M2 Diaries

March 2025: zero modifications

As a person who came of age during the early Fast and Furious era, car modifications went hand-in-hand with car ownership for me. A vehicle is never perfect straight from the factory. There’s always things to improve. The body can always sit lower towards the ground with a set of lowering springs. The exhaust note can always be more prominent (or annoying, depending on the perceiving subject). The engine can always make more power. And on and on.

When I took the M2 for its first service, the service advisor even asked if I had any modification plans for the car. I can only reply meekly to the negative. The car will remain stock, at least for a time.

Almost five years later, the feisty little BMW is still completely stock. The only modification is the normal wear-and-tear from the road. It’s not that I don’t have any aspirations to buy overnight parts from Japan. But the problem is, as it always boils down to, is money. Or the lack thereof.

Aftermarket car parts are not cheap, especially for a car of German nationality. A solid set of coilover suspension is a few thousand dollars. An Akrapovic titanium exhaust is also a few thousand dollars. A proper set of BBS wheels is nearing five figures. All of this is before I even open the engine bonnet. Figure in many thousands more for ECU tunes and turbocharger upgrades.

It didn’t – and still doesn’t – make financial sense for me to spend another 20 to 30 percent of the M2’s original MSRP on top, just to personalize the car. I wish I had that kind of disposable income.

And isn’t the M2 Competition unique enough already in a seascape of silver-colored SUVs? The cars we buy is a representation of how we want to show ourselves to the world. Otherwise, we’d all be driving brand new Toyota Corolla into the ground, hopefully many decades later. That would be the sensible thing to do.

But people often complain about the price of a new car in 2025, yet won’t ever consider the aforementioned Corolla for $22K. We’ve got too much emotion tied to our cars. Any Texas man worth his gun rack must have an American-made truck. Any car enthusiast worth his manual transmission driving certificate must own something fun and interesting.

My M2 – and the cars before it – never made financial sense. I don’t see the need to compound that problem by spending more on modifications. Especially before I’ve fully paid off the loan.

Perhaps this is my advancing age talking. The marshmallow no longer offers any ounce of temptation.

I sometimes admire the younger enthusiasts, who have no compunction on living paycheck-to-paycheck (or worse) to support their enthusiast habit. Spending more than 50 percent of monthly take-home pay on cars is mere table stakes. The dopamine drip of saving just a bit longer for that next car part. Rinsing and repeating until the car is so encumbered with modifications, that you can’t hope to recoup the costs when you inevitably sell the car for something else.

There’s always something else.

Ignorance can definitely be bliss. The older me with a longer time horizon absolutely cannot force myself to live like that. The margins are too thin. Life will certainly throw financial curveballs at you. Having cars take up such amount of income – when you really can’t afford it – is a super stressful way to live.

My younger brother had plans to buy a Lotus Emira – a sports car well into the six-figures. He of a blue-collar income did the math and figured to barely squeak the car under his monthly paycheck.

I had to bring in the older brother perspective and talked him out of completing the order. Because for him to “afford” the Emira, life would have to go completely perfect. There can be no surprises, because surprises are expensive. The car alone is liable to bankrupt him should something unforeseen occur. Does my brother have $400 laying around should he need to replace punctured tire?

If he got into an accident, and insurance rates go up (he’s a young single male, so it’s already high), that would certainly push him into the red.

I understand the motivation. Car enthusiasts who aren’t doctors, lawyers, and heads of companies want to live the champagne life also, but on a 40-ounce liquor budget. Heck, I bought a GT3 whilst making less than $60,000 a year. It’s a dangerous game, though. Life simply does not go on perfectly. You got to have a sizable monetary buffer.

All that is to say: my M2 is expensive enough as is. I cannot afford to modify it further. Proper scheduled maintenance is all it will get from me.

A significant number of miles were done in March, though it’s not on an account of me. I loaned the M2 out to a friend, who was back home for spring break. He took the car out to a few mountainous spots here in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, I’ve not been on a touge drive in almost two years. Like I wrote last month, putting miles on a car is not the only way to do car enthusiasm.

At least I am happy that someone gets to enjoy the new tires I put on the BMW.

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Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 21,305
Mileage this month: 375
Costs this month: $51.38
MPG this month: 19.3

Not just any tires

The last time I had to change a tire on one of my cars, it was when I took the GT3 in for servicing back in 2019. The service advisor informed me the rear tires were worn down to the cords. I had no choice but to accept a direct replacement tire from the dealership: a Michel Pilot Sport Cup 2 tire. One, because dealerships do not replace parts with ones that didn’t come with the car from the factory. Two, because the GT3 is fitted with the totally stupid center-locking hubs.

Good luck finding a third-party tire shop with necessary tools.

With the BMW M2, I was able to plan out the tire replacement. After four years since I bought the car new, the rear Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires were on their last millimeters of useable life. At a little over 20,000 miles, I can’t really ask for more mileage out of a set of summer performance tires.

Expectedly, tire technology has improved since the F87 generation M2’s introduction. The current crown of the Michelin line is the Pilot Sport 4S. The original plan was to make the upgrade to that tire when the Pilot Super Sport set wears out. I rapidly deviated from that plan soon as I saw the price: a set of Pilot Sport 4S tires is $1,620 installed at America’s tire.

To be clear, I can easily afford that price. However, the high inflation coming out of the pandemic has me looking for as much ways to save money as possible. The M2 mostly gets driven around town. The utmost in tire adhesive performance is nice, but not necessary. In an ideal world I would plop down the credit card for the Pilot Sport 4S tires immediately. In this economic world, I seek a better price to performance ratio.

In the various automotive podcasts and YouTube channels I consume, Vredestein tires is a frequent sponsor. By many accounts, the company’s summer performance tire - Ultrac Pro - offers excellent performance for a fraction of the costs for a set of Michelin. If it’s good enough for Jason Cammisa, it’s good enough for me. A set of Ultra Pro tires for the BMW is $1,132 at the same America’s Tire. An almost $500 difference is not insignificant in this economy.

But there’s a problem. In my sleuthing of the BMW forums, I was reminded the original Pilot Super Sport tires on the M2 were specified bespoke for BMW, by Michelin. (Colloquially known as star-spec.) The kinematics of the car were wholly developed with that particular spec of tires. This YouTube video shows that it is better for a BMW M car to be fitted with a star-spec set of Michelin tires than the non-specific counterpart.

So it’s back to Pilot Super Sports I go? Not quite. A set of those tires is none cheaper than the Pilot Sport 4S set.

The key here for M car owners looking to switch tire brands is to match (as close as possible) the size specification of the original equipment tire. The star-spec Pilot Super Sport for the BMW M2 is a wider than typical tire. For example: the front 245 section tire has a tread-width of 8.8 inches. That same 245/35/19 size for the Vredestein Ultrac Pro is a relatively measly 8.1 inches. Purchasing the Vredestein set - at the same factory size numbers - would mean giving up traction. For a car that’s already traction limited at the rear at times, that would not be ideal.

The Ultrac Pro at 255/35/19 (one size up on the width) is a better match at 8.7 inches of tread-width. But there’s another problem: the Ultra Pro does not come in 275/35/19 size, which would be one size up on the factory 265/35/19 rear Michelin tires.

Onto another tire brand, then.

After much additional research on the Internet, I settled on a set of Yokohama Advan Apex V601 tires. Like the Vredestein tires, the V601 needs one size up in width to match the Pilot Super Sport’s dimensions. And thanks to probably a depressed Japanese yen (Made in Japan, obviously), America’s Tire sold me a set of the Yokohama for $1,216. Not as economical as the Vredestein tires, but still leagues below a set of Michelin tires.

Because the factory set of Pilot Super Sport was so worn at the time of change, I cannot give you a comparison at all between it and the Advan V601. (I am not rich enough to swap tires before a set is used up completely.) Any random brand new set of summer tires will certainly perform better than a worn set, even if the worn set is best of the best available.

The immediate sensation with a new set of tires is the dramatic improvement in stopping distance. I didn’t realize how bad it was on the old set! The M2 can now once again can stop as violently as my body can tolerate. Those six-piston front, four-piston rear, 400mm front, 380mm rear, brakes are as ridiculous as ever for a car this small in size. Of course, my wallet will be singing a different tune when the time comes to service those unnecessarily large brakes.

At least it should be easier than compared to finding a suitable set of tires. The pro tip here is: BMW M car owners looking to switch away from the factory tire need to pay attention to the actual sizing specification of the original. Merely matching the numbers on the sidewall may not cut it, as it was the case with my BMW M2.

February 2025: an unexpected return

Hello there. It’s been nearly four years since I’ve last updated this page. A very unexpected return, even for me.

Indeed the BMW M2 Competition is still in my possession. Surprising, given my propensity to switch cars every three years or so. Fun fact: I’ve yet to own a car long enough to need to smog check it here in California. The State should be happy nonetheless: the amount of sales tax on cars I’ve bought over the years is enough to buy a brand-new Toyota Corolla.

I guess I should explain the long hiatus. The short answer is money, or the lack thereof. We’ve all had our scars and big changes coming out of the COVID pandemic. Aspects of my life that isn’t cars took precedence. In service of that, money had to be allocated differently. A leisurely blast on the mountains is not in the cards when that gas money (California gas prices remains California gas prices) is better used to cover a cash shortfall.

Because I’ve put so little mileage on the M2 - since March 2021 I’ve only done about 18,000 additional miles, there really isn’t anything to consistently write about. You folks really want to read about taking the BMW on a Costco trip? It’s a traditional three-box coupe. It swallows a single person’s grocery with ease.

And maybe the money factor coincided with a change in how I do car enthusiasm. Gone are the days of weekly car washes and stressing over every little detail. I’m at a stage in life where I want the least amount of hassles possible. So long as the car is mechanical sound, a little bit of dirt on the surface isn’t going to hurt anything. On actual maintenance, I’m more than happy to pay someone else to do the work.

Have I graduated to being a collector? Not that I can afford a collection of cars. I mean the part where you buy cars and just let it sit as static art objects. That’s kind of what the M2 Competition has become to me. Most of the time it just sits. Good news is that it remains fantastic to look at. It’s the last great BMW design before the latest fad of big grilles and weird shapes has taken over.

On limiting the amount of hassles, I got the M2’s exterior ceramic coated back in 2023. It cost a little under three thousand (much of it is for actually preparing the car for the coating), but I deem it a worthy expense. Ceramic coating allows me to wash the car way less often, because nothing sticks to the surface. Often times I take the M2 to a car wash and simply hose off the accumulation. Only once a quarter do I truly break out the bucket and microfiber towels.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, I highly recommend Andrew at Auto Salon Works.

In terms of maintenance of the oily bits, every annual service thus far has been performed at the purchasing dealership. BMW very so generously covers the first three years gratis. That’s a big deal on an M car because of the increased maintenance requirements. The book calls for brake fluid change on the M2 every two years. Every three years the (six) spark plugs need to be swapped out. A costly job - especially at dealership rates - if it isn’t covered.

This brings me to a realization: the ill reputation of German car reliability is unfounded. I’ve own two high dollar ones consecutively with nary a niggle. Cars manufactured in Deutschland are plenty reliable, so long as you follow the maintenance book to the absolute letter. Unlike a Toyota where you can simply change the oil every so often and the thing will run until the sun evaporates, changing only the oil in a German car is not going to cut it.

Think of an M car owner who decides to cheap out and only do oil service. The neglected spark plugs that were supposed to be replaced every three years are going to have negative downstream effects on what is a highly-strung turbocharged motor. And then you start to get engine problems around year five or six. Owners will blame BMW for making an unreliable product instead of looking at themselves for forgoing critical maintenance.

I get it: servicing a German car to the book is an expensive endeavor. The American method towards car ownership is to look at solely the monthly payments. License, insurance, and maintenance are out of sight, out of mind. When the bill comes due for a new set of tires costing more than a thousand dollars (thank you, inflation), one that you’ve failed to budget for, it’s not surprising to see owners either take shortcuts (used tires) or forgo it entirely (brake fluid change).

My M2 Competition has and will continue to get maintained by the service book. I owe it to my future self, should I end up keeping this car for a very long term.

After the gratis BMW servicing ran out, I purchased an addition two years of dealership maintenance at a not too princely sum of $899. It goes back to least amount of hassles as possible: paying up front means I don’t have to think about the M2’s maintenance until September of 2026. By that time I either would have found a suitable independent shop, or no longer own the car.

Since new in October 2020, my M2 has been completely reliable. Nothing has failed, zero unscheduled visits to the dealership. Nearly 21,000 miles of pain-free ownership. The only mishap during this time is of my fault: a broken windshield caused by an unsecured piece of furniture I was carrying inside during a panic stop.

Not wanting some cheap Chinese-made windshield from SafeLite, I elected to go the official route: a BMW OEM windshield at a BMW-certified collision repair shop. I’m sure it’s just fluff, but on the work order it states the specialized adhesive alone is $99. What isn’t superfluous is recalibrating the camera sensor at the top center of the windshield. The M2’s emergency braking featured literally saved my butt from an expensive rear-ender to a mere windshield replacement.

Only is a relative term, of course. Going with BMW everything meant a simple windshield job is $2,338 (in 2022 money)! I think most people would (should) have gone with the cheaper third-party route. I am seeing a quoted $350 at Safelite in 2025 money.

In reviving this M2 diaries, I am hoping to return to what I enjoy doing: driving, and writing about it. Perhaps if I am accountable to deliverables on this page, I would actually get off my butt and take the car out to places. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with having a largely static museum piece. It’s a curse upon car enthusiasm for there to be a stigma towards owners who don’t put many miles on their cars.

Let’s see how it goes. The M2 Competition will be with me for quite a while longer yet.

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Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 20,930
Mileage this month: 190
Costs this month: $1,454.67 (tires)
MPG this month: 19.19

March 2021: it's how much!?

How quickly does six months fly by indeed. I’ve had the pleasure of owning this BMW M2 Competition for half a year already, and in that time, I’ve put barely 3,000 miles on the car. As much as I claim I want to drive more and take the car out on long road adventures, perhaps this is just who I am? I love cars deeply, but putting many miles on them isn’t my thing, at least during this phase in life. 

3,000 mile in six months is consistent with the 6,000 or so I put on the 911 GT3 during its first year of ownership. It’s also consistent with the 14,000 or so miles I put on the MX-5 Miata in the three years I owned that car. Maybe it’s time to face facts: I get more enjoyment out of having the car parked out front than actually putting massive amounts of mileage on it. I mean, here I am on a Saturday morning typing this out, instead of taking the M2 out for a drive in the mountains. 

I am a homebody that happens to love cars. 

Which also explains why it was rather foolish of me to take stewardship of my brother’s MX-5 Miata. I can’t even drive my own car enough, what makes me think I would make the time and effort necessary to drive two? Never mind the fact I now have yet another car to take care of in terms of maintenance and keeping it clean. The parts of car ownership I really don’t like doing. I just like to drive, and it turns out I don’t do enough of that either. 

At least now I know I’m not the type of car enthusiast to have more than one car. 

I’m pretty sure I put more miles on my brother’s Miata than my own M2 during the month I’ve had both. This is not an indictment on the BMW, mind you. The sheer power advantage and the luxurious accoutrements of the M2 makes it the choice over the one-track minded Mazda roadster. However, the MX-5 trumps the BMW with having a manual transmission. On weekends where traffic isn’t an issue, it’s way more fun to row my own gears. 

I still think I’ve made the right decision to get the M2 with the dual-clutch automatic gearbox instead of the manual. Of course, being a decision that costs ~$3,000 dollars extra, I’m biased to defend that position. A great dual-clutch transmission offers the tractility of a manual, combined with the effortless smooth of a traditional automatic. For a car that is to be my only vehicle, going DCT in the M2 makes sense. 

The ability to pop the gearbox into fully automatic mode soon as I hit a bit of traffic is quite awesome. 

It’s a decision I probably have to live with for a very long time to come. The BMW M2 just might be the last internal-combustion car I buy. Headwinds in the automotive world are blowing heavily towards electrification, both consumer demand (thank you, Tesla) and extremely prohibitive emission regulations (thank you, Euro 7). All my friends have either bought electric vehicles, or their next car will have some form of electrification, if not fully. As much as I love the combustion engine, I’m not going to be the old man yelling at the clouds of rapid change.

I’ve had enough seat time now in fully electric cars to understand how awesome they are. The rapid acceleration from the torque of the motor is fantastic, and simply cannot be matched by any gasoline engine. Combined with a low center of gravity, electric vehicles are darty and fun to drive. There isn’t a gap in traffic that you can’t exploit with a quick push of the accelerator pedal. Lastly, the interiors of electric cars are just really pleasant places to be, quiet and refined. No loud engine noises, only the quiet, futuristic whoosh of the motor.

The next daily-driver I buy, if I ever do need to drive to work again, will be an electric vehicle. That time has arrived, and it’s okay with this car enthusiast. 

And I’m okay with the BMW M2 being the final fun car I buy that burns petrol for motivation – the unintended forever car. I don’t really aspire for anything better or different, not at my current income level anyways. I’ve tasted the pinnacle of sports car already, having owned the 991 generation Porsche 911 GT3, so to that end I’m quite satisfied and satiated. I wouldn’t mind having the latest Honda Civic Type R in the stable, but going back to what I wrote earlier, I’m not cut out to own more than one car at a time.  

There’s no way I am replacing a pure real-wheel drive sports car with anything that’s front-wheel drive, even for a Civic Type R that’s been dubbed the GT3 of its kind. 

Six months with the M2 means insurance renewal time! It was to my great surprise and dissatisfaction to find premiums have increased nearly $500 dollars for the next six-month period. This isn’t Progressive being screwy with me, either: I’ve checked quotes from other insurance companies, and their premiums are even worst. It looks like the costs of insuring a BMW in San Francisco have gone quite a ways up. 

What have you other BMW drivers been doing? Crashing into things? Being naughty with the law? I certainly haven’t contributed to the problem. I’ve made zero claims on my insurance, and the only ticket I got in the last six months is for not having a front license plate, which I have since fixed. Nevertheless, BMW drivers really have to get it together, because I am dangerously close to paying the same premiums as I did for the 911 GT3 – a car that costs twice as much.

Data and demographics can be such a bitch. I take commiseration in knowing that owners of Tesla cars and Dodge Chargers/Challengers have got it worse.  

But that means I really should try to put more miles on the M2. I am paying way too much in insurance to have it only do 6,000 miles a year. But there’s another problem: with the pandemic nearing its end, gasoline prices have gone up tremendously. With a car that gets 20 miles to the gallon on a good day, it’s rather painful at the fuel pump these days with the M2. It’s not Porsche GT3 levels of horrible, but it’s barely better.  

See what I mean about my next car being electric? Things have changed rapidly. See you all next month. 

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Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 3,011
Mileage this month: 219
Costs this month: $1,589.77 (insurance renewal)
MPG this month: 20.42

February 2021: old habits

When driving a BMW M2 Competition, who do you give the “enthusiasts wave” to? The obvious answer is fellow M2 drivers, but anybody else? What about lesser models of the 2 Series lineup? Other M-badged cars? Or sporting BMW cars in general? 

It was far easier to determine who to wave to (or give the thumbs up) in my previous cars. In the Porsche 911, I only waved to other Porsche sports cars – the 911, Cayman, and Boxster. In the Mazda Miata, it was any other MX-5 on the road, no matter the generation. In the Subaru WRX STI, it was any other WRX, no matter the vintage. It’s simple, really: I wave to cars that were nearly identical to the one I was driving. 

The BMW range of cars is more vast than the previous marques I’ve owned, and many of those cars carry sporting intentions. It isn’t like the M2 is the only game in the Bavarian portfolio. There’s the venerable M3/M4, the M5 sports sedan, the big M8 coupe, the M SUVs, and a whole host of slightly lesser variants that nonetheless can be considered as enthusiast cars (the M340i, for example). Therefore, the conundrum: how to differentiate between who’s an enthusiast who isn’t? Who to give the wave to? 

The fast BMW SUVs are automatically eliminated. I don’t think any card-carrying petrol head would actually buy one of those for spirted driving. The X3M and X5M are great cars, but more of a transportation device – that happens to be super rapid – than a road carving machine. I don’t wave to those drivers. Back when I had the 911, I didn’t wave to Porsche Macan and Cayenne owners either. 

The rule I came up with for the M2 is this: when I’m driving in the mountains, I wave to any other BMW on the road that isn’t an SUV. Most of them are M cars anyways, so there’s no risk of encountering a 230i convertible and confusing that driver. In everyday driving, I only wave to other M2 drivers, plus our close platform siblings the M3 and M4. Something about the kinship of having the same engine and drivetrain.

All of this seems trivial, but it’s a comradery between shared interests and shared vehicles. In a market with so many options, another person and I ended up picking the same car. If the pandemic isn’t still very much going on, I rather like to attend a few BMW-specific car gatherings. 

Primarily to show off just how much of a careless klutz I am. Barely four months since I bought the M2 brand new, I’ve already curbed both passenger side wheels, and reversed the car onto another parked car. Thankfully, said parked car belonged to my brother, and the damage was minimal – one measly paint chip on the M2’s rear bumper.  

All the assistive technologies in the world could not save me from my clumsy. The M2 has a backup camera and parking sensors, yet I still managed to back it onto another vehicle. The passenger side mirrors automatically dips when the transmission is in reverse, so the driver can directly see where the wheels are in relation to the curb when parallel parking. That didn’t stop me from scraping both curb-side wheels on the concrete. 

Not sure if it’s hubris or brain issues: I can’t help but to carelessly damage that cars that I own. On the second day of owning the 911 GT3, I ran the front lip over a parking curb. Thankfully, that unpainted piece of plastic is meant to be bashed, band over the course of ownership I’ve scraped and bump it an embarrassing number of times. I too have backed the GT3 onto something, though fortunately it was a soft block of wood backstopping a parking stall, and I was going at a crawl. No damage. 

It was a miracle I somehow did not curb any of the wheels on the 911. 

My ND Miata suffered the least from my stupidity, though that’s because it’s so physically small that even my adverse powers couldn’t affect it. The only thing I can remember is scraping (again) the front lip on a driveway that I underestimated the steepness of. In hindsight, perhaps that MX-5 was a good luck charm, and I never should have sold it. 

The WRX STI suffered the most. All four wheels have had curb damage, which is an incredible achievement. The bottom of the front bumper has been scraped to hell, and I’ve bumped it on quite a few times on quite a few things. I reversed the car into a concrete column at the school parking lot, leaving a peppering of paint chips on the rear bumper. One time on the highway I ran over a steel piece of debris, and it tore a gash off the paint on the left rear door. There’s a slight bend to the right front fender, from the time I switched lanes onto another car. 

I was very surprised when CarMax quote as high a number as they did when I sold the WRX STI. The (lack of) depreciation on Subaru cars is indeed legendary. 

It seems age and experience hasn’t stopped me from these stupid mistakes. Short of having a fully self-driving car, I’m afraid I can’t help myself. Not even 3,000 miles from new, and the M2 is already looking worse for the wear in certain areas of the car. I fully understand the virtue of not being precious with your cars, and that ultimately these material things won’t stay perfect forever. However, it still hurts because it’s me being clumsy, rather than the regular deterioration that comes with age and use. Easily preventable stuff, if I’d just paid complete attention to what I was doing. 

At least I’m far less obsessive compulsive as I used to be. Something like curbing a wheel used to ruin my whole week. Nowadays, I can forget about something like that almost immediately, though not without some mental self-flagellation first. Cars are meant to be driven and used, and with that comes the inevitable scars and chips. I would just like for them to occur naturally, rather than due to my clumsiness and stupidity. 

Nothing much to report on the M2 this month. February is short, and because (again) of the pandemic, opportunities to drive and hang out is minimal. 413 miles this month, under these circumstances, is a testament to how fun the M2 is to drive. It wasn’t my initial infatuation with something new that colored my feelings: this pugnacious BMW coupe remains as ensnaring as those first moments. I just want to keep driving, and hopefully not back the bumper into any more stationary objects. 

See you next month!  

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Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 2,792
Mileage this month: 413
Costs this month: $235.81
MPG this month: 20.21

January 2021: comfortable, useable speed

The surprise this month is how on earth did I manage to put over 500 miles on the M2? During a month with the stay-at-home orders were still very much in effect. And I also made a point to not drive the car unnecessarily.

It really shows just how fun the little BMW is to drive. It’s too easy during the grocery run to take a circuitous detour, to go the longer way. Even if the route isn’t full of bends and corners, it’s joyful enough to simply cruise on the highway. I guess that’s how I did half a thousand miles last month. A trip to Costco? Let’s take a route through the mountains to get there.

It certainly helps to have a car that’s comfortable and easy to live with. The M2 is the latest in an illustrious line of sports sedans from BMW (yes, even though it’s got two doors, the M2 is underpinned by a sedan platform). That means alongside its sporting credentials, it also has to function as a normal, everyday car. This isn’t the hardcore track-ready machine like the Porsche GT3 I had previously. 

Let’s start with tires. January was the typically rainy for us, and the factory-fitted Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires on the M2 handled the water competently. You still have to be careful with the throttle, but at least I’m not constantly terrified of the backend stepping out at any moment. Such as the case in the 911 GT3, equipped with Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires. Wet surface with cold tires was not a fun time in the Porsche.  

Neither is the GT3’s super low ground clearance. Tackling driveways at extreme angles to clear them without scraping the front bumper gets tiring after the 10th time. In the mountains, I couldn’t pull over on just any turnout, because the Porsche will surely bottom out on half of them. Not-so-paved roads into the wilderness? Forget about it. 

It’s so nice to have semi-decent clearance again with the M2 Competition. The ability to take it practically anywhere without having to think about whether it’ll scrape puts the mind at ease. I’m surprised I haven’t yet hit the bottom of the aggressively styled front bumper on a driveway. Knocking on wood tremendously, of course. 

Then there’s the comfort amenities. Backup camera and sensors make parking super easy (still managed to ding a wheel, sadly). Power everything makes ingress and egress effortless. Press one button to fold in the mirrors! Seat memory that remembers my preferred position! Features I previously thought superfluous in a car, I am now finding them to be indispensable. 

The inside of the M2 is just a nice place to be. Enthusiasts love hardcore sports cars and talk all the time about driving purity, but when it comes down to it: luxury and comfort count for something as well. Stiff ride, loud cabin, and uncomfortable seats become rather annoying as the miles pile on. What I really want is a solid sounding stereo, steering wheel and seats that warms me on a cold morning, and proper interior storage space.

I suppose I should turn in my enthusiast card now. Then again, Youtuber Savagegeese sold his Ariel Atom for a Lexus LC500. I am definitely not alone in unwilling to sacrifice comfort for every last bit of driving feel. 

The modern turbocharged engine is a marvel, and the S55 unit in the M2 is one of the best. There’s so much useable torque throughout the rev-range that it makes city driving superbly fun. The way I can dart in and out of traffic with mere squirt of the throttle is intoxicating, and bit of a hooligan. The power shove is quite similar to that of an electric vehicle. There’s really no need to chase the tach needle all the way to the 7,500 RPM redline. Second and third gear between 2,000 and 5,000 is where the M2 comes alive.  

Turbo lag is minimal enough to not be annoying. Absent is the old-school turbo punch that I’ve experienced in my old Subaru WRX STI. It’s never going to match a naturally aspirated motor for response, but turbocharging has come quite a long way with modern technologies. The deficiencies have effectively been engineered out. I absolutely believe people who say the turbocharged V8 in a Ferrari 488 feels exactly like an atmospheric motor. 

The S55 isn’t quite like that, but it’s really good. While I will forever miss the 9,000 RPM howl of the flat-six engine in the GT3, I am not one bit disappointed with the M2’s turbo inline-six. 

Honestly, I reckon that around 400 horsepower is the sweet spot of balance between speed and jail time. The M2’s rated 406 horsepower is more than adequate for some naughtiness on the streets, but it isn’t so much that by the end of second gear, it’s time for a trip to the police impound yard. Ultimately, what I want is useable power for driving around town and in the mountains.

The latest cars with more than 600 horsepower seem to be for measuring contests than actual driving pleasure. How much of that power can you exploit on public roads – legally? You need a racing circuit to utilize every bit of such a car’s immense capability. Being able to access more of a car’s performance on the streets is where the thrill is. This is why the Mazda Miata remains the answer to every enthusiast question. 

It’s also why I get more excited about a Toyota GR Yaris than the latest hyper exotica from Italy. We’ve reached a point where sports cars are by and large fast enough. How to make a car fun and pure to drive on everyday roads is the question to tackle, not adding ever more horsepower. The first manufacturer to move in this direct is going to win the enthusiasts dollars. 

Sadly, it’s not BMW. The forthcoming M3/M4 has gained power and weight, more cruise missile than a scything sports car. The upper trim levels has even got all-wheel drive! No one ever complained about the last generation car to be slow, though it could definitely use more steering feel. BMW seems to have ignore this, and instead kept on chasing ever better performance numbers on a spec-sheet. 

Biased as I am, this F87-generation M2 Competition could be the final version of a breed of fun, sweet driving BMW sports sedans.   

See you next month. 

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Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 2,379
Mileage this month: 512
Costs this month: $238.61
MPG this month: 20.82

December 2020: luxurious surprise

Should I have gotten the manual instead? 

In these times of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, most of my driving is done for leisure. Therefore, the slog of sitting in traffic is not a common event these days. With the only advantage of an automatic gearbox negated - not having to use the clutch a thousand times in traffic - I’m having second thoughts about the wisdom of paying nearly $3,000 more for the optional dual-clutch gearbox in my M2 Competition.

I had a choice! Did I make the wrong one?

A few years ago, when buying the 911 GT3, the decision was made for me: it only came with an automatic PDK. Model year 2018 had an optional six-speed manual, but a 2015 was as new a GT3 as I could afford. The PDK gearbox is as advertised: immensely responsive, with super quick shifts. That transmission is matched so well with the 3.8-liter flat-six engine that I didn’t bemoan the lack of a clutch pedal. If automatics come as good as the PDK, I’ll be quite okay with never buying a stick-shift car again.

It’s with that ethos that I chose to buy an M2 Competition with the optional 7-speed DCT, instead of the manual. The transition from the Porsche to the BMW should be seamless.

After a couple months of driving, I can say the dual-clutch gearbox in the M2 is equally as good as the vaunted PDK. In the “Sport Plus” setting, shifts are immediate and snappy, no matter which direction. In my opinion, the true test of how good an automatic transmission is how quick it is on downshifts; the BMW DCT answers my commands without hesitation or fuss. It’s smooth, too: you can risk a gear change mid corner without upsetting the chassis. 

Obviously, when moving from a stop the dual-clutch gearbox isn’t going have the innate smoothness of a traditional torque-converter. The M2 will jerk ever slightly as the clutch and flywheel does its mating dance. There’s also a delay when reversing the car: often times the gearbox will hesitate a moment to react after I had selected ‘R’ and prodded the throttle. 

All are minor shortcomings that absolutely do not detract from the brilliance of BMW’s DCT. It’s really strange that the M2 will be the last car to utilize that gearbox. New fast BMWs have all switched to the ZF 8-speed traditional automatic, no doubt for cost effective reasons. The next generation M2 is sure to follow suit. 

With that in mind, I should be happy with my transmission choice in the M2. It’s fantastic, and the very last of the breed. Indeed, most of the time I am quite satisfied. However, the grass-is-greener syndrome is strong, and there are times I wonder if the M2 would be ever more fun with the stick. BMW manual gearboxes don’t have the sterling reputation of, say, Honda, but from all accounts it’s definitely serviceable. I certainly haven’t read of owners regretting getting the standard manual in their M2s. 

Perhaps I’m simply yearning for a manual car to play with. Nevertheless, I’m sure this bit of pining will abate soon as the pandemic is over, and traffic levels are back to normal. I still wouldn’t want to be stuck in traffic with a stick and a clutch pedal. 

In my haste in acquiring the car, I hadn’t realized the M2 comes with this many luxurious features. It’s a BMW after all, but as a car enthusiast I was more focused on the 406-horsepower engine and drive to the rear wheels. Coming from relatively barebones interiors of a 911 GT3 and an MX-5 Miata, a feature-packed cabin space is not something I was focused on. They are nice-to-have, though something I wouldn’t have paid for, if I had to pay for it.

Last month, I wrote how awesome it was to have heated seats and heated steering wheel as we head into the cold of winter. This month it finally started to rain in earnest, and that’s when I discovered another premium feature: automatic sensing wipers. Toggle the stalk into the “auto” position, and the computers will take care of the rest. Even though I’m perfectly capable of turning on and off the windshield wipers and making adjustments, since the auto sensing feature is there, I’m going to use that instead. 

During a drive at night, I also noticed the M2 comes with automatic dimming mirrors. Rear-view mirror with this feature is quite common, even in non-luxury cars; I was surprised to find the M2’s side mirrors dim automatically as well! How nice it is to not be blinded by the multitude of high-riding SUVs strafing up the back of me.

Fully power adjusting seats with memory is another welcomed feature. Not only can I set my driving position easily should another person drive the M2, but the memory function also aids in ingress and egress. Whenever I park the car, I slide the seat backwards so I can get out through the door aperture easier. Upon returning to the car, I simply press the memory button and the seat will return to its ideal position. It’s pretty magical, I have to say. Surely it saves a bit of wear on the seat side bolsters as well. 

With the San Francisco Bay Area back in lockdown conditions, I resisted taking the M2 out for drives unless it was absolutely necessary. However, the car is so much fun that anytime I’ve taken it out, I always make sure to go the longer route. Taking circuitous detours on purpose is how I managed to rack up over 500 miles this month, even though I’ve only done “essential travel”. 

As I’ve said, the M2 Competition is more fun to drive than the 911 GT3 (the latter is more special). Unlike the flashy Porsche, I can blend it perfectly with background traffic, too. So long as loud exhaust mode isn’t activated. 

Earlier in December, the M2 was due for its initial break-in service. Triggered after 1,200 miles, the service entails an engine oil change and a standard checklist of items. This is the first new car I’ve owned that calls for such an early return to the dealership. Apparently, this initial 1,200-mile service is innate to all BMWs, not just the super special M products. It’s kind of weird: if I remember correctly, even the highly technical 911 GT3 didn’t ask for this sort of initial break-in check.

I guess BMW likes to get the crud from a brand-new engine out of the system before owners seriously romp on their cars. Until this 1,200-mile service is done, the owner’s manual warns to not go beyond 5,000 RPM, and never go wide open throttle. 

I may or may not have followed those guidelines. 

The initial service was of course free. Partly why I bought a brand-new BMW is because all new BMWs come with free maintenance for the first three years, or 36,000 miles, whichever arrives first. After paying through the nose for the “Porsche tax” in servicing the GT3, not having to pay for maintenance for the next three years was a very attractive proposition. Obviously, the purchase price of the car notwithstanding. It all evens out at the end, but psychologically it’s nice to not have to think about servicing costs for the immediate future.

I took the M2 back to my purchasing dealer – BMW of San Francisco – for the service. It’s a good test of the servicing department. I have to say they did a superb job. Just like my previous Porsche dealership, my service advisor at BMW of SF asked whether or not I’d like the car to be washed. It’s a sign of attention to detail when the customer doesn’t have to prompt for such things. The advisor then took a walk-around video of my M2, to document the current condition of the car for any potential posterities.

Being a luxury brand, I was of course provided with a service loaner. I was expecting a poverty-spec 1 Series, but instead I was surprisingly given a brand-new M340i sedan with less than 50 miles on the clock. 380-horsepower turbocharged inline-six engine, ZF 8-speed automatic gearbox, and rear-wheel drive: sounds like a lot of fun. Indeed, the M340i is a smooth and capable operator, effortlessly fast. Sadly, it was a workday, so I didn’t get a chance to take it on an extended drive. 

I’ll say this: the ZF 8-speed is wonderful, but I’m glad the 7-speed DCT is fitted to my M2. The ZF is missing just that last bit of crispness. It’ll be interesting to see how it does duty in the forthcoming M3/M4. 

With the turn to a new year comes renewed possibilities. Armed with the vaccine, I sincerely hope the world returns to normal as soon as possible. Until such a time, the M2 Competition will remain largely static, parked. Let’s see how many miles I can manage during January. See you then. 

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Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 1,867
Mileage this month: 525
Costs this month: $290.02
MPG this month: 20.88

November 2020: love at first drive

“I love this car.”

That’s the main sentiment I take from the first month of owning the BMW M2 Competition. It’s a really fun car to drive, in some ways more so than my previous Porsche 911. The 991 GT3 is always going to be a tough act to follow, but the junior M car has done the job admirably. With the M2, I’ve rediscovered the joy of driving. Every chance I get, I am eager to put miles on the car, taking the long way towards a destination.

Not to say the GT3 wasn’t special – it’s one of the unique driving experiences in motoring existence. However, the Porsche’s limits are so high that the exploitable fun is rather scarce on public roads. By the end of second gear, you’re already beyond the highest speed limits in California. The Michelin Cup 2 tires on the GT3 also takes a bit of warming up before they start working at all. In contrast, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires on the M2 are immediately reactive at ambient temperatures.

The 911 is an event; the M2 is a normal, fun sports car. Because of that, I can hop into the BMW and just go. The car from Bavaria also blends into traffic far easier than the shouty, be-winged spectacle from Stuttgart. Driving the M2, I am anonymous to everyone but the few enthusiasts who know how special this M car is.

Of course, all of this could simply be the honeymoon period talking. I did indeed give up the Porsche because I cannot afford to own it any longer. Fawning over the M2 this quickly is probably just me subconsciously making justifications to hide the regret. I do miss the 911 GT3 from time to time, but as far as consolation prizes go, the M2 Competition is not a bad place to be. 

I can’t stop driving it! With over 750 miles logged this month, it’s the most I’ve put onto a car this year (COVID edition, obviously) by some margin. The increased seat time reveals a glaring contrast to the 911 – the fuel-tank in the M2 is way too small. The car’s 406 horsepower turbocharged inline-six gets roughly the same gas mileage as the atmospheric flat-six in the GT3, but the advantage in the Porsche is its 26-gallon tank (optional, mind) in comparison to the M2’s paltry 13.7 gallons. Under spirited driving, the M2 will reach empty before the trip counter hits 200 miles.

Driving the M2, I am visiting the gas station twice as often than the GT3, though each fill-up obviously costs equally half as much.

Long stints in the car also reveals a welcomed confirmation: the M2’s seats are comfortable (for me) on journeys of extended hours. No butt-cramps in these M seats taken straight from the M3/M4 siblings. While I do wish the seats would go lower, the overall seating adjustment is spot on. No part of my body is compromised to get into the proper driving position. The seats also have a memory function in conjunction with the side mirror adjustments, which is a nice-to-have for situations when someone else drives the M2 and fiddles with the settings. 

The seats are heated as well, a luxurious feature I’ve not had since the Subaru WRX STI – three cars ago. The warmers are definitely welcomed during those mid 40s San Francisco mornings. Same with the heated steering wheel, one of those things I didn’t know I needed it until I have it. With chronically poor blood circulation, a warm steering wheel in the morning is a godsend for me.

An amenity I am really glad to have is the backup camera. Strangely absent in the six-figure Porsche, parking the GT3 was an adventure in reversing slowly and getting out of the car multiple times to check. Don’t have to do that anymore in the BMW. Not only does the M2 have the federally mandated backup camera, but it also comes standard with parking sensors. Never before have I had such electronic assistance, and it makes parking an absolute breeze. No more starring out of the back of the rear glass and having a giant spoiler obstructing my view.

Another luxurious, nice-to-have feature: wireless Apple CarPlay. I am going to groan in complaint whenever I get into a car that doesn’t have that. At the moment, that means any car that isn’t a BMW or some Hyundai models. 

So how is the M2 Competition to drive? First month’s impressions are very positive. The turbocharged inline-six motor has plenty of torque throughout the rev-range, a contrast to the high-strung character of the GT3’s atmospheric flat-six. While I do miss the pin-sharp throttle response of the Porsche, the sheer availability of grunt down low in the BMW makes squirting around town easier and more pleasurable. 

The 911’s famous steering feel absolutely puts the rack on the M2 to shame. It’s not utterly devoid of feel (looking at you, Audi products), but I definitely would like more feedback through the fingers. Under trail-braking I cannot sense the front tires increasing in grip through the wheel rim, even though physically they are. The M2 is a sort of car you point and go, rather than coaxing it through a corner with finesse. There isn’t enough feel in the steering for that type of driving.

But at least the steering is direct and darty. In combination with the relatively short wheelbase and the 50/50 weight distribution, the M2 is quick to change direction and super agile. In my decidedly amateurish hands, the M2 is faster up a winding mountain road than the vaunted GT3. Stay in second gear and use all that torque to rocket the car from one corner to the next. The M2’s perfect weight balance means I’m not constantly worried about the back-end doing something funny. In the 911 – where the engine is behind the rear-axle, the fear of the rear coming around is always on the back of my mind.

On a race track there is no doubt the GT3 will demolish the M2. However, track driving is not something I like or want to do.

Some initial negatives about the BMW: the brakes are super grabby. For a company notoriously stingy on braking power, the M2 Competition is outfitted with surprisingly beefy stoppers. The 400mm front rotors are larger in diameter than even the units on the GT3. It also shares with the Porsche the same six-piston front and four-piston rear fixed caliper setup, supplied by Brembo. The system hauls the porky ~3,600-pound weight of the M2 to a stop nicely, though the brake pedal is spiky and difficult to modulate. After over a thousand miles, it is still hard to judge the level of pedal input for the amount of braking I want.

Another sore spot is the exhaust tuning. For emission reasons, upon starting the engine, the computer dumps fuel into the exhaust to fire up the catalytic converters. However, this creates a loud bark that is rather intrusive in a residential neighborhood. On weekend mornings when I am sneaking out to the mountains for a drive, I always say a silent apology to the still-sleeping neighbors when I turn on the M2.

With the engine in Sport Plus mode, it also dumps fuel into the exhaust to create fake burble sounds when the driver lifts off the gas. Made popular by the Jaguar F-type V8, it’s a noisy gimmick that manufacturers engineer into their cars to make them sound more “sporty”. I absolutely hate fake stuff like this (looking at you as well, generated fake engine noise in the cabin). Coming from a 911 GT3 that is too pure to have such artificial silliness, the “burble tune” of the M2 Competition is rather annoying.

On one of many drives in the mountains this month, I was pulled over for speeding. The officer was nice enough to let me off the hook by giving me a fix-it ticket instead. The offense to be fixed is the lack of front license plate. The dealership did not drill holes in the front bumper to affix one, and I wasn’t about to do it – unless I get pulled over. After nearly two years of driving without a front plate – the GT3 didn’t have one either – I finally get my comeuppance. As I’ve written before, I don’t mind holes in the bumper and running a front plate, so that’s exactly what I did to the M2. Now I just need to get the ticket signed off by an officer of the law and pay the small fee to the court.

Coming up next month is the break-in service, due at 1,200 miles for the M2. It’ll be the first opportunity to test the quality of servicing provided by my selling dealer – BMW of San Francisco. After experiencing a premium brand like Porsche for the past year, I have high expectations from a fellow German luxury automaker. Maintenance is free (outside of wear items) for the first three years on all new BMWs, so this break-in service will cost me zero dollars. 

We’ll see if I am able to put as many miles on the car next month. COVID cases are once again increasing wildly, and as of this writing, much of the San Francisco Bay Area is scheduled to return to lockdown. While leisurely drives in a personal car isn’t high on the danger list of contracting the coronavirus, I definitely want to limit the potential of having an accident. Adding to the already crowded situation at the hospitals would be awful. 

I’ll see you next month.

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Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 1,342
Mileage this month: 758
Costs this month: $343.32
MPG this month: 21.34