Note: The only thing you need to take away from this is: if an option is important to you, check with the seller to make sure it’s there.

August 2018

The M2 Competition was released in 2018 and came fairly well equipped but there were still some options available. Changes were made to the options in November 2019, and again in 2020, which persisted until the car stopped production in 2020.

Almost all the optional choices were available individually initially but some were available as parts of various ‘packs’. Some of the options depend on others and some were mutually exclusive. Later on some options were only available through packs.

Options are listed with a name and three character code (such as ‘2NH’) which uniquely identifies the option.

When BMW build cars they put a build date on the plaque on the inside of the driver’s door which can be very useful as we’ll see under Modifications. As they build cars then sometimes introduce new hardware/software ‘on the fly’ i.e. some new feature could be included at some arbitary point and the product specification sheets don’t necessary reflect what is available when. More on this later.

So, let’s get into specifics. In August 2018 BMW released the specs of the new M2 Competition and this is the documentation:

I’ll ignore the standard equipment and just concentrate on the options. I’m not going to describe every option (because I don’t really know that much about them) just how they interact.

The optional equipment starts with the Driver’s Package 7ME. This is the only package there the components aren’t available separately:

• Top speed increase to 190mph
• Optional BMW Driver Training

One has to assume that the original owner took the training so this isn’t particularly useful second hard. Even if they didn’t then I’m not sure that BMW would honour it for a subsequent owner.

Next is one of the two most popular packages, Comfort Pack 7MV. All the components are available separately but the package gives a saving:

• 322 Comfort Access
• 3AG Reversing Assist camera
• 430 Exterior mirrors – electrically folding with anti-dazzle
• 459 Seat adjustment – front, electric with driver memory
• 6NW Enhanced Bluetooth with wireless charging
• 6WD WiFi hotspot preparation

The big ones here are comfort access, electric mirrors and electric seats. The latter is divisory in that tall drivers can struggle because the electric seats don’t go as low as the manual ones. The former is controversial because there are well known security holes (relay attacks) with Comfort Access that require fairly awkward work arounds.

We’ll come back to the Electric Mirrors later.

Next comes the second popular package, the Plus Pack:

• 29U 19″ M Y-spoke style 788 M wheels, Black
• 420 Sun protection glass
• 494 Seat heating for driver and front passenger
• 552 BMW Icon Adaptive LED Headlights
• 674 Loudspeaker system – harman/kardon

The Sun Protection glass is, basically, tinting of the rear passenger windows which, again, is divisory. The main features here are the LED Adaptive Headlights (the lights are LED as standard) and the Harmon/Kardon speakers. ‘Adaptive’ means that the headlights can change their throw. More on this later.

Again, we’ll come back to the heated seats later.

The biggest option is next: 2MK M DCT Gearbox, seven-speed M Double Clutch transmission with DRIVELOGIC. The DCT gearbox. Say no more.

Next we have an option that appeals to a particular type of driver: Upgraded M2 Competition braking system 2NH. Bigger, heavier and better braking. Popular with people who like to track their cars or who do a lot of fast road. Feel a bit soft when cold. Won’t make your car stop any sooner but will keep working for longer.

Now a repeat: BMW Icon Adaptive LED Headlights 552. As above.

The last package is Driving Assistant 5AS which I can’t remember seeing on any car. This comprises of a number of features (which aren’t separate options):

• Attentiveness Assistant
• City Collision Mitigation
• Forward Collision Warning
• Lane Departure Warning
• Preventive Pedestrian Protection

This is the first point where things become interesting: “Not with 3AP. Only with 544 + 6WA”. 3AP we’ll come to later but it’s essentially a dark band at the top of the windscreen. My guess is that the driving assistant stuff needs a camera and that can’t co-exist with the dark band, BICBW. 544 (Cruise Control) and 6WA (Full black panel display) are standard so no need to worry about these. LIke I said, no one ever seems to choose this package. I don’t have it on mine so can’t describe the features.

Next is High-beam Assistant 5AC. This option needs the 552 Icon Adaptive Headlights as mentioned above and, as it’s a free option, seems to nearly always be there if 552 is.

Reversing Assist camera 3AG is mentioned above in the Comfort Pack.

Speed-limit Info 8TH is mutually exclusive with the grey band 3AP. It uses a camera to read road signs and display the limit on the dash board.

Seat adjustment – front, electric with driver memory 459 as above in the Comfort Pack.

Seat heating for driver and front passenger 494 as above in the Plus Pack.

Through-loading system 465. By default the M2C has split folding rear seats. This adds a separate piece in the middle that folds down to allow skis through.

Comfort Access 322 is in the Comfort Pack.

Exterior mirrors – electrically folding with anti-dazzle 430 is in the Comfort Pack.

Exterior trim, Chromeline 346. Pretty much as it says.

Model designation deletion 320. Pretty much as it says.

Electric glass sunroof 403. Very rare option.

Smoker’s package 441. A very rare option.

Sun protection glass 420 is in the Plus Pack.

Windscreen with grey shade band 3AP is mentioned above as being mutually exclusive with the Driver Assistant Package. If this is on the car then the Driver Assistant and the Speed Limit info can’t be.

Steering wheel heating 248 is as it says. Be aware that upgraded or after market steering wheels aren’t normally heated so the option might be there but the feature might not.

Apple CarPlay® preparation 6CP. Don’t know about this one.

Concierge Services 6AN. This is where you can press a button, speak to a human and get help finding the nearest Selfridges which sells the posh caviar.

Enhanced Bluetooth with wireless charging 6NW. Don’t know about this one.

Loudspeaker system – BMW Advanced 676. Better speakers.

Loudspeaker system – harman/kardon 674. As mentioned above in the Plus Pack.

Microsoft Office 365 ZME. Come on, it’s a sports car, not a laptop.

WiFi hotspot preparation 6WD. The car presents a wireless SSID with a 3G/4G backhaul. You pay a monthly fee and get wireless through your car.

19″ M Double-spoke style 437 M, Black ZVZ. Alloy option.

19″ M Y-spoke style 788 M, Black 29U. Alloy option as included in the Plus Pack.

There, those are all the options as of August 2018.

January 2019

In January 2019 BMW released another specification sheet with options. Other than the prices the options are identical to the August 2018 one.

November 2019

However, come November 2019 they release another one and this time there are some small, but important, changes.

First, the not-so-important changes: Exterior trim, Chromeline 346 is no longer an option. Can’t say it’ll be missed. Nor will Smoker’s package 441. Windscreen with grey shade band 3AP is gone as a choice but still referred to by the Driver Assistance Pack and the Speed Limit option as being mutually exclusive. Some poor proof reading I think. Concierge Services 6AN is gone but that’s available through the Connect Drive subscription anyway. Loudspeaker system – BMW Advanced 676 is no longer an option so it’s now either the standard speakers or the Harmon/Kardon.

Now the important stuff. BMW decided to make the Exterior mirrors – electrically folding with anti-dazzle 430 and the Seat heating for driver and front passenger 494 standard items rather than optional. A good move in a country with narrow streets, poor drivers and no sun for 364 days of the year. I’ll get to the implications of this change shortly.

2020

Finally, there’s the last version of the spec document released in 2020:

Which is almost identical to the November 2019 version. The changes are minor.

The Driver’s Pack increases the maximum speed to a mere 174mph not 190mph.

The Reversing Assist camera 3AG is no longer an option separate from the Comfort Pack.

Seat adjustment – front, electric with driver memory 459 is no longer an option separate from the Comfort Pack.

Comfort Access 322 is no longer an option separate from the Comfort Pack.

Apple CarPlay® preparation 6CP is standard rather than an option.

Enhanced Bluetooth with wireless charging 6NW is no longer an option separate from the Comfort Pack.

WiFi hotspot preparation 6WD is no longer an option separate from the Comfort Pack.

Basically, if you want of the Comfort Pack features you’ll have to order the Comfort Pack.

Buying a second hand car

So, what does all of this mean if you’re looking at a second-hand M2C and wondering which options it has and whether it has the ones you need/want?

Adverts from private sellers generally have the bare minimum information e.g. “2019 69. Both packs, blue, £45K”. Adverts from dealers vary between “We offer finance!” to listing everything about the car, including that it has oil in it.

The starting point is the packs. The two big ones, as seen above, are the Comfort and the Plus Packs. A lot of people want both packs for the seats, mirrors, adaptive lights and Harmon/Kardon. However some just want specific options like the Upgraded M2 Competition Brakes (known as 2NH for short). If these are listed, great; if not, check the photos the 2NH are grey/silver and it stands out.

However many options aren’t visible. So how can you tell if there’s a heated steering wheel, for instance? If Comfort Pack is listed then it’ll have it. If Heated Steering Wheel is listed as an option then it’ll have it. So there are two routes.

The difficulty comes with the items I flagged above to talk about later. When something changes from optional to standard then many dealers won’t list them in the advert because there are too many standard items to list. This is fair enough.

The problem is that, as buyers, we don’t know exactly when in the build process (i.e. which week of 2019) that the option became standard. So a 2019 69-plate could have been built weeks before September 2019 or any time up to March 2020. Even if you knew the build week from the plaque inside the driver’s door you still don’t know when that thing became standard.

Specifically this applies to the Electrically Folding Mirrors, Heated Seats and (later) Apple CarPlay Presentation.

If you see an advert for a car built around (+- 6 months) November 2019 then:

If it says Comfort then it has folding mirrors (either as an option or standard)

If it says it has Electrically Folding mirrors then it has them (explicitly)

If it doesn’t say Comfort Access or explicitly then you can’t know because it MAY have been built after the change date and have them fitted as standard or it MAY have been built before and not had them specified. You can’t tell. So the only solution really is to ask the seller. Dealers can access a system which can give you a list of EVERY feature, not just the options or the standard but everything.

Same applies to Heated Seats around November 2019.

Same applies to Apple CarPlay Presentation sometime in 2020.

Modifications

As mentioned above, after market, or even the Pro steering wheel, probably won’t have the heating capability, even if the car has.

The build date is very important if you want to have the ECU flashed and remapped. Early M2Cs have had their ECUs hacked and can be modified. Around July 2020 BMW replaced the ECU with a Bosch one which had better encryption and, I don’t believe, has been cracked yet so can’t be reflashed. I believe that external ‘chipping’ solutions are available though for these cars.

Observations from Summer 2022

These are observations based on the M2 Competitions available on Autotrader over the Summer of 2022 when I was trying to find the right car for me. It’s all subjective, has a sample size of about 70 cars, could all be different now and <insert caveats here>… etc. etc. blah. blah.

So general trends seem to be that manual cars are about £2K more expensive than DCT cars, which is odd considering that DCT adds £2K to the price but the manuals tend to be of a higher overall spec. DCT cars are roughly six months newer, have done roughly 1500 miles less, more likely to have the Comfort Pack, less likely to have the Plus Pack. However about 70% of cars have the Plus Pack and about 40% the Comfort Pack.

Almost no DCTs have the 2NH brakes whereas about half the manuals one do. About a third of all cars have the speed limit display, only about one in seven have a heated steering wheel. About one fifth of manuals have CS alloys compared to almost none on DCTs.

Manuals are about four times (40% overall) more likely to have significant mods (exhaust, tuning) or PPF.

My feeling is that manual cars are much more likely to be for people who want to make the most of their performance car (brakes, tuning, suspension), ‘experience’ it (exhaust) and spend money on enhancing it (PPF, carbon, alloys). DCTs the emphasis is more on interior comfort (Comfort Pack). And no one wants a computer to tell them how to drive (Assistance Pack). At least that’s what the cars for sale on Autotrader are hinting at.

For more analysis see https://www.babybmw.net/threads/m2-competition-autotrader-analysis.147327/

Let me know of any additions, corrections or inaccuracies please.