BMW M2 CS | PH Favourite Cars 2025
In the year Neue Klasse finally launched, BMW's old guard still provided some scintillating highlights...
Big year for BMW. One of the biggest since its 1916 genesis, if you fully indulge the hype. The Neue Klasse finally launched in bold, two-point-zero form and the iX3 that kicks off this crucial new era is hoovering up awards and adoration at a voracious rate. The promise for the i3 saloon it partners – a fully electric 3-Series, basically – is strong, and the teasers for its quad-motor M3 spin-off set the tone to excite folk, not send them spewing hate into the online ether.
On those terms, it’s a year in which a car as bold, brash and downright brilliant as the latest G87 M2 CS could end up a mere footnote. But when a car fizzes with this much effervescence, it’s never going to be forgotten. The purest, simplest fun I had this year was ensconced in its grappling M bucket seat amongst rain, sleet, snow and whatever else the weather gods felt like flinging our way that day.
Not the time or place to extol the virtues of its 530hp and 479lb ft outputs, then, nor dig deeply into how different (or not) their delivery may feel beside the skinnier figures of a stock M2. Rather it was a day to revel in a car that needs to be nowhere near its limits – nor wearing its headline Michelin Cup 2R tyre option – to feel flipping fantastic.
Times are tough in the coupe market. At the lower end of the BMW 2 Series range, competition is limited to the new Honda Prelude. Where the stock M2 operates, you can factor in Mustangs and A110s, albeit with a bit of creative licence. By the time you’re at the £86,800 of this CS, there’s an Emira (but for how much longer?), end-of-the-line 718 Caymans or a base 911 or AMG GT if you can finagle a discount (or increase your budget). While the world goes doolally for electrified crossovers and squillion-pound hypercars and restomods, the middle ground is losing its diversity. Fast.
But this is a cheery, end-of-year celebration, and though the M2 CS may not have much direct competition to spar with, that doesn’t mean M Division phoned it in and clocked off early. Changes over the stock M2 are all in the devilish details: it weighs 30 kilos less, rides 8mm lower and gets stiffer springs and more focused damping. There are lighter forged alloys with increased front camber, stiffer engine mounts and a round of software tweaks – some of those on the LSD of its sole driven axle. Pointing out that an M car is rear-wheel drive would have been ludicrous a decade ago; the M2 range is now an exception to the xDrive rule.
As you’d hope and expect, it drives like a hyper-focused version of its already impressive base car. Inclement weather with only two driven wheels ensures you work hard to warm up both you and the car, feeding in the throttle with a touch more confidence at every junction, building an ever more detailed picture of its grip with each passing corner. You forge a close bond with it quickly, the binary inputs allowed by electric or 4WD performance cars simply not tolerated here. Flashes of the traction control light aren’t fake news – loosen it into M Dynamic Mode you’re immediately aware of the vigilant work the systems were doing, however much you embrace the extra interaction you now have with the car.
Crucially, though, you want to unshackle the systems and get stuck in. It’s a punchy, pugnacious RWD sports car that welcomes you with open arms rather than sending you sprinting in the opposite direction. Although the much-maligned, thick-rimmed M steering wheel remains, the system it controls is pure and precise, and it won’t be long before you’re flexing your foot earlier in turns to exit them with a neat, sideways flourish. Exploring its grip on a winter-friendly Pilot Sport 4S is a delightful way to spend time. The CS rewards precision and care but is primed to be as flamboyant and boisterous as you wish.
It gets better with increased speed and commitment. Here’s a car whose damping relishes being ratcheted right up to Sport Plus, and it’s huge fun to fix its chassis and powertrain parameters on the touchscreen and play with them on the fly. Modern M cars can feel hugely complex things to just leap in and drive, a sea of confusing configurability. But the best ones – M4 CS included – feel damn good out of the box and only improve as you begin to tinker. A pretty faultless Comfort baseline ensures digging into the modes is no prerequisite for having a good time.
Overall, it feels gnarly enough to live up to the styling. No mean feat. I think it looks fabulous, and poring over some of its details – not least how well its ducktail integrates into the overall silhouette – only underscores what a thoroughly honed device this is. It’s hardly a baby M car in size, but it feels taut and nimble once you’re strapped in, only the muscular rear arches filling its side mirrors to remind you of the menace on display to everyone else.
With a sub-four-second sprint to 62mph it’s no baby M car in spirit, either. It’s a heroically fast thing, the sensation of rapidity only heightened by its sole option of a paddleshift auto. I can’t imagine the distraction of a manual would improve matters much; this is a car whose pace and precision warrant two hands fixed on the wheel. An auto ‘box encourages you to be a bit wilder with the CS, playing tunes with its S58 in a straight line or carrying more confidence in corners, aggressively dropping a gear or two on entry then quickly pulling a higher ratio to recover traction as you exit. Illuminating all of its shift lights on a damp day like this isn’t the work of a moment but proves a fun side quest all of its own.
Ultimately, the M2 CS allows you to imprint any driving style upon it and still feel satisfied. To have my best drive of the year just three degrees above freezing suggests the car beneath is very special indeed. A big year for BMW, then. For enthusiasts like us, this ought to be the highlight.
Specification | 2025 BMW M2 CS (G87)
Engine: 2,993cc, twin-turbo straight-six
Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power: 530hp @ 6,250rpm
Torque: 479lb ft @ 2,750-5,730rpm
0-62mph: 3.8sec
Top speed: 177mph
Weight: 1,700kg
MPG: 28.2 (WLTP)
CO2: 226g/km
Price: from £86,8001
Honourable mention | Morgan Supersport
From S58 to B58. Both Matt Bird and I attended the Spanish media drive of the latest, greatest six-cylinder Morgan. The fact it was launched out of Barcelona rather than Malvern suggests change is afoot and that this is something special; and lo, it’s a big step on from the already thrilling Plus Six it shares its bones with. We both concluded it didn’t feel the big leap Morgan claimed – but back on crummier, less glamorous UK roads, my multiple revisits to the Supersport have swelled my respect for it. All the Morgan frivolity, but with far fewer excuses required for its manners. A quick shout out for the Honda Prelude, too: imperfect, but what a joy it exists.
Much has been said about The direction of BMWs styling and power choices. As it stand they've lost me as a customer.
Much has been said about The direction of BMWs styling and power choices. As it stand they've lost me as a customer.
Previous M2 was some 200kg lighter and pretty much same tuneable engine, then you have (for a bit of budget creep) a phase 1/2 AMG GTC/R (owned before) which is similar weight around 1700kg (bit lighter for R) but an easy 700hp
I’d like a G87 M2 but the £50-70k market is rife with decent cars for this type of thing, not a bad thing but think a used g87 struggles against the other used options, sure, as a new purchase (if thats your thing) theres not much you can buy today that competes at that price point, not that you can even get a CS mind, as they’re all sold no?
Anyway, great car and looks imo, glad they’re still making them tbh
I’m still not a massive fan of the design, but it doesn’t offend me like a Tesla model Y. The only thing that does if when someone calls this “baby M car”. It’s got over 500 hp, silly.
So so sad to see it frittered away over the past 20 years. Although there have been a small number of good looking cars this millennium (1M, F10 5 series being two examples) the decline started with the first Bangle 7-series that was such a mess after the sublime e38.
It’s in the fuzzy bit between striking and ugly ( being generous )
I’d like the previous generation in preference all day long but you cannot argue with the performance or tuning potential
Much has been said about The direction of BMWs styling and power choices. As it stand they've lost me as a customer.
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