BMW 2-series

Large automakers have become adept at creating new micro segments, but BMW has managed an uncommon twist: Its M240i ^[1] is one of the rare cars that competes more closely with its own sibling—the BMW M2 ^[2]—than it does with any external foe. This is fraternal rivalry as practiced in a piranha tank.

Despite the best efforts of the BMW marketing machine to distinguish these two über versions of the 2-series, their similarities are far more striking than their differences. Both are powered by 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engines with similar outputs, both hit 60 mph within one-third of a second of each other, and both wear the "M" badges that indicate they were developed by BMW's Motorsport division. For the casual observer the most obvious distinction is the price, with the M240i undercutting the M2 by $8245.

Yet BMW pretty much pulls it off. Drive this brace of 2s back-to-back and you realize that they do have different personalities that will appeal to dissimilar sets of buyers. While the M240i's price seems to make it the junior partner here, for many it will be the better choice.

Plenty of Thrust

There's certainly no shortage of performance. The M240i picks up where the previous M235i ^[3] left off, with a similar combination of the virtues of a big engine in a small car. As indicated by the new car's badge, the engine has been upgraded to the same B58 generation inline-six that BMW uses in the 340i ^[4], but it has been tweaked to deliver slightly more power. A 15-hp improvement over last year's car puts the M240i at 335 horsepower, just 30 ponies shy of the M2. More significant is the 39-lb-ft increase in peak torque to exactly match the 369 lb-ft claimed for the M2.

But while the M2's engine lives to be worked hard, the M240i's powerplant is better suited to effortless progress, pulling strongly from diesel-rivaling low revs and with a forceful midrange that gives an impressive real-world pace. There's no untoward drama, so perspective only really arrives when the driver notices how hard the rest of the car is working. Fully extended, this engine lacks the redline operatics of the M2, but it's still seriously effective. We recorded a 4.3-second zero-to-60-mph time—the M2 managed dead-on 4.0 ^[5]—and a 12.7-second quarter-mile, just 0.2 second behind the M2. This was in a rear-drive M240i coupe with the eight-speed automatic, compared with an M2 equipped with the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that serves as that model's option for two-pedal driving.

An xDrive all-wheel-drive version also is available in both the coupe and convertible M240i. Buyers of the regular rear-drive M240i may also choose a six-speed manual gearbox as a no-cost option—it may be slower than the eight-speed automatic, but we haven't tested one yet. Our tests do show the M2's dual-clutch unit is quicker than shift-for-yourself motoring, with the manual M2 ^[6] getting to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and through the quarter-mile in a dead heat with the M240i's 12.7-second time.

Better Cruising, Less Bruising

The M240i is a much better cruiser than the M2, quieter and less nervous on the highway. All U.S.-bound cars get the Adaptive M suspension as standard equipment, with damper firmness adjusted by the Dynamic Mode button. Comfort mode delivers on its promise, with a pliant and well-damped ride when asked to deal with poor quality surfaces at speed, the cabin staying impressively refined. Sport and Sport+ firm up the chassis without making the M240i feel excessively harsh, something we can't say about the full-on M2 on rough pavement. We do, however, have to protest the unnecessary extra heft these modes dial into the M240i's electrically assisted power steering.

Start to hustle the M240i and it responds enthusiastically. Steering is accurate and confidence-inspiring if not as communicative as we'd prefer (making the effort higher does not improve feel). Grip levels are high—we recorded 0.94 g on the skidpad—and, with the effortless power delivery, a glance at the speedometer often revealed we were carrying much more speed than we'd thought. The car feels lighter on its feet than the M2 does under modest chassis loads; it's only when you really start to push that the fundamental differences become apparent. While the M2 exists to transgress limits, preferring to do so at a jaunty, tail-driven angle, the M240i has been built to stick rather than slip and understeers by default. Yes, it will slide the tail, even at modest speeds with its stability control switched off, but it's not something it has any noticeable enthusiasm for, and it never gets close to the M2's composure in extremis.

The other relative disappointment comes with the junior M-car's lack of visual punch. Excepting the M badge and a few subtle details, it looks pretty much identical to an entry-level 230i coupe on upgraded wheels, as it lacks the buff muscularity of the handsome M2's flared rear fenders or the feral stance imparted by its wider track. It's a similar story in the cabin, which is well finished and spacious (at least for front-seat occupants) but lacks the magic you might expect when spending this amount of money on a car. An un-optioned M240i's interior is a dark, gloomy place that can't approach the modern feel and specialness of any Audi equipped with that company's Virtual Cockpit system.

Practicalities

Not only is the M240i more affordable than the M2, it's also fairly well equipped at the base price with a glass sunroof (a no-cost delete option will please sunroof haters), power front seats, satellite radio, and ambient lighting. Options on our test car brought cold-weather features ($700 for heated front seats and steering wheel plus retractable headlamp washers); leather upholstery ($1450, and in black on our car—the white, red, or brown options would better counteract the sense of climbing into a cave at midnight); navigation and an inductive-charging pod for cellphones (for a combined cost of $2450); and a Driver Assistance package (rearview camera and parking sensors for $950). If you're injudicious in the ordering process, it's possible to inflate the sticker with more driver aids, audio upgrades, carbon-fiber mirror caps, stripes, and the like, but the list is unusually short for a German luxury-brand car.

As with the rest of the 2-series family, rear-seat space is effectively limited to children and small or flexible grownups, certainly so if there's an average-size adult needing legroom up front. But the 14 cubic feet of luggage capacity is decent, and there's even more if you fold down the rear seatbacks. BMW's turbocharged engines tend to be impressively frugal if used gently, and the M240i is no exception to the rule; we saw 23 mpg while touring enthusiastically with very few of those miles on the highway.

BMW has been doing the brawny-engine-in-a-small-car thing since 1966, when it introduced the 1600 coupe, a car that would offer between 85 and 105 horsepower from its 1.6-liter four-cylinder yet was faster than many bona fide sports cars. Five decades later, Munich still knows this game as well as anybody else, and while the M240i is no huge improvement over the 10Best Cars–worthy M235i ^[7], it didn't really need to be. The M240i's greatest achievement is that it doesn't feel like a compromise next to the M2, but rather makes its own case as a more usable and more comfortable alternative for less money. If you plan to spend many weekends working out at a racetrack, by all means stretch for the M2. If you're just looking for a lively driving companion for daily commutes and weekend getaways, the M240i is the better M car for that job.

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