After winning a spot on the Best 10 Cars of 2015 from Car and Driver last year in the guise of the M235i, the BMW 2 Series is back once more, to claim yet another win. The 2017 edition claims that the BMW M2 and BMW M240i are among the Best 10 Cars you’re able to buy today that will get your blood flowing in no time. The nomination is even more impressive when you take a look at the company these cars are in.
Alongside the new BMW M2 you’ll find cars like the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, the Porsche Cayman and the incredible Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and GT350R. All of these cars are absolutely incredible both on and off the track and to have the “baby-M” and an M Performance model up there with them is definitely a great achievement for the M division.
But why nominate both, you may ask. Well, both of them are based on the same platform and while the BMW M2 comes with a better suspension for the track along with an optional 7-speed DCT super fast transmission among others, it may not appeal to some people. That’s because, as funny as it may sound, it may prove to be too much.
On the other hand, the BMW M240i is the more toned down brother in this family. It brings comfort to the table along with the exact same amount of practicality. It also uses an engine that has 30 less HP, but a bit more torque on its side. And that proves to be essential when it comes to straight line racing. For most people that will be enough and as plenty of videos posted online show, the M240i can keep up with an M2 in a drag race.
“Thus, in our little Goldilocks scenario, in which all the chairs were tried, the adoration inevitably fell back on the BMW,” Car and Driver says. “Not the 3-series, which has grown too large and too mainstream to any longer earn our passion, but the smaller 2-series, which is just under a foot shorter than an A4 and reminds us of E30s and E46s and the Way Things Used to Be. BMW is at heart a small-vehicle company, a course set in 1959 when Herbert Quandt saved the ailing maker of princely handmade bolides and diverted its resources into the 1961 1500, instantly creating the market for compact sports sedans.”
