BMW M2 Gets More Horsepower for 2025

A glowing review? Sure, you can call it that. We published it on April 2, 2023. The second-generation BMW M2 is “The M car to get, and the one that tracks most closely to enthusiasts’ image of the brand,” we wrote. The M2 “remains the pure driving enthusiast’s choice in BMW’s lineup.”

So what can the 2025 BMW M2 do for an encore? An extra 20 horsepower, for one thing, upping the muscle from 453 horses to 473. Which lowers the 0-to-60 mph time to 4.1 seconds, a tenth of a second quicker with the manual transmission, and quicker still with the M Steptronic automatic transmission at 3.9 seconds.

Called in the business a “mid-cycle refresh”—which happens when a manufacturer updates a current vehicle to keep it interesting until the arrival of the next-generation model— BMW has tweaked that second-gen M2, introduced in 2023. The worldwide launch of the ’25 model happens this August. It will continue to be built in BMW’s plant at San Luis Potosí in Mexico, alongside a similarly-refreshed 2 Series Coupe.

As far as increased performance goes, that added horsepower can come with more torque, too, but at an experiential price. Torque remains a healthy 406 lb-ft in the manual, but opt for the M Steptronic plus the no-extra-cost Drivelogic feature that enhances the Steptronic’s shifts, and the torque jumps to 443 lb-ft. BMW also says that “advances have been made with the accelerator mapping and response in all the drive modes selectable via the M Setup menu,” resulting in a quicker response when you hit the accelerator, regardless of which transmission you have.

Aside from that, the powertrain is untouched—it remains a twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine, connected (thankfully) to a standard six-speed manual transmission, or the eight-speed M Steptronic.
Other updates for the ’25 model include new design accents for the exterior and interior, four new exterior colors, and the introduction of BMW Operating System 8.5 to support the latest generation of BMW iDrive. We’ll be interested to see how OS 8.5 works; in our review of the 2023 model, we reported that the “iDrive 8 interface is reasonably intuitive,” but that leaves some room for improvement.

More digital controls have been added, including for the seat and steering wheel heat and the climate control system itself, thus reducing the number of buttons and switches. The instrument panel has also been redesigned, and there’s a new flat-bottomed steering wheel. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto remain as standard equipment.

Wheels are double-spoke alloys in Jet Black or a bicolor finish, or—and this is new—a bright silver finish. The M quad tailpipes will be finished in black, and the model designation badges, located on the trunk lid and grille, are also now black, bordered in silver.

And those four new colors we mentioned: Java Green metallic, Voodoo Blue, Grigio Telesto Pearl Effect metallic and Twilight Purple Pearl Effect metallic. If you can guess exactly what those colors look like from their names, congratulations.

In all, probably not enough enhancements here for 2025 to make you trade in your 2023 or 2024 BMW M2, unless 20 more horsepower means that much to you. As expected, the price goes up, but not by a whole lot: The 2025 M2 starts at $64,900, plus $1175 destination and handling. The second-gen model was introduced for 2023 at a base price of $62,200, plus $995 destination and handling.

When it comes to four-wheel transportation that just makes you smile, the BMW M2 has been doing that since it was introduced as a 2016 model. We see no reason why that won’t continue.

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