It's every bit as violent as the first game, but the 3d models are comepletely deformable, and the cars come apart wheverver they're hit.
The deformation in C2 was actually more limited than in C1. In C2, once a car exploded, that was it. It couldn't be deformed any further. In C1, you could keep smashing into the wrecks until they were completely unrecognizable. I spent many an hour pushing wrecks against walls, driving to the other side of the map, then charging into the wreck at maximum velocity.
I hope the new game not only increases the vehicle destructibility but also the environmental destructibility. I'd liked to see different materials have different properties. For example, if I smash into a thin brick wall, I should go right through it. Conversely, if I smash into a thick concrete wall, I'd be stopped in my tracks.