Following the rampant rumours that BMW would be significantly raising the performance bar for their baby M car, the M2, the Munich automaker and their in-house tuners have revealed the M2 Competition ahead of its full debut at the upcoming Beijing Motor Show next week.
The leak that surfaced a few days ago already shed plenty of light on what might be the most anticipated M car in the last year, perhaps even more so than the all-new M5. The M2 Coupe was already established as among the very best products to emerge from the M Division, and the fact that it was also least expensive within the catalogue only added to its appeal.
Almost immediately following BMW’s announcement that they would engineer a full M car based on the 2 Series coupe, the burning question was how far could the team be allowed to explore its potential before top brass would halt their progress so that it would not start cannibalising their larger, more powerful, and more expensive products.
The list of logged changes BMW has executed upon the M2 in order to deem it worthy of a Competition badge is about as extensive as the average fan would like it to be. For starters, they have swapped out the 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-6 N55 motor for the more advanced and twin-turbocharged S55 unit from the F80 M3 and F82 M4, albeit detuned by 15kW.
This alone grants the M2 Competition far more performance in terms of raw output (gaining 302kW and 550Nm, a 30kW and 85Nm improvement), but also in engine response. Additionally, the new motor is mounted on carbon fibre engine bay struts taken from the the M3/M4, giving it a stiffer overall front end.
Its traction control and stability control systems have been recalibrated to cope with the dramatic alterations at the nose, aiding the car to achieve a 100km/h sprint time of 4.2 seconds. That is supposing that the quicker-shifting 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission is selected, however, as the arguably more satisfying 6-speed manual will be inherently slower and is contingent upon driver skill.
Downstream, the M2 Competition features an all-new exhaust system that exits via quad pipes finished in black chrome and uses two flaps and mufflers to alter the soundtrack depending on the selected drive mode.
At the rear, and somewhat surprisingly, BMW has left the formula largely untouched. The driven wheels are governed by a an electronic Active M Differential, as with the standard M2, but the uprated brakes are worth mentioning as the larger rotors and more robust callipers are useful tools in the arsenal to counter the extra grunt under the bonnet - they’re also not fitted as standard.
In terms of the exterior, and as was previously covered in the leaked images prior, the M2 Competition’s visual treatment has been relegated to a pair of reshaped kidney grills finished in gloss black and reworked vents that we assume to deliver some aerodynamic and/or cooling advantage.
That tweaked fascia is paired with a set of new 19-inch wheels, new wing mirrors lifted from the M3/M4 duo, and a couple of unique colour options: Sunset Orange and Hockenheim Silver.
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