BMW has given its baby M car a helluva lot of horsepower. Meet the brand-new—and not-really-a-baby-anymore—BMW M2 CS, a two-door, rear-wheel-drive German sports coupe with 526hp. Five hundred and twenty-six!
That’s 82hp more than the old M2 CS, a car that precisely nobody got out of thinking, “Hmm, bit underpowered, that, could use a little more wahey.” And boy, is there plenty of wahey.
Like 0-100kph in 3.8sec—two-tenths faster than the regular M2 Competition—80-120kph in 3.4sec, and 0-200kph in 11.7sec. Because it comes with the M Driver’s Pack as standard, top speed is a ’bahn-storming 303kph.
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Such copious amounts of schnell come courtesy of a new ECU map for the M2’s familiar S58 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six—an engine also deployed in the nose of the BMW M4 GT3 Evo—sending those 526 horses and 649Nm of torque to the rear wheels via an eight-speed auto gearbox (no manual here—boo). The engine itself is, of course, home to lots of motorsport tech—rigid crankcase, forged crank, iron-coated cylinder bores, that sort of thing. Can take some punishment, basically.
Punishment that’s broadcast through an M Performance exhaust designed specifically for this CS (a titanium setup is optional). The chassis, too, has been tweaked: The CS sits 8mm lower than the regular M2, and BMW has given the springs, the dampers, and the chassis control systems a bespoke tune.
Ditto the DSC, steering, diff, and brakes. And speaking of brakes, the CS gets red calipers as standard, with the option of carbon-ceramics for those looking for cold, squeaky morning starts—and better stopping power, of course.
Otherwise, it’s as per the regular M2 Competition (so nothing regular at all), barring that ducktail spoiler, new “stripped-back” kidney grille, 19-inch/20-inch light-alloy wheels wrapped in track tires, and lighter electric buckets inside. BMW has deployed a fair bit of carbon fiber in the roof, the spoiler, the trunk lid, and even the center console to help shed around 30 kg over the standard M2.
We measured a regular Comp last year and found it was pretty much bang on what BMW claimed—1,725kg—so this new CS sneaks in at under 1,700kg. And 1,725kg posed no issues for the regular car’s agility.
Still, for £86,800 (around P6.52 million before taxes), which is a huge leap up from the regular car, we were hoping for something a little more drastic. Maybe BMW has a CSL in the pipeline with ungodly amounts of power…
More photos of the BMW M2 CS 2026:
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
