BMW M2 Fast Fleet test – five months in the cut-price 'M4 Lite'

And as one Toronto Red BMW long-termer arrives (see issue 325), another must depart… Our G87 M2 joined the evo fleet in January 2024 with 6066 miles on the clock. Spec-wise it had the manual gearbox (a £1200 option), a Comfort Package (£730 for keyless access, a heated steering wheel and a wireless charging tray) and the M Race Track Package (£9095 for M Carbon bucket seats, a top speed increase to 180mph and – should you buy your car from a BMW dealer rather than borrow it from the press office – a voucher for an M driver training experience). This took the price up to £76,855 from £65,830 basic.

Looks-wise, I had no complaints, even after Dickie Meaden rather astutely suggested the car’s nose resembled one created for an insurance advert. I’m a fan of the unique styling nonetheless, as it clearly separates the M2 from other cars in the 2-series and M families. I suspect M division’s stylists worked extra hard in the latter case to create as much visual distance as possible between the M2 and the M3 and 4 with which it shares so much hardware.

> BMW M5 CS Fast Fleet test – 9000 miles in the eCoty-winning supersaloon

It’s this, of course, that has resulted in the latest M2 being a bit of a big ’un: exactly the same width as the not-insubstantial M4, but 214mm shorter in length, 110mm of that from the wheelbase. On narrower roads – the kind its F87 predecessor fitted so well – this did sometimes feel like a limiting factor, but I still found myself enjoying the G87 on such routes more than I did the M4 xDrive long-termer we ran last year. Perhaps this was because the shorter wheelbase gave it more agility, possibly because of the weight saving from being shorter and not having four-wheel drive (75kg), or maybe because with 49bhp and 73lb ft less (454bhp and 406lb ft in total) it didn’t feel like it needed bigger roads to play on.

Others in the evo team were a little less keen on the M2, variously reporting a delay in front-end response at lower speeds, a reluctance to turn at higher speeds and a slight vagueness when pushing on along undulating roads. Honestly, I can’t say I found any of this a concern. No, the G87’s front end isn’t the last word in sharp reactions, pin-point accuracy or feel-laden feedback, but I found it unwaveringly predictable and reliable. I tended to just trust in the prodigious grip on offer from the 275-section Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S front tyres and didn’t give it much thought beyond that.

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What I did frequently give thought to was how much a quality seat can enhance a driving experience. Expensive though they were, the optional buckets and their enveloping grip gave a great sense of what was happening below, somewhat compensating for the inert steering. I loved the low seating position they afforded too, although in such a wide car I did find that this sometimes made it difficult to get a feel for where the nearside-rear wheel was when exiting left from tight junctions. A reassuring glance in the passenger mirror was often required.

Incidentally, you may have seen it suggested that the infamous carbonfibre seat-base hump is not particularly compatible with a clutch pedal and therefore the manual gearbox. This is certainly the impression you get during the first few days in a car equipped with this combination, but after a while this feeling fades. It’s mainly a matter of finding a more precise fore-aft seating position than usual, and while you can still feel the hump brushing against your leg, you soon don’t notice it’s happening.

As for that manual gearbox, it’s not one you’d write home about, lacking the snicketinous of, say, the manual in our 911 Carrera GTS long-termer. I’d still tick that option box, though, because how many more chances will there be to do so? Then again, I spent a few weeks with an auto M2 prior to our manual’s arrival and found plenty to like about it – nicely judged auto shifts, decent paddles, swift responses. If you did go down the auto route, you probably wouldn’t feel like you were missing out.

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In day-to-day use, the M2 proved painless to live with – easy around town (the auto version was easier still, of course) and happy chomping up longer journeys. Only the jiggly low-speed ride occasionally elicited a mild grumble from occupants. I soon came to appreciate the M2’s giant twin-screen set-up, too. If physical controls are becoming a thing of the past, the next best thing is to have a supersized touchscreen that means your finger has bigger targets to aim for while you’re on the move and being bounced around. That said, for most things you can still whizz around the menus using the iDrive controller, which is even easier to operate on the move, making for less distraction. Please, please never remove this, BMW.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle our M2 faced was the inevitable comparisons with its esteemed F87 Competition predecessor. But after five months living with our G87, I found I’d stopped thinking of it as an M2 at all, but rather as a cut-price, rear-drive M4 Lite. Viewed that way – embracing the strengths the model has gained rather than focusing on those it has lost – it could be enjoyed simply for what it was, and I enjoyed it immensely.

BMW M2 (G87)

This story was first featured in evo issue 325.