Bmw m2 is this a flat-track bully that shrinks in the face of rush-hour traffic and heavy rainfall?

MILEAGE 4800

WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT

To celebrate the survival – and indeed evolution – of the proper sports coupé

It’s very easy to criticise the new BMW M2. To say that it has a harsh ride, or that it looks ugly compared with the last one, or that it’s really heavy. And while it’s 119mm longer and 230kg heavier than the car it replaced, BMW has achieved exactly what it should have: the M2 is fundamentally improved over the last one.

As for how it looks, if you remove all subjectivity from the equation and judge it as a successful or unsuccessful piece of automotive design, I’d say this is more a case of the former. It is well proportioned, undoubtedly looks like a BMW and, while it might be fussy in places, I believe it will stand up to the test of time much better than its key rivals.

BMW could have played it safe, evolved the formula and given us a car that, apart from slimmer front and rear lights and maybe wider haunches, would have looked the same as its predecessor. But it didn’t, and so here we are today.

So what’s it like to live with? I borrowed the car from regular custodian James Attwood with as much eagerness as trepidation, because I was about to take this 453bhp, rear-drive ’bahnstormer on a 270-mile round trip to Donington Park circuit through both London and Birmingham’s rush-hour traffic, during two huge rainstorms and around one very tight car park.

My agitation turned out to be mostly unnecessary, because on the move the M2 was a peach. It swallowed every journey like water, was comfortable enough on the motorway and, despite filling up just outside of London on the way back, it would have done both legs on one tank. At the end of my time with it, I came away with 29.0mpg.

For a car with vast performance potential, most of which will rarely be reached on the public road, touching 30.0mpg is a welcome achievement, especially if you don’t want to drive like you’re on an economy run.

When I didn’t, the M2’s 3.0-litre straight six bellowed and howled as it tore through each of the ZF’s eight ratios, with ample torque (406lb ft) delivered throughout a healthy rev range (from 2650-5870rpm).

A special mention also to how planted it felt everywhere: it’s so composed and unruffled by anything that you wonder why anyone would need any more car. Even during two separate