I was referring to an M car so 2 litre 4 cylinder would be a very different engine compared to n20 or b48 . I am only a Mini owner but after they put the 2 liter B48 in the new F56 cooper s and future JCW rather then the b38 1.5l 3 cylinder engine like the one in the i8 ,for me it became a deal breaker and this is why I am hoping the future M2 will get the engine it deserves
. I know that classic m cars that had a 4 cylinder were 2.3 or 2.5 but nowadays the 4 cylinder benchmark should not be bigger in capacity than 2 liters.
Think of the Alfa Romeo 4c: it's a very good car but wouldn't have been so, even with the way it looks and all the carbon fiber construction unless it had the 4 cylinder engine. And that is only 1.8 liter. They say Alfa will upgrade the 4c every year, something like they do with the Nissan GTR. If that's the case in a couple of years the 4c will go past 300 hp for sure. With the car being under 1000kg, the 4c will become one of the best cars in the world( many reviews give the 4c less points because of the current engine) so what I'm saying is that 4 cylinder and a maximum of 2 liters is the way to go for "baby" sports cars and believe it or not "exclusive" sports cars like the i8.
This may well be an European thing but US customers should understand that BMW would not put an engine in any of their M cars unless it was a great engine and I am sure that if BMW makes a 2 liter 4 cylinder engine for the m2 , it will be a great one, exclusive and unique