Ljubljana, Slovenia - These pictures, spotted on
They show the uprated pocket rocket’s larger air intakes, bulging bonnet, blacked-out mirror housings, 19 inch wheels and bigger diffuser.
What they don’t show is the uprated three-litre straight six - apparently a slightly detuned version of the engine in the M3 and M4 - now with two smaller turbochargers in place of the standard model's single twin-scroll turbo, improving response and boosting output, from 272 to 302kW and from 500 to 550Nm, while the redline goes up to a howling 7600rpm, thanks to a more authoritative free-flow exhaust system with a driver-selectable ‘power valve’, and a revised cooling system.
Claimed 0-100km sprint time is down by three tenths to 4.2 seconds, but no top speed is quoted on the Slovenian ‘leak’, so we’re assuming it’s still limited to 250km/h. However, it does mention that the suspension has been uprated so that you can use the extra power without throwing the car at the scenery.
The interior is trimmed in black leather, with new, more supportive sports front seats, each bearing an M2 logo, a red stop-start button and paddle shifters as well as two memory keys for personal drive mode settings on the steering column.
We asked BMW SA when the M2 Competition will be released in South Africa - the official answer is that "someone decided to break the embargo, and they can't say anything yet". As soon as we hear, so will you.
IOL Motoring