This Limited Edition BMW Shattered My Expectations
From the moment you push the red start stop button you know you are in for a treat. I’ve driven a limited edition M3 (E92 4L V8 DCT) so I had high expectations.
My expectations were shattered. This car is possibly the best sports car in its class.
Road holding is sensational. And while the car has all kinds of levels of driver aids, the chassis and natural road holding is so good that traction control and ABS almost never kick in. Such is the capability of the car.
BMW makes a bullet proof twin turbo 3.0L straight 6, and they seem to have peaked with this mill. It powers a range of their other cars (M3, M4) and you can see why. It’s simply epic. A straight 6 has perfect primary and secondary balance – important for engineers who love their numbers – resulting in a high revving turbo monster. And those numbers? It’s a gob smacking 338kw with 550 Nm torque revving to 8000, and weighing in at 1800KG. That adds up to a stunning performance package that delivers 0-100 in 4.1 second, a top speed of 250kph and dizziness-inducing sideways g-force. The transmission is sensational and a great match to the car. I drove the 8 speed auto, however there is a brilliant rev-matching 6 speed manual for real enthusiasts.
Authors note: The author’s car is the same power yet it takes 2x the displacement to achieve it. Fuel consumption is consequently eye-watering, making the achievement of the M2 even more inspiring. That’s right, it’s surprisingly reasonable on the gas.
The pocket rocket sits on massive 19” 275s at the front and 20” 285s at the rear. The Pirelli P-Zeros are the perfect compliment to a car that grips far better than you can imagine it should.
Honey, we need to talk about two things here that look, well, different. The grill and the colour. The grill is unique. But the squarishness is integrated into the overall look of the car and stands well as a package. You are not going to mistake this for any other car on the road. And the colour – what at-first looks baby-blue, is actually Zandvoort blue, and harks back to the iconic Gulf racing colours of the 1960s. This makes the heart of a New Zealander beat with pride knowing the Bruce McLaren connection that started in 1968. It is unique and that’s a good thing, you will not mistake it for any other car. The car is HIGHLY noticeable and I was queried, questioned and spied on constantly while I had the car. I’d suggest this : if these unique features worry you – you probably haven’t driven it. Once you have, nothing else matters. Overall it’s a complete looks package, it looks from all angles to tell a picture of consistent intentional design language.
The interior is brilliantly designed, with huge displays giving you all conceivable controls and displays across the 3 screens. The heads up is large, bright and brings in plenty of data from direction and navigation to media and car settings. Everything is configurable, meaning that BMW software updates may deliver additional upgrades in time. As a software developer I spent a long time with User Interface design and it’s a hard balance packing in all the features while leaving it pretty and usable. I’m pretty happy here though – as a techy frankly I love access to all the options. The driver is truly spoiled with the flexibility of displays and many hours could go into getting your personal setup just right. It’s worth it. This is all stored in the BMW ID meaning when all your friends try out your car, they won’t be messing with your setup.
There are many options available in foreign markets, however the NZ model is relatively highly specified including a fabulous Harman Kardon stereo and you get a voice of auto or manual, and of colours. I don’t think you will need to change anything. Carbon is everywhere including on the roof. If you want more, I’m sure your friendly dealer can source the carbon buckets or titanium exhausts.
Upholstery is top notch and the seats are a symphony of containment, adjustability and comfort, detailed with the M colours and a glowing M2 logo to remind you just what an excellent choice you made selecting the car. Hundreds of k’s in a single sitting and the seats left you feeling fresh. I took passengers young and old and tall and short, there was uniform approval. I did not however take my mother in the car, she liked the colour, but thought it looked too fast. It is. And while it has only 2 doors, it has 4 seats! Yes, in the back are two more nearly-bucket seats. I put a 180cm passenger in the back and while the knees were spread, the comfort was excellent.
Open the hood and discover 2 things. First, it’s so tightly packed in that you can’t tell what is what and that you will need a BMW engineer to fettle and tune. And second: The massive crossbar (with its sibling in the boot) is one of the reasons this chassis is so strong.
A note: The author owned a Lancer Evo II back in the day when they were relatively little known. Well that was until that model won the WRC championship and quickly became the main rival to the WRX. The M2 reminded me of that car because it’s chassis was so strong with the cross bars meaning the suspension could work properly. Also, a short wheelbase ‘gokartiness’ to it that was very hard to upset. That’s where the comparisons end tho, it was a 4 door 4wd rally car in bright red with a silly wing at the back and zero sophistication (apart from the 4wd unit).
In an age of AI and tech wizardry, it’s very impressive that so much effort has been put into making this a car that handles naturally well without driver aids. I can not sufficiently emphasise just how capable this car is. Unless you are a regular Targa or Supercar driver then this M2 is more capable than you, it’s that good. It’s certainly more capable than me. Over time I’ve deployed a lot of technology. A lot of the time you understand it, and then sometimes you come across a technology that is just so good, so extraordinary – you can’t really understand it, how it works.But if you can harness that capability and deploy that amazing technology, then you are going to have a winner, The M2 is like that. I don’t quite understand how it can be so good, but working with it, I can be great.
East Auckland BMW, 8 Beale Place, East Tamaki, Auckland 2013
Auckland City BMW, 7 Great South Road. Epsom, Auckland 1051
