This Used BMW M2 Delivers M-Car Thrills For The Price Of A Hot Hatch

BMW’s return to M-car form started right here. The first F80 M3 and F82 M4 won mixed reviews and combined with a few other factors it seemed like BMW M was losing its edge. Until the M2 arrived.

Only slightly smaller on the road than its two larger cousins, the M2 was nonetheless sharper, more agile and felt more alive from the first turn of the wheel. People rightly raved about it. Let’s start with the bodywork. A fairly subtle styling job with flowing flared wheel arches was punctuated by four exhausts, so depending on what angle you saw it from first it either whispered its intent, or shouted it.

It may not have been the most spacious or practical car out there but it didn’t have to be: its price was inappropriately touching the bottom end of the Porsche range and its main rival was always the blatantly single-minded Cayman. The M2 was fundamentally a car to make you smile, but one that could carry luggage and extra people at need. A bit like a modern hot hatch.

We were browsing the classifieds, as you do, and found the cheapest M2s dropping into the region of £31,000; almost £2000 cheaper than a new, three-door Volkswagen Golf R. Before options. Add a few trinkets on VW’s configurator and £35,000 can sail past. In fact we had one on test recently that was optioned to nearly £50,000…

Not-so coincidentally, that’s the price of our pick of the M2s. We found this gorgeous Long Beach Blue metallic one on eBay UK, registered in September 2016 on a ‘66’ plate and therefore not even two years old yet. On a classified listing the price is £34,995, but offers are invited. The car has had a single owner and covered just 5270 miles from new. It’s clearly a weekend toy rather than a daily driver.

It’s a manual car, so it’ll hit 62mph in 4.5 seconds and happily slam into its 155mph limiter. The single-turbo N55B30 engine at the front shoots 365bhp at the rear wheels on the way to a 7000rpm ceiling. An overboost function allows for peak torque of 369lb ft at just 1450rpm. Performance is not a box that goes unticked.

On top of its feature-deep pockets containing xenon headlights, parking sensors, BMW connected services and sat-nav, it also has the optional heated front seats, paint protection, a reversing camera, a sunroof and the Harman Kardon stereo upgrade. There’s even one service left on the pre-paid BMW Service Plan, so that’s an expense you won’t have to plan for. This, we reckon, is an ideal spec with a few perks besides.

Condition is described as excellent, with unmarked wheels. All in, an offer somewhere close to £35,000 seems like a hell of a way to spend hot hatch money on something a little more exciting without totally sacrificing the bags-and-people-shifting stuff your head knows you need. What would it be, CTzens? This, with over a year’s BMW warranty still left, or a brand new Golf R?