Life-prolonging treatment. BMW has a real sports car in its range with the M2, just like Porsche with the 718 Cayman.
Fortunately, there are cars like the BMW M2 and the Porsche 718 Cayman, otherwise the true sports coupe would be an extinct species. Is the new BMW M2 good enough to dethrone the old but golden Porsche 718 Cayman?
That new BMW M2 looks big next to the Porsche 718 Cayman…
That’s right, secretly the BMW M2 is not, like the Porsche 718 Cayman, a standalone model. Instead, the BMW M2 borrows all the technology from the BMW M3, but in a different body. That means the same twin turbo inline-six in the front and the same eight-speed automatic transmission. That immediately gives the BMW M2 an advantage over the Porsche 718 Cayman. It has to make do with a four-cylinder boxer engine with a single turbo. So it also has considerably less power.
But isn’t the Porsche 718 Cayman also available with a six-cylinder engine like the BMW M2?
That’s right, but then you have to save up for at least a Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0. Without options, it already costs €20,000 more than the BMW M2 with options. In fact, this 718 Cayman is already more expensive than the BMW M2 with the same equipment. The advantage is that the Porsche 718 Cayman weighs a lot less and that the seven-speed PDK dual-clutch gearbox is brilliant. The cars are evenly matched in all performance areas that matter in the Netherlands. Once above 100, the BMW M2 quickly pulls away from the Porsche 718 Cayman.
And what about the steering in the BMW M2 and the Porsche 718 Cayman?
There are also big differences there. The BMW M2 is a driving technology bomb with all kinds of smart electronics, adaptive dampers and a torque vectoring differential. This makes it all feel a bit synthetic, but it does effectively turn the crowd around the corner. And if you want, you can be a hooligan with it. The Porsche 718 Cayman is a precision instrument. Even if you take it completely bare, it is still a brilliant sports car. It’s light by modern standards and the mass is low and centred, while the steering is great. While you really have to keep the BMW M2 under control, you instinctively know where the limit lies in the Porsche 718 Cayman.
So the Porsche 718 Cayman beats the BMW M2?
No, it’s a purer sports car. Compared to the BMW M2, you get less value for your money with the Porsche. You can also forget about a back seat. Although the operation is nice and simple, there is also a big difference in the field of multimedia, in favor of the BMW. Secretly, however, we all win in this case, because we can enjoy real sports cars for a while.