BMW keeps the RWD flame alive

Tuesday, 18 May 2021

The rear-drive, straight-six powered BMW 2 Series Coupe is almost here.

When BMW shifted the 1 and 2 Series ranges to the same FWD platform as the Mini range, people who cared about the German company’s proud sporty RWD heritage were rightfully worried. Did that mean we were about to see the end of the compact rear-drive BMW, something that the company had been synonymous with for decades?

While the 3 Series was still relatively compact, it has ballooned up in size since its inception, and things like the glorious 2002 Turbo, E30 M3 and E36 M3 were the cars that BMW had built its reputation on. Something FWD, or even AWD, just wouldn’t be the same.

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Thankfully, however, this was something BWM was very conscious of as well, so quietly made plans for a sneaky little bait-and-switch with the 2 Series name – the four-door Gran Coupe models would be on the FWD platform, powered exclusively by four-cylinder engines, while the next two-door 2 Series Coupe would be developed separately on the same platform as the Z4 and Toyota Supra. That’s right – RWD and big sixes would still live in the 2 Series line up.

And now that RWD 2 Series Coupe is almost here, with BMW revealing that it is at the end of its development process and the production will start in late in the European summer this year.

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Testing has taken place at BMW’s test facility in Germany, as well as at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife.

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The 2 Series Coupe sits on the same platform as the Z4/Toyota Supra, and it shows in the classic long nose/short tail proportions.

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The company says that the final phase of the series development process for the Coupe has begun with the dynamic testing and tuning of its drive and suspension systems under racetrack conditions.

BMW says the ‘unique selling points’ of the new 2 Series Coupe include “the rear-wheel drive setup, an extremely powerful inline six-cylinder engine, the almost 50:50 balanced axle load distribution, an extremely torsionally stiff body and chassis technology consistently designed for agile and dynamic driving behaviour.” Which sounds good to us.

Development of the 2 Series Coupe has taken place at BMW’s test facility at Maisach, Germany, as well as public country roads around Munich and, most promisingly, on the Nürburgring's legendary Nordschleife circuit.

Little has been revealed about the wider 2 Series range has been revealed, aside for the fact that it will be topped by the M240i xDrive Coupe that will pack a circa-280kW version of BMW’s twin-turbo 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder engine that also features in the Z4 M40i and the M340i 3 Series. And, of course, the Toyota Supra.

The powerful engine will be hooked up to an 8-speed automatic transmission and drive all four wheels, but with a strong rear bias. Lesser RWD models will likely be in the mix, while an M2 is almost certainly be on the cards as well.

Regardless of the engine, BMW says all model variants of the new 2 Series Coupe benefit from a particularly torsion-resistant body structure. Static torsional stiffness has been increased by around 12 per cent compared to the previous model, and it also packs a “significantly increased track width at the front and rear axles.”

All model variants of the new Coupe are also equipped with the stroke-dependent dampers first seen on the latest 3 Series as standard, while an Adaptive M Chassis with electronically controlled dampers will be offered as an option.