Fully Tested: BMW M2 CS vs. BMW M4 CS | Ultimate BMW M Cars

M2 plus M2 equals M4. That's right, we've got a family feud on our hands today at the Edmunds Test Track because we have the most track-ready versions of BMW's two smallest, but perhaps mightiest, M cars. I can't wait. Let's hit the track. We're Edmunds and we test hundreds of cars each year on the road and at our private track so you get the most trusted reviews. If you want to know which car, truck, or SUV is the best, then stick with us. We're going to kick things off here on our acceleration straight and then we're going to go through each of our tests with the M2 first and then the M4 to follow. Now a big part of the reason that we wanted to compare these two vehicles in particular is because of what they share under the hood. So the M2 and the M4, they both have the same twin turbocharged three liter straight six, but just in different states of tune. So here in the M2 CS, it makes 523 horsepower and that's down 20 horsepower compared to the M4. Here on the acceleration straight, there's going to be one big difference between these two vehicles that's really going to influence how they launch. And that's the fact that the M2, it sends its power to its two rear wheels while the M4, it's sending power to all four of its wheels. Kind of matches their names. And that means that this M2, it's going to be somewhat traction limited when it launches, even when we're using launch control. Now our key up run on this vehicle was 4.5 seconds and for a key up run, we just run it as is. No drive modes, no traction control, no nothing. Now though, we're going to set it up, use launch control, and I think that should take a good chunk out of that time. Launch control on the M2 is going to be the same as the M4. So M drive mode, traction control to off, and make sure we're in manual shift with the quickest shift. Then it's just left foot on the brake, right foot on the gas, and away we go. Here we go. Oh, tire's spinning. Oh, tire's spinning again. Even with the launch control on, this thing still spun its tires, and then it spun its tires again in second, and then it spun them even a little bit when we got to third. This thing has a ton of power. It just has a little bit of trouble putting it down, even with all those electronics helping you out. So the 0-60 time we got there was 3.8 seconds. There's not really a way to launch this thing without getting some sort of wheel spin. It's definitely traction limited, and we're a bit off of BMW's quoted time. Just because this thing has a ton of power, it's just it really struggles to put it down. You also have to be really ready with your hands, because when it's spinning the tires in second and third, it also tends to shimmy a little bit. So even though we're trying to drive in a straight line, my attention antenna are all the way up. Now if looked fun and you think that you want to trade in your current set of wheels for an M2 or an M4CS, luckily at Edmunds we've got the tools to help you do just that. Just head over to our site where you can get an instant cash offer for your current car to help you pick up your next one. All right, the key up run in this car was 4.1 seconds, but now launch control is on. We've got everything cranked all the way up, so let's see what we can get. Oh, this thing launches so much harder. No wheel spin at all. Oh, this car can fly. Okay, so with launch control and getting everything dialed up, this thing got from 0 to 60 in just 3.1 seconds, and that 0.7 second advantage it has over the M2 is pretty massive. Those extra drive wheels, they really do help this thing get off the line so much better, and that's a surprising gap considering that it's only got 20 more horsepower than the M2, but now it's time to get these two on the scales to see what the difference is in what they weigh. 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That's because even though both cars have six-piston front and single-piston rear brakes, the M4 has larger rotors and larger rotors provide more surface for the pads to grab onto, which gave the M4 another leg up on its smaller rival. And that brings us to the skid pad where we think that the M4 should enjoy an advantage over this car because it's got that all-wheel drive. But hey, that's why we play the games, right? Let's see what it can do. The M2 CS achieved its best skid pad runs with ESC completely off, but that made it a bit of a handful to get a great number because the rear always felt like it was sliding out, so you had to modulate the throttle really carefully in order to get maximum grip. And its best number? 1.06 lateral g. Now it's time to see what the M4 can do with its all-wheel drive. In the M4, the challenge instead was commitment because you had to really throw the car into the turn and almost overload those front tires to get its best number. Now after crunching the numbers, the M4 CS, it also got 1.06 lateral g, the exact same result as the M2 CS. Now even though both of these cars took very different routes to get there, they end up in the same place and both of them are plenty grippy because we consider anything over 1.0 g to be a pretty good result. But still, this was a genuine shock. So in the final accounting of our testing numbers, the M4 CS took the win on acceleration as expected and braking in a bit of a surprise. And we were equally shocked to see the M2 CS come back to tie things on the skid pad, even though it's got two fewer wheels delivering the power. But with these two cars in particular, how they do out on the track would be just as important as our instrumented testing in settling this battle. Both of these BMWs have the CS name, which is short for competition sport, and they're basically the most dialed up but still street legal versions of these cars that you can buy. And therefore, for both of them, we're going to have pretty high expectations around our track. And for me in particular, I'm really interested in how this car is going to do because the last gen M2 CS, it was my favorite BMW that I've ever driven full stop. And if you don't believe me, it's actually the wallpaper on my phone. So this thing has gigantic shoes to fill for such a small car. Let's see how he does. Now the M2 CS is going to offer you 50 more horsepower than the regular M2. And that means that it does get down our straight in a hurry. Now this is still going to have the same 8-speed automatic that the regular M2 has. And the shifts, to be honest, they could be a bit crisper. The last gen car had a dual clutch and I kind of wish that they still had that in this one. It feels maybe a touch late. So you end up grabbing the paddles yourselves a bit, but you crank up the shift speed all the way. It's still pretty good. Even though this thing stops five feet further from 60 to zero than the M4 does, I still like the feel of this brake pedal with the carbon ceramic brakes, no fade at all around our track. I do wish that there's a bit more bite at the top. You kind of have to apply a bit more braking pressure, but overall, this thing is actually very, very stable under braking. And on the track, that's the most important part. This is my favorite corner on the track, but on the M2, you have to be very careful as you roll onto the throttle here. Now you're trying to get extra speed because it leads right into our back straight. But in this car in particular, if you're on the throttle even a little bit early, the rear is really going to want to rotate on you. In fact, that's kind of the theme of driving the M2 CS around. It likes to rotate all the time and the traction control will allow you to, depending on what setting that you're in. In this car, when you're coming out of corners, you don't really punch the throttle so much as roll onto it and you really have to manage the traction with your right foot. Now, I really enjoy the feel of this big, chunky steering wheel in my hands. I just wish that I had a bit more steering feel from the car. When the car starts to slide on you, you actually feel it through the seat first before your hands. It's just a touch of vagueness that I don't really enjoy, but that also speaks to just how good these seats are. These carbon fiber seats are excellent for the track. They do a really good job of holding you in, even if they're not the most comfortable for daily driving. The M2 CS is still really great around our track, but I think the feeling that I sort of can't escape while I'm driving it is that I'm really managing the car and that's because it's just so twitchy all of the time. When you lean on it, it's going to start to slide on you, even with the traction control on, and that's just because it has so much power. And again, it's only being driven through those two rear wheels. So what it ends up feeling like is that if you want to really drive this car fast and extract all the performance out of it, it requires 110% of your attention. And the result is that at times you don't really feel like you're driving the car so much as wrestling with it. Now, on a track not like this one, one that's a bit more wide open, that's got runoff, that's actually got places where the car can go without running into things. I think that this thing would really be a delight, but here at our test track with lots of walls and lots of consequences all around you, I'm having fun, but I have to be a little bit careful at the same time. Now we've covered how the M2 CS feels on our track, but if you want to learn more about the M2 CS or any other new car and how they feel out in the real world, head over to Edmunds. We've got full ratings and reviews for every car. Link in the description. All right, here we go in the M4. And immediately you can just tell with the added traction, you can really, really put the power down a lot easier in the M4. Coming out of this corner here in the M2, you have to be really delicate on the throttle, but here in the M4, just straight down to the floor with it. Because this is all-wheel drive, we're going to get a hair of understeer as we come through here, so the nose is going to push just a little, and then the car is going to rotate around you and just thunder the power down. Almost rushed 100 miles an hour on the back straight, and that's the sign of a very quick car around this track. All right, coming into the carousel, and again, here in the M2, I have to be careful, but in this car, I can just kind of toss it in, and there she goes. You're just a lot more confident behind the wheel of the M4, because you know that traction is always going to be there to help you out. Now, the suspension geometry, it's a touch different, because these front wheels, they're not just steering, they're also putting down power, and for that reason, the turn in the M2 feels just a hair sharper, but both of these vehicles, really good steering if they do lack a little bit of feel at the very limit of grip. But speaking of limits, they're just so much easier to play with in the M4. When you feel like you're managing the M2 around this track, the M4, you feel like you're really driving it. The harder you push this car, the more fun it becomes. Same observations about this transmission apply. I don't really love it. Porsche's PDK is better around this track, to be sure, and this one, the manual shift mode, definitely the way to go. Ah, I love the noise that this thing makes, too. These straight sixes, they're just great. Don't get me wrong, I was having a real good time behind the wheel of that M2, but this M4, for me, this is where it's at. Now, the M4 does have a bit of a longer wheelbase, and that makes it feel just a touch more stable at speed, but I don't think that's a really big difference. I think, again, the bigger difference is just that you have four wheels driving you instead of two, and that means that coming into this turn, I could do things like this, and no, then I'm gonna make it out the other side. Yeah. All right, coming into the next to last corner, kind of a lumpy braking zone, but still pretty good. Slightly shorter stopping distance than the M2, but the brake pedal still feels pretty much the same. Both cars very stable under hard braking, and because of the carbon ceramics, no fade at all during these laps. If you're gonna track these cars, the carbon ceramics are a must. I'm really glad that we got to drive these cars back to back, because even though they have so much in common, the nature of them is just so different. Before we wrap things up, if you've been enjoying our videos, please give us a like and subscribe. That's the best way to help us make more of them, and if you have any questions about either of these two cars, or if you'd like to see them at U-Drags, let us know down in the comments below, along with what you think a great matchup might be. We do read them all. There is a bit of a price gap between these two vehicles. The larger M4 is gonna cost you about $25,000 more, but I think if you're choosing between these two sport coupes, it's going to come down to more of what experience you want, rather than how much they cost. Here at Edmunds, we love testing cars, but coming in a very close second is, of course, arguing about cars. So I asked our test team, between these two coupes, which one would they prefer, and most of the votes went towards the M4. But there were a couple of holdouts for the M2, the reason being is that it's more exciting. One test team member compared it to charming a snake, in that if you make a mistake, it's going to bite you. Now, he quickly said it's a non-venomous snake, so you won't die, but the fact remains that he wanted the twitchier, more difficult to drive car because extracting the performance out of it is ultimately going to be more satisfying. But for me, I guess I'm a little bit lazier, and I would prefer the car that is not only quicker, but it's also more fun to drive quickly because it just has more traction and it feels better from behind the wheel. So, if I had to take one of these home, it would definitely be the M4, it's the better day-to-day driver. I just wish, though, it looked like the M2 because those big pointy teeth, not my favorite thing in the world. Thanks for watching.