Latest news from today (not for people who follow my Instagram
) is that I finally have my M2 Competition and I have also driven the first 220 km in the car as well. First fill up with 100 octane fuel was done and immediately out of the dealer I went with a whole group of 15+ cars Czech BMW M friends for a drive in the countryside on some nice and twisty roads near Prague. I took it easy, nothing stupid and no major revs, mostly on auto. Also because the brakes are not bedded in and the wheels need a bit of a run.
I feel that after only 220 km I am not allowed to give much of a verdict to you guys, but I can share some initial experiences and thoughts that I gathered tonight. Before I do so I think I should share a bit of my planning. The coming weeks I will have a long trip abroad with a lot of highway miles and then I will hand over the car to
krizze who will be finishing the last 800 km of the running in. The car will then have its run-in service by the end of this coming week ahead of a bit of a surprise, which I can now finally share after months of planning! More on that in a separate post.
Let's go back to the initial experiences after today's handover, reveal and drive. Together with the local BMW club I invited about 30 people to be part of the reveal of the car. At the dealer, we arranged food, drinks and the opportunity to check out the showroom privately (Czech dealerships are closed in the afternoon on Saturday and completely on Sunday). There were two M4 CS's, one M3 CS's, loads of Alpina's, M's and other cars for them to check out. The reveal was done with a blanket over the car which my sales man and I pulled off. Lots of interest by everyone for the color, the interior, especially the engine and the massive exhaust muffler.
We left on our drive shortly after the reveal with the group consisting of M3's, M2's, a E6x M6, etc. The first drive took us from Prague across the countryside. Both drives were about 1.5-2 hrs long and especially the first one included a lot of twisty which showed the sheer capabilities of this machine but also it downfalls.
Let's not go to deep into my day, but let's have a look at what I noticed.
1. The most noticeable for me.... the total absence of a decent exhaust tune. With not having gone in sport or sport+, the car feels a lot quieter than the OG M2. ASD feels more quiet as well and the exhaust note is simply absent. I never went further than 4.5K revs on the long drives.
2. The M sport seats are a wonderful addition to this car. It is a much better seat than the OG M2 had. Must-have! Where it always feels a bit painful after 1.5 hours of driving in the normal seats, I did not have any issues here. Lot better and on the twisty roads a better way of keeping you in place!
3. Parking sensors at the front, what a weird experience in a M2. First time I heard the tone (and I did not hear it at the press drive, there was no reason for it) I was like "huh what", mainly because someone walked in front of the car and the beeping started. After driving so many M2's I was like, that is new...
4. The new dashboard section in front of the driver is such an improvement in the dark. I had the pre-facelift kit in the M2 and this is just massively better. Annoyingly, my cluster has a dirty spot on it from something. Not sure what it is, I need to clean it so that it is gone because it annoys me now.
5. Damn the radio is a lot better when you don't have an exhaust or ASD in the background. I forgot it is not too bad and the new UI which I never really used because I had one of the first OG M2's ever built, is a decent improvement from the old kit I had on my OG M2.
6. The engine is a hard one to fully analyse and understand until it is driven in. I have tried some pulls in different gears and you feel the linear behavior of the car. The car definitely feels more noticeably linear than the M2. That is really clear. I had one shift under throttle load where I felt some kind of interesting feedback and pull, but all in all it is something I will report on more next week when it is fully driven in and we are on our way to Slovenia.
7. The color in this weather? I am not fussed by it at all... This car just needs a decent wrap, which I will fit either in December or February. A San Marino blue paint job by BMW would have been so nice... Pity we don't get Individual.
8. I saved the best for last... and that is the steering! For me the biggest highlight on the twisty roads today was the steering. It is better than the OG M2 and I think it might even be noticeably better. I need to drive both back to back, but I think the gap is bigger than many people would initially think. Time will tell if I am right. The turn-in on the twisty roads feels more rewarding than I had with the M2. It just that notch better, especially since you tend to get better feedback and the car follows better. It is a hard feeling to describe in words properly, but the few moments I experienced it felt wonderfully.
(On the photos below only a small selection of cars that joined us! Photos will follow soon)
MR