AC Schnitzer has given BMW’s best M car 500bhp

AC Schnitzer, of ‘Tuning All The BMWs’ fame, has modded the little BMW M2 before. But now, it’s seen to the M2 Competition. This is exciting and a little baffling. Exciting, because the M2 Comp features a proper M engine – the twin-turbo straight-six ‘S55’ motor from the M3 and M4 twins. Baffling because, well, how could someone hope to make the M2 Competition palpably better?

The upgrades leave no area of the M2 Comp untouched. Let’s start with the ones you can see: forged alloy wheels, carbon aero splitters and wings, and interior upholstery in AC Schnitzer-spec orange’n’black.

We like the powertrain upgrades too. Chiefly because while you can boost the engine to 500bhp (from 404bhp) thanks to a simple ECU switch, you don’t have to dress up the motor in gaudy garnish. Adding power costs £5,113. Dressing up the engine bay to look smarter at car shows is a £486 extra. You can have the go without the show.   

Or you can fiddle with the handling, if you’re brave. Fully adjustable suspension, which might come in handy for bumpy UK roads in the fighty little coupe, is two and a half grand. Or if you’re lazy, for ten times that, AC Schnitzer will lob the entire catalogue at your car and perform a full all-over bells’n’whistle conversion. That’s the car in the picture.

Spending half as much again on an upgraded M2 Comp is a brave move. The standard car’s a bargain at £50,975  - the cheapest M car is also the most old-school, the most satisfying and most loveable one made currently.

Would you risk £25k to try and out-do the M Division?