Our Cars: BMW M2

I hesitate to use the verb ‘to bond’ because I fear it might seem unusual to any non-enthusiasts reading this. People bond with other people, not inanimate objects, they’d say, eyeing you askance. In another context bond means stick, and I don’t think that’s any better. I suppose I’m among friends here and needn’t worry, but even so, let’s use the altogether safer and less likely to be misconstrued ‘connect’ instead.

Because as you’ll know, it’s not at all unusual to connect with some cars right away and others only after a period of time. Certain cars you won’t connect with at all, no matter how you try. And after a few weeks in its charge, I just wasn’t connecting with the BMW M2 I’ll be driving until spring.

For one thing, it felt very different to the previous M2 when I’d been expecting more of the same. This latest version feels bigger and heavier, which it is, but also more grown up, less like the pugnacious little road warrior the last M2 was, particularly the Competition variant. That car felt compact and agile, and it was in its element on the kind of B-road we so often find ourselves driving on in the UK – narrow, lined with trees and hedgerows, often bumpy and generally quite busy.