BMW M2 vs BMW 1M | New vs Old – BMW’s best baby M cars

The latest BMW M2 is closer to its M4 bigger brother than ever before. Versus the original it's longer, wider, heavier and punchier. It's another example of not just how performance cars only seem to be getting larger, but also that those designing them are pulling off incredible feats of engineering in order to keep them fun and fast. After all, BMW has always had a knack at sprinkling magic into its entry-level M cars. There's joy to be had at all ends of the spectrum even if the M5s and M4s gain the most attention. And in fact, if we go back to 2011, BMW's M division managed to produce a car that cost just £40,000 and quickly lay claim to being one of its greatest ever models. We've got the 1M along today because in many ways this limited-run coupe provided the platform for future M2s and their subsequent popularity. But more importantly, I really, really wanted to have a go in one. Now when this car was first unveiled there was initially a little bit of negative attention around it and that's because some people said that it was to be a parts bin special. And actually, they weren't wrong to some degree because in a post-recession world, BMW's engineers were desperate to make a hot version of the 1 Series, but the board, well, they were less keen. However, to their credit, they did allow them to build it. But it had to be in limited numbers, it had to have a short development time, about a year, and it also had to be developed on a budget. And that meant that they had to borrow some parts from other BMWs. So, you've got the N54 3-litre twin-turbocharged straight-six engine from the BMW Z4. And then from the E92 M3 competition, you've got the 19-inch alloy wheels. And actually, that car gave quite a few pieces to this because the mirrors, they're also from the E92 M3, they're very distinctive. The diff, the brakes, and the rear suspension, all from the M3. And because they borrowed the rear suspension and a couple of other things at the rear end, the rear track width on the 1M is almost identical to the rear track width on the E92 M3, and that's why you've got that sort of trademark big stance at the back with its shoulders puffed out. Sounds a little bit silly, but when you see it here, I mean, this has got to be one of the best-looking M performance cars of the 21st century. The parts borrowing may sound like a shortcut, but even the current M2 owes much to its M4 sibling. Same S58 3-litre twin-turbo engine, same width and track, same drift control gizmos, there's more than a hint of M4 in the M2. Since the original was launched back in 2016, BMW's baby M car is now more M4-lite than it ever has been. There's good and bad points to this. The downside is that it now weighs 1.7 tonnes, which means it's not as immediately chuckable as its predecessor was. It's also pretty wide, because it's no longer on the 1 Series platform, and, well, that kind of takes away some of the baby M car appeal. However, what I do like is the way that this car takes assets from its more expensive M car brothers, like the M4 and the M5, and then it puts them into a platform which is overall more mischievous and more fun. So what I mean by that is you've still got an incredible front end, you've still got exceptional stability, you've got plenty of traction at the rear so you can just lean on it and lean on the balance coming out of corners, but when you're coming into a corner, oh yeah, it's moving around a lot more underneath, and it isn't that much lighter. I mean, versus an M4, this is about 100 kilos less, but it's just the way that it's been set up, it feels more on its toes, it feels like it's taking itself less seriously, and, well, if you can't have that with the baby M car of the range, then what M car can you have it with? 450 brake horsepower in an M2, well, it sounds like it's always going to be a recipe for fun, like it's going to be just a huge tyre-shredding animal of a car, but actually it's a bit more complex than that. I mean, putting 450 brake horsepower in an M2 is always going to yield something pretty spectacular, but I think BMW had a bit of a choice about what route they went down. Was it going to be a carbon copy of the M4, but a little bit smaller and a little bit less powerful, or was it going to have its own personality? And thankfully, they've gone with the latter. At first glance the M2 and 1M might appear to be squat, aggressive muscle cars, but the reality for the former is only partially right, as there's more nuance and layers to its character once you go looking for it. On the face of it, this is something that it's picked up from the 1M, but now I'm actually driving the older car, it's a lot different to what I expected. It's very civilised, the gearbox is nice, it's got a good clutch pedal, steering has got a really good weight to it, it's precise, and it's actually very quiet as well. It sounds pretty muted, it feels more together than an M3 from the same era would. The upshot of all of this is that it makes you feel like you can start to push on and find out where this car's limits are, but when you do that you'll notice that the DSC is a bit of a fun sponge. It comes in way too early and it just kills the power. It feels like it could have done with a little bit more development. So what you do is you turn it off, or you put it in MDM mode, and then that's when you realise that the whole thing about this car being civilised and very safe and friendly, well that was just an act. It's actually a bit of an animal. What you've got is very firm suspension teamed with a short wheelbase, and the result is that it really wants to rotate. I mean, seriously rotate. There's definitely a tendency to snap mid-corner and you've got to be quick to bring it back. If you want to do those big lurid slides, which you'd imagine this car would be good at, yeah you can do them, but you need space and you need very good reactions. It's definitely what you'd call a lively setup in this car, but that means that the front-end turning is phenomenal. It feels potentially a little bit top-heavy and you're sitting a bit higher, but there's definitely a good front end on it. It feels more agile than the M2, that's for sure. The engine also plays its part in this. Brimmed with 396lb-ft of torque, that's only 37 less than the current M4 that weighs 1.8 tonnes versus the 1M's 1.5 tonnes, the rear wheels are easily overloaded on a dry, sticky road surface. If you can get the power down, 0-60mph takes 4.8 seconds, but it's the in-gear pull that really grabs your attention. Despite the turbos, it's surprisingly responsive on the throttle and in third and fourth gear, it really pulls to the point where I'm watching the numbers increase and I'm not convinced that you'd be pulling much of a gap in the M2. I'm really not. It might not be a proper M car engine, but the pace is certainly there. There's no doubt about that. If you're looking for things that you could potentially improve or maybe even modify, if you can modify a car that's as rare as this, then a louder engine sound, that would be good. You could do something about the exhaust so that you can hear what is a nice engine sound, but it's pretty quiet. You could also get better brakes. They're not holding up all that well to this constant cornering, but they are M car brakes from an era when they weren't famous for them. I really can't see BMW launching another car like this ever again, so I'm really pleased that they did it 12 years ago or so and that I finally got to drive it. It's such a little fighter when you unleash it, but it's rewarding in bucket loads. Oh, wow. It doesn't matter how you drive it, you just know that when you're driving along, you look cool. I mean, this is such a good looking car when it came out and I think it's even better now. The proportions, the feel, it just screams old school, but it's got enough performance, enough capability to still put a smile on your face, the same degree that a modern car would, perhaps even more. For all the similarities and connections between these two cars, you'll find an equivalent example of how their polar opposites, each plucked from their own distinct era with highly contrasting reasons behind their existence. Like its predecessor, BMW will hope that the M2 sells handsomely, while initial expectations for the 1M were on a much smaller scale. I think the main takeaway from the BMW 1M and the BMW M2 is that borrowing performance parts from more expensive halo models and squeezing them in to smaller, cheaper versions is always a recipe for a brilliant performance car personality. Speaking of which, if you want to see how the M2 compares to the benchmark Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4L, then check out the video in the top right-hand corner of the screen now.