Hi all,
The M Town Tour was at my local dealership today, and I got to test drive some newer M cars! I'm a happy M240i owner (6-speed slick top + LSD), but it was my first time ever driving a true M car. Mixed feelings overall, but I'll try my best to describe what I thought.
M2 Competition DCT
I was/am seriously considering trading up from my M240i, but my experience today with the M2 was a bit disappointing if I'm being honest.
First and foremost, it had the super thick
M Performance V2 steering wheel, which felt like total crap. Beautiful to look at, but horrible to drive with. I mean, who really has hands that big other than Kawhi Leonard??! It ruined what is supposed to be the best part of the car to interact with. My M Performance wheel in my M240i (or even the stock M Sport wheel) feels far better in the hands.
The next big issue I had was with the DCT transmission. I toggled between Sport and Sport+ and I was driving in DTC/MDM mode the whole time. Maybe I've been spoiled by Porsche's unbelievably good PDK, but I found DCT to be sub-par. Too much lag from the time I tip in the throttle to when I get moving. Felt just like I was starting off in my 6-speed M240i as I let off the clutch pedal. I heard the engine rev, then a delay (similar to when letting off the clutch pedal), then I got moving. TBH, I felt like I can start off faster in my 6-speed. Also, during normal driving in traffic in manual shift mode, it felt like there was quite a bit of delay during upshifts and downshifts. I would pull a shift paddle and a good 0.5 to 1 second would go by before the shift would happen. Speaking of shifts, they were pretty jerky when they did happen. When I put my foot down and gave it full beans, it would finally shift very quickly with each pull of the paddle, which was nice to experience, but still a bit too clunky feeling in my opinion. Overall, it feels just like a 6-speed manual shifting on its own, albeit very quickly when revving it out under WOT. One of the major reasons I am considering moving to a M2 is for the automatic gear changes when I go to the track, but now... I don't know if DCT is worth the compromises and lack of fun on the street!
Okay.. moving on to engine and sound. S55 is a beast, but doesn't sound that great from the inside. I don't know if what I was feeling was excessive turbo lag or just a monstrous wave of torque coming on suddenly, but I wanted it to have more of a snappy throttle response than it did. Instead, it seemed like it was struggling to rev.. then BAM, tires just get lit up from all the torque! Haha. It was fun to experience in a way, but not quite what I was expecting after being used to my lovely B58 engine's power/torque characteristics. Speaking of the B58, it sounds better than the S55 for sure in terms of pure melody and tone. I felt like the M2 Comp was significantly louder, which was awesome and makes me realize how badly I need to mod my exhaust now for more volume, but the M2 does not actually sound as good. It did however, make me smile big time when I went through a short tunnel while under WOT with the windows down!
Just super loud and fun with some gun shot pops echoing off the concrete walls! I asked one of the M Town Tour staffers if it had any exhaust mods when I first started it up and got a nice, loud race car grumble that made me say, "Whoa!" I was told it had the M Performance exhaust (I had to finish his sentence because he didn't even know what it was called), but after the test drive I took a peek underneath the rear and didn't see a single M Performance logo anywhere.
Oh well. Long story short, it sounded pretty good upon start-up and from the outside when going through the tunnel, but from the driver's seat, it did indeed sound like a loud lawn mower.
Will I sell the M240i and buy the M2? I'm not so sure. I think I need to get my hands on a M2 Comp w/ a manual gearbox and take it on track before I can really make an apples to apples comparison. Unfortunately, I didn't get to exploit the seemingly awesome chassis and suspension on public roads, but I have a feeling it would impress on a track. Maybe one day I'll find out...
M5 Competition
Okay, this thing was just an animal! Totally impressive machine. How they are able to make such a heavy car go so fast, I don't really know, but I don't care. It was fun as hell! A few quick observations:
- It sounded fabulous, but like my M240i, it was far too quiet and muffled to raise the hair on my arms. A new exhaust system would do the trick though, I'm sure.
- ZF 8-speed is incredible! Just as fast and sporty, if not faster in all scenarios than the M2's DCT gearbox. Say what you will about the "slushbox," but it provides all of the speed and engagement of the DCT with none of the drawbacks in traffic.
- It felt much smaller and sportier from the driver's seat than I ever could have imagined. It's a big, long car, but feels and drives like a smaller coupe. I really liked this attribute.
- It feels very much like a RWD-propelled car even in MDM 4WD mode in terms of chassis balance, but I could swear I was getting some torque steer under WOT as the front wheels were trying to grip. The steering wheel was fighting me a bit, and I struggled a bit to keep the car in a perfectly straight line as a result of whatever was going on underneath me.
Overall, the car is
. If only I were crazy enough to spend that kind of dough on a daily driver, this is no doubt the car I'd choose for the morning cappuccino + preschool drop-off routine!
I won't comment on the interiors of either of these cars, because they were both all-black and ugly. I was only there to see how they drove anyhow...
I'll end this by saying the BMW M Town Tour staff was extremely pleasant, friendly, and very accommodating. They did a great job at making sure I was having fun, so want to give them a big shout out and a big THANK YOU! Highly recommend you go take advantage if your local dealership is participating so you can see for yourselves just what these cars have to offer.
Cheers!