The second-generation M2 CS shows BMW have not forgotten how to build a proper driver s car Many say the petrolhead is a dying breed. And while up to a point that is undeniable , kids today dream more about their next phone than about getting their driver s licence , I still see a lot of people excited about cars. What is also undeniable is that there are fewer and fewer interesting new cars coming out, at least from that petrolhead-minded perspective. That is only natural as one unfortunate, albeit very clear thing about the electric car is that they all look and feel alike. I wrote about that in these pages before. Performance cars with a combustion engine are getting rarer and they now come in three flavours only: expensive, very expensive and absurdly expensive. There are no more Ford Fiesta STs, no more Abarth 500s, no more Hyundai i20N or i30Ns. Even the Honda Civic Type-R is dead, joining the Toyota GR86 at the history books. These last two were not exactly bargains either. In the meantime, the Golf GTI s starting price is over EUR50,000. The original Toyota GR Yaris from 2020 cost EUR47,000. Now it s EUR58,000. The Porsche 911 used to be a EUR100,000 sports car. Now the cheapest Carrera starts at EUR168,000. This poses two problems for petrolheads. One, we cannot buy a new performance car because we cannot afford one. Two, because new cars are so expensive, second-hand performance cars, the classics and the so-called youngtimers are in what seem to be an infinite upward price trajectory. Take the BMW 1 Series M for example. It cost EUR75,000 new in 2012. A car with low mileage is worth around EUR85,000 today. Where s the depreciation that allows enthusiasts to dream about one? Well, in some cases, like the 1M, it simply never happened. This is particularly relevant to this week s car because the M2 is the successor to the 1M. And the M2 starts at a nudge below EUR100,000 in 2026. That s 33% more than the 1M when it was launched 14 years ago. The car you see in the pictures is the M2 CS, the special, racier version of the model. The press car I drove was a whopping EUR145,000. The M2 CS is a curious car because, for most people, it s completely irrelevant. A dinosaur. A video cassette in a streaming world. However, for a few, those in the know, it really is a rather special machine. Count me in that group. I wasn t sure I should write about this BMW because it s so rare only 30 are coming to Portugal and, of course, they are all sold. You cannot read this, get up and go buy one. Even if you have EUR145,000 burning your bank account. BMW imposed stricter rules than usual for the M2 CS s test. No driving in the rain on account of the semi-slick tires and only two days with the car. Objectively, the 250km I drove in it may very well be the only time I spend with one in my whole life. I have a neighbour who got one of the 30, but he even built a garage just for it. I doubt he will ever voluntarily hand me the keys. Therefore, I thought, I am going to write about it so I will always remember what I made of it when I drove it. And what I made of it is this: what-a-truly-incredible-car. Wonderful. A real driver s car in a world in dire need of those. To become the CS, the standard M2 went through a raft of significant changes. Carbon roof. Bucket seats. New intakes. Lower ride height. Inside trim all carbon fibre. Power hike from 480 to 530 horsepower. Auto-box only. Ultra-light (and fabulous-looking) golden wheels. It feels very different from a standard M2, believe me. There must be important changes in calibration of the suspension too because the CS puts the power down much easier than the standard car, giving you the option of being a laser-guided weapon if you want it to, or a complete nut if you don t. It really has a spectacular personality disorder going on and is all the better for it. I don t much like the fat steering wheel, but the car can still communicate with the driver in many ways modern cars just don t anymore. The excellent bucket seats help with that. Every minute driving the CS is a minute well spent in life. I even enjoyed driving it at 40km/h in city traffic. It feels truly special all the time. And then there s that ducktail bootlid. If ever a car had a feature saying it means business, this is surely it. The M2 CS is not a beautiful object, but it is a spectacular one. You cannot help but stare at such a thing. The M2 CS is BMW saying that, despite the iX3 and the new i3 and all the other electric cars that are coming, they can still make an old-school car, fed only by petrol, in their best tradition. And we should be happy about that. However, BMW, listen to me: can you please make another great performance car with a price tag that makes more people able to dream about it? The remaining petrolheads deserve one of those. Read more from Guilherme Marques about motoring: Cayenne , German extravaganza MOTOR TRADE | Business, Services, Marketplace , CLICK HERE