So there’s a new generation BMW M2. And it’s rather ugly! The front end looks decent enough - it’s very boxy - though I’m not convinced about horizontal slats on the iconic BMW kidney grilles. The side profile is the best looking aspect of the new car. The classic three-box coupe shape is still there. The bulging fenders to accommodate the wider track from the M3/M4 looks delicious.
It’s the rear of the new M2 where the styling fails completely. What the heck is going on with the rear bumper treatment? It looks like there’s warts growing out of the body. The taillamps also bulges out for no apparent functional reason. In a text to a friend I said the new M2 looks like a fake copy of the old M2 done for a Grand Theft Auto game. It is definitely not a looker.
It gets worse on the inside: the new M2 has BMW’s iDrive 8. There’s a giant horizontal slab of LCD screen for both the instrument cluster and the infotainment system. I much prefer analog gauges and physical buttons. Curse on Tesla for jump-starting this trend of having touchscreens to do and show everything in car interiors. I’ve had newer BMW cars as service loaners, and the digital instrument cluster is utterly useless in terms of getting information at a glance. I’m not a fan.
What else is bad in the new M2? The weight. It’s some 200 pounds heavier (at about 3,800) than the old M2, which wasn’t the lightest thing to begin with. Despite the weight and overall size increase, the interior space isn’t that much larger in the new car! The braking system have changed to by wire: there’s no physical connection from the brake pedal to the master cylinder. That just reads artificial to me. There’s no reason for brakes to have different modes! It either stops brilliantly or it doesn’t.
One last thing: the new M2 will be built in Mexico. Call me a snob - because I am - but I want my high-dollar performance German car to be built in the fatherland. This also means prospective buyers won’t have the option to do European delivery. It’s something I wanted to do when I bought my (previous generation) M2. But the COVID pandemic put a halt to all of that. Shame!
Yikes!
Photo credit: BMW