Article Summary
- The 2027 BMW M3 CS Handschalter is RWD-only with a six-speed manual, 473 hp, and a 75-pound diet — proof the formula still works.
- The G87 M2 already has the manual and the chassis; a CS edition would require no philosophical leap, just the decision to build it.
- If the next M2 generation drops the manual entirely, the G87 M2 CS Handschalter would be the last one ever sold new — a future classic by default.
BMW spent years telling purists the manual was dying, that xDrive was the answer to everything, that if you wanted a real M car you had better learn to love paddle shifters. Then they announced the 2027 G80 M3 CS Handschalter: rear-wheel drive only, six-speed manual, 75 pounds lighter than the standard M3, starting at $108,450. North America exclusive. Built in very limited numbers.
I don’t know whether to be grateful or suspicious. Grateful because BMW actually did it. The last-ever G80 is the most driver-focused M3 money can buy right now, and it has three pedals. Suspicious because the obvious next move — a G87 M2 CS Manual — seems like it should write itself at this point. There is no doubt they should build it because the case is not complicated.
What The M3 CS Handschalter Actually Is
Strip away the marketing and the M3 CS Handschalter is a surgical operation on a car BMW already knew how to make. The twin-turbo S58 stays at 473 horsepower and 406 lb-ft. What changes is everything around it. Carbon fiber-reinforced plastic exterior elements, forged wheels, titanium rear silencer, bucket seats, CFRP center console and interior trim.
The 75-pound weight reduction only hits if you tick the carbon-ceramic brake option. Those brakes alone account for 31.5 pounds of it. The other 42 come from everything else BMW shaved away. Skip the ceramics and it’s still a meaningfully lighter car. So there is still a lot you can do to make an exciting CS model.
The G87 M2 Is An Easier Version Of This Problem
The G87 M2 already has a six-speed manual. It already has rear-wheel drive only — there’s no xDrive variant to delete as a point of principle, so that’s even better. Everything BMW had to reconfigure around a lighter, simpler drivetrain in the M3 CS Handschalter, the M2 has been doing from the start.
The G87 is also running out of time, which changes the equation a bit. We’re already hearing that the next M3 generation, the G84, arrives in 2028 with xDrive only and no manual option. BMW has also confirmed the M3 ZA0 electric model is coming in 2027, which tells you where the whole lineup is going.
If the M2’s next generation follows the same trajectory — and the direction of travel is not subtle — then the G87 is the last M2 that will ever have three pedals. A CS edition built explicitly on that fact, offered worldwide rather than as a regional exclusive, is the kind of car collectors start bidding against each other for before the paint is even dry on the last one.
The F87 M2 CS already proved this. It was rare, focused, and recognized almost immediately as the car the generation should have been all along. Clean examples have only gone one direction in value since deliveries ended.
The Parts Bin Is Already Open
BMW doesn’t need to engineer anything new here. The M3 CS Handschalter hands them the full recipe. Carbon fiber body elements, forged lightweight wheels, titanium exhaust, bucket seats, CFRP interior trim, M4 CSL-sourced dampers, auxiliary springs, a lowered ride height, carbon-ceramic brakes as a paid option. Put that on the G87 and call it the M2 CS Handschalter.
The weight reduction would matter more on the M2 than it does on the M3 — the G87 is not a light car for its size, a fact that anyone who drove the F87 back-to-back with the G87 noticed immediately and has been mentioning at cars and coffee ever since. Getting 42 or more pounds out through the same measures BMW applied to the M3 CS, lighter wheels, trimmed interior, revised suspension geometry, would change how the car moves, not just what the spec sheet says.
Price it below $90,000 if possible. The M2 has always been the more accessible M car, and a CS version that wanders into M3 CS territory starts losing the plot. Keep it sharp, keep it priced for the people who actually track these things on weekends, and limit production enough that it doesn’t become a fleet special.
Make It Global, Not A North American Exclusive
The M3 CS Handschalter is North America only. That’s fine for a car positioned as the swansong of a generation in a market where three-pedal sedans still move. But an M2 CS Manual should go everywhere the G87 currently sells, which includes Europe, Australia, and markets in Asia where driver-focused, small-displacement sports cars have real purchase.
Limiting the last manual M2 to one region is exactly the kind of decision that makes complete sense internally and looks baffling from the outside five years later. BMW has the car. The formula is right in front of them. The M3 CS Handschalter already did the hard work of proving this kind of product can exist in 2026 without anyone losing their mind about it.
Build the M2 CS Manual. Build it for the world. Then let the G87 go out the right way.