Buyacar Buying Guide: BMW M2 Competition
This brilliant, compact M-car is a bargain too – especially with help from Buyacar
BMW’S M2 WAS A ‘NEARLY CAR’ IN ITS original iteration. There were flashes of brilliance now and then, as you’d expect from the spiritual successor to the glorious 1-series M Coupé, but we had our reservations over its dynamics. There are no bad cars in evo’s Car of the Year competitions, but an ignominious twelfth-place finish at ecoty 2016 illustrated the M2’s problems.
But the subsequent updated version, the M2 Competition, did what was needed to get the compact M-car onto its target. Just two years after the original, it finished a much more competitive fifth place at ecoty. That’s much more like it, and as if to further bolster the theory, the even more focused M2 CS that followed took 2020’s overall victory.
The CS is a rather expensive device though, whereas the M2 Competition is a conspicuous bargain. Brand new it was around the same price as Toyota’s Bmw-based Supra, but the Supra doesn’t get the Competition’s proper M-division engine – a 3-litre, twin-turbocharged S55 straight-six making 404bhp – nor a manual gearbox.
An example that caught our eye on Buyacar has the optional DCT, but at £572 per month, despite little more than 2000 miles on the clock, it’s very tempting indeed. That figure is equivalent to a cash price of £47,290, but includes a £300 Buyacar contribution, a 6.9% APR and all the usual Buyacar benefits – an HPI check, a minimum of six months’ MOT and service, a delivery date of your choosing and a 14-day money-back guarantee. The car’s also rather a fine spec if you’re already sold on the DCT, wearing the distinctive Sunset Orange Metallic paintwork, while those cross-spoke alloy wheels, one of the M2’s signature touches, fill the arches nicely too.
We’ve covered many miles in M2 Competitions and the initial excitement doesn’t wear off. You need to pay attention on slippery roads, but in the dry the Comp’s abilities are really quite special, and it’s more tied-down than its non-competition predecessor without losing any of its character. As more and more cars head down the four-cylinder route, BMW’S in-line sixes are become increasingly tempting propositions, making the M2 Competition a car to bag before the breed goes extinct.