[AdiSinghV12]

As I bid adieu to my purring Jaguar XF for the G87 M2 which reignited the lost love for a brand I once thought had faded in the rearview mirror as mentioned in the ownership thread of my XF. The start of the journey to upgrade my faithful 7-year tuned Jag that had stood the test of time and become the longest companion in my automotive adventures started back in 2022 but blame it on inflation and some Swedish kids the cars had just starting to become more pricier and more boring with the 1.25-1.50 crore bracket going on a diet with performance options.

One would expect a bit of pizzazz for that kind of investment, wouldn't you agree? It was then this controversial looking car was launched and the folks at M GMBH decided to give it a full blown S58 engine which somewhat reincarnated the Euphoria in the early 8 digit bracket as with the beastly 530d discontinued there’s hardly even a decent 6 pot in the late 7 digits!

Initially, as I laid eyes on it, it struck me as a Lego - and as cliche as this might be, the angular lines and bold design cues seemed almost too boxy for my tastes. In reality, the car looked different in the flesh. It just goes to show, that one must never judge a vehicle by its initial appearance and specially in BMW’s case by their “press release” pictures. What felt as boxy turned out to be Muscular as if BMW has made a full fledged Muscle Car taking on the Challangers and the Camaros. Much like the perfect girlfriend who may not fit the conventional mold of a “10” at first glance, the more I delved into the details and let the aesthetics sink in, the more enamored I became. In less romantic terms, this is like a pair of tailored Polo & Jeans in an era of oversized clothing.

The moment it started to grow on me I knew I had to get this as I desperately wait to move towards my imminent ascension into the revered ranks of “senior BHPian” someday it was then about time and God’s Plan.

[AdiSinghV12]

Finding the Right One
It was a tough choice to make, Picture this: a sleek and sophisticated car from Modena, tempting with the fact that it’s somewhere a distant cousin of a Ferrari, the first option I considered was the Maserati Ghibli

This was more of a heart over head decision and I was trying to justify and to some extent also mute the petrolhead in me only for the fact of its origin and the extended family it comes from. The 2.0 GTS version was within the reach as I was cross shopping with a budget which was flexible by +/- 50%. I ultimately never managed a test drive of the same and despite receiving all the details and literature and watching reviews I ultimately decided that it’ll be a poser instead of the performance I’m looking for and as good as it might look for Instagram pics at the starters I might just get bored of it and wouldn’t able to justify the equated monthly instalments and ultimately didn’t seem like a win-win situation as I don’t see a good secondary market for them had I wanted to get rid off.

The Porsches
A badge that every car lover would dream to add to his garage and it was no different for me. The 911 is still a childhood favourite ever since I saw Al Pacino buy it in the movie Scarface. Watching this movie a hundred times only added to it. It was a dream and is a dream to get the badge one day. But “practically” a 2 seater and with the pricing of over 2.25 cr it wasn’t happening as I strictly needed something that could carry someone at the back so I started looking at the Panamera & the Taycan.

While the Panamera offered decent amount of luxury and performance, it didn't quite hit the mark. Its size and handling left me wanting for more and for some reason after the Taycan this felt very bumpy on our roads which was surprising. It ticked lesser boxes than the one it didn’t for me. On the other hand, the Taycan's rocket launching power and sleek design almost made me sign a cheque to them, heck it was almost final if the M2 wouldn’t have grown on me by now after all who wouldn’t want a 4 door “911”. It defied all the arguments against the EVs and was nothing short of perfect. Just when I was about to write a cheque for the Taycan 4S, Volkswagen India decided to boost the price up which put me into second thoughts, as they say when you toss the coin it’s the side you’re hoping for matters rather than the side it comes so while I was at it, somewhere I thought why not get an Internal Combustion while I still can and not regret later, then came further arguements like the charging infrastructure during a cross country trip, etc but still wasn’t sure if I want a BMW again and it was then they left the car with me for a day and here we are.

I simply don’t like the idea of wasting others’ time which is why I didn’t check out Audi as I knew I wouldn’t be closing it, it’s a wonderful brand no offence meant but the S and RS cars feels a bit dated and regular. Also dismissed the C43. The idea of a four-cylinder F1 technology did not quite excite me, and let's not even mention how the larger AMGs have lost it with their pricing. If only the E53 Cabrio were still an option, I might have indulged in some serious contemplation. Alas, Mercedes-Benz India had other plans and chose to discontinue the car.

Booking Process
I had the car for a day from Navnit Motors, Mumbai and that was it, it was the ONLY car that I test drove out of the ones mentioned above as a potential replacement that flashed a devilish grin on my face and the more hate it got the more I was drawn closer to it! The bond was seized and I knew this is it. A gradual unraveling of beauty and charm, a realization that perfection comes in many forms, and sometimes, it's the unexpected quirks that steal your heart and soul.

I found this car to be much-better looking in a single-tone and the fact that I had been drooling over the all white appearance of the 3.0 CSL and higher up cars I decided to give the carbon roof a skip for which my wallet thanked me as it was a Rolex Oyster Perpetual ++ in costs which didn’t make much sense to me for a meagre 6 kg weight saving and something I’d anyway have painted or wrapped in body colour, here are the options I went for along with its pricing:

Base Ex Showroom: ₹99,90,0000
M Compound Brake Calipers in Red : ₹60,000
Carbon Fibre Interior : ₹140,000
Carbon Fibre Air Ducts : ₹100,000 (Port Installed)

The rest of the things that were standard were M Sport Seats with Exclusive Highlights which are basically the M coloured bolsters on the front seats, M Shadowline Exterior, Lip Spoiler, Harmon Kardon Stereo, Lane Departure Warning with Automated Steering Assit, Pedestrian Detection and Automatic Mirrors (heck I had to mention this as if this wasn’t the one then it’d have been a Porsche Panamera / Taycan and as good as they are now, I can’t help but rewind back in time when even this this was a cost option) while this here were available as a part of the package / NCO.

And so, I had been thinking and thinking about this car having played on the configurator but the last and big dilemma was whether to go with the last manual or the 8AT. The car that dealership left with me was a manual and while I literally had a ball with it for a day, by evening once the traffic of Mumbai straightened me out I thought the 8AT will be a better option or I might just end up using this car on weekends. Also if I have to mention one negative of the manual it’d be the hard and rubbery feeling of the clutch and the gearbox with the lower end torque being delayed. Impulsively, one fine day in November 2023 dropped-by to Navnit Motors, Mumbai and booked the car as I had the configuration ready in my mind. I was clear that I’d want a 2024 MFG and not just MY24 and the dealer happily obliged despite them having a few M2s in allocation to them for 2023 which was a nice touch as usually with CBUs it’s the trend where all the dealers try to get rid of outgoing year’s stock and allocations.

As commited, the car entered production in my birthday month of January 2024 and was later shipped from their San Luis Potosí plant in Mexico early February in an American vessel named Alliance Fairfax.

Delivery
As the sun-kissed shores of Mexico bid farewell to the car, little did it know that its journey to Mumbai would be nothing short of a whimsical odyssey. Despite the dealer's initial under-commitment the car arrived punctually in April and by the end of the month I got the PDI report as well and then the dealer had to take care of the car for 2 more months as it was in June 24 on a date which held high sentimental and nostalgic value for me I requested them to align the delivery which they made a memorable experience and I say that despite the fact of having been part of many car deliveries. Here, they just went a little ahead with personal touches which was really appreciated. The below snaps were all clicked by the photoshoot organised by the dealership at the delivery by “Petrolheads Paradise”

[AdiSinghV12]

Initial Impressions about Pros & Cons:
Pros:
- S58 Engine! It’s one for the archives when M GMBH writes their story. The engine is a proper gem and feels like Naturally Aspirated at all times with smooth as silk power delivery holding (including the driver to the seat) till the 7000 RPM however you do require throttle modulation to extract the right performance and the grin.

- Very Comfortable Chassis for a Sports Car! Yes I use the word very because my granpa and I use the Mini Countryman to work everyday and coming from that it did feel very comfortable. It sets a benchmark for comfort in Sports Cars IMHO. We had a short trip to Shirdi and back and due to rains the roads were a mess. I was ready to have my fussy back reminding me of hell for a couple of days but it didn’t feel bad at all nor did the car scraped once handled carefully thanks to its 130 mm Ground Clearance or to put it in perspective, an iPhone 14 Pro Max vertically in Clearance from the ground up. As Reesnat mentioned in his thread, be it performance driving or handling bad roads the car demands you to be attentive and once you do that it’s a perfect package with not much to worry but grin in gratitude.

- Modern tech but not tacky. 12.3” instrument display with a touch-capable 14.9” Control Display is ergonomically optimised and intuitive. The curved, almost free-floating design looks both sophisticated and modern. The car has everything that one would need in any modern car, the lack of climate control buttons isn’t missed much once you get used to the single touch button on the MID and once you set it to automatic climate control one doesn’t feel the need to flicker with it again. Overall, the iDrive 8 is a great, fluid and snappy

- The LOOKS! Once this grew on me the M2 feels like a mob boss on wheels. Its muscular frame and sleek lines exude power and authority, the stock 930M rims in 19” front and 20” rear with a nice concave profile however not forged is one of the most beautiful OEM wheels in the game, IMO and if stanced well suits the car really well. Another small detail which I personally loved and couldn’t help but started feeling all the cars with “sticking out” door handles feel odd is the retro-new design of the flush door handles given by BMW starting from the X1. who knew these flush door handles could make "sticking out" ones feel so last season?

- The BRAKES! they're not just good – they're legendary, touchwood. Like a smooth operator in a high-stakes heist, these brakes deliver precision and control that outshine anything else I have driven including the Panamera and the Taycan. It’s like the trusted henchman in your crew. Once I experienced the stopping power of these brakes, I realise that they're in a league of their own – leaving everything else in the dust, with lots of dusts on the wheels

- Captain Cool. As it borrows the cooling system from its bigger cousins, I haven’t felt the car is heating one tiny bit even in war like traffic conditions in Mumbai evenings and from what I research the stock cooling system is very well capable of handling almost 1.5x power this car currently has. It’s like holding our ex captain Dhoni’s calmness with Bumrah's performance once you let the hell break loose

CONS:
- Exhaust - The stock exhaust system sounds lacks soul and feels like a 4 pot at times, but hey, thank goodness for the Active Sound (ASD) for saving face in front of others, masking any automotive-purity sins and adding the touch of the devilish charm this car that I fondly called ///Morningstar desires. OPF that comes on ours and European spec cars are to be blamed for this and I think a nice midpipe is much required to fix this.

- Music System - The only word for bass that’s applicable with this car is the word starting with bass in Chris Harris’ review where he was referring to the pulling of this car. I have heard HK system on other cars like the 5er but this one’s extra bad and just about doable. Maybe I am spoiled by the beautiful Meridian 825w system I had in my Jag but I feel there’s a miss

- Stance - the stance straight out of the factory? It's like the car woke up on the wrong side of the bed, needing a quick fix with Future Classic spacers to get its muscle game back on track. I added these spacers with the help of akshay1234 within 30 mins of delivery to fix this as it was taking everything muscle away from the car.

- Fogging of windshield - I don’t know if it’s the setting but pretty much tried everything but the air from the AC seems to hit the windshield leaking from the music system area and fog the windshield which is really annoying. I don’t know if it’s a problem with my car or overall but the service centre tried fixing it with settings but no luck.

- No Space Saver - it’s not just the case with the M2 or India but globally these cars don’t get any space savers and knowing our demographic and roads and if one is not experienced to use the self puncture repair kit and drive it can cause permanent damage to the beautiful PS4S so a provision for space saver beneath the boot would have been much appreciated.

- Self Service of Seat Belts - with the seat belts butler MIA and considering I don’t put the seat all the way to the back, this is really missed as it’s a task to reach for the seat belt which doesn’t have the best position and always stays in a stretched position. One too less here spoils the broth.

I write these hitting the 1000 km mark which is just the beginning of the journey. The combined FE I have got during my 1000 kms is 5 km/l with a couple of occasional cheating with the Run-in Guidelines. I’ll be adding to this thread as I learn more about this car as keeping the Team-BHP fam updated is a significant part of the journey but for now I’ll let the pictures do the talking while I’d learn further about the Likes, Dislikes, Quirks, Tantrums, Mods & Memories as we go along

[KI07]

Great review!

The industry has been criticizing all BMW designs lately, but the M2 is really a "Wall poster" car. I don't think there's any angle which would score less than 10/10.

I am actually growing fond of the new BMW design language.

Youthful, up to date and 'in your face'

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by AdiSinghV12

I write these hitting the 1000 km mark which is just the beginning of the journey.

Congratulations! Looks a very well organised delivery experience.

A quick question, does it ping at 80-120?

[n:CorE]

Massive congratulations on this excellent buy, Adi! It's hands down one of the best sports car packages out there. It will hold fantastic value over the years. No one is making desirable sportscars like these, and it doesn't seem that will change soon. The new model's look initially felt offensive, but the more I have seen it (in pictures and the flesh), the more it grows on me.

White is such a great choice, as it tones down the in-your-face-ness. Some window tints will elevate the gangster/mob ties vibes even more.

I wish you many happy kilometres in this beast. I eagerly look forward to all the updates. Please share pics after you installed the spacers. I'm sure the stance must be a lot more menacing now.

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by KI07

Great review!

The industry has been criticizing all BMW designs lately, but the M2 is really a "Wall poster" car. I don't think there's any angle which would score less than 10/10.

I am actually growing fond of the new BMW design language.

Youthful, up to date and 'in your face'

Originally Posted by n:CorE

Massive congratulations on this excellent buy, Adi! It's hands down one of the best sports car packages out there. It will hold fantastic value over the years. No one is making desirable sportscars like these, and it doesn't seem that will change soon. The new model's look initially felt offensive, but the more I have seen it (in pictures and the flesh), the more it grows on me.

White is such a great choice, as it tones down the in-your-face-ness. Some window tints will elevate the gangster/mob ties vibes even more.

I wish you many happy kilometres in this beast. I eagerly look forward to all the updates. Please share pics after you installed the spacers. I'm sure the stance must be a lot more menacing now.

Thanks guys, yes the offensive / aggressive look grows on you much like cooked on a slow flame. More like dares to be different and rebellious. I’ll share pics with the spacers and a couple little mods soon

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Congratulations! Looks a very well organised delivery experience.

A quick question, does it ping at 80-120?

Thanks Paaji, no doesn’t have the speed chime

[Streetracer_372]

Originally Posted by AdiSinghV12

A badge that every car lover would dream to add to his garage and it was no different for me. The 911 is still a childhood favourite ever since I saw Al Pacino buy it in the movie Scarface. Watching this movie a hundred times only added to it. It was a dream and is a dream to get the badge one day. But “practically” a 2 seater and with the pricing of over 2.25 cr it wasn’t happening as I strictly needed something that could carry someone at the back so I started looking at the Panamera & the Taycan.

I think the silver car that Pacino buys in Scarface is a 928 and not a 911

[AdiSinghV12]

A couple of quick updates on the M2 front, with the front being tinkered with a fully reversible grill mod on top of PPF, let me know your thoughts? Also the pics has the 15mm spacers installed which I had it done much earlier

[SithDefender]

Originally Posted by AdiSinghV12

The below snaps were all clicked by the photoshoot organised by the dealership at the delivery by “Petrolheads Paradise”

Frankly, I think it is quite beautiful - a mean, butch look! And that last photo is pure wallpaper material. Do share some pics of the interiors too.

[KKapadia]

Congrats on the car. This is one of the few reviews I read in detail as it is a very special car. Any reasons why the 2 month wait with the dealer, after it arrived? I would have sleepless nights till I got it home