It is almost certainly the last “purely” combustion-powered car the brand’s M division will make. The next iterations will be hybrid or electric. That will make the latest M2 something of a collector’s item as well as a cherished small performance car for everyday use in an electric future.
Being the smallest M in the stable, it is the least expensive, but it still racks up the items bill, with my car on test costing just north of €115,000.
It has the same engine, though in less powerful guise, as the larger M3 and M4 models (the latter being a favourite of mine). Rivals include the evergreen Audi TT RS, Porsche 718 Cayman, and Alpine A110.
This M2 coupe is more powerful than before, but it is also heavier despite extensive use of carbon fibre – and it has a larger frame.
There is more room with, relatively speaking, a bit more space in the back – I stress relatively speaking – but there’s enough for younger bodies nonetheless.
It is also more conservative in looks, less in-your-face than the previous model though subtle lines are there if you look closely enough. They were somewhat shrouded by the Brooklyn grey colour of the car’s exterior.
Inside is plush and comfortable, but I think I preferred the previous model’s cabin. It felt more snug somehow.
The low roofline meant, as you’d expect, having to stoop a fair bit to get in and out. That’s the price you pay for your smart, low-slung powerhouse.
And it certainly was powerful, pumping 454bhp from the straight-six cylinder twin-turbo petrol engine. Being rear-wheel drive gave it a feeling all of its own.
It has a classic sport’s car set-up: long bonnet cradling an in-line petrol engine and the power going through the rear wheels for greater dynamism.
My car had an automatic transmission, but you can order a manual if you like dashing up and down the gears.
Me? Automatic is fine thanks. And, don’t forget, I had the steering-wheel paddles which do the work of a gearshift as far as I’m concerned.
And yet I’m conscious of the fact that with power of such magnitude in the M2, it is easy to be seen to glorify speed and raucous driving.
If you want to do that, then take it on a track somewhere like Mondello Park and let it loose.
There is no room on our public roads for messing with speed. None. The funny thing is you can still enjoy it enormously on the road without incurring the wrath of the law or putting yourself or others at risk.
For example, I used the steering wheel paddles to keep revs high for surges of acceleration to just below the prevailing legal limit and to put the adaptive suspension to the test on twisty Co Wicklow roads.
And when I needed to slow or stop quickly, I had those large M brakes with red calipers to call on.
As you would expect from a small M car, it gave instant response and fed me back almost go-kart road-feel.
I’d have liked a fruitier note from the engine, but there was a sense of smooth delivery of power regardless of whether I was cruising or accelerating.
Over the years, driving performance cars, those have been the areas where I always found the enjoyment on public roads.
That is where you can get a sense of a car’s potential – only a sense, mind you. And that has to be enough for most of us every time we drive a car like this.
The track is where you can satisfy the urge to explore that potential and drive it like something approaching the massively powerful performance car that it is (for its size).
But let’s be honest, most of us would still fall well short of driving at anything approaching this car’s limit. It is important we recognize that.
I freely admit that would be the case with me.
I’ve sat beside too many real drivers to know my limits when seeing what they can do with a car.
Humbling, amazing, gut-and-glute-clenching but delightfully thrilling all at the same time.
The M2, I’m sure, won’t disappoint on the track should you do the right thing and take it there. It doesn’t disappoint on the road.
Would I buy it? I like the M2 for the way it transmits its power. I loved how it fed back the sense of motion.
It does that better than most cars I’ve driven. But it is expensive and doesn’t have the wonderful look of the former model.
Above all, however, the performance and flexibility of the petrol engine stood out. As the last of its “pure-petrol” ilk, it lends an added piquancy of an era coming to an end.
Factfile454bhp, straight-six-cylinder engine, rear-wheel-drive. Price as tested €115,392. Spec on board included adaptive suspension, carbon roof, Harman/Kardon surround-sound audio system, M Sport seats. Comfort Access, M brakes with red calipers, M Sport differential, Sport automatic transmission with gearshift paddles, electric/heated memory seats (front lumbar support), ambient lighting, cruise control, adaptive LED headlights, parking assistant, Brooklyn grey exterior; black with blue stitching Vernasca interior.
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