BMW M2 CS Australia Pricing and Spec

The BMW M2 CS is the swansong for M’s tiniest – and finest – tearaway. It’s coming to Australia and it’ll be here sooner than we first thought.

The BMW M2 is a firm favourite with me and with Redline readers – the video we did on it is just about to rack up 100,000 views (thank you). The M2 Competition article did well, too – you can read it here.

With the demise of the rear-wheel drive 1 Series and the related 2 Series, this is likely the last of the line forever. M knows this and is sending the M2 out with a 331kW bang in the form of the limited production M2 CS.

Look and Feel

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The M2 isn’t exactly a sporty sex-god, the proportions just aren’t there. To make it less like a tarted-up M240i, M went to town with carbon fibre and a bigger dose of aggro.

Carbon fibre abounds, with a carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) roof, bonnet, front and rear splitter and a carbon Gurney flap on the bootlid. And carbon mirror caps.

The front bumper is a lot angrier. The blacked out grille sits well with all the carbon and the huge ducts. Annoyingly, the standard 19-inch wheels aren’t pictured, but they’re black. One imagines the red calipers are standard and the gold-finish wheels optional.

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The cabin is filled with the excellent M4 CS seats along with plenty more carbon and Alcantara. As it’s on the old platform, you won’t see Live Cockpit (boo!), head up display or the touchscreen.

Don’t worry. If the Competition is anything to go by, you’ll be having way too much fun to care.

How much is a BMW M2 CS and what do I get?

2020 BMW M2 CS – $139,900 (7-speed DCT and 6-speed manual)

It’s not cheap at a tick under $140,000. But I was banking on paying at least ten grand more, so that’s a solid win in my books.

The M2 CS ships with adaptive M Suspension active M differential, M exhaust, carbon fibre centre-console and door pull handles finished in carbon fibre, Alcantara and leather trim, 19″ M alloy wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, M Sport brakes with red calipers, adaptive LED headlights and sat nav.

The BMW iDrive media system comes with Apple CarPlay, which is very welcome indeed.

Drivetrain

S55 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six – 331kw/550Nm

As you might recall, the M2 Competition heralded the arrival of the S55 and a good chunk more power due to emissions regs killing the N55. BMW tuned the S55 down to 302kW and torque to 550Nm, both still healthy figures.

In the M2 CS, the chains are off – 331kW, just like the M4, and 550Nm. Given BMW’s recent history of under-quoting, I wonder if the figures aren’t at least 10 percent more, but I’ll leave that to the dyno crowd.

It’s rear-wheel drive, obviously, with an active limited-slip M differential. You can choose between a seven-speed twin-clutch transmission (for a 4-second 0-100km/h time) or a six-speed manual. The manual is lighter by 25kg but slower to the benchmark ton, coming in at a still healthy 4.2 seconds.

When?

Ah, yes, the important bit for the impatient folks in the M2 fan club. If you want to buy one, you can do it now. Owners will start getting their cars at the beginning of the second quarter of 2020. So not long now…