One of the biggest gripes people had with the BMW M4 when it first came out was its exhaust. Being used to the mean, impressive growl of its BMW E92 M3 predecessor that came with a 4-liter V8, most people couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Explaining over and over again that comparing a straight six with a V8 wouldn’t be fair, didn’t seem to work, so things just died out after a while. But what about the BMW M2?
This is the second M car launched after the current M3 and M4 models that comes with a turbo straight six engine and some people are claiming that BMW learned its lesson and the M2 actually sounds better than its bigger brothers. While we’d like to remain neutral in this argument, we can’t overlook the proof provided by camp BMW M2, but is that claim true for the standard car or only for the ones fitted with the M Performance exhaust?
In the video below, we get to see two such cars fitted with the special exhaust, revving up their engines for the camera. We also get to hear them stationary and on the move, to get a better idea about what they sound like on a daily basis. Admittedly, things do seem better than on a standard M4 but then again, we need to remind ourselves that the engines are quite different as well.
The bore and stroke is different as the BMW M2 uses an upgraded version of the N55 plant while the M3 and M4 models use the brand new S55. And while the M-developed S55 unit did come to life based on the N55, it has plenty of new parts in it to be considered a completely new unit. Now, what would your pick be? Does the BMW M2 sound better than its bigger and more expensive brothers?
