M3 Power Turns Up Heat On BMW's M2

Upgraded brakes, chassis tweaks and style changes added

Sporty two-door goes on sale next month after Beijing debut

- Richard Ingram 

THE BMW M2 has been judged as one of the finest offerings in recent years from the high-performance Bavarian brand – and now the car is going to get an added shot of adrenalin with the M2 Competition Pack. The brand new two-door Coupé has been announced ahead of its public debut at the Beijing Motor Show.

The M2 Competition Pack lifts its new engine from the outgoing M3, and will replace the standard M2 when it goes on sale in May. Ditching the current M2’s 3.0-litre straight-six (which started life in the M135i hatchback) and slotting in the higher-spec M3 unit boosts power by 39bhp, to 404bhp. It also adds a further 50Nm of torque to take the peak figure to 550Nm, pushing the M2 Competition past the five-cylinder Audi TT RS, which has 395bhp and 480Nm.

As a result, the new model can crack 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds with the DCT auto trimming a tenth of a second from the old car’s benchmark time. But the four-wheel-drive TT remains even faster, completing the sprint in 3.7 seconds.