2023 BMW M2 Review: A Dram of Ultimate Driving Delight

The stick-shift, rear-wheel-drive M2 reminds us why BMWs have such a great reputation.

Published November 22, 2023

Updated November 28, 2023

Reputations can be tricky business. (Just ask a certain pop singer.) At their best, they’re impossible to live up to; at their worst, they make it all but impossible to overcome the prejudice against you. For BMW, the brand has staked its reputation on being “the Ultimate Driving Machine” for so long, the carmaker finds itself forever at risk of disappointing its fans if a new car doesn’t live up to their definitions of the slogan — something that becomes increasingly problematic as BMW’s main body of actual customers want the brand to pursue a direction that’s more tech-packed and less corner-centric.

But just as car after car rolls out that has the fans doubting the brand … BMW tends to roll out something like the M2. Effectively a smaller BMW M4 on a budget, it packs all the driving fun that M enthusiasts love in a more accessible package.

Or at least, that’s what BMW wants you to believe. To find out if that’s true, I took the 2023 BMW M2 for a spin through the mountain roads outside Greensboro, South Carolina to see if it’s a true Ultimate … y’know.

The 2023 BMW M2: What We Think

BMW’s latest M2 is a tour de force of the characteristics that have inspired legions of Bimmer fanboys to worship the brand over the decades. It’s beautifully balanced to drive, with remarkable power, handling that makes it easy to toss about and a string ride/handling balance, all bound together by the delight of a six-speed manual gearbox. It’s also roomy and practical enough to be a daily driver (at least, for those without a family) — and on top of all that, with a starting price of under $65,000 that brings all the performance features you want and need, it’s practically a bargain by modern sports car standards.

The future may be mostly electric vehicles for the Bavarian Motor Works, but if there’s any chance of new internal-combustion BMWs rolling off production lines a decade from now, let’s pray that they follow closely in the M2’s template.

To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.

The M2 wears BMW’s current design language well … or at least, as well as it can

I will fully admit to not being the biggest fan of BMW’s current design language; it feels aggressively, almost purposefully ugly to my eyes in many cases, almost as if it was seeking to offend. If there is a benefit to it, it’s that BMW has done a good job of giving every model a distinctive appearance. You’re not likely to confuse a 3 Series, a 5 Series and a 7 Series — which isn’t something you can always say with their Audi, Mercedes or Lexus equivalents.

That said, the 2 Series does a better job of moderating the look than, say, the i7 / 750i or the M3 / M4 or the iX crossover. (Let’s not even bring up the XM.) It’s still an awkward blend of curves and squared-off angles to my eyes — the square-shaped air intakes on the front fascia will never not annoy me — but the overall form does a good job of exclaiming sporty BMW to fans of the brand, and just plain fast car to everyday folks.

But who cares, when the M2 drives this well?

Part of the appeal of the M2 lies between the front seats: the manual gearbox that comes, the way God intended, as standard. The shifter is classic BMW: smooth and direct, if perhaps ever-so-slightly less precise than the one in, say, a Porsche. If anything, that feels like a benefit when hustling the car along; it requires less attention to snap it into the right cog. The leather shift knob even looks and feels the same as in manual Bimmers for the past few decades, which is a wonderful touch.

I also spent a few laps hustling around the BMW Performance Center track in Spartanburg, South Carolina behind the wheel of an M2 equipped with the eight-speed automatic. With the system dialed up to its most aggressive setting, it ripped off aggressive shifts at redline and dropped cogs urgently when slowing. Indeed, it almost felt too aggressive on occasion, snapping down to first gear on tight corners where I suspect most drivers would have left it in second and surfed the torque curve. (While the S58 inline-six revs to 7,200 rpm, max hp is found at 6,250, while max torque stretches from 2650–5870.)

In either automatic or manual form, though, the M2 is an absolute delight to drive. With 453 horses and 406 lb-ft of torque, there’s a delightful amount of power, even for a car that’s the size of a Honda Civic yet still manages to weigh in at 3,800 pounds.

While this M2 offers a frankly ridiculous number of adjustable driving settings, it’s so well-tuned, I didn’t bother messing with most of them. I just turned the stability control to the intuitive and excellently programmed M Driver’s Mode — except for a brief spell when I turned it all the way off for some tail-wagging, tire-slaying antics — and left everything else in Comfort mode. Guess what: it was an absolute delight to drive, dynamic and responsive and balanced like few new cars are. When the cake is this good, you don’t need to mess with the frosting.

The interior strikes a balance between high-tech and driver-centric

After I drove the most recent mid-life cycle facelift of the BMW 3 Series, I felt compelled to point out some issues with the infotainment system. It’s not bad, per se — but it feels like a step backwards in terms of usability versus the pre-facelift version.

Now, the M2 has to deal with many of the same issues, as well as a few new ones; in particular, the tachometer’s bar graph-like design doesn’t seem like it was designed to ever be used with a manual gearbox. But perspective is everything — and in this case, I happened to climb out of the M2 and into the new 5 Series, which just so happens to have an interior that leans even more heavily on touchpanels and presented a sharp contrast with the more traditional 2 Series.

Where the M2 (and, in all fairness, the 3er) have rubbery, tactile-friendly individual buttons on the wheel and around the shifter, newer Bimmers boast flat glass and plastic spans with touch-sensitive regions. It looks high-tech, sure — but in operation, it feels kind of cheap to feel and see the whole piece of plastic flex when you push one small corner.

Accept the iDrive for what it is, and the M2’s interior proves quite pleasant. Much like a 911, there’s ample room for two up front and ample room for bags or small pets in back; the second row of the 2 Series is slightly more usable than a 911’s, but not by a lot. The driver’s seat is where the action is, and the insides are nicely organized around that occupant, with every important function an easy reach.

Avoid the M Carbon seats, though, unless you’re a sadist

One feature that does keep the M2 from being a comfortable everyday car: the M Carbon bucket seats seen here. Granted, they certainly look cool, with their race-car-seat-meets-video-game-chair vibe. Their upper parts also do a good job holding you in place and letting some air flow onto your back, reducing the annoyance of back sweat without adding heavy fans for ventilated seats.

It’s the lower section of the chair that causes the problems: between the hard, high-rise bolsters and the carbon-fiber piece between your thighs, every entrance and exit offers not one but two opportunities to crack your sensitive crotchal area. And once you’re situated, folks with long legs can find that using the dead pedal means pressing those high bolsters into your thigh. (Thankfully, the seats are only available as part of the $9,900 Carbon Package, so it’s easy to skip them)

2023 BMW M2: Alternatives

The ranks of two-door sports cars at a reasonable price point have slimmed in recent years — blame everything from income inequality to the omnipresence of trucks and pickups on the roads — but there are still a few choices in the mix, and most of them are better than ever.

The Porsche 718 Cayman may differ in powertrain layout and proportions, but it’s much like the M2 in terms of stick shift availability and Germanic quality. Ford’s Mustang Dark Horse offers, in many respects, an all-American take on the M2 formula; if you want a less-traditional U.S.-baked competitor, there is of course the Chevy Corvette Stingray for just a dash more cash. The Nissan Z Nismo also offers similar performance in a similar body style, but it only comes with a slushbox … and it’s definitely not worth more than the M2.