Extra Energy, Identical Wild Spirit

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The 2026 BMW M2 doesn’t attempt to reinvent itself — and that’s precisely why it’s good. This up to date LCI (facelift) model retains the wild spirit of the unique alive, including a contact extra energy and some refined design tweaks whereas staying true to what made the M2 particular within the first place. It’s nonetheless the purest, most entertaining driver’s automotive BMW builds in the present day — uncooked, compact, and unapologetically old-school in a digital world.

The M2’s Wild Character and On a regular basis Duality

It’s nonetheless the best-to-drive BMW that you could purchase in the present day. Should you maintain the digital nannies on, it should flatter you thru the corners, make you assume you’re higher than you actually are. Disable the aids, although, and the automotive can rapidly present that you just nonetheless have lots to be taught relating to automotive management. Until you’re a hardcore canyon carver with plenty of monitor expertise, the easiest way to expertise it’s with its techniques midway disabled in order that they will nonetheless drag you again from the sting of catastrophe whereas nonetheless permitting you to mess around with the automotive a little bit.

BMW M2 Facelift: Extra Energy, Acquainted Perspective

This must be one of many laziest BMW lifecycle impulses ever—not that I’m complaining. The refreshed M2 will get new paint colours, up to date wheels and darker exhaust suggestions, however that’s about it. Inside, it will get the new-design M flat-bottom steering wheel, which in my tester was wrapped in Alcantara and featured a purple middle mark.

Seeing this automotive drive down the highway, you wouldn’t know if it was the refreshed mannequin or not, until you knew which colours are new or had been in a position to peek inside and see the brand new steering wheel.

Extra Energy from the S58 Engine

The massive information with this so-called LCI is further energy and torque from the S58 engine. Energy rises by 20 hp to 473 hp and torque goes as much as 443 lb-ft (600 Nm), though solely in vehicles geared up with the automated gearbox. It makes an already bonkers-quick M2 even faster, though you may’t actually inform it has further energy. I certain couldn’t, because it’s been some time since I drove an M2, however I’m certain that when you drive them back-to-back, you’ll discover the additional oomph. This automotive has the identical downside placing all of its energy down within the decrease gears on something aside from an ideal strip of sizzling tarmac.

Driving the pre-refresh M2, one factor I didn’t take into consideration was the automotive needing extra energy. Nonetheless, having extra energy is all the time higher, proper? If this feels as rowdy because it does, I’m wondering what the M2 CS that’s much more highly effective, lighter and extra aggressive goes to really feel like?

Driving Expertise: Why the M2 Nonetheless Feels Like a Pure M Automobile

You don’t purchase an M2 for standing or posing. You purchase it since you completely love driving and also you get pleasure from scaring your self a little bit in your Sunday drive. This automotive delivers thrills like nothing else in its value bracket. It’s not going to be as fast as a Porsche 718 with comparable energy out on monitor, however you may be grinning from ear to ear as you see the mid-engined Porsche pulling away.

Steering Precision and Chassis Stability

The steering within the 2026 BMW M2 is pin-sharp, making up for the dearth of really feel that each one BMW steering racks undergo from lately. The helm doesn’t precisely talk what the entrance tires are doing, however whenever you assume you’re feeling understeer creeping in, you may all the time appropriate it with a little bit of proper pedal utility.

That is the fantastic thing about the M2, facelift, or in any other case. The truth that you may mess around with the automotive, slide its tail out a bit round a great highway, and all with out having to really feel such as you’re severely exceeding its limits (or yours as a driver). I’ll say that the rear finish in my facelift tester felt tougher to unstick with throttle utility alone in comparison with the non-facelift automotive that I drove some time again. This newest automotive had coated some 8,000 miles, and its 285-section Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rear tires had been nonetheless in good situation.

Should you pin the throttle mid-corner, the rear doesn’t explode sideways. It simply type of squirms a little bit bit, even with the nannies off or partly disabled. You’ll be able to nonetheless get the automotive to swing its tail out, and it’s straightforward sufficient to catch the slide, so there’s some severe chassis tuning making all of it attainable. On a dry highway on a heat day, it’s a bit too troublesome to get lateral motion out of the rear. Positive, it did rain a bit on one of many days that I had the automotive, and it turned immediately straightforward to play with the rear finish, even get some fairly alarming angles, however total, I believed this automotive was tuned for sheer grip reasonably than tail-out naughtiness.

As soon as you compromise into the M2, it begins to really feel extra like a bionic improve to your physique reasonably than a automotive. Like several good BMW, it hugs you and feels significantly lighter than it really is. The M2’s shorter wheelbase (in comparison with an M4) helps make it really feel extra nimble and agile, though the load distinction between the 2 automobiles is lower than 100 lbs. Threading collectively a number of brisk corners in a present M2 is without doubt one of the finest experiences you may have in a brand new automotive in the present day, no matter value.

BMW M Efficiency Elements: Model or Substance?

As a lot as I just like the 2026 BMW M2, I dislike the obtainable carbon fiber M Efficiency components which are hooked up with double-sided tape. My tester actually appeared prefer it had crashed by means of a shed filled with M Efficiency bits, and a few of them caught to the automotive in bizarre locations.

For some cause, a number of the components don’t appear to match the design. Now I perceive that it is a assertion in and of itself, but it surely’s not very visually interesting. The little winglets that stick up from underneath the corners of the entrance bumper and from the rear a part of the aspect skirts don’t make the automotive look any higher in my e book.

Then there are the carbon components from across the wheel arches, which get three strakes to match the design of the rear bumper. That is additionally a bit infantile, and it’s in all probability geared toward younger 20-something drivers who would do something to face out. Carbon fiber is meant to make a automotive lighter, however when it’s used like this it makes the automotive ever so barely heavier, which simply doesn’t sit effectively with me.

I did just like the carbon ducktail spoiler, although, in addition to the tasteful graphics alongside the higher a part of the automotive’s beltline. The carbon fiber diffuser within the again can be good, because it replaces a plastic half and it doesn’t appear to be an afterthought. My tester had the elective titanium exhaust, which adjustments the best way the 4 suggestions are organized and simply makes the rear of the automotive look much more particular. In addition they make the automotive a little bit bit louder and add some rasp to the exhaust observe.

The carbon air consumption trim helps elevate the look of the outside and it makes the automotive appear much more particular, so I might tick that field, however not together with the carbon splitter, which will get the upturned winglets that don’t match the remainder of the design.

M Race Observe Package deal and Carbon Upgrades

My tester had the M Race Observe Package deal, which provides a carbon roof (which not comes as commonplace within the M2 facelift), carbon trim inside and the M carbon bucket seats. There’s no denying these elective seats maintain you effectively by means of the corners and are extra comfy than you’d assume simply by them, however the carbon hump within the seat base is annoying sufficient to make me severely contemplate whether or not I’d put these seats in a automotive configured for myself. It limits your legs’ sideward vary of movement and until you wish to match a racing harness (which you in all probability aren’t) it’s simply pointless.

Small Modifications, Identical Large Thrills

This automotive feels virtually equivalent to what it did earlier than. Sure, the brand new steering wheel immediately tells you you’re within the new mannequin, however that’s actually all you’re going to note. The additional energy isn’t actually noticeable both, so in case you are considering of shopping for certainly one of these vehicles, it can save you a couple of dollars and simply get a pre-LCI used instance. Should you actually wish to, you may retrofit the new-style helm to make it really feel extra trendy, but it surely’s not likely needed.

The M2 is pretty much as good because it’s all the time been and never considerably higher than earlier than. It nonetheless weighs a bit greater than it ought to, particularly whenever you examine it to the previous era, and it’s not as naughty-feeling to drive because the previous automotive. However the best way this automotive (nonetheless) makes you’re feeling is unmatched by means of its mixture of a wonderfully tuned chassis, a implausible engine and top-of-the-line driving positions within the business.

I believed BMW would change the squared-off particulars on the entrance and rear fascias of the M2 with the facelift. Nonetheless, I’m glad it didn’t, as a result of it’s these particulars that assist give the M2 a singular character, making it stand out from the bigger M4. You should purchase a extra conventional-looking aftermarket entrance finish to your M2, however I feel that detracts from the automotive’s visible impression because it comes from the manufacturing unit. These BMW designers actually knew what they had been doing, and I’m joyful they caught with their thought, enduring waves of preliminary criticism for the automotive’s look.

Remaining Ideas: The M2 Facelift Stays BMW’s Greatest Driver’s Automobile

The one factor that will make the M2 higher is xDrive. Positive, it should make an already too-heavy automotive even heavier, however when you’ve pushed a brand new M with xDrive, then you understand how it adjustments the automotive for the higher. It’s not solely a lot better at placing (all of) the facility down for a pin-you-to-your-seat launch, however punching it out of a bend, you may nonetheless let the rear hang around a little bit, as powering the entrance axle simply provides a bit of additional stability, reassurance, and functionality.

An M2 with xDrive is one thing I undoubtedly wish to expertise when it comes out subsequent 12 months, and I feel that’s the one I might decide for myself. Even with out driving one.