Holy moly, this is the new, £87k BMW M2 CS, and it returns with 526bhp

BMW has given its baby M car a helluva lot of horsepower. Meet the brand new and not-really-a-baby-anymore M2 CS: a two-door, rear-wheel-drive German sports coupe with 526bhp. Five hundred and twenty six!.

That’s 82bhp more than the old M2 CS, a car which precisely nobody got out of and thought ‘hmm, bit underpowered, that, could use a little more wahey’. And hoo boy is there plenty of wahey.

Like 0-62mph in 3.8s – two tenths faster than the regular M2 Comp – 50-75mph in 3.4s, and 0-124mph in 11.7s. Because it comes with the M Driver’s Pack as standard, top speed is a ‘bahn-storming 188mph.

Such copious amounts of schnell come courtesy of a new ECU map for the M2’s familiar S58 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six - an engine also deployed in the nose of the BMW M4 GT3 Evo - sending those 526 horsies and 479 torques to the rear wheels via an eight-speed auto ‘box (no manual here, boo). The engine itself is of course home to lots of motorsport tech – rigid crankcase, forged crank, iron-coated cylinder bores, that sort of thing. Can take some punishment, basically.

Punishment broadcast through an M Performance exhaust designed specifically for this CS (a titanium setup is optional). The chassis too has been tweaked: the CS sits 8mm lower than the regular M2, and BMW has given the springs, dampers and chassis control systems a bespoke tune.

Ditto the DSC, steering, diff and brakes. And speaking of brakes, the CS gets red calipers as standard, with the option of carbon ceramics for those looking for cold, squeaky morning starts. And better stopping power of course.

Otherwise it’s as per the regular M2 Competition (so nothing 'regular' at all), barring that ducktail spoiler, new ‘stripped back’ kidney grille, 19in/20in light-alloy wheels wrapped in track tyres, and lighter electric buckets inside. BMW’s deployed a fair bit of carbon fibre, in the roof, the spoiler, boot lid, and even the centre console to help shed around 30kg over the standard M2.

We measured a regular Comp last year and found it was pretty much bang on what BMW claimed – 1,725kg, so this new CS sneaks in at under 1,700kg. And 1,725kg posed no issues for the regular car’s agility.

Still, for £86,800 – a huge leap up from the regular car – we were hoping for something a little more drastic. Maybe BMW’s got a CSL in the pipeline with ungodly amounts of power…