The all-new 2023 BMW M2 performance coupe has gained in size, weight and speed, yet somehow retains ... [+] BMW's modern penchant for design controversy. Photo: BMW

Munich: The next generation of BMW’s cheeky M2 car is all grown up, moving towards the BMW M mainstream with more power, more size and more design controversy.

Due in North America early next year, the 2023 BMW M2 will come with rear-drive, a twin-turbo six-cylinder engine and enough muscle to rip to 62mph in 4.1 seconds.

Critically, the BMW M2 will also come with a choice of an eight-speed automatic transmission or six-speed manual gearbox - and Americans loved it so much that half of US M2s have stick shifters.

That’s not something many of its rivals offer, with the Audi RS 3 being a stickler for non-stick shifting for its five-cylinder power.

The M2’s engine will have 450 horsepower - considerably more power in standard M2 form than the outgoing M2 Competition’s 405hp and more, even than the M2 CS.

But as mature as the M2 has become, controversy is already raging in Europe about its looks following leaked images of the two-door coupe last month.

Commentators have been scathing about its horizontal grille strakes and the boxy sections in the front and rear bumpers that take away any design delicacy from BMW’s favorite junior sportscar.

The 2023 BMW M2's enlarged tailpipes and vertical reflectors are integrated into boxy bumper ... [+] sections that have attracted scorn from critics. Photo: BMW

It’s just the latest in a long line of initially uncomfortable BMW designs, including the iX electric SUV, the XM standalone M PHEV V8 and the beaver-toothed M3/M4 twins.

BMW has yet to confirm how much the 2023 BMW M2 will cost, but it will be more, M boss Frank van Meel insisted, because it’s bigger, faster, rides on bigger wheels and tires and has a lot more standard equipment.

That means Americans can expect a jump up from the MY2021 M2’s $59,895 starting figure, and by several thousand dollars.

“We looked at what people ordered as options on the last car and the majority of people ordered the things that are now included,” van Meel explained.

It will be limited to 155mph, but BMW will offer an upgrade to 177mph if drivers undertake high-performance training courses.

The author with BMW M President Frank van Meel in a studio preview of the 2023 BMW M2 in Munich. ... [+] Photo: BMW

The BMW M2 takes on a lot of parts from the M3 and M4 and follows the more mundane 2 Series Coupe in growing larger in just about every dimension.

It’s also more mature, which might spark some pushback from people who enjoyed the M2’s tail-happy driving character.

But van Meel insists that character is still there, hidden, and can be retrieved at the push of a button while the car remains calmer and more comfortable when drivers might want a more adult handling package.

“This has grown up. It’s not as agile by default, but it’s as agile as it was when you set it up to be with its mode buttons,” van Meel said.

“You can put those modes on your M1 or M2 buttons on the steering wheel, if you like, and then it reverts to that old agility in one push. But it’s calmer and more comfortable by default.”

It’s not just grown up in its character, but in almost every dimension.

At 3803 pounds, the new M2 is 342lb heavier than its predecessor, which is, by any measure, a lot.

The 2023 BMW M2 is bigger in every dimension, including weight. Photo: BMW

Its overall length of 180.3 inches is 4.4 inches more than before and it’s 1.3 inches wider, at 74.29 inches. The wheelbase, the critical measure in any car, has gone up 2.13 inches to 108.15 inches.

The new transmission adds some weight (the old car had a seven-speed unit), as does a plus-one set of wheels and tires, and an inordinate amount of underbody scaffolding to reinforce the body against its cornering muscle.

Good news, America. There's a stick shift for the six-speed manual gearbox. Half of America's M2 ... [+] buyers prefer the manual gearbox, which is a long way from the 20% worldwide M2 stick-shift takeup. Photo: BMW

The stick shifter is 55lb lighter, but it’s slower in every category, adding 0.2 seconds from 0-62mph and 0.8 seconds from 0-124mph (which the automatic runs in 13.5 seconds).

“The target for the M2 was to make it more precise and powerful but to keep the very playful handling,”

“The precision of the car is much higher than before because the basics are very strong already.”

The redesigned grille on the 2023 BMW M2 sees its strakes shift from vertical to horizontal in the ... [+] interests of swallowing more air, but it has angered the BMW faithful. Photo: BMW

BMW has yet again gone mining free airtime by making its cars look... controversial. The M2 is no different.

Leaked images of the M2 haven’t been flatteringly lit or set up, but the car is undoubtedly a step from the inoffensive cheek of its predecessor towards obnoxiousness.

The biggest change is the switch to horizontal strakes in the middle of the two kidney grilles, which might not outwardly seem like a big deal, but that’s how it’s been taken by fans.

“We looked at vertical strakes on the grille but they would have taken away too much air, and it has two turbochargers so it needs air,” van Meel explained.

“These strakes also pronounce how horizontal it is, because it’s 60mm (2.36in) wider than the standard 2 Series and the entire front apron is new.”

BMW has rarely shied away from controversial designs lately, and the 2023 BMW M2 continues the theme ... [+] with boxy rear bumpers. Photo: BMW

The rear is also controversial, with critics suggesting the rear bumper design was shaped less in clay and more in cardboard.

There are two massively boxy elements on the ends of the bumper, and they’re confronting enough that it’s hard to even see the lip spoiler on the trunk lid. There is a wilder M Performance wing coming that will be less subtle.

In the meantime, the boxy rear end houses four enlarged tailpipes, complete with switchable flaps, and vertically mounted rear reflectors.

The 3.0-liter, in-line six gasoline motor pumps out enormous power, and sits in a heavily braced ... [+] engine bay. Photo: BMW

The BMW M2 boasts a hugely complex engine pretending to do a simple job, because that driving simplicity was always a key to the M2’s success.

It uses a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers attached to the 3.0-liter, in-line six-cylinder engine, and they lift it to greater heights even than the mighty outgoing M2 CS.

More than enough cheeky behavior when the driver wants it, according to BMW M boss Frank van Meel. ... [+] Photo: BMW

An incredibly sophisticated engine, it has both direct and indirect fuel injection, and variable valve and camshaft timing and lift.

That helps it to punch out its maximum power of 450hp (338kW) at 6250rpm, while its drivability comes from 406 foot-pounds of torque hitting the fight at 2650rpm and staying on station until 5870 revs.

Bigger wheels and tires fill out the arches of the all-new 2023 BMW M2, along with six-piston front ... [+] brake calipers. Photo: BMW

The BMW M2’s handling package begins at the contact patch, where Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S 275/35 ZR19 tires wrap around the front alloy rims, and 285/30 ZR20 versions down the back.

Both are bigger than on the old M2 (the fronts are more than an inch wider, for example).

The suspension and braking modules come straight from the M4, which sees stopping power uprated thanks to a six-piston setup for the 15-inch front discs and a single-piston setup for the 14.6-inch rear end.

“We have a very high potential from acceleration and electric damping control as also standard and all the different pieces from the M3/4 are on the M2,” van Meel insisted.

There’s a specific M2 version of the 2 Series’ ball-jointed aluminum wishbones, a forged swivel bearing and a unique spring strut clamp and new wheel bearings.

The five-link rear axle design is also drawn from the M4, and the rear-axle sub-frame bolts directly to the body.

The M2’s steering uses a variable rack to achieve its 39-foot turning circle, and there are two driver-selectable effort settings.

All of this attaches to the wheels through an adaptive suspension system, using electro-magnetically controlled dampers to switch between three basic damper settings, from comfort to sporting to track modes.

“These parts are responsible for much higher performance but the steering is unique to the M2 and the applications for steering and damping control and rear diff are all just for the M2,” van Meel confirmed.

The 2023 BMW M2 is supposed to be all about grown-up behavior except when the driver prefers to be ... [+] raucous, rather than being raucous all the time. Photo: BMW

The biggest secrets to the handling are out of sight, though, with three significant areas of under-body reinforcing.

There are vertical and horizontal reinforcements beneath the rear seat, and the engine bay has one visible A-frame to brace the two suspension towers with the nose and the firewall.

There are two invisible ones, too; one down low from the engine sub-frame to the firewall and a vertical brace connecting the M2’s aluminum front-axle sub-frame to the stiffening network. There’s also an aluminum shear panel with integral bracing as well.

In our opinion, there are controversial elements to the 2023 BMW M2, but it looks a lot better in ... [+] the metal than it does in photos. Photo: BMW

The key to the BMW M2’s upgraded maturity is the ability to revert to the sheer fun of the old car at the flick of a switch, and that means buttons.

The M2 is engineered to be calm and relatively comfortable in its default setting, but can be switched into the crazy fun party guy mode at the push of a single button on the steering wheel.

The 2023 BMW M2 gets the customizable M1 and M2 buttons on the steering wheel, allowing drivers to ... [+] change the car's character with one push. Photo: BMW

The M1 and M2 buttons on the steering wheel can be programmed to give the driver two different preferred handling and setup suites for different roads or moods, along with the default setup of “everything on”.

“The track button switches off all the assistance systems and turns off the MMI, leaving the instrument cluster alone to reduce distractions,” van Meel said.

“We have a lot of people who like to take it to racetracks and we don’t want to go to the fifth multimedia level to turn it all off.

“One button. On the wheel. That’s it.”

The Dynamic Stability Control is far more precise than before, as is the M Dynamic Mode (which is M’s way of saying “drift mode”, with 10 stages of slip angle).

This wheel-slip limitation function corrects itself 10 times faster than on the previous car, meaning greater precision and less risk.

The BMW M2 cabin now receives the large curved screen, combining the instrument cluster and the ... [+] multimedia functions. Photo: BMW

The BMW M2 also benefits from everything the rest of the 2 Series range has delivered already, and that includes a large curved screen that combines the multimedia display with the instrument cluster.

Angled in to the driver, the screen combines a 12.3-inch instrument-cluster display with a 14.9-inch multimedia system display.

The M2’s infotainment runs BMW’s operating system 8.0, and our experience with it in other BMWs suggests the 8.1 OTA update can’t come soon enough.

Still, the M2 has a unique display for its performance modes, with shift lights at the top of the screen, and it can display everything from the fuel status to the transmission oil temperature, to which driver-assistance systems are switched on or off.

The 2023 BMW M2 Track mode delivers its own graphics as well as tweaking the car for racetracks. ... [+] Photo: BMW

Comfort seats are standard, though there are options for M Sports seats and M Carbon seats, which have removable headrests (so helmeted drivers fit better) and the ability to fit multi-point harnesses for track work. They are also 29lb lighter than the M Sports seats.

Like its predecessor, the M2 remains surprisingly practical, with a 40:20:40 split in the rear seat, useful rear legroom, front seats that slide forward to access the rear and 103 gallons of luggage space.

The standard equipment includes a three-zone air conditioning system, acoustic glazing for the windscreen, a pair of USB ports and a Bluetooth interface, while inductive charging is an option, along with a range of audio systems rising up to a Harmon Kardon surround-sound setup.

There are two optional roof variants for the M2 as well, ranging from a tilt-and-slide sunroof that’s 20 percent larger than before or a full carbon-fibre roof that saves weight and looks, well, like a grown-up car.

Perhaps the 2023 BMW M2 is best viewed sideways. Photo: BMW