Auto tested more than 80 cars in 2024. As is tradition, we re-publish our twelve favourite tests of the year as our Best Tests daily through December. Then we present three Auto Special Awards in Best EV, Best Bakkie and Performance car of the year 2024. And then we choose the Top 3 Best Tests, before we announce Best Test 2024 on 1 January 2025. So come back for your daily Auto entertainment everyday through your holidays!
Auto Best Tests 2024 #1: BMW M2
A week later, we hated to love BMW’s brilliant M2
Aah, the BMW M2. We waited so patiently for it. The excitement grew as we counted the sleeps. And then it arrived. Yes, there were butterflies. My kind of a car, M2 is at its best with that 338 kW biturbo straight-six howling, its M-differential happily laying rubber flat out sideways as it issues a plume of spent rubber.
It’s deeper than that for me. I grew up with its great grandfather. My old man had a hot, orange Alpina 2002ti. I was later privileged to drive it from a young age. It was still quicker than most cars in ’79 and taught me all about driving. From understanding the limit to, well, laying rubber like hell. Sorry dad!
BMW blames thrill-a-minute the M2 on the 2002ti. Some say its bezerk 338 kW is overkill. Great grandpa 2002ti only needed 100 kW to rewrite the record books after all. Probably because so much power seems too big for its compact, if powerful proportion. 21 cm shorter than an M4, M2 certainly looks the part.
Stormtrooper-evil M2 a bit of a theif
Squared off black BMW grill kidneys, muscular, M kit, and splendid, shiny stepped alloys help define a brutal Stormtrooper evil stance. Especially in our Zandvoort Blue. Delving a little deeper under the bonnet reveals that the M2 is also a bit of a theif. Why? Well its steals most of its innards from big brothers M3 and M4.
Urgent and rev-hungry it may not sound or seem like it’s turbocharged. Yet that straight six delivers linear, next level power throughout the range. Delightfully responsive, it has a mad appetite for revs. It ought with that 338 kW, never mind 550 Nm all the way from 2,650 to 5,870 rpm.
M2 also makes a brilliant noise. Its M-specific exhaust can even be made to bark. But it sounds just as sexy at lowest revs. And at idle too. Only an M-aficionado will appreciate those ticks and whirrs. The M2 also ditches the old DSC for the M4’s eight-speed M Steptronic automatic. Or a slick optional six-speed manual. But they sent us the auto.
Uncouth 8-speed auto defies slush box roots
Just as uncouth as the engine, the Drivelogic auto defies its slush box roots. It responds to paddle shifts instantly, as much as it reads your mind in auto mode. M2 is of course rear-wheel drive. So its M Traction Control and Active M Differential are essential against AWD rivals. Add drift mode. If you’re so desperate to drive those Pilots to an early grave.
M2’s compact dimensions, short wheelbase, and poised 50:50 weight distribution lay a splendid foundation. But its underpinnings drive those epic road manners home. M adaptive damper M-kinematic double-joint strut front and five-link rear suspension benefits M Servotronic steering and M Dynamic Mode … damn, they love that letter!
All complemented by, wait for it… integrated M Compound six-piston fixed front and single-piston floating-calliper rear brakes. With two M pedal feel settings to boot! Stepped Llght-alloy 19-inch front and 20” rear, of course, M wheels transfer that brute power to the tarmac via a set of Michelin Pilots. M offers a track rubber option too.
We beat M2 0-11 claim. With difficulty.
BMW M claims 4.1 seconds zero to 100 km/h for the 2. We did it in under four seconds. But hold your horses just yet. 250 km/h is standard and you can add 35 km/h by specifying an optional M Driver’s package. Refer to the data below for Auto’s actual road test data.
The perfect car to bring the devil out in you, the BMW M2 is head and shoulders above anything else we’ve tested recently when it comes down to sheer driving pleasure. Best of all, it touches that sweet little 2002ti spot so beautifully for me, too.
Alas, that’s not all…
As brilliant as it may be to drive, the BMW M2 falls dreadfully short elsewhere. Slip into the bolstered M seats (ours had even cooler if tricky to access M Carbon pews) and from there, everything starts to fall apart.
M2 falls dreadfully short elsewhere
For starters, the M2’s M-specific Curved Display Operating System 8 iDrive with M-specific widgets and BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant may sound right out of the future. But Munich appears to have forgotten that only human beings still drive their cars. As clever and as beautiful as all that infotainment may be, it’s utterly useless.
The cheek of it is that BMW calls it driver-centric. Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost impossible to use, this latest iDrive malarky relies on you, the driver, taking your attention off the road, to do anything. You must delve deep into a maze of cyber layers to carry out even the most menial of tasks.
Oh goodie, there’s volume button! But try change the cabin temp via the touchscreen. You’ll bump something you least wanted to. And won’t get out of it. Knobs don’t do that. Euro NCAP will dock safety stars from cars without real buttons and knobs from 2026. Thank God someone, somewhere is finally taking a stand against these idiot systems.
Nannies make ‘driver’s M2’ drive you
But wait, it gets worse! You must rummage endlessly through that idiot thing to achieve even the most menial of performance driving tasks. Like engage launch control. Bet you’ll also give up after 20 minutes sitting at the side of the road trying, and just go for it.
Last but not least, BMW merrily boasts about its advanced automated driving, control and supernanny and systems. Sure, those are all welcome in any car. But must M2 really default to an assistant that destroys its fabled driving talent within the first kilometre? To make this ‘driver’s car’ drive you? Think about that for a second!
Of course in time you’ll eventually come to know all your BMW M2 traits. Like you do your dog’s bad habits. However long that takes. It goes to show how badly BMW and M have lost the plot. We have never experienced such a mish-mash of sheer, brilliant driving pleasure and digital disaster all in one car, in over 40 years of trying.
Which leads us to conclude that the BMW M2 is made by a committee. One half delivered doubtless among the finest driving cars out there. The others conspired to create an utterly useless man-to-car interface. The likes of which it has taken Euro NCAP to take safety stars away from, to call into check. I know who I’d fire! – Michele Lupini
ROAD TESTED: BMW M2 Auto
Engine: 338 kW 550 Nm 3-litre biturbo petrol I6
Drive: 8-speed automatic RWD
TESTED:
0-60 km/h: 1.98 sec
0-100 km/h: 3.96 sec
0-120 km/h: 5.37 sec
0-160 km/h: 8.10 sec
400m: 12.0 sec @ 197 km/h
80-120 km/h: 2.27 sec
120-160 km/h: 2.99 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 285 km/h
Fuel: 9.7 l/100 km
CO2: 220 g/km
Range: 535 km
Warranty/Service: 2y 100K/5y unl. km
LIST PRICE: R1.5M
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