BMW M2 (2015-2022) Review

Most sports car buyers will have a mental list of essential requirements that a car must have to excite them. Depending on the person, that's likely to include aggressive styling, a big petrol engine, and rear-wheel drive. 

The M2 and M2 Competition are aimed squarely at this exact group, with the added allure of an (increasingly rare) manual gearbox option, it offers up a traditional driving experience that will soon be a thing of the past. 

As with any high-performance vehicle, it's expensive and comes with steep ownership costs. However, it also demands fewer compromises that a strict two-seater, with a big boot and set of small rear seats improving its usability.

For ultimate handling thrills, there are better alternatives, and its interior is starting to be left behind by the latest generation of hot hatches. Still, this would be a very fun car to own and drive daily, if you can afford it.

There aren't many two-door coupes with the raw performance and visual drama to match the M2. Rivals such as the Porsche 718 Cayman and Alpine A110 feature four-cylinder engines and two-seater cabins.

Both are stunning to drive - especially the Alpine thanks to its lightweight design - but neither is as useable or raucous as the BMW. If you need a major dose of practicality with your performance then Mercedes and Audi will sell you two of the fastest hot hatchbacks ever made: the AMG A 45 S+ or five-cylinder RS3 Sportback.

This pair has the power to match the BMW (with well over 400PS each) and come with four-wheel drive to help rein in their handling. All of these cars will cost roughly £50,000 though. So if price is a factor but you want similar looks to the M2 then its worth considering the six-cylinder M240i coupe - it's £10,000 cheaper.

Since it's based on a less expensive car, the M2 has a strange mix of exotic materials but average plastics. It's almost like its interior has been given a few rounds of cosmetic surgery to help hide its advancing years.

The ergonomics are good, and the steering wheel, gear stick and (on automatic versions) shift paddles all feel like high-quality items. Look past the shiny faux carbon trim though, and the ordinary plastics in the dash and around the air-vents, plus the bog-standard 1 Series BMW switchgear brings you back down to earth.

Now that's not to say it's not robust, everything feels solid and it fits together nicely. Still, it's not anywhere near as luxurious as bespoke sports cars like the Porsche Cayman. Although rivals like the Mercedes A 45 AMG and Audi RS3 are also based on more humble mainstream cars, they feel a bit more modern inside.

BMW doesn't give you much choice either to personalise either. You can change the seat stitching from blue to orange, but if the racy look isn't your thing you can't swap the carbon fibre out for something more subtle.

The iDrive system in the M2 Competition is a generation behind what BMW fits to its latest models, but it's still one of the easiest infotainment systems to use, and has most of the features you'd expect for the price.

With a solitary 8.8-inch screen, it's on the small side for a modern car, but has a high-resolution display, and gives the driver the option to control it via a rotary dial between the seats or via touch. The latter is great for zooming into maps or typing addresses while parked, while the former is easier to use when you're driving.

The blacked-out digitised analogue dials look cool, but lack the functionality of a fully digital driver's display. So viewing the sat-nav, driving modes and entertainment settings are all done through the main screen. The excellent navigation system has real-time traffic information, and online services (with a BMW Connected Drive account) plus Bluetooth, DAB radio, and a USB port, and Apple CarPlay for using your phone apps.

If you have an Android smartphone then it won't connect; very frustrating if your work phone is a Samsung. The standard stereo is not particularly impressive. You can upgrade to a BMW Advanced unit for £295 or - and we'd recommend this option - the impressive Harman/Kardon Hi-Fi instead. Downsides? It costs £600.

Having space to carry four people gives the M2 a big advantage over most of its sports car rivals. Taller adults won’t want to stay in the back for long though. Anyone over six-foot will struggle for headroom and if those sitting in the front slide the chunky front seats too far back the modest legroom quickly disappears.

Still, it's great for family buyers who want to bring the kids along to enjoy the ride. The two-door layout makes fitting a child seat a properly physical challenge, but it is possible to fit a rear-facing infant seat or a Group 1- 3 child seat. Do the former and you're unlikely to squeeze a passenger in the front seat at the same time. 

The 390-litre boot means the M2 can carry more luggage than you might expect. As standard the rear seats fold 60:40 - but pay a bit extra and you can have the more flexible 40:20:40 - better for carrying longer items.

This also turns the folding centre section into an armrest with cupholders too; handy if you'll regularly sit four.

All of this gives the M2 a huge practicality advantage over mid-engined alternatives like the Porsche Cayman and Alpine A110 and makes this is a car you could drive every single day. However, the narrow loading bay and coupe body style mean a hot hatchback is a lot more versatile since they have five seats and five doors. 

A taller roofline also means space for rear seat passengers is better in these types of cars, so it's a tradeoff between how much you value the aggressive coupe styling and the mundane requirements of everyday life.

Storage inside is good though. There's a deep cubby underneath the central armrest, generous door pockets and a decent glovebox. The extended storage pack is standard, and includes net pockets in the front seat backs and a handy extra pair of 12V sockets in the rear seat compartment and boot; great for vacuuming.

As we have alluded to earlier in this review, the power and performance of your M2 will depend on when you bought it. All of them use a 3.0-litre straight-six turbocharged petrol, with a six-speed manual gearbox. Each comes with the option to swap it for a seven-speed DCT automatic transmission, for the sum of £2,645.

The standard M2 has a single-turbo unit that is closely related to the M135i and 235i coupe. With 370PS it's no slouch, but has a lower rev-limit and less aggressive character than the twin-turbo in the M2 Competition.

This engine - with outputs of 410PS and 550Nm - is a detuned version of the motor in the M4. Yes it's faster, with brutal mid-range grunt, but it's the way it delivers that power (especially at higher revs) that sets it apart.

It also has a redesigned sports exhaust, with flaps to control how raucous it sounds, and four black tailpipes.  

The optional dual-clutch automatic is excellent. It kicks down sharply when required, but can swaps the cogs smoothly when you're just pootling along too, and is fractionally quicker than the manual from 0-62mph. The six-speed gearbox requires more effort on behalf of the driver, with its weighty, long-throw shift action. 

Still, if you want to feel involved in the mechanical process of driving, it's the one to have. The small penalties to fuel economy, refinement and CO2 emissions will be well worth it every time you go for a proper drive.

A big set of 19-inch wheels and low profile Michelin rubber produce quite a lot of road noise. This can get quite wearing on longer journeys, and BMW removed much of the sound deadening from the 2 Series to make the M2 feel sportier. Yes, it sounds raw and exciting when you're driving it hard, but it gets tiresome.

The benefit of its six-cylinder engine is that it feels smooth and refined in normal driving, with effortless pace,  but makes a wonderful growling noise once you start to push it a bit harder. The DCT model's seven speeds do help to improve cruising refinement, keeping the revs low and easing the leg-strain of long traffic jams.

BMW supplies all the standard safety kit you'd expect, with a full set of airbags, three different driving modes (ECO PRO, Comfort and Sport) and a sophisticated traction control system. This electronic safety net has a halfway 'MDM' setting (M Dynamic Mode) that lets you enjoy the playful rear-drive chassis relatively risk-free.

Cruise control, LED headlights and acoustic parking sensors all feature, but a number of important active safety aids are missing, so you'll need to pay extra to get them. Most are bundled with Driving Assistant. It's a £390 option pack that includes automatic emergency braking to avoid low-speed crashes, lane departure warning and an attention monitor that will alert the driver if the car thinks it's high time you took a coffee break.

Even with these features fitted, BMW still wants another £200 for traffic sign recognition (showing you local speed limits) and high beam assist only comes with the upgrade to adaptive LED headlights (£790). There is also a brake upgrade for £1,350 but we'd hope the standard brakes on a £50,000 car were up to the task. 

The 2 Series coupe has never been crash-tested by Euro NCAP - and it's unlikely that it will be - but expect it to perform in a similar fashion to the previous-generation 1 Series. It got the maximum five-star rating back in 2012 and provides good adult and child protection, but the tests are much harder now then they used to be.

Hairy-chested performance cars like the M2 are unashamedly focussed on speed and handling prowess, so won't be cheap to insure as a result. The single-turbo model from 2016 is the cheapest to cover in Group 42.

Later versions with the 410PS twin-turbo engine borrowed from the M4 will need a bigger monthly premium. The M2 Competition fitted with this engine is in Group 47, while the limited-edition M2 CS sits in Group 50.

Fancy the looks but mortified by the insurance costs? Then the M240i could be the answer, it's in Group 44.

Under the new road tax system, all versions of the M2 will be liable for an annual VED (road tax) bill of £475 consisting of a £150 standard rate plus a £325 surcharge because the car costs more than £40,000 new.

Used models registered before April 2017 will cost you a little less since their tax liability is measured by its CO2 output alone. The dual-clutch automatic car will set you back £265 a year; the dirtier manual is £305.

Sky-high carbon emissions and mid-teens fuel economy, when driven with enthusiasm, means that company car buyers should steer well clear of this mini M-Car, since it qualifies for the maximum 37% BIK bracket.

The M2 range has a range hierarchy that is based on power output, rarity, and price. The standard M2 is at the bottom of the pyramid, with the least standard equipment. It's still reasonably kitted out since it comes with leather upholstery, Xenon headlights, climate control, sat-nav, DAB and Bluetooth connectivity.

Later M2 Competition models were given a spec boost, with fixed-back sports seats that are a lot more supportive than the standard chairs, LED headlights, digitised dials, heated seats, and Apple CarPlay. 

From the options list it's worth investing in a better stereo, and the Driving Assistant safety bundle, while the reversing camera (£330) is pricey but could certainly come in handy since rear visibility is pretty limited.

You can also add tech upgrades like electric front seat adjustment with memory function (£650) and even a wireless charging pad under the armrest for phones (£395) - leaving the cabin free of messy power cables.