BMW M2 Review & Prices

The BMW M2 is a properly old-school kind of sports car, in a good way. It has a burly 3.0-litre engine under the bonnet, rear-wheel drive and you can have it as an automatic or a manual. It’s more expensive than its alternatives, though, and it’s not the lightweight you’d expect a ‘small’ sports car to be.

You might think of the M2 as Robin to the Batman BMW M4, basking in the warm glow and praise of its larger counterpart. But once you get behind the wheel you soon realise that the M2 is just as capable - and a bit easier to handle, too.

There aren’t all that many small sports coupes on sale anymore, so you’re almost certainly going to cross shop the M2 against the more affordable Audi RS3 Saloon, Mercedes-AMG A45 S hatchback and the two-seater Porsche 718 Cayman in 4.0-litre GTS trim.

And while they’re all very good looking cars, the M2 has more road presence than the lot of them - even if its looks are still a bit divisive. Nothing much has changed in its 2025 update aside from the new headlight design, new alloys and removal of the chrome trim option, but the new M2 has the same enormous wheel arches and aggressive intakes as it did when it was launched.

The interior has had some minor changes too, with a new flat-bottom steering wheel incorporating a dead-ahead marker on top, some posh carbon-fibre trims and new materials on the door cards. The curved, dual-screen infotainment and driver’s display combo is a delight to look at, but there are still far too many menus to navigate through the touchscreen; frustrating on the move.

There’s plenty of room up front in the M2, with highly adjustable sports seats as standard - and a pair of epic carbon-fibre bucket seats available as an option. It’s worth opting for them, if you can spare £4,000 extra on a pair of seats. You’ll fit four adults in the M2 with no issue, but there’s not that much headroom in the back for tall passengers.

The boot is a handy 390 litres, making it 70 litres bigger than an Audi RS3 Saloon and a whopping 100 litres bigger than an RS3 Sportback. We found it big enough for six small suitcases.

And though it looks all big and burly, the M2 is rather docile around town. The suspension is always firm, but set it to comfort mode and the sporty BMW deals with bumpy roads rather well. The same can be said on the motorway, where the M2 is adequately comfortable, but you have noticeable tyre roar from its wide rubber.

The 3.0-litre, twin turbocharged, 480hp straight-six engine screams its way through the gears, either an eight-speed automatic or a six-speed manual gearbox. Neither gearbox is stellar; the automatic suits the M2’s character but doesn’t feel as special as the Porsche 718 Cayman’s unit, while the manual doesn’t feel as crisp as its alternatives either.

Still, country lanes are where the M2 feels most at home, and though it’s the same width as the BMW M4, its shorter length and more compact cabin play a handy little trick on your mind, making the M2 feel smaller - and giving you the confidence to hurl it down a tight lane as a result.

Check out the latest BMW M2 deals on Carwow, or BMW M2 lease deals instead. There’s a variety of used M2s available through our network of trusted dealers, and other used BMWs for sale should the M2 not quite take your fancy. Carwow can even help you sell your car when the time comes to switch.

BMW raised the M2’s price significantly in its 2025 update, jumping around £5,000 to a starting price just shy of £69,000. Not only is that around £7,000 more than an Audi RS3 and £3,000 more than a Mercedes-AMG A45 S hatchback, but BMW has actually removed some standard-fit items from the pre-facelift car and made them optional extras in the new M2. The cheek of it.

The M2 comes as standard with staggered 19- and 20-inch wheels front and rear, privacy glass in the back, a posh Harman Kardon sound system and a load of M-division trickery under the skin. You don't even get adaptive cruise control as standard, though, and a carbon-fibre roof will set you back over £2,000.

A Porsche 718 Cayman in 4.0-litre GTS spec starts at around the same price as an M2, but it feels more special to drive - and you get a far posher badge on the steering wheel, too.

The BMW M2 is an absolute joy to drive fast and does the relaxing stuff well too, but tyre noise can be a bit loud at higher speeds

In town

With its stiffer suspension and body bracing, you might expect the M2 to hop, skip and jump its way across town. But with adaptive dampers as standard you can select ‘comfort’ mode to soften things up a bit. Do this, and the car deals with bumps really well.

If comfort is your priority you’d be better off with a regular 2 Series, but if you want The Fast One and were concerned that your back would give out on the way to the shops, may your fears be allayed.

It’s in town that the auto gearbox is the better bet, too. In its least aggressive settings it switches between gears with little fuss, and helps you relax in traffic.

On the motorway

Being a relatively small car with a sporty suspension setup, the M2 is not built for long motorway drives. However, put it in its comfiest drive mode and, again, it’s perfectly acceptable for your daily duties.

Perhaps the only complaint we have here is that the grippy tyres and large alloy wheels mean you get quite a bit of road noise in the cabin. It’s not unbearable, though. What’s more annoying is the lack of adaptive cruise control as standard. Especially when you notice it costs more than £1,000 as part of a package of extra driver assistance tech.

On a twisty road

BMW has taken the engine from the bigger M3 and M4, but de-tuned it a little. That means 460hp and a 0-60mph time of 4.0 seconds (or 4.2 if you change your own gears).

When the road starts winding the M2 really comes alive. Where the M3 and M4 can be a bit lairy when you put your foot down, the M2 is much more composed, with lots of grip so you have confidence to press on out of a corner.

Despite this it feels a bit more playful and fun than its larger siblings. Again, much of this is down to its lower, less intimidating power output, but also its smaller footprint, which will be particularly noticeable on tight country roads in the English countryside.

The steering has a nice weight to it and feels really precise, so you’re confident in putting the front end of the car where you want it.

Put the auto gearbox into its most aggressive setting and you’ll feel a noticeable jolt in your back when you shift up. But turn this down and it still changes gear rapidly so you can concentrate on the job of going fast. It does lose a few marks on downshifts though, with these being a bit slower to engage.

Opt for the manual and you can ask the car to automatically blip the revs when you change down a gear to keep the engine speed at its optimal level. However, we still prefer the quick-shifting auto over the extra involvement that comes from the manual. BMW’s system isn’t as slick and enjoyable as that found in a Porsche.

The BMW M2 has a bigger boot than most others you might consider, but rear seat space is merely average

Space in the front is pretty good, with decent adjustability of the seats making it easy to find a comfortable driving position. You sit fairly low but still have a good view of the road ahead and can raise the seat up pretty high if you need to.

Regardless of seating position, all you’ll see and feel are high quality materials – even if the design is a bit reserved – with squishy plastics the order of the day. There are also all the usual cubby holes and door bins you would expect, though because of the M2’s smaller dimensions, don’t expect any cavernous, Tardis-like areas to hide all of your belongings.

Space in the back seats

Those in the back seats don’t have it quite so good. The seats are comfortable and there’s some M stitching in the belts to remind you this ain’t no regular 2 Series, but it’s not hugely spacious. Your knees won’t be up around your ears, though.

Taller passengers might find their quiff bothers the roof, but generally speaking a couple of adults should be comfortable enough for shorter journeys. Just expect there to be requests for seat rotation on longer road trips, because knee room isn’t fantastic. An Audi RS3 would be a better option if you regularly carry passengers, because it’s a bit more spacious and you can access through the rear doors, which the M2 doesn’t have.

Boot space

Open the boot and you’re presented with 390 litres of storage space, which is exactly the same as the rest of the 2 Series range. There’s no practicality penalty for performance here.

What’s more, that actually makes it one of the most practical performance cars amongst its competitors. The Audi RS3 Sportback has a paltry 281 litres because its all-wheel drive system eats into storage space, but even the Saloon only gets 320 litres. The Mercedes-AMG A45 S is closer at 370 litres, but has the advantage of a large hatchback boot opening.

The M2's twin-screen set-up is high-tech and easy to use, but the interior design isn't as special as you'd find in a Porsche

Jump inside the M2 and you’ll be hit by understated quality. In contrast to the brash and boxy exterior, it’s not a particularly shouty interior, more closely aligned with what you’d expect to find in comfy, motorway-mile-friendly BMWs rather than the tyre shredder of the family.

Despite this there are plenty of little reminders that this is an M car, with various badges and splashes of the M tricolour all over the place, including on the thick-rimmed, flat-bottomed steering wheel. There are only quality materials to be found, so even though it looks a bit unexciting, it feels suitably premium - so long as your hands don’t wander down to the lower door cards.

One thing that does jump out at you, though, is the ultra-wide, twin-screen set-up on the dashboard. It’s made up of a 12.3-inch driver’s display and a 14.9-inch infotainment system running the latest BMW tech.

That means you get super quick responses and pin-sharp graphics with one of the better voice control systems in the business. You also get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard to stream your music and take advantage of your maps apps - and they’re a lot simpler to use than the multitude of menus in the BMW operating system.

Back to the task of driving fast, and there are a bunch of M-specific apps, such as a lap timer and a drift analyser that will rate your attempts to recreate any scene out of The Fast and The Furious. Though obviously you should only engage this on a track and when it’s safe to do so…

Official figures suggest 27.7mpg in mixed driving, which is almost identical to the M240i’s numbers, so it shouldn’t be ruinous to run if you can resist the urge to enjoy the engine’s talents too often. We saw around 25mpg in our testing, but that was with some rather spirited driving, so BMW’s claim looks rather accurate.

A 221g/km CO2 emissions figure puts it in the second-highest tax band for your first year of vehicle excise duty. You’ll also be subject to the premium on top of the regular tax payment in years two to six because the list price is above £40,000. Company car drivers look away, because the M2 sits in the highest band for benefit-in-kind payments.

Although the M2 has not specifically undergone safety testing, the regular 2 Series scored four-out-of-five stars from Euro NCAP. It scored just over 80% for adult and child occupant protection, but its 64% rating for safety assist systems was slightly disappointing.

As standard, you get a parking assistant with a rear-view camera and sensors front and rear, a speed limiter and non-adaptive cruise control. The adaptive version, which can adjust your speed to maintain your position in traffic, is a £550 option.

This adds some extra assistance kit that uses cameras and radars to help prevent crashes, or mitigate the outcomes, including lane departure warning, front collision warning and rear collision prevention. The adaptive cruise isn’t included if you buy a manual.

We’ve not heard any horror stories about the M2’s reliability yet, but BMW came a reasonable eighth place out of 31 manufacturers entered into the 2025 Driver Power survey for owner satisfaction.

Despite this, BMW has a mixed reputation for long-term reliability and its parts can be pretty expensive if repairs are needed. For peace of mind you get a three-year, unlimited mileage warranty as standard, which includes roadside assistance.

For about £1,600 you can also get BMW Service Inclusive, which covers routine servicing for the first four years after the car is registered.