The remarkable thing is how compliant it is. We were able to keep our foot firmly planted on the go-pedal on surfaces that would have unsettled almost any other performance car – including the M3/M4 combo. The damping is exceptional, tracking straight and true no matter which lumps and bumps are throw into its path. Off-camber corners with potholes followed by expansion joints? No worries. It eats them up.

There are no character-shifting adaptive dampers here, so nowhere for the chassis to hide, and M Division’s team have done a stellar job.

For those who want or need it, there is a twin-clutch seven-speed DCT available, which costs £2645. This is probably the one you want if you’re using the M2 as a daily driver. We didn’t enjoy driving it quite so much because having already sampled the manual, we knew there was so much we were missing out on by letting the car do the cog-swapping. 

That said, you do get launch control and the unashamedly titled (and track-only, officer) Smokey Burnout Mode thrown in to sweeten the deal – and the car has far better motorway manners thanks to its extra ratios.