BMW M2

I was fortunate enough to attend the BMW M Fest last week, where the new M2 would be revealed, and although I am not exactly one for a day spent at a track unless I am actually driving around it, this is the biggest in the world and it was celebrating 50 years of M, 50 years an icon (not to mention that next year sees 50 years of BMW in South Africa). THE M BRAND The M brand is quite genuinely an icon. It dominates against its main rivals AMG and Audi Sport. In fact, in terms of sales, it is 18 000 ahead of AMG. It has a strong community of fans and this is due to a very strong product. It’s all about the thrill, about the emotion…you can’t help but feel emotional when you put an M car through its paces on a track. Whether its terror or joy, either way, you are guaranteed an emotional ride. So it was with much excitement that we were to experience the global unveiling of the new M2. We were among the first to see it in the metal. Although we weren’t there to drive it, it still felt pretty special just to witness it. THE MAIN ATTRACTION – M2 The new M2 is faster and better than its predecessor in every way – this is quite a feat when you consider that many felt the previous model to be the greatest driver’s car, some calling it the best M car to date. This new model is rear-wheel driven and comes with a manual transmission as an option. While the design is rather divisive, I can assure you that in the metal, it looks really good. But more importantly, the 3.0 straight-six engine puts out 66 kW more than the previous model. That’s a total of 338 kW and a whopping 550 Nm. That means you will get to 100 km/h in just 4.1 seconds. I mentioned the six-speed manual transmission on offer, but you can also opt for an eight-speed automatic. The cabin gives you two options for seats, one of which we see from the M3 and M4, which according to BMW SA is rather popular, and that is the carbon fibre buckets seats. There are a host of other standard features and optional extras that will make this a truly special place to be. But we will delve more in to that when the car arrives for testing, which should be in the second quarter of next year. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, enjoy a few pics of this baby beast. As BMW call it, the new M2 is a track tool with a number plate and I cannot wait to get behind the wheel of one to put that theory to the test.