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The BMW M2 CS may be the best car from the high-performance BMW M division in showrooms right now – and that’s saying something, because the current M-car lineup is revered by enthusiasts and sought after by rival automakers.
Starting with the already excellent M2 Coupe, the CS – for Competition Sport – is a limited-run, track-focused model which sharpens the sword with a suite of changes designed to deliver more engagement, more pace, and more ‘M’.
It’s the most compact and affordable CS model currently available, bringing a smaller footprint on the same platform as the M3 and M4 , with less weight and a muscled-up exterior compared to the ‘regular’ M2, befitting the more potent, upgraded twin-turbocharged inline petrol six under the bonnet.
Combined with rear-wheel drive, it promises to be a serious driver’s car. So good, in fact, it could well rattle the cage of the other CS models in the M lineup – and knock off the odd Porsche 718 Cayman on the way.
A sequel to the new G87-series M2 – is an original, playful M 2 CS (F87) of 2020 and legendary BMWs from the lag-happy 2002 Turbo (1973), the aggressively tuned 1M Coupe (2011).
Often rectified by electronic band-aids to make them attractive in an age of heavy, tall and clumsy SUVs – the M2 has been described as having taken the coupe body from its original model; it is designed for this type of style with more muscular, blockier front-end styling (along with some unusual features) and an ohcool retro-look rear spoiler.
CS visual cues include A blacked-out kidney grille, carbon-fibre mirror caps, red-outlined c. badges and unique alloy wheels; the rear-end also has a special carbon diffuser and four black holes in titanium exhaust outlets (the standard M2). Has the word integrated ducktail spoiler be cool?
Then there’s a carbon-fibre bonnet and roof, too, which is also helping shed 30kg of weight (Australia-spec versions officially clock in at 1700kg neat), with revised suspension including an innovative adaptive damping tune and new spring rates.
This is a prelude to the brilliant S58 twin-turbo inline–six that sit on top of M’s rails, which has been proven powerplant for all parts of its lineup. The M2 CS (the child behind BMW) packs and mouth watering on paper certifications prove it’t more than an appetiser to range. And yes so, this may be the sweetest treat of M divisions till date.
A track that takes no prisoners is the new M2 CS at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.’ We drove it as BMW’s own race drivers will test to see if it can deliver a bigger punch in fewer packages than its competitors have been reported.
How much does the BMW M2 CS cost?
The CS is $172,900 on-road cost, $44,800 less than the standard BMW M2 Coupe and well above the previous M 2 CC at $147,400 back in 2020.
| Model | Price before on-road costs |
| — | — |
| 2026 BMW M2 6MT | $128,100 |
| 2026 BMW M2 8AT | $128,100 |
| 2026 BMW M2 CS 8AT | $172,900 |
Yet the 2026 M2 CS remains cheaper than the Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 – which went off sale last year – at $199,190 plus ORCs in automatic guise, and significantly less than the sublime 718 Cayman GT4, which commanded $228,580 plus ORCs when it was last sold here in 2023.
In contrast to its predecessor, the 2026 M2 CS is only available in automatic mode; as the six-speed manual transmission used in the M2, can’t cope with its torque bump.
That means you have only two options at the time of sale paint colour (BMW Individual colours are free) and whether you would like to spend $19,000 on a carbon-ceramic brake package instead of the standard steel rotors with six-piston front and single-PistON rear calipers.
Despite the fact that it’s not cheap, however, M2 ‘CS’ is cheaper than its CS stablemates. The next step up is the M4 Touring, which costs $253,900 plus ORCs; it’s a coupe like the MS2 ‘CS– and its cost are $254,900 PLUS ORCCs.
To see how the BMW M2 CS lines up against the competition, check out our
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What is the BMW M2 CS like on the inside?
This is a typical BMW – quality, dark colours and smart design with just slick fanfare on it – but there are some standouts that differentiate the CS with even more carbon-fibre and lashings of red everywhere.
A $9231 upgrade on the regular M2 is electrically adjustable M carbon bucket racing front seats, which is the most obvious CS cabin upgrade. bare carbon-fibre sections and cut-outs with illuminated CS logos on the backrest of their leather and Alcantara trim are interrupted by their Leather and Aluminium Trim.
There are more lit-up logos found on the door trims, and M2 CS entry sill plates, too.
For the CS, it is carbon-fibre (the full centre console) with its lettering of ‘CS on the centre pad (there’s no centre bin), while the signature red outline of the exterior c badging for the outside aforementioned is carried over to cabin details including the shifter and centre buttons.
There’s also a three-spoke M steering wheel in Alcantara, with – as usual 769 on the regular model &… and ‘wide band of carbon-fibre across the dash.
Sadly the rest is, of course, the same as the regular M2, which includes an additional 14 characters. The 3-inch infotainment touchscreen is paired with an excellent head-up display (HUD) and 12 inches of information. A quick customised 3-inch digital instrument cluster is available via the red memory buttons on the steering wheel, which can be easily customized using 3 inches of digital instruments cluster.
It lets you set your favourite parameters – from the steering, suspension, engine and brakes to 10 traction control settings – with your preferred graphics for the cluster and HUD.
That’s a very low-slung two door coupe that you can jump into – although it is less than the lowest of some sports cars but its driving position is great and there’s plenty of legroom and headroom.
I’m driving for the car, but we don’t volunteer to sit there The back seats are where you can be here. Token (assuming he is) and they may have been used on occasion; however, the driver’s seat is the only place in which it will be safe to be at home.
| Dimensions | BMW M2 CS |
| — | — |
| Length | 4587mm |
| Width | 1887mm |
| Height | 1395mm |
| Wheelbase | 2747mm |
| Cargo capacity (VDA) | 390L |
To see how the BMW M2 CS lines up against the competition, check out our
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What’s under the bonnet?
An internal-combustion masterpiece: BMW’s ‘S58’ 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline petrol six, which is used across the majority of the M range.
| Specifications | BMW M2 CS |
| — | — |
| Engine | 3.0L inline-six twin-turbo petrol |
| Power | 390kW@6250rpm |
| Torque | 650Nm@2750–5730rpm |
| Transmission | 8-speed automatic |
| Drive type | Rear-wheel drive |
| Weight | 1700kg |
| 0-100km/h (claimed) | 3.8 seconds |
| Fuel economy (claimed) | 10.0L/100km |
| Fuel tank capacity | 52L |
| Fuel requirement | 95-octane premium unleaded |
| Emissions standard | Euro 6e |
| CO2 emissions | 226g/km |
It is powered by the same engine, which produces 353kW/600Nm – but in the CS those outputs are upgraded to 390kW and 650NM (the same as M3 Competition Sedan).
Across the family of CS, the M2 CC is only marginally outpunched on paper by the two-part M3 CP Touring and M4 (which make 410kW with same in 650Nm – but the L2 ‘CS’, of course, weighs less at 1700kg.
But the higher outputs mean it has a near-identical power-to weight ratio similar to hero M4 CS Coupe. All while lighter and giving the same torque as its larger brother.
The M2 CS also has the same (limited) 302km/h top speed – where the regular M 2 taps out at 250km+h, or 285km/3h with the optional M Driver’s Package. Fuel consumption is officially rated at 10 (officially) as fuel. A 0L/100km, up from 9L-100 km. Using the standard M2 automatic, 7L/100km with the usual M2.
According to BMW, the M2 CS’s S58 is similar to that of engine in the race car’d dry-sump oil system (finished first and second in 2025 Bathurst 12 Hour), with Valentino Rossi scoring a follow up podium in this month’s 2026 event.
Tech features include a closed-deck block, forged crankshaft and pair of single-scroll turbochargers feeding cylinder-heads that were fed to ‘various valve timing’ 3D-printed cycl-type engines with the final package sharpened by super-tiff engine bracing and firmer engine mounts so it can send its fire and brimstone to rear wheels. and that is all the best work ever done by s… And it’s all.
To see how the BMW M2 CS lines up against the competition, check out our
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How does the BMW M2 CS drive?
M2 CS arrives with a bold promise of being an actual driver’s car, as you would expect from ‘back-wheel drive BMW’ and the hallowed M badge.
But this is a good M-car (not porky SUV) but not – because it doesn’t have sm under the bonnet so that it’s raw and stripped-back as if an M. car gets 2026 M, which has been given?
Despite its lavish bodywork and unique gold alloys, which are staggered in size, the M2 CS is all about exploiting that engine from its crisp, wafer-thin carbon-fibre seats. The stance is aggressive, purposeful and aggressive with 275mm-wide 19s up front and fatter 285s on 20-inch wheels at the back.
What is the wrong postcode if you’re expecting cushiness? It’s a solid, firm grip on your body by the CS’S front buckets I am getting increasingly wide and middle-aged; nononsense, matter–of-fact seat base.
You forget that the first you hit the start button, when the M-branded centre display and digital dash a sharpened sword being drawn from its sheath before that glorious 3 was on. This settles into a sonorous baritone idle, which is settled by 0-litre straight six.
The M2 CS was built on rough country roads between Bathurst and nearby Sofala for our first miles in the 1850s – one of the pioneering gold rush towns – where its gold alloys contrasted brilliantly with the BMW Individual Velvet Blue Metallic paint.
A quick attention to racetrack is obvious; a hard-stuff chassis right through the seats and good communication from the thick steering wheel – but when you go faster, that ride feels better when the adjustable damping takes off the crater-sized potholes on our route with impressive effect.
Like the normal M2 there’s a set of settings to change steering, suspension and engine response – and 10 different levels of traction control. The CS is still brutally fast in a straight line, but even in its most benign settings, it swallows winding roads with unshakable grace and poise.
And its real potential is very clear when we hit the iconic Mount Panorama circuit, where BMW superstar Valentino Rossi had just finished his second podium for the German brand in two years.
According to BMW, the S58 turbo six is 90 per cent of what engines drive the M4 GT3 Evo racer – it has only been left out just as dry-sump setup for competition in which Rossi dodged kangaroons, rivals and those unforgiving concrete walls.
We were about to try to thread the M2 CS between them – just the day after much, much more talented drivers than yours had really been hit by the terrible fate of being victim to them, trashing some of the world’s best race cars in front of a global audience.
Scrunk The scars – stark reminders of – were on the track paint was used along walls where race car and concrete went head-to-head, cement dust from the clean-up after an extremely brutal crash at Forrest’s Elbow, the blind downhill corner which leads to Conrod, circuit’t longest straight straight.
going on the 6. The CS begins with a twitch out of pit lane, its tail wagging oh-so-lightly as we set off to know whether we can make it around The Mountain in ‘right M-car at proper speed’.
When you’re driving from the driver’s seat, you know that your friend is steering and in Sport Plus mode it has been super-responsive – so as we go flat-out towards the yump on Mountain Straight at more than 200km/h, this allows the whole CS to be perfectly placed dead-centre on track.
It quickly shifts from a deep idle to higher-pitched classic six sound, working hard but punching strongly as it rushes to the 7200rpm redline. But it maintains its strong timbre with no slight edge – nor any metallic rasp, as the M2 ‘CS’ quickly and punches through its eight-speed transmission with absolute focus.
In auto mode, even with the gearbox, it does a great job of maximising torque; as the C just puts its power to the ground with extreme efficiency, there is no wheelspin or chirps between shifts. The levers on the steering wheel are flick, and full manual mode allows you to choose the shift timing (see Flik the driving wheel-mounted lever), while in full automatic mode it is possible.
A reaction to any order, however it is rapid and powerful – although not violent. The revs rise, and the power under your right foot is flooded with power without ending when its backing track drowns out the radio messages.
A small nose lift that we found in the softer modes of road loop has been gone, but BMW gurus on hand recommended leaving the suspension in a more relaxed setting as Mount Panorama undulation and twistiness required M2 to load up through corners.
Somewhere they suggest, like Philip Island would suit full chassis stiffness (which is selected via the touchscreen). The steering was replaced with the more responsive Sport Plus setting, which adds weight but not necessarily feel more, and we changed that to a .
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber was used in the purple CS we drove with Micheline PilotSport 4R rubber. Pirelli P Zero Corsas was wore by another M2 CS on hand. Shocking on the brakes into Griffin’s Bend – the first right-hander, and a long corner tapering uphill there’re no doubt stability and confidence.
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Another, the steering is used to assist when we apex the corner too soon; an instant flick puts us back online after kissing the ripple strip early as torque and revs are coming. They hold youfirmly, and what is the smallest body roll there is– even in soft suspension settings remember – is predictable and well managed.
Here – on an early lap – we feel the cut in of traction control (TC) but that’s on driver, and this is the steepest part of circuit.
Safety We didn’t have to turn off the TC, but in Sport Plus mode it delivered power out of The Cutting without any hint of oversteer due to the electronic limited-slip diff so we did not miss feeding faster as we headed up to next winding section.
Over the years, here you know how hard the racers at Mount Panorama are it’s a little narrow and, if the steering, power and mechanical grip of the CS make you confident, the concrete walls appear to be 10 storeys high with furrowed brows as – don’t get cocky, mere mortal.
The CS is not just as good as it should be, but the task-oriented cs delivers an aggressive rear-end and a responsive front-ended to make us look like bona-fide racers and even threatening Rossi’s factory drive.
Unlike the one that is in reality, however, the CS has a combination of control, precision and entertainment; you can push towards the car’s true capability but nowhere near the last few per cent of its stunning potential.
The CS is much more committed to helping you around the track than its modern predecessors, including the 1M Coupe – a car that didn’t want you to drive it so badly that it tried to throw you off the road at any given opportunity.
Compared to the first, M2 was better; it had an interesting factor that had been mixed with heavier, newer models of M3 and M4– but the 2026 M 2 (CS) is a combination of precision and poise without diluting playfulness.
It’s a perfect example of Confidence when you storm over Brock Skyline, if you have escaped the mountain and then go through that glorious left-hander across the top to the summit–and then see the huge rear wing of.
the radio booms of two-way, don’t care what. If you have a , then don’t put pressure on them. But this is the point of it The famous Dipper – a roller-coaster drop as the narrow shoestring layout pinballs the car down The Esses before Forrest’s Elbow.
CS has to deal with this accuracy and speed (with an expensive rear-engined car from unnamed German brand on our tail) as it goes exactly where the word is told, in the reliable, obedient front-end after the road down circuit before we pull left onto Conrod to let the exotica pass by.
The CS was surefooted and stable, so we hit 276km/h on Conrod’s fastest lap Now is the easy part We were at 1230pm today. But he was more skilled – and braver – there was much in it.
Just a decade ago, your younger, sharper and fitter author took slick-faced Ferrari F12 down Conrod who didn’t match the baby BMW straight-line number.
Next, a big test We get to The Chase – where you have to somehow pull up the car from the fastest part of that circuit before going into one of the slowest parts.
When you drive the CS around the first right-hander, then push up the brake pedal (which again shows no objection to pulling up that 1700kg car (sans large post-lunch driver), just minutes after it reached its top speed and was close to its original velocity) The CC doesn’t squirm or wobble.
All of it settles quickly and well enough to let us tuck it into the left turn – with a small crest for added spice – and as the front-end grips, the rear-ended takes another full throttle and the car smoothly moves back towards the right-hand exit.
The M2 CS, which has been an even finely honed M2, who earns its ‘CS’ lettering as we approach the final turn, Murrays Corner, to complete the lap, is more interesting and more satisfying driving experience.
It does so cheekily and nimblely that carving up a road (or an iconic racetrack) is enjoyable, rather than an ‘oh my god, this thing is trying to kill me’ ordeal. It is just the right way to bite and have hiss in it,’ .
To see how the BMW M2 CS lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
What do you get?
A flagship model of the M2 lineup is the BMW M2, CS, and exterior paint colours and upgraded ceramic brakes are only options available for buyers to choose from.
2026 BMW M2 CS equipment highlights:
- CS-specific 19-inch front, 20-inch rear alloy wheels
- CS-specific front grille and splitter
- Red-outlined M2 CS badging
- Integrated ‘ducktail’ boot lid spoiler
- Carbon-fibre roof
- Carbon rear diffuser with quad black titanium exhaust outlets
- M Compound brakes, 6-piston front, 1-piston rear, with red calipers
- Adaptive dampers
- Active M differential
- Keyless entry and start (phone-based digital key for automatic models)
- Entry sill plates with M2 CS lettering
- Illuminated door panels with CS lettering
- M Carbon Bucket seats with illuminated CS logo
- M Alcantara steering wheel with red centre mark and carbon-fibre paddles
- M-branded seat belts
- CS-specific carbon centre console
- Adaptive LED headlights
- Tyre pressure monitoring
- Ambient interior lighting
- Tri-zone climate control
- Head-up display
- BMW Live Cockpit Professional
- 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
- 14.9-inch touchscreen
- BMW Operating System 8.5
- Cloud-based maps
- OTA compatibility
- DAB+ digital radio
- Harman Kardon surround sound system
- Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- Wireless smartphone charging
Australia’s four exterior paint colours are BMW Individual Velvet Blue Metallic, Black Sapphire Metallic and M Brooklyn Grey Metallic as well as M Portimo Blue metallic.
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Is the BMW M2 CS safe?
Although there is no ANCAP safety rating for the BMW M2 CS, it does have a four-star Euro NCAP rating on the 2 Series Coupe range.
BMW 2 Series Coupe
Standard safety equipment includes:
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Lane departure warning
- Steering assist – lane-keep
- Attentiveness Assistant
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Rear cross-traffic assist
- Adaptive cruise control with stop/go
- Parking Assistant
- Tyre pressure monitoring
The M2 CS also has front-drive and passenger airbags, front side air bags and curtain air bags for both front and rear passengers.
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How much does the BMW M2 CS cost to run?
The M2 CS is covered by the same five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty that’s offered across the BMW Australia lineup.
| Servicing and Warranty | BMW M2 CS |
| — | — |
| Warranty | 5 years, unlimited kilometres |
| Roadside assistance | 3 years, unlimited kilometres |
| Service intervals | Condition based (detected by vehicle) |
| Capped-price servicing | 5 years/80,000 kilometres |
| Average annual service cost | $716.80 |
| Total capped-price service cost | $3584 |
Service requirements and costs of the CS are also similar to that of normal M2 (12 months/20,000km service intervals). It offers five-year/80,000km service package, $3584 including GST.
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childcareman.xyz’s take on the BMW M2 CS
It is a driver-friendly BMW M2 CS, which has an unusual character and features in contrast to its already powerful donor car (and other models of the CP range), as well as the few cars that are close enough for your call rivals.
Despite the lack of a marketing special, the new M2 CS has evolved in this second generation to become an even faster point-to-point machine, sharpening the sword enough for those who are in that top-level percentile to explore its incredible ability from behind the wheel.
That’s an analog of what can really be done in a well-equipped car on even the most difficult roads for the rest of us, as opposed to the daily humdrum that is associated with new cars (with increasingly weak dynamics but features longer than Conrod Straight) and its more complex condote.
Despite its on-board ‘Drift Analyzer’ – and we can’t wait until it is off its traction control to test its ultimate capability (away from public roads of course) the M2 CS is not at all juvenile perhaps more anarchy in that sense. That’s a complete hoot, even with that on it. This is not Jekyll and Hyde – it’s different degrees of Hydes than this car, but the cars aren’t just that.
Its larger sibling’s performance and ability for a fraction of the price is remarkable, but once again raw numbers are all relative… since when did $172,900 seem like bang for your bucks?
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