BMW’s 2er ActiveTourer gets the Motorsport treatment

It goes without saying that BMW’s jump into the front wheel drive shopping car world may be a questionable one. It may be more questionable still for the marque to release an M badged version.  While they are not calling it the 2 series ActiveTourer M, they have planted Motorsport logos in every furrow, nook, and cranny, it seems. The car has an open differential as standard and offers a 3 cylinder 1.5 liter turbocharged and direct injected gas engine with 136 horsepower and 162 ft lbs of torque. In other words, it’s heavier and slower than a Mini and it doesn’t come with a manual transmission, but at least it’s more expensive, right?

The optional engines are great, but are still muddied by the presence of an open diff: there’s a 2 liter gas engine with 231 horsepower and 258 ft-lbs on tap mated to an auto ‘box or one can plunk down extra for the oil burner 150 horsepower and 243 ft lbs of torque. The color choice isn’t bad, but at the end of the day, this looks an awful lot like the Mercedes GLA with M badges plastered all over it. The jump into this segment may be a very lucrative one for BMW, it’s just difficult to see the logic in offering an M version.

-By: Sawyer Sutton

Source: AutoNation

Sawyer Sutton

Sawyer Sutton is a long-time Vermonter and lover of cars, big machinery, and photography. These are his words on cars as Senior Editor of egmCarTech.

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