M140I VS M2 COMPETITION DRIVING POV/REVIEW // DO YOU NEED THE FULL M?!

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M or M light do you need the full fat Coke or is the diet soda enough to satisfy the senses let’s answer that question shall we my name’s Tom and you’re watching Paragon cars let’s Go Now if you want to see a in-depth interior tour of both of these cars I’ll drop some links up in the top right hand corner today though we’re talking driving let’s start with the stats then unlike the OG M2 this competition version gets a proper M engine this is

The s55 inline 6 it’s got 410 horsepower and 550 newm of torque and it’s a bit nuts the Mite or m140i as it’s known is a tuna favorite and it has the b58 in line 6 and in this car it makes 340 horsepower and 500 newm of torque then

In terms of noise they sound like this so which one do you prefer I’m actually leaning more towards the BMW m140i you know it has a beefiness to it that I actually really like definitely not cuz I one anyway how do they go let’s do the 30 to 70 Sprint and find

Out so the m140 managed 3.82 seconds and the M2 managed 3.38 that’s a pretty substantial difference and one of the main reasons for that is the lack of limited slip differential in the m140 it takes just that little bit longer to really put the power down whereas the M2

Just sticks Like Glue and gets the job done right I think it’s time for a bit of driving don’t you think let’s settle this debate once and for all then is an M car really worth the money well we’re going to start off in the 140 then immediately after I’ve

Driven this we’re going to hop straight into the M2 competition so I can get a like for like comparison on the day in the same weather and yeah anyway the m140i driving around town it’s unbelievably smooth because you’ve got that ZF 8-speed torque converted gearbox and you have torque full 500 newm of

Torque coming in at just 1450 RPM so yeah it’s unbelievably smooth in terms of its drivetrain where it is a bit lackluster is its suspension as you can tell by uh me just going over those speed bumps there it’s a bit pogoy I think that’s

The right way to describe it it’s um I would say it’s about as stiff as a full fat M car which surprises a lot of people so yeah is it’s as stiff as an M2 but it doesn’t have the Finesse nor the refinement that an M2 has where it kind of hits the

Bump comes off the bump and immediately settles it doesn’t quite do that it kind of hits the bump POG goes up comes down and Pog goes a bit when you come down and uh yeah it’s one of the shortcomings of the 140i unfortunately but it means

You can spend more money fixing it and making it your own which is great uh and that’s one of the things I really really like about this car actually the thing is with an M car is that it’s pretty much done from Factory there’s not a lot

You can do by just kind of add more power whereas the M lights they obviously leave a lot to be desired and therefore require a bit of fettling um even after they come from the factory just to make them a bit nicer we’re not going to focus too much on parking and

Driving around town today just because that’s not really the point of this video mainly focusing on how fun they are to drive and how they compare just a little bit on a daily Basis right then coming out of Junctions with start stop off because everyone hates that give it half throtle and a bit of Tire slip yeah having an open diff doesn’t help but it still puts the power down fairly well I will say that and we we are on the original Super Sports for

This car but yeah we’re on the original Super Sports for this car and yeah unless they’re boiling hot on a track they don’t really do much you know we’re sitting in what is it 5 degrees outside today and it’s damp and greasy so there’s just going to be no grip which

For most isn’t great for me though I quite like it because it’s fun anyway let’s now reset our trip computer because this is where the m140i is qu quite substantially better than a full fat M car if you’re looking for a car to do motor if you’re looking for a car to do

Motorway miles in the 140i will do crazy MPG figures especially at higher speeds even above 70 it will do well over 30 mpg which is just crazy I mean for me I think the reason that is is because it’s got so much low down torque and it’s

Just quite a small car with a big engine so it’s just never really trying unless you’ve got your foot down so it can just pump out crazy numbers plus you’ve got an 8-speed gearbox so you’re sitting at like, 1500 reps at 70 mph anyway before we um put the proof in

The pudding let’s take this thing round round about and see how it handles okay then into sports plus that sharpens up the throttle response gets the traction off but stability still on we drop a gear in the gear box get heavier steering and then if I flick it over

Into s it drops another gear makes the gear shifts even sharper and then of course I can go into manual if I want which I am going to do because taking control of this gearbox is very nice even though it’s a torque converter right let’s give it some bit of wheel

Spin obviously a lot of wheel spin we and yeah that’s about an eighth of the throttle and finally as soon as you get to 70 it starts hooking up yeah super sports are not great in cold weather but smes per mile am I right they are fun anyway before I absolutely destroy

Our fuel economy figure let’s go into Eco now and uh see what this thing’s like on the motorway this is where it kind of does just really beat an M car coming onto the B way obviously you’ve got loads of low down torque so you basically just

Tickle the throttle and this thing just easily gets up speed even an Eco even though it deadens the throttle a bit I mean it’s just got so much grunt this thing it is mad and yeah once you are on the motorway it’s fairly quiet very little road noise very little wind noise and

The only downside again is that that suspension it’s just not quite good enough for this chassis it just bounces over certain bits in the road it’s not the worst suspension in the world and you certainly can live with it it just feels like a fairly sporty

Car but it would be nicer if it was just a bit more compliant a bit more refined I’d say that’s where the M2 is a bit better it just has a bit of a more sophisticated ride quality no matter what speed you’re going where this is

Better than the M2 though is in terms of road noise now because the M2 has basically every part of the chassis connected directly to suspension components you know there’s a very few rubber bushes between things or if there are rubber bushes they’re quite a bit

Firmer it means you get a lot less road noise coming to the cabin which is very nice because you can now chill out in the 140i and and um yeah it’s just it’s just great for long Journeys really is fantastic and as you can see already

We’re about to smash through 30 mpg just like that and that’s going to keep on climbing I won’t be surprised if we get a clear run today that you might even see 45 MP gallon but proof is in the pudding let’s go do that now and see what this thing can Manage Well I’ve cut the route short just to save a bit of time and still this thing is doing 41 MP gallon and that figure is actually still going up and that’s just over like 12 miles of driving that’s absolutely crazy so yeah if you want a car that’s

Fun and good in terms of MPG if you’re doing a lot of Motorway miles and dropping GoPros then the m140i is an absolute Beast an absolute Beast saves you money at the pumps if you’re doing a lot of miles yet it’s still so much fun anyway let’s get onto

A proper B- road now and see how this compares to an Mt all righty then back into sports plus gearbox into sports and manual because we want those nice f shifts of course traction is off but stability is still on cars there to catch you if you need it let’s have a

Little taste of this thing shall we it’s very easy to break Traction in this thing I’ll give it that and um unfortunately that does scare quite a few people because even in say third gear yeah it breaks traction and a lot of people get scared of that and end up

Binning them so it’s a car you kind of have to know what you’re doing in once you get used to it of course or a you’re coming from a rear wheeel drive car and you know how to do a bit of drifting you’ll be absolutely fine it’s got an e

So it uses the brakes to try and mimic a proper limited slip differential it tries it doesn’t really work you know it it’s there and it’s like a limited slip diff that really needs servicing is the way I describe it let’s do a little sound check through here oh look at

That it’s quite interesting it’s like a really lazy proper M engine it just has this effortless torque feel to it that I really do love and third gear is just monstrous in this thing absolutely monstrous but yeah coming around Corners like this you can’t just plant your foot you have to

Yeah be a little bit careful as even well above 70 this thing will easily break traction and yeah one thing to note with this car is whilst it’s very good at doing good economy figures when you’re not driving it hard when you do start driving it hard those figures will

Plummet through the floor as you can see we’ve already lost 5 MPG and that’s going to keep going down into low 20s if not High Teens um but you know smes per mile and it is a big engine after all it’s just nice that it gives you the best of both worlds I

Think in terms of chassis the suspension is still pretty lackluster um but yeah it’s still fun because it’s rear wheel drive and it’s got a lot of power so you can’t really complain at all but it’s just like even in sixth gear so if if I slow down to like 50 m

Hour plant my foot and it’s just effortless just effortless brakes BMW only really put the good stuff on the proper M cars which we’ll get into in a bit um you know it stops the car well but it doesn’t have the best feel and that theme kind of plays

Out throughout the whole ight experience not a lot of feel but does well if you know what I Mean but I think in terms of sound for stock car it sounds pretty Good it’s just it’s just all over the place these tires really have no grip at all to be honest though that makes it quite good fun oh dear I am going to have to get some new sticky stuff for this GoPro aren’t I but anyway yeah suspension really is

The only shortcoming and uh it will make itself very apparent when we get onto a little B- Road in a Minute but the drivetrain is just I think it’s probably one of if not my favorite drivetrains out there it’s just so good so predictable and just so powerful and obviously very very tunable this car can make silly figures on stock internals and uh yeah if you’re mapping

This thing you need to focus on the chassis first I will say that you need proper suspension and uh you definitely need a limited slip differential if you’re making this thing uh pretty powerful also some good tires my personal m140i I’m running Michelin ps5s and I find for the UK they are

Absolutely perfect because oh dear I really am going to have to change the sticky stuff on that but yeah ps5s are an absolutely awesome tire for this car because if you’re driving on the road you’re never going to overheat them in the summer but they have insane levels

Of grip in the wet insane levels of grip and uh yeah you really don’t want the Michelin Pilot Super Sports on this thing because they’re just not brilliant anyway let’s take this thing to a smaller B- road now and see how it does there all right back into sports plus into manual

Again let’s have had it wheel Spinning Wheel spinning lots of wheel spinning but it’s quite a lot of fun really you really really have to watch your speed in this thing because it’s just a monster it wants to be driven hard 247 this Car even come around corners like this you just the throttle oh God it’s good it is so good okay can we hit 60 before the corner let’s go I’m just planting my foot oh horrible wheel hop oh there we go we did hit 60 way you were and that’s the thing you notice without a limited slip if it’s just not quite as refined and again that’s the theme with the Mite it’s got the horsepower it’s got the torque but it is just missing that element of sharpness refinement and predictability that an M car

Has but it feels quite naughty it’s a bit of a bad boy car this and it is quite good Fun and you know what you can still place it where you want it the suspension still deals with bumps just about good enough and my goodness for me honestly it feels like a package that needs a bit of fettling but then it will just be a complete Package and there’s not really anything like it it’s so satisfying look looking at a boot that can be used to Chuck a load of crap in and just having a big inline six with a Turbocharger that puts out silly horsepower figures with an email oh God it’s so good anyway is

There something better than this and is it called the BMW M2 competition I think it might be let’s hop into it now and have some fun now then immediately as you get in the M2 competition it’s just more visceral there’s more kinds of sounds coming into the cabin there’s

More induction noise for the engine there’s more vibrations as well you can feel that everything’s just a bit stiffer a little bit tighter and then the next thing you notice is everyone looks at this car I think this generation of M2 coupled with this color and the wheels it does look really

Really good I think I think the only one that beats it for me would be Chris Harris’s green with gold Wheels BMW m2cs I think that was probably the perfect spec for an M2 but this just looks absolutely awesome and it feels awesome from behind the wheel as well immediately the

Steering there’s just no Delay from when you turn the wheel to when the wheels actually do stuff and there’s quite a bit more texture as well the 140i does have some feel but this you kind of feel every individual Pebble coming through the road and it’s just I don’t know it’s

Like a vibration thing you can just feel more you just feel more connected and then coming out of Junctions half throttle limited slip diff does the job well puts the power power down even in the wet and yeah that’s where it is a bit better than the 140i the 140i you get

That initial slip and then that e the fake limited slip diff comes into play and acts a bit like a regular limited slip differential but there’s a delay to that proper mechanical limited slip diff no delay immediately locks up and sends all the power to the ground and that’s what you

Want now then where it’s not quite as good as the 140i is on fuel and it’s shall I say quite a uh staggering difference let’s reset the trip computer and we’ll see what we get on the motorway um but yeah this is quoted on the combined

Cycle as only getting 28 m per gallon which is not great considering the combined cycle for the 140 is 40 m per gallon that’s 12 mil per gallon more but uh we are going to put this thing to the test and see what kind of MPG we get

On the motorway obviously before that let’s get this thing to a roundabout get it in MDM and have some proper fun with it but yeah you can tell going over this road surface especially there’s a lot more vibration coming into the cabin and it’s strange because the suspension is well it perceivably it’s

The same in stiffness but it just has a slightly better ride quality even though there’s more vibrations coming into the cabin I think that’s more to do with all the chassis components just being directly connected but anyway let’s get this thing in MDM and have some fun right in

MDM if you don’t know what that means that is M Dynamic mode which is configurable so you can change things like your uh the weight of your steering the throttle response the engine and couple of more things also how much traction you have and how aggressive the gearbox is this is full

Attack Mode basically and as you can tell it sounds like it but yeah even just touching the throttle this thing goes sideways that was literally just touching just touching if I plant my foot yeah lots of wheel spin and you eventually have to come out of it

Otherwise you are just going to end up in a ditch or sideways into tree but the gearbox it’s just a bit sharper being a dual clutch unit it just has a bit more bike to it the one downside is though it is a bit jerky in

Traffic now the BMW M4 that shares the running components with this car is a bit jerkier I would say interestingly I feel like the M2 competition has just been calibrated a bit better and I think because it’s just got a little l less power the gearbox is having to deal with

Well a little less power but as you can see I’m in first gear now and yeah it kind of does this bucking thing if you drive it like a normal car it teaches you very good throttle control so you literally just tickle thr and it kind of gently goes into gear but

It is something you have to learn and it can take some drivers a while um or it just puts a lot of drivers off the car actually anyway let’s now go into regular Drive no eco mode on this thing at least I don’t think so let’s just I don’t know

Efficient well that’s just regular Drive yeah so inefficient in drive with the gearbox in its most chill setting and even then in traffic it’s still you know okay let me just put my foot down like a normal car yeah it kind of just it jerks quite a lot so yeah you

Do need to learn throttle control in this thing once you learn it though it’s not too bad it’s definitely better than the um f80 series M3 but it is one thing to keep in mind so for traffic the 140i is definitely better and generally just as a daily I

Would say the 14 is just a bit more livable the uh road noise levels are a bit higher in this thing which you’ll notice in a minute when we get on the mot way and the wind noise is actually not that bad even though you’ve got extra bits um adding to the aerodynamics

On this thing anyway enough waffle let’s get on the motorway and see what this thing’s like so coming on to the motorway even in efficient or regular drive you do notice something and that’s that the 140i feels slightly more potent low down which is interesting because this is a

Twin turbo car and it’s got more torque and the power comes in very low so there’s no reason for that but it does just seem to lag a little bit more than the b58 engine in that 140i does which is interesting obviously once you’re above 2,000 or sorry once you’re

Above 3,000 revs this thing is a a totally different animal shall I say but yeah cruise control whack it on 70 M hour and I will say yeah you do notice there’s a little bit more road noise but it’s not a huge amount more I’d say it’s about 10% but

It’s definitely noticeable the one thing you do notice is the steering and if I just hold the wheel like that you can notice there’s a lot more vibrations coming through the road and if you’re driving over longer periods it actually does wear your hands out a bit because

Don’t know if you can notice it you just have these little vibrations coming through and that’s purely because the steering is just solidly connected to the front wheels effectively or much more solidly connected than it is in the 140i and that’s where you get the texture

From but as good it is as good as it is when you’re on a B- Road it’s not so good for longer Journeys as yet it just wears your hands out but in terms of seats yeah they’re just as comfortable as the m140i seats are you can sit nice

And low in them and yeah overall it’s a a pretty nice car to do quite a few miles in you know we’re not talking base model VW polo just yet but the 140i is definitely just a bit more relaxed the thing is though as soon as

You turn into any single Corner in this thing let’s dive it into this corner here yeah front end bike is just so much better in this than it is in the 140 it just feels like you have so much much more grip because you just do maybe not

Over the rear but over the front you’ve definitely got substantially more grip than you do in a 140 there’s just zero under steer in this thing to under steer in this you would have to go zero power full lock and even then I think it would still over

Steer anyway let’s get onto the motorway now and see what kind of MPG we manage see if we can get close to the 40 MPG we manage in the 140i okay so there’s your proof you do about 10 or well 8 to 10 MPG less than uh the

Equivalent BMW m40i or 240i so yeah there’s a bit of M Tax involved in in that one plus when it comes to servicing you’ve got bigger brakes obviously wider tires everything’s just a bit more expensive with an M car but when it comes to a twisty road is it all worth

It let’s go to one now and find out okay then let’s get our MDM on throttle response increases gearbox is sharper and induction noise is present oh it is good it’s just yeah for every shortcoming it has on a long journey this is where it just becomes all totally worth

It little bit of slip there flip thr oh it’s predictable it’s fun it is so so good oh wheel spin yes in damp greasy conditions you do have to have very good throttle control it’s not a car you can just plant your foot In right sound check time yeah do you know what I think the 140i sounds better than this genuinely I think it sounds a bit beefier this is yeah I think the s55 just has a tiny sound to it that I’m not too keen on it’s not a bad sound but it’s just

Not as good yeah this is why you have to be careful that was only half throttle and if you didn’t didn’t know what you were doing you could have easily ended up in a hedge there and remember we’re in MDM this is where the car is there to kind of save

You a bit with traction fully off yeah it’s a complete hooligan this car please do not do that on a public road it’s just dangerous even if you’re an experienced driver honestly but for stuff like this it’s just it feels great it really does feel fantastic and the thing is you don’t

Even have to be going fast in it to enjoy it it just has a really nice feel from behind the wheel everything from the steering to the feel of the suspension going over bumps again the texture through the steering the way it breaks traction compared to the 140 is not

Nicer and it is more predictable the sound of the induction noise from the engine because you’ve got no insulation under the Bonnet it’s just a more visceral more pleasurable experience and it’s just it’s that minutia of in the steering that I just Love but it’s a very rare thing to put your foot down in this still haven’t done it yet still haven’t done it you just cannot put the power down in damp conditions but I do not care one iota it’s so much fun this car it’s honestly

I can’t think of a car that’s actually more fun than this now a lot of people will say you can make a 140i as good as this and I think you almost can I don’t think you can get all the way there but you can get 90% of the way

There I think there is just fundamental differences in the welding of the chassis of this thing that definitely make a difference and the geometry of the suspension that definitely makes a difference oh there’s just more feel it’s it’s a more emotional experience and it gets even more enhanced when you

Take it to a smaller tighter road because you really do have to have your wits about you let’s get to one now and I’ll show you what I mean right then then our favorite little B- Road let’s go yeah that’s about an eighth of the throttle I know it’s more responsive in

MDM but still it is pretty ridiculous Full Throttle now yeah immediate immediately lights up the tires oh that damn shift noise is incredible even from second gear just yeah those you just can’t do it but the brakes yeah they’re a lot sharper than an Ml one thing I love about MDM as well is it’s not that intrusive it’s only there when you really do need it right then can we hit 60 fourth Corner let’s go wheel spinning can’t put my foot down there we go had to short shift and that was about a

Quarter throttle and we still made it just goes to show how much power this thing has it is ridiculous this car okay in third sometimes you can put the power down but where this thing really shines is its suspension it’s just leagues and Bounds ahead of the 140 when you turn

Into a corner it’s just it’s straight into the corner and when you hit a bump it doesn’t get unsettled it doesn’t Pogo and for me that makes it worth it alone over the 140 it really Does it’s just this it’s just this turning especially when you come over a bump you can just feel exactly what the car’s doing it’s just brilliant I do just wish it sounded a bit better though that would be nice from like 2 to 4,000 RPM it sounds

Quite good and then from 6 to 7 it sounds quite good but from 4 to 6 I don’t think it sounds great it sounds very tiny especially when you modify the exhaust and there’s a little a little wall here so we can do just a little bit of a sound Check just it just immediately lights the tires up it makes me do naughty things this car I have to admit but in conclusion then is it worth the MX is it worth the initial disparity in price it’s a tough one to call but I think there really is nothing that quite

Compares to a full m car yes you can modify the m140i up to its eyeballs and make it a hilarious car but it’s only ever about 90% of the way there I think the fundamental sh differences that are in the M2 are still apparent it’s that 10% that really does

Make all the difference you know it’s like going from A4 wagu beef to A5 both great steaks but the A5 is just that noticeably little bit more tasty anyway as always I hope you enjoyed this comparison SL review if you did give it a like and why not subscribe

As not you see more content like this you can see everything we have for sale which as of this moment includes the cars in this video a very nice low mileage very well-kept BMW m140i where the previous owner was well a pensioner I’ll put it like that and he basically

Just did Motorway miles cars been looked after incredibly well as has this BMW M2 and yeah the links for both cars will be down in the description if they’re not then sorry you missed it the cars have solve but don’t worry there’s plenty more stock on offer if you click the

Link in the description below you can just have a look at everything we’ve got for sale and yeah there’s a nice range of stuff everything from you know stuff that’s about 10 grand which is nice to pole around in perfectly good enough for daily drivers and if you want to spend a

Lot more money you certainly can if you want something like a Range Rover svr anyway my name’s Tom and you’ve been watching paragan cars see you in the next one bye-bye