To share, or not to share? Part one

I have to start this article with an apology. This is a piece that’s been in my brain ever since Dan was running his BMW M2 long-termer, which is some time back. So apologies that this has taken a bit of time to mull over. But the topic – just why was Dan’s baby-blue Bavarian slugger so damn heavy? – is an important one, and as relevant now as it was then.

So I’ll give you a break from hating on the Ferrari Luce and Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door (or maybe loving them, but being too scared to admit it) and talk about one of the reasons I reckon the M2 made the weighbridge groan so.

First of all, is it really that heavy? Well, BMW claims the G87 or second-generation M2 (that’s the one that Dan was running) weighs in at 1815kg – that’s a wet kerbweight using the EU definition, which adds 75kg to the DIN weight to account for a driver. Top Gear magazine went to the bother of checking the real mass of its long-termer, and to BMW’s credit, found it to be spot on to the manufacturer’s claims. That’s over 240kg heavier than the old F87 first-gen car – a roughly 15 per cent hike, which is a pretty huge jump in a single generation.