BMW's M2 CS is a petite car with a lot of performance. We made it the headliner on California State Route 58. From the May/June issue of Car and Driver.
"I think you drove through some wet paint," said photographer Greg Pajo. "The tires are making a sticky sound." No, Greg, that tuack, tuack is just the song of hot Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber sticking to the smooth pavement of California State Route 58. Think of it as the ballad of the 2026 BMW M2 CS with a backing band of lonely two-lane highway. And turn it up.
There are a lot of songs about roads. Nat King Cole extolled the virtues of Route 66; Bob Dylan got surreal on Highway 61. Neko Case drove down the West Coast's Interstate 5, while AC/DC took the highway to hell—which, on a holiday weekend in Los Angeles, could also be the 5.
View Price on AmazonIf you're ever on I-5 in Central California, listening to Case singing about "truckers passin' on the right," may we suggest taking the Buttonwillow exit and heading west? You'll find one of the sweetest stretches of turns and whoops and empty straights in the whole state.
A road so varied in landscape needs a car with an equally wide skill set, and the BMW M2 CS offers a performance band as broad as its fenders. Although CS stands for Competition Sport, the M2 CS isn't as track-only as that name suggests. It was designed with road-course usage in mind, offering improvements to oiling and cooling and a lower ride height on a retuned suspension, but those changes don't make it unusable on the road. Instead, it's just a torqueier, stickier version of the M2 we already know and love.
The CS gets its motivation from a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, the same unit found in the M3/M4 Competition xDrive. It makes 523 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, 50 horses and 36 pound-feet more than a standard automatic-equipped M2. A carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic roof is standard, and the decklid, diffuser, and mirror caps are carbon fiber to help the CS keep weight off.
Our car, wearing the optional carbon-ceramic brakes ($8500), pinged 3725 pounds on the scale, 88 pounds less than a 2025 M2 automatic we tested. The CS is only available with a ZF eight-speed auto, and while that might seem limiting, it's not. With seat time, the styling that seemed off-putting at the start begins to feel charming and unique. Our Velvet Blue Metallic car, with its perky tail and purple hue, was a standout on the highway in a sea of gray SUVs.
It's cheerful and playful. When the time comes to get serious, it takes off like it offended a mob boss. A mile per minute arrives in just 3.3 seconds. The quarter-mile marker flashes by in 11.3. It's a zingy, fresh acceleration, like lemonade on a back porch or a curb jump on a BMX, the kind of feeling that only comes with the classic combo of rear-wheel drive and a torquey engine up front.
Source: caranddriver.com
