Retro Review: 2016 BMW M2

It was almost worth the wait.

That’s what I kept telling myself as I hustled the BMW M2 through the winding sweepers near Bear Mountain State Park, thirty-some miles north of New York City.  Almost.

Some background: BMWs of late, even the M cars, have been a little, uh… let’s say lukewarm.  Ok, if you prefer… half baked?

However you choose to describe it, Bimmers ain’t what they used to be.  They’re good cars, sure, but are they the undisputed class kings they used to be, back in BMW’s golden era of the 1980s through the early 2000s?  Nein.  More to the point, the competition has only gotten better, in many cases catching up to or exceeding BMW’s entrants in the cutthroat, overflowing luxury car marketplace.

Traditionally, the brunt of the BMW lineup, from the effervescent E36 3-series to the quintessential executive sedan, the E39 5-series, served as the gold standard of what luxury sports sedans should be for many an enthusiast.  The Bimmer sports sedan lineage, of course, goes all the way back to the BMW 2002 of the 1970s, but extends to the present day for all luxury brands in the way that almost every compact and mid-size luxury sedan drives today.

Cadillac used to make land barges, and now produce some of the best chassis on the road, full stop.  Audi was a forgotten brand until their spiritual reawakening with the 1996 A4.  And Jaguar is finally showing signs of sustainability with a reborn product line that is nothing if not fun to push into corners.

So by and large, BMW won the war, with its competitors aping everything from its chassis dynamics and steering liveliness to fade-free brakes and not-too-firm ride dynamics with the right mix of feedback.  For that, BMW has left a positive legacy on premium cars the world over.

But recently, the company has been kind of, well, mailing it in.  I don’t say that lightly.  Credit where credit’s due: BMW’s transition from niche import manufacturer to one of the world’s best-selling brands has been masterful.  Through much of that time, the company nailed nearly every new model plate it introduced.  So the recent focus on making the cars less driver-oriented seems odd.  BMW claims it’s based on customer feedback.  Umm…ok?  If you guys say so.

It still doesn’t change the take-away.  The product has become more…average.  The steering is less lively, the chassis less telepathic.  The base engines, at least, don’t sing like they used to.  The cars suddenly no longer feel like they’re chiseled out of a few hunks of granite.  I’ve experienced rattles.  Yes, the cars started to include more stuff, sure, but also started to take a pass on the important, driver-focused attributes for which the brand became famous.

The current (G11/G12) BMW 7-series has begun to right the ship. After taking a hiatus for at least F-chassis generation, the 7 is once again among the best-driving large luxury sedans you can get ( the Tesla Model S, Jag XJ, Caddy CT6 and Maserati Quattroporte are the others). And we look forward to testing the new 5-series posthaste.

But the 2-series might be the exception to the present-day BMW rule, standing as perhaps the best-driving BMW model line you can buy right now, most notably the M235i and the car I just drove, the M2. The 2s are the right combination of size, power, and yes, that elusive thing, feedback, that made BMWs of yore so good.  They’re driver-focused in the way one wishes all Bimmers still were.

The M2 I piloted was a revelation, relaying just the kind of feedback and athleticism that reminds one of the old E30 M3.  The clutch was semi-weighted but not at all heavy and really easy to modulate.  The six-cog shifter snick-snicked into the correct gear every single time, and the standard rev-matching feature helps even poor drivers look decent on manual, making downshifts a breeze.  The car was rarely jerky, even off the line and even when I was driving like one.

Steering: phenomenal accuracy, wonderful weighting, beautifully soft leather-wrapping and M-tricolor stitching impart a premium and enthusiast-oriented feel.  The 10 and 2 handgrips are perfectly placed.  And you gotta give BMW props for never jumping on the flat-bottomed steering wheel bandwagon that’s afflicted everything from the RS4 to the Viper (flat bottoms become awkward when you’re turning towards lock).  While the road feel could be better – it could be as talkative a helm as BMW used to make – it is nonetheless light years ahead of any recent 3-series or 4-series, M cars included; there’s no doubt what the front wheels are doing, how much grip they likely have, and exactly what degree they’re turning in at.

So the steering is very good, if not perfect.  But it isn’t the only thing BMW could improve on here.

For instance, I didn’t really notice a sizable difference between “comfort” and “sport” on the dynamic chassis settings.  Given the winter temperatures and a fast-approaching, late winter blizzard the day I drove it, my car was on all-season Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires and thus, may have suffered from some reduced road feel.  But over the 3rd World, pothole-strewn and patched-over roads we deal with here in the Northeastern U.S., the ride was on the harsh side, even in “comfort” mode, which might make one think twice about buying the M2 as a daily driver.  Given the conditions, I didn’t bother exploring sport + (sport + turns off Dynamic Stability Control, so I’d only use it on a track – interestingly, turning off the rev-matching feature also disables DSC).

But the rough ride caused another, related issue.  Even in this barely broken-in car (5K miles), there were rattles.  They only surfaced over rough patches of pavement, but they were rattles nonetheless.  There was a time when a BMW wouldn’t rattle until it had the snot beat out of it, when you were rolling the odo past 200K and the car rocked the battle scars of a few fender-benders.  This is not one of those times.  While the noises mostly seemed to be emanating from the A and B-pillar areas on the passenger side, they weren’t becoming on a car that begs to be driven hard, especially one that will set you back over $50K.

Then there’s the looks.  By making an 8/10ths 4-series, the company has shown a bit less imagination than I’d have hoped.  The 2-series looks awkward from some angles, especially the front three-quarter view.  The front and rear fender flares and a hood sporting multiple creases lend the car a suitably aggressive appearance from front-on and rear-on views.  But it’s the overall proportions – short rear deck and conservative, somewhat boxy body cage, coupled with a long front engine compartment – that hurt the M2’s looks the most.  It’s just not super cohesive, like a Donald Trump tweet.  It sorta looks like a 4-series that was rear-ended and never repaired.

Now, this could be a result of BMW trying to do the right thing by making the rear seat in the 2 actually usable.  And it can fit adults, believe it or not, in reasonable comfort – if not for extended road trips.

The engine?  This mill is nothing if not great.  Using a 365-hp version of BMW’s N55 single-turbo straight six, the M2 has zero observable turbo lag.  Note to auto engineers: turbo lag is indeed avoidable without sequential twin turbos, if your engine sports enough low-end torque to make any lag inconsequential.  This may mean bigger engines to begin with, like an inline six instead of a four.  And before you think mileage would suffer, remember that turbo engines are really only efficient when the boost isn’t on.  Once it is, turbos tend to eat up any mileage advantage gained from a smaller motor.

As for the M2, there was no audible turbo whine from the power plant, either.  Perhaps this is due to BMW’s reliance, recently, on artificial engine sounds, pumped in through the Harmon/Kardon sound system, but nonetheless the sounds are proper, meaty tones – even from outside the car.  If it’s fake sound, at least it sounds pretty, preeeetty good (credit: Larry David).

Finally, the brakes are true superstars.  Even without factory-spec carbon ceramic brakes as an option, the standard cross-drilled binders from the M3/M4 expertly do the work of hauling the car down from triple-digit speeds right now.  With almost all factory-spec cars I drive, I nearly always feel stronger brakes are appropriate – but not so here.  Anyone who wants to put ceramic brakes on this car is either using it solely for track duty or straight-up certifiable.

So what we have here, then, is a car that evokes the M cars of yore: taut chassis, lively responses, immediate feedback, strong motor, very strong brakes.  The ride is firm, and I’m not convinced the dynamic setting differences between comfort and sport do much other than tighten up the steering and throttle response a bit.  The looks ain’t the best.  But you have a lively, eminently practical coupe with the reflexes that made BMW famous in the first place.  Overall, dollar for dollar, this might be the best BMW that your money can buy today.

There’s been a lag here, as a few years ago BMW certainly lost its old mojo; there is certainly hope that this was but a brief intermission.  The M2 and M235i represent the strongest evidence yet of a reawakening at the Bavarian giant.

Here’s to hoping it’s permanent.