APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 121RUNNING COSTS
Tax is £140 per year,
and Renault’s official
fuel figure is 35mpg (38 for the
auto, which also emits a little
less CO2) – reckon on high-
20s in reality. Insurance group
35 (or 37 for faster Trophy).NEED TO KNOW
Two chassis options:
Sport and Cup. The
£1500 Cup pack adds a
mechanical limited-slip diff to
go with its 10 per cent stiffer
suspension. Pricier, more
powerful Trophy version gets
Cup bits as standard. Five-door
only, but choice of twin-clutch
EDC auto or six-speed manual.NEED TO KNOW
Regular M2 now out of
production, succeeded
by the M2 Competition run-
out model in late 2018, with
404bhp M4 engine upgrade.
Standard kit plentiful on all
M2s, with few optional extras
to search for. Principal one
was the DCT auto ’box, which
added around £2500 new.NEED TO KNOW
Launched in 2014 with
296bhp and 280lb ft,
bumped up to 306bhp/295lb
ft for (mild) 2017 facelift. Same
fabulously burly, flexible
EA888 engine as the GTI with
a few mods to unlock the extra
power. Three or five doors,
manual or auto, all with Haldex
all-wheel-drive system.FINANCE OPTIONS
(Representative
manufacturer PCP,
manual gearbox, Cup Chassis)
Monthly cost £324 (48 mths)
Deposit £5000 Total to run
car and return at end of
contract £20,552 Mileage
allowance 10,000 APR 4.9%FINANCE OPTIONS
(Representative dealer
PCP, 17-plate, DSG,
5dr, 18,500 miles)
Monthly cost £357 (47 mths)
Deposit £5000 Total to run
car and return at end of
contract £21,785 Mileage
allowance 10,000 APR 9.4%FINANCE OPTIONS
(Representative dealer
PCP, 17-plate, DCT,
20,700 miles)
Monthly cost £457 (47 mths)
Deposit £5000 Total to run
car and return at end of
contract £26,461 Mileage
allowance 10,000 APR 12.4%The used option: BMW M2
M3 IN THE BODY OF A 2-SERIES
‘It does look naughty, doesn’t it?’ grins Nathan.
That sums up the M2 pretty aptly. The most
powerful car here with the most cylinders, and
the only one with rear-wheel drive, doesn’t
mind shouting about it. Its wheels (uprated in
this case to spangly gold M Performance rims)
are barely contained within its arches, and its
turbocharged straight-six booms from stubby
sawn-off-shotgun tailpipes (also uprated to
carbon M Performance cans).
The M2’s recently been retired from produc-
tion, save for the run-out Competition model.
New prices started from £44k, and secondhand
values are holding steady in the mid to high
thirties. Tidy cars can still be found in the low to
mid thirties with a little searching.
This is a post-2017-facelift car, with LED
headlights, digital dials and a touchscreen on
top of a reprofiled dashboard. That dash is plas-
tered in fake carbonfibre, which Nathan finds ‘a
little bit disappointing’ – he’d expect more from
a £40,000 car.
He immediately notices the driving position,
which is much lower-slung than the other
two. Even though the M2 is also based on a
mainstream hatchback, it’s a different animal to
the other cars here. And ‘animal’ is the first word
Nathan uses to describe it after his first drive. I
can hear him approaching before I can see him,
the baritone engine note borne on the breeze, an
ascending scale of snapfast downshifts from the
DCT ’box.
‘Wow, that’s really responsive for a turbo-
charged engine, it picks up so quickly at almost
any revs,’ he effuses. ‘It would definitely take
some getting used to this car. It’s got nearly
150bhp more than my GTI...’
I swap with Nathan for a go myself, and all
the M2’s abundant qualities immediately shine
through: great front-end grip (although the
Megane’s rear-steer helps it feel keener to change
direction), reasonably feelsome steering and
power oversteer never far away if you ask for it.
Touch a white line under power and the rear
Michelins quickly smear wide, but it’s never in-
timidating. In isolation the M2 rides well enough
on British roads but compared to the GTI it feels
a tad brittle.
There’s no adaptive damper option, but the
drive mode switch changes steering weight and
shift mapping in auto cars, and gives the option-
al sport exhaust (a scary £2580) a more resonant
bark. ‘It makes people look at you, whether you
want them to or not,’ says Horn.
The M2 came with a manual gearbox as
standard, but it’s not the slickest of shifts. In
many ways the paddleshift DCT is actually
preferable, and almost as involving as a good
manual; Nathan finds it similarly quick and ⊲
SPECIFICATION
Price new £28,995
(Cup Chassis pack)
Powertrain 1798cc 16v
turbocharged 4-cylinder,
6-speed manual or 6-speed
dual-clutch auto, limited-slip
diff, front-wheel drive
Performance 276bhp @
6000rpm, 288lb ft @ 2400rpm
Suspension MacPherson strut
front, torsion beam rearSPECIFICATION
Value now £29k-£38k
Price new £44,080
Powertrain 2979cc 24v
twin-turbocharged straight-six,
6-speed manual or 7-speed
dual-clutch, limited-slip diff,
rear-wheel drive
Performance 365bhp @
6500rpm, 343lb ft @ 1400rpm
Suspension MacPherson strut
front, multi-link rearSPECIFICATION
Value now £17k-£29k
Price new £34,910
Powertrain 1984cc 16v
turbocharged 4-cylinder,
6-speed manual or 6/7-speed
twin-clutch automatic,
all-wheel drive
Performance 306bhp @
5500rpm, 295lb ft @ 1800rpm
Suspension MacPherson strut
front, multi-link rearUSED OPTION
BMW M2Key to the M2’s appeal is its
rawness. It’s an M division
special, its engine a crossbreed
of M235i and M3/M4 compo-
nents, bodywork bulging as
it attempts to contain the M4
suspension. Values are holding
steady but there are still decent
buys for £30,000.CURVEBALL
VW GOLF RLike Nathan’s existing Golf GTI,
but better in almost every way:
more power, all-wheel-drive
adjustability, physics-warping
traction. In foul-weather group
tests, we’ve often reached
for the Golf R’s keys over
supercars - and ended up
going quicker as a result.NEW OPTION
MEGANE RS CUPNo new hot hatch is more fun
on a track than the RS, latest
in a line of front-drive Renault
giantkillers. Its appeal isn’t
instant, but take the time to get
to know the Megane’s traits
and it’s difficult not to fall for its
oversteer-hungry handling and
muscular widescreen styling.THE SHORTLIST
Fun, practical and £33k or less
RUNNING COSTS
A whopping £450 a
year in road tax, and
while BMW’s official fuel figure
is 33-35mpg average, when we
first tested an M2 we emptied
its 52-litre tank in 190 miles...
Insurance group 47 – ouch.RUNNING COSTS
Insurance group
34 is a little higher
than the GTI, explained by
the additional performance
and the fact that thieves love
’em. Road tax is £195-£230
depending on spec.The shortlist