BMW M2 - long-term review

And there it went. Six months in the baby M car, and no sooner had BMW prised it from my grasp, it became the old, obsolete M car. Sort of. The M2’s been ‘facelifted’, but the complete lack of visual changes suggests our puzzlement at its looks didn’t worry them too much. Didn’t find myself thinking it need another 20 horsepower actually, but it’s got it. And for the time being at least, a manual gearbox remains.

Ours didn’t have it, and I stand by that decision. The M2 – and all M cars – are tuned to work with paddles, and they work better with paddles. In some cars, I get fear of missing out changing own gears. FOMO-COG. Not here.

Some cars are great to live with because they re-enforce suspicions that they’re genius. The M2 was a fantastic, memorable companion for the exact opposite reason: it made a terrible first impression. When I first drove the car, I thought it was too heavy, too rounded. Too M4-like, actually. After half a year together my opinion has flipped, and I tell anyone who stops to ask about the smurfskin paint (at least once a week) “the question is, why would you buy an M4?”

The M2 has the same interior. The same engine, gearbox, suspension, brakes and interior. It makes the same noise and has the same equipment. The 4 has another 50bhp, sure. But the 2 feels a smidge wieldier, it’s £20,000 cheaper, and I will concede, in that context it’s also better looking. The M2 was supposed to the new entry-level M car, but I think by accident, they’ve built the current sweet spot.

After six month and 7,100 miles, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss which served so well through a miserable winter and dreary spring still sported plenty of tread. No warning lights or oil use to speak of, only one intermittent trim rattle from the dash. On a motorway-heavy commute to the Top Gear office, I regularly saw 34mpg, and always over 300 miles on a tank. My girlfriend called it the best car I’ve ever brought home and has missed its cosseting seats since.

So, it’s opinion-confounding, ace to drive, reliable, dependable and versatile. Perfect? No. Six months with an M2 only served to entrench my position that the latest, minimalist generation of BMW interiors is a backwards step for usability: I should be able to activate my heated seats while looking at the nav. These shouldn’t require separate sub-menus. And for all the digi-screen pixel wizardry, how about a pair of legible speedo and rev dials? This is a very fast car after all – it would be nice not to need the Rosetta Stone to work out how fast exactly.

I guess the poignancy of the M2’s departure is knowing there will never be another M car like this. The new M5 shows the way ‘forward’ – and it’s a terrifyingly heavy PHEV. Electric M cars are next. Sure, they’ll have four-figure horsepowers and more settings than an Eighties hi-fi. But I feel like I’ve just lived out the end of an M era. And it was magnificent.