Thursday 16th July 2015

New BMW M2 spy shots

The baby M4 caught looking closer than ever to production - hurry please BMW!

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The BMW M2 promises to be a fairly special car. It's indirectly a replacement for the marvellous 1 M Coupe; the M Performance 235i is already superb and there's likely to be a fair bit of M3/M4 influence too. Quite a recipe.

Thumbs up for He-Man arches

These pictures show the M2 in what is hopefully near production spec, right down to the disguised M grille badge. There are M4 wheels, some very burly brakes, nicely flared rear arches and the trademark M quartet of exhausts. Note also how wide those front tyres are and the minute gap between tyre and wheelarch; this is a very serious car, in case that was ever in doubt.

We're none the wiser on powertrain details yet, but it's expected the M2 will use a detuned version of the twin-turbo straight six from the M4. Splitting the difference between the M235i and M4 would mean 366hp and probably a similar amount of torque. If the M2 is manual only like the 1 M Coupe then we'll eat our M-branded caps; BMW will surely offer both DCT and manual options, although that's to be confirmed at this point.

Being optimistic the M2 will be seen at Frankfurt, so typically a very significant show for the German manufacturers. It's been a while since BMW has really wowed showgoers with a production model after all. Let's hope the M2 is that car. More details as they're available!

[Images: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien]

[Superlightdaa]

Looks great, any ideas on pricing?

[Krikkit]

Looks over-wheeled to me. Can't argue with a twin turbo straight six though.

[cerb4.5lee]

Seriously looking forward to this and I hope it will be a very good package as I already really like the M235i.

[Nick Young]

I'd heard pricing at around €54,000 mentioned (not sure about GBP) but nothing official.

Doesn't look different enough from regular models in my opinion (same complaint I have against my M235!)

[EricE]

Most exciting BMW in quite a while, IMO the new M3 as the M4 is just "too much" of everything on the road.

I expect it will split the difference between M235i and M4 both power and price. The car dimensions of the M235i coupled with the chassis and powertrain of a M4 would make for a really sweet car. Manual CSL version of this, yes please.

[BeirutTaxi]

EricE said:

Manual CSL version of this, yes please.

Will never happen. Both the E46 CSL and Z4M coupe were not particularly successful in terms of sales (although I could be wrong).

[mackay45]

BeirutTaxi said:

EricE said:

Manual CSL version of this, yes please.

Will never happen. Both the E46 CSL and Z4M coupe were not particularly successful in terms of sales (although I could be wrong).

They made the E92 M3 GTS though? So you never know.

[RobM77]

Krikkit said:

Looks over-wheeled to me. Can't argue with a twin turbo straight six though.

oo - I could! Take the standard straight 6 and improve intake and outake, change the cam timing, lighten the flywheel and other engine internals and that'd be far better and more befitting an M car than a hum-whoosh motor from a non-M car that now makes a bit more hum and whoosh.

I'm sure the M2 will be great, and I suspect I'd absolutely love the way it drove, but in terms of the engine, I suspect it'll be a let down compared to M cars of the past. M engines used to be an event in terms of sound and character; think of the E46 M3 or the E92 M3 for example.

[EricE]

BeirutTaxi said:

Will never happen. Both the E46 CSL and Z4M coupe were not particularly successful in terms of sales (although I could be wrong).

You are right but the market demand seems to have changed. Look at Porsche - Cayman R was also not successful, stock parked in dealerships for months and only sold with massive discount.

The Cayman GT4 is the improved version of the same car and almost sold out on the day of announcement. Huge praise and demand for that car and lots of people buying it as an investment. M2 CSL would be the BMW version of that.

[Ares]

EricE said:

....IMO the new M3 as the M4 is just "too much" of everything on the road.

Intrigued, Too Much in what way?

[cerb4.5lee]

RobM77 said:

M engines used to be an event in terms of sound and character; think of the E46 M3 or the E92 M3 for example.

Yes loads of character...the S54 sounds tinny and wasp like and the S65 is muted and sounds nothing like a V8!

I know what you are saying though!

[Ares]

cerb4.5lee said:

RobM77 said:

M engines used to be an event in terms of sound and character; think of the E46 M3 or the E92 M3 for example.

Yes loads of character...the S54 sounds tinny and wasp like and the S65 is muted and sounds nothing like a V8!

I know what you are saying though!

True, but the F30 does sound a lot better in the flesh, especially on song, than the media give it credit for. It's no M5/M6 V8/V10 but it's probably the best engine note since the M3 CSL.

[Mermaid]

EricE said:

BeirutTaxi said:

Will never happen. Both the E46 CSL and Z4M coupe were not particularly successful in terms of sales (although I could be wrong).

You are right but the market demand seems to have changed. Look at Porsche - Cayman R was also not successful, stock parked in dealerships for months and only sold with massive discount.

The Cayman GT4 is the improved version of the same car and almost sold out on the day of announcement. Huge praise and demand for that car and lots of people buying it as an investment. M2 CSL would be the BMW version of that.

We live in different times - "overs" was hardly heard of in 2003, even for the 996RS. The cars were just as special, but the main market was enthusiasts who accepted there would modest depreciation on their bespoke choice.

Now it is a different target group, so many speculators and a large percentage of these cars will probably never be seen on tracks or even on the road but stored away.

I do hope BMW do not limit production of the M2 to some silly arbitrary number like 2000. 15k E30 M3's were manufactured.

[TNH]

Looks great, hopefully won't cost me too much to trade up from my M235i - i'll take a manual please BMW!

[PunterCam]

Ares said:

cerb4.5lee said:

RobM77 said:

M engines used to be an event in terms of sound and character; think of the E46 M3 or the E92 M3 for example.

Yes loads of character...the S54 sounds tinny and wasp like and the S65 is muted and sounds nothing like a V8!

I know what you are saying though!

True, but the F30 does sound a lot better in the flesh, especially on song, than the media give it credit for. It's no M5/M6 V8/V10 but it's probably the best engine note since the M3 CSL.

That can only mean it's louder than you expect in the flesh.

This should be the only M car BMW make, rather than a cut down m4. The only reason to make it less powerful is marketing, and I can't stand that. It's not like it'll be more economical, easier to live with day to day.. It'll just be a slightly slower m4. Why shouldn't it be faster? And more expensive? It's surely smaller and lighter, so make it the better M car. Would anyone care that it was 3 inches shorter?!

[EricE]

Ares said:

Intrigued, Too Much in what way?

Power, torque, tyre grip, isolation, comfort, dimensions on the road. These are just my impressions from a test drive. Without a doubt a lovely thing to live with every day but so is a 430i when you're not "on it".
I ramble on about this all the time, in my view modern cars are just too competent to really have fun with them on the road, so when I read about a "less competent" car that's a good thing in my book. Less is more.

[Debaser]

Looks great!

[Ares]

PunterCam said:

Ares said:

cerb4.5lee said:

RobM77 said:

M engines used to be an event in terms of sound and character; think of the E46 M3 or the E92 M3 for example.

Yes loads of character...the S54 sounds tinny and wasp like and the S65 is muted and sounds nothing like a V8!

I know what you are saying though!

True, but the F30 does sound a lot better in the flesh, especially on song, than the media give it credit for. It's no M5/M6 V8/V10 but it's probably the best engine note since the M3 CSL.

That can only mean it's louder than you expect in the flesh.

No. Far from. And it wasn't louder than expected. Just sounds a lot lot better. I expected, and media led us to believe it was either a slightly beefier 335i engine note or just all whoosh of induction noise. It actually sounds totally different. Gruffer, rougher, deeper, more off-beat at lower revs then bigger capacity sounding 'roar' until getting more CSL-esque raspy at very high revs when hot. (although not as 'raspy' as the CSL)

[Ares]

EricE said:

Ares said:

Intrigued, Too Much in what way?

Power, torque, tyre grip, isolation, comfort, dimensions on the road. These are just my impressions from a test drive. Without a doubt a lovely thing to live with every day but so is a 430i when you're not "on it".
I ramble on about this all the time, in my view modern cars are just too competent to really have fun with them on the road, so when I read about a "less competent" car that's a good thing in my book. Less is more.

So it's just too good - for you?

I jumped in an M4, on the road straight from an M6 on the same roads. The M4 felt nothing you described. It possibly would have done if I'd come from a 235, but on the road it was comically flexible, as easy as a 320d to drive, yet if you wanted to up its game to 911 levels. You could be lazy....or you could be at 10/10th. Thats an M car for me.

We then took it on Track. It showed what an accomplished car it was then. The best track M-Car I have ever driven bar a race E30 (possibly). I'd chose it, on track, over a CSL.

[Clivey]

RobM77 said:

o - I could! Take the standard straight 6 and improve intake and outake, change the cam timing, lighten the flywheel and other engine internals and that'd be far better and more befitting an M car than a hum-whoosh motor from a non-M car that now makes a bit more hum and whoosh.

I'm sure the M2 will be great, and I suspect I'd absolutely love the way it drove, but in terms of the engine, I suspect it'll be a let down compared to M cars of the past. M engines used to be an event in terms of sound and character; think of the E46 M3 or the E92 M3 for example.

IMO the only problems with engines like the S54 are the economy & emissions. - The E46 M3 is just too thirsty for daily use and not special enough to be a weekend car; it kind of falls between. At least the F30 does better than 15mpg...sadly though, to get that BMW have had to sacrifice the character of the earlier cars.

Still, at least it's not another 4-pot, front-biased AWD, point & squirt clone.