It’s official: BMW M2 CS a Porsche killer

Only 30 of BMW’s M2 CS made their way to South Africa, and BMW SA decided to pull a clever marketing move by numbering them, put them on auction to a select guest list and thus made them instantly highly collectable.

Thankfully, they also put one into the road test fleet for us petrol heads to experience away from the track, and in our case, allow us to strap our Racelogic VBOX test equipment to the car and see how it performs against the clock. The CS’s full report can be viewed here.

This is the car that has been stacked against Porsche’s 718 Cayman GT4 in a mortal battle for its life by most publications around the world. For what it is worth, the Porsche is quicker around a track with a time of seven minutes 28 seconds compared to seven minutes 42 seconds around the benchmark Nürburgring.

Thanks to lack of oxygen on the Reef though, the naturally aspirated Porsche with its manual gearbox gets solidly beaten by the twin turbocharged and lightning quick shifting dual-clutch BMW in a straight line. However, with this said, comparing the GT4 to the M2 CS, is like comparing racing around on a PlayStation to doing hot laps in the physical car.

So, I am not going to do this, instead I am going to simply talk a little about how this ultimate M2 stacks up against its lesser sibling in the form of the M2 Competition. And what you get for the, give or take, R500 000 you would have had to have spent to get your hands on a R1.8-million CS over a Competition model.

On the outside you get a bunch of carbon fibre reinforced plastic in the form of a newly designed bonnet, roof, front splitter, boot spoiler, exterior mirror caps and rear diffuser. A tweaked 331kW/550 Nm S55 powerplant rides on an M Adaptive suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels that can be wrapped in sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres (our test car had Pilot Super Sports fitted).

Optional carbon ceramic brakes did the stopping for us instead of the standard M Sport brakes, and a somewhat muted sports exhaust attempts to let the world know you have arrived. Aesthetically, the M2 CS is right up there in terms of appeal. On the inside you get more carbon fibre for the likes of the centre console, and some optional alcantara thrown in for good measure. Lightweight M Sport seats from the M4 CS keep you firmly in place, while also looking the business.

On the road the M2 CS makes proper use of the extra horsepower on tap and does a very quick 3.99 sec to 100 km/h (4.40 seconds M2 Competition), while going through the 1 km mark at 242 km/h (235 km/h M2 Competition). Top speed is electronically limited to 280km/h. Bottom line, this is one seriously fast pocket rocket.

Is the M2 CS worth the extra money over the M2 Competition in straight out technical and speed terms? No. But as a sought-after collector’s car, you know it is the one you want.

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