By now it’s become a known thing that the BMW M2 and the BMW M2 Competition models are recipients of stellar reviews. Ever since the M2 came out, with its old, upgraded N55 engine under the hood, people loved it, praised it and gave it various awards. Nobody ever said the car needs more power but some tweaks in certain areas were mentioned nonetheless. Now BMW brought out the M2 Competition and while some were worried that some extra power might ruin the car, it turns out that’s not the case.
The guys from CarAdvice took one out on the track for the Australian launch of the M2 Competition and had some interesting things to say. The first thing you notice is the extra torque. Compared to the outgoing version, the Competition M2 comes with a proper M-developed engine under the hood. The S55 mill has the same displacement but comes with two turbos and 550 Nm (406 lb-ft) of torque. Compare that to the single-turbo output of the N55 mill which was good for 465 Nm (343 lb-ft) and up to 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) for short bursts, and the extra twist should be noticeable.
However, all of those upgrades would’ve meant chaos if the car’s chassis was to be left untouched. Therefore, the engineers decided some added braking power could be useful as well as some suspension tweaks to keep the car’s composure, especially on the track. In the end, the M2 Competition turned out to be a home run, with reviewers offering it high scores, this review included, of course.
I should also point out that the Australian market offers Pure models in the M range. They are basically entry-level spec models, for those who want the raw experience and not necessarily the most expensive car. That’s mentioned towards the end of the review where we also learn how much a Competition M2 costs in the land Down Under: AUD104,000. That translates into roughly $76,000, quite a bit more than in the US.
