Junior muscle car has been busy in the gym and is ready to flex its pecs on the track
Claire Evans Claire.Evans@haymarket.com
SUMMER
WHAT WOULD ARNIE do to stay in fine fettle? Well, in his heyday, Mr Schwarzenegger would pump iron until his muscles looked like they were about to burst out of his body, and the styling of BMW’s next M2 performance coupé gives off a similar vibe.
Its swollen wheelarches and bumpers imply serious brawn, and the F1-style aerodynamic diffuser at the back suggests that it means business. Meanwhile, up front there’s a frameless front grille, gaping lower air intakes and wide-set headlights that were apparently inspired by BMW’s much-loved 02 coupés from the 1960s and 1970s.
It has the power to back up those bodybuilder looks, too; the M2 may be small, but it packs a turbocharged 3.0-litre straight six engine that produces 454bhp and propels it from 0-62mph in just 4.1sec.That’s nearly as swift as the pricier M4, which uses a variation of the same engine.And in an effort to ensure you can make the most of all that power, the M2 borrows many of its big brother’s other track-honed mechanicals.
BMW admits that the new M2 is a little less playful than its predecessor as a result, by which it means it isn’t quite as easy to slide the rear end out in corners. However, it says this means it’s quicker around a track.The driver can to choose just how focused it feels by switching between three settings: Road, Sport and Track.
In some ways this new M2 represents the end of an era, because it will be the final foray into pure petrol-engined models by BMW’s M performance division. Indeed, it’s so old-school that it probably trains by running up steps a la Stallone in the Rocky films, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because it means there’s a manual gearbox option that’s sure to delight traditionalists.
Similarly, you can’t have four-wheel drive, with BMW saying it decided against this because it wanted to offer an experience in keeping with the original M-car formula.
True, there’s nothing old-school about the price; the new M2 starts at £61,495. However, that’s still £5000 less than you’d pay for a comparable Alpine A110 and nearly £10,000 cheaper than our reigning Sports Car of the Year, the Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0.And while both of those cars are two-seaters, the M2 has room for four to muscle in.
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