means everything has to match to quite severe levels. When it is done right, the steering wheel seems a party of your body. Simply the time between when you first turn the wheel and something begins to happen is a mere percentage of “normal” cars.
The BMW M2 isn’t inexpensive. It starts life at $52,695 and most buyers will add some to that total. But this isn’t a car bought by people who are looking to save money. Plus, they are people who have it.
They are also people who are very invested in performance driving. I don’t mean Mustang on a Friday night with your arm out the window noisily making its way down the main drag. I mean wannabe – or authentic – race drivers.
If you know what you’re doing, this car is almost scary as it will so easily go past your ability. And then make that abundantly clear. Controlling the urge to keep up with this level of capability can be dangerous. If you haven’t attended a racing school, you should. Understanding weight shifting and car control is perhaps a bit more important in this than in almost any other car. Really.
Having said that, this is a car that, if you can be just slightly self-disciplined, is simply wonderful. While it may not be driving perfection, it gets close enough for the price.