The 2023 BMW M2 Is Still the Fun-Loving Baby of the Family

There are certain universal truths when it comes to birth order. Firstborns are overachieving and riddled with anxiety. Middle children are fiercely sociable balls of chaos. The oldest sister is always the shortest sister. And the free-spirited baby of the family will always be the most fun to be around. Bayerische Motoren Werke's high-performance baby, the 2023 BMW M2, still fits into this mold.

Now in its second generation, though, it isn't quite the chubby-cheeked, wide-eyed tornado of youth you once knew. It's gained a few pounds, wears cleaner-cut clothes, and—don't say this in its presence—isn't quite as cute in the face as it was before. Deep down, though, it's still the fun-loving baby you fell in love with all those years ago. It's still rear-drive only. You can still get it with a manual. There’s a drawing of an M1 in the tire pressure readout as an Easter egg. It's still the BMW you hang out with when all you wanna do is laugh.

Hard Act to Follow, Harder Seats

A bit like the original Audi R8, that first-gen M2 was always going to be a tough act to follow in terms of exterior design. So, naturally, this Mk.2 M2 does indeed look kinda awkward (read: worse) next to its predecessor. Taken on its own and in the metal, though, it's not too bad. It's wide, boxy, and punchy like a modern-day E30 M3.

Inside, it's typical BMW. Nice materials, great build quality, and iDrive 8 plastered across two big screens (12.3 inches in the gauges, 14.9 inches in the center) masquerading as one curved unit. I'm a sucker for the squat, square M-specific font in the screens, but the light-up M flags in the door cards are a little silly while the gloss black trim in this particular example got smudgy and dusty real quick.

Another, less superficial beef I have with the M2's interior has to do with the base seats that came in this tester. They're hard, not very well-sculpted or bolstered, and simply aren't very comfortable even for short drives. Also, there's no shoulder strap for the seatbelt so you have to reach real far back to grab it every time you set off. Your mileage may vary, but as a relatively svelte Asian man, I've lived with the optional and ridiculous-looking carbon buckets that BMW offers with this car (y'know, the ones with the carbon crotch guards) and would honestly prefer those in the interest of comfort.

Still Dancing

Under the hood sits BMW's 3.0-liter twin-turbo S58 straight-six with 3D-printed cylinder head cores. It's the same engine found in the current M3 and M4, but here it's detuned to make 453 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque, practically matching figures with the last-gen M2 CS and representing a power bump of 48 hp over its direct, non-CS predecessor.

Equipped with the six-speed manual, the M2 gets to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds (it'll do it in 3.9 with the eight-speed auto) and hit a top speed of 155 mph (or 177 mph if you spring for the $2,500 M Driver's Package). Arguably more than any other BMW M car, though, the M2 was never about the speed or power, it's all about the handling.

Naysayers will tell you that this M2 has grown too heavy, and at 3,814 pounds, it's not exactly a featherweight. That's practically just as heavy as an M4 which weighs in at 3,830 pounds in base, manual form. But I think it's important to remember that the outgoing M2 Competition was already 3,600 pounds, which makes the new M2 just 6% heavier. Not exactly a night and day difference.