In this month's Top Gear Magazine.
Some extracts:
"It's a mighty thing to drive"
"You immediately have massive confidence"
"It does feel more special than my car"
"Even before we'd seen a picture of BMW's latest hardcore machine people were framing it not as a new M car, but a Porsche Cayman GT4 rival – and I'm sure that we will soon be able to watch and read many comparisons between the two. But does the M2 CS really have to prove itself against a Porsche that is so fundamentally different in its layout? I think, to use the F1 analogy, the CS's toughest rival lurks much closer to home – the humble and much cheaper M2 Competition. I thought it would be interesting to drive them together and decide if the extra £22,915 BMW requires to join the exclusive CS club is actually worth it."
"It is a mighty fun thing to drive though, and you notice the chassis changes immediately. A new set of adaptive dampers give a firmer ride on the road, even in the softest setting, but on track the front axle response of the CS really is a step beyond the base car. Steering inputs are met with instant direction changes and the whole axle assembly just feels much more resistant to any kind of roll or squat. This is some trick from a front-engine car and, coupled with those super sticky Michelins, means you immediately have massive confidence about how you can place the car."
"So what we have here is a question of how much people value the specialness of that CS badge and the suspicion that this little car might mark the end point for a particular type of driving machine. And here I think I can make a stronger case for it. It does feel more special than my car, and I suspect there are many people for whom driving around in an M2 Comp and then seeing the lucky sod who bought a CS out and about might make them wish they'd gone for the more expensive option."
"Me? I think I made the correct choice. I've added an Akrapovič exhaust and Litchfield Motors has developed a superb Bilstein suspension kit that transforms the chassis and removes some ride height. It really wouldn't take much work to replicate that CS front end response. Crucially, BMW will sell you a set of the gorgeous CS alloy wheels, which I bought, so at a glance my car does look 9/10th of a CS. And when I think about how much I love driving it every day, and the fact it represents everything I love about BMW and has a manual gearbox and a normal handbrake and a killer hi-fi, I think the M2 Competition is the best value fast road car out there at the moment. And, for all its subtle specialness, the CS really only serves to reinforce that point. Beware your cheaper teammate, as Sebastian Vettel will attest."
