2016 Bmw M2 - Sometimes the sequel is great, too - Ignition ep. 149

this is the m2 and it's the most anticipated BMW in years it follows the same recipe as the 1 Series M Coupe borrowing parts from the bigger wider m4 to fit that hardware it gets bulging fenders they give it a good old-fashioned awesome bulldog stance but is this one were a real M car or the sort of thing marketing departments dream up an enthusiast dismiss stay tuned and we'll find out hello this is the BMW M2 this is the BMW M4 isn't it beautiful the question on your mind is going to be how fast is it so right off the back zero to 60 identical skid pad identical braking distance identical figure eight identical in fact the only place where the m4 performs better than the m2 is after sixty miles an hour but really is it me and my poor battered drivers license or does what happens after sixty miles an hour just not matter at all unless your at a racetrack Jason M2 blah blah blah if the M2 is such hot dookie why don't we find out on a racetrack if the little brother can keep up with the big boy alright I'll get a little brother and you get in the big boy better stand on it stand on your head in a minute call Randy Pobst I don't see randy Pobst in your contacts perhaps you meant one of these call Randy effin Pobst she got it this is Randy's racing and wrecking service you can you can show me how its done sir aww damn look at that M2 but you're not getting pass me not yet alright you want to come around me what is all that breaking you are all over the place here we go here we go you always say you'll do anything to get sideways and you did a little bit faster but this car is so much easier to control that I can do it beautiful sideways that was beautiful you must be really good in my rearview mirror alright so I didn't hit you which you thought I was going to do thank you Jason and I didn't hit you either thank you for that thank the racing gods for that BMW thanks us both for that but here's the thing we had a lot of fun we're playing around but there are a lot of time when we weren't and you couldn't seem to get away from me is that how am I just that fast you Randy effing Pobst well you've been watching the racing line but it looked to me like the cars were pretty evenly matched more than I would have ever expect I i of course what I really want to know is what's gonna happen we put you both in the car so cue the special effects people we're gonna get the m4 on one side and the m2 on the other and we're going to put Randy in both and through the magic of television or whatever this is called we're gonna show you which is faster alright Randy is inside crying because he was so upset that the M2 is faster but the M2 is faster and as much as a fan of the m2 because it's more fun that then the M4 so the 2 series is a bit of a tub but it doesn't matter actually beat the M4 around the track I think that comes down to its predictable it's easy it loves to rotate its a car you or I can get onto a track and get right to its limits without risking spinning with that said these are road cars and their road performance of the fun and the experience is kind of a lot more important so let's leave the track lets go on the road and let's talk about how awesome the M2 is on the road this thing is a riot riot is so much fun and that's something I didn't think BMW was capable of doing anymore I mean the engine just sings steering tells me everything I need to know before I say another nice word about this car I need to go in a little bit of a rant here's the thing when you downshift the computer automatically blips the throttle for you and I have a big problem with that in fact I think someone in Germany needs to be fired and killed over this shows a fundamental misunderstanding why someone would buy 365 horsepower rear wheel drive manual transmission car I don't want the car to do anything for me and the only way to turn that stupid automatic bliping off is to disable the stability control stability control being the single biggest improvement in vehicular safety since the seat belt so basically what BMW saying to me is if you want to drive a manual transmission the way a manual transmission was designed to be driven you have to risk dying ok I feel better now this motor sounds so good I'm like the AM forward sounds like it's choking on concrete this thing makes all the pretty straight six noises all the way to seven grand makes power basically the whole way I'm not exactly sure how this car has the same suspension and steering as the M3 because it feels nothing like it there is no dead spot on center at all its electric power-assisted so there's not that's really crazy great amazing fine stuff but had electric power steering started out like this we would've never complain about in the first place it's really good here's the here's the thing this car is faster than an M4 or not I couldn't care less it's fun it's fun something we haven't seen from you since I know the 1M coupe speaking of the one M coupe when M made that thing they didn't call it the M one and that was for good reason it wasn't really a fully baked m product this is kind of the same thing they're calling it the M2 but it's the same basic idea as the 1M coupe it has a non M engine hey its turbocharged straight six I don't care but a lot of the things you'd find in every other M product are missing here starting with a temperature gauge I'd really love to see an oil temp gauge for an M car but this has nothing or you can call up some little display that ok and I suspect will say okay until the engine is basically melted into a pile of molten aluminum every other M car has a button where you can adjust steering another one for suspension another one for throttle calibration and stability in this car you're stuck with BMW's Comfort Sport Sport Plus settings and you don't have memory for it like this is the m3 steering wheel and right here and here are two buttons go where you can store two different preferences M1 for driving like a reasonable human being and M2 for driving like a jerk they're missing and so why is all this stuff missing chances are it's for cost cutting the BMW doesn't like to spend money these days and you want an example of it the e90 m3 had this beautiful leather trim that was stamped to make it look like carbon fiber and it was gorgeous they've captured the essence of that in crappy stamped plastic on this car really yes this car is cheaper than m235i would be comparably equipped but there's a lot of cost cutting and one thing in particular this seat which I'll demonstrate to you after I gracefully climb into the back seat it's probably done for crash see rather than engineer in the car properly for side impact from the get-go BMW just moved the seat inward to cheat a little bit the problem is it's very expensive to move a steering wheel so they did a bit of a cheap trick and just tweak the seat sideways so they are still aimed at the steering wheel the problem is you looking straight at the front left headlight it's it's it's one of these cost-cutting decisions that makes you wonder doesn't matter it doesn't matter because see this badge it is the best driving M product on the road today and frankly yeah ok seats crooked don't care don't care because while the two series suffers from modern BMW cost-cutting the m2 is a sign that someone's paying attention over at M they spent the time to tune this car to refine it and to make it do more than just pose great numbers sure the M2 has warts but they're all minor things like missing temperature gauges and stupid throttle the important stuff is all there a singing straight six under the hood flared fenders rear wheels on fire oh and most importantly an idiot with a big grin and the crooked driver seat this as a real drivers are the kind of car we didn't think BMW was even capable of building these days it's no exaggeration to say the m2 marks the return of the ultimate driving machine welcome back BMW hey Youtubers you liked that episode of Ignition you justed watched well guess what there's a brand new one this car was built by Aston Martin they have badged it a Lagonda and they're charging $1,000,000 but is any good and you can only see it on Motor trend on demand dot com