Innovating the Meaning of Perfection: BMW M3
Nobody is absolutely perfect, but if you drive a BMW //M series, I’d say you are pretty close. The pinnacle of that perfection lies in the finest driving machines that BMW has offered to the world. Keep reading as I talk about the most popular line its maker has, an absolute fortune for the car lovers, a car that was only supposed to be a racecar, but became envy for all garages in the world, the BMW M3.
In the early 80s, Mercedes had totally taken over the german racing scene, when they turned their little 190 compact sedans into an absolute monster. The updated 190 E 2.5–16 with 2.3L V8 Cosworth engines, completely took over the DTM racing championship then.
BMW knew they had to replace their then-current 3 series engine with something better, something powerful, something crazy. BMW’s Motorsport division took up the task. The biggest problem was Homologation rules, the championship wanted a modified version of a street-legal car, not a separately built racetrack hypercar. Because of the Homologation rules, they had to make this new 3 series available to the public. Selling the new 3 series initially felt unachievable, but the production was still given the green signal.
The first order of the business was to build an engine and guess what!! the Motorsport division knew a thing or two about building some sweet, monstrous engines. They grabbed the mighty 6 cylinder engine from the M1, but the engine was too heavy for the little 3 series. Solution? “Cut off two cylinders!!”, probably the most german solution.
With the new 4 cylinder engine block done, and the rest parts in place, they took only 2 weeks to build an on paper design to fully functional prototype.
Talking about the body, //M discarded all parts of the body but 4 panels from then existing older 3 series. All other body panels were re-sculpted to be more streamlined, efficient, and aerodynamic. Followed by tuning the suspension, the brakes, and the throttle body. The Newer 3 series was a totally new car, calling it a sibling of the older 3 series would have been an outright absurdity.
The result in 1986 was the E30 M3, armed with a 4 cylinder unit producing 200hp and steering tuned by the grandmasters of the Nurburgring. The new car was straight out a rocket in the straights and turned on a dime in the corners. The BMW just wanted to make a good car, but they themselves didn't know how “GOOD” that would come out.
The new E30 M3 won a truckload of competitions and races, and to BMW’s surprise, the car sold extremely well.
Then came the new E36 M3, with a plush interior, a standard equipment range, and a much more elegant-looking exterior. The Bavarians had another trick up their sleeves. Even though the car looked modest from outside, it was a straight-out rocket in performance, as they had put the 2 cylinders back. It had the best horsepower to liter ratio of naturally aspirated cars at that time.
The next model in 2000, the BMW e46, was to the M3 what M3 was to the 3 series. Not very different yet a piece of perfection in itself. Rocking on a straight inline 6 cylinder unit, it produced 338hp, 100 more than its predecessor. Remember when they thought they couldn’t even 5000 units? The e46 was the true star of the M3 line. BMW sold almost 85,000 units of this. Road & Track magazine called it their favorite sports car of all time. Again no new invention was done, they just did the car WELL, really really WELL.
With the E90 model in 2007, BMW made the V8 engine as standard for all M3s. Midway through the Generation’s run, BMW refreshed it as the e92 model, which was very similar but better.
In 2014, BMW updated the M3 to F80 and with this split the line in half. The new M3 was only available as a 4 door compact sedan. The 2 door coupe was spun off as a brand new badge, the M4. This time the M3 returned to the good old straight-six, but with two big fat turbochargers. Cutting down from a V8 to a six-cylinder engine didn't seem a good deal to people, but this did not put any crack in the M3’s image. The new M3 was yet another Munich Masterpiece with a 425hp engine output.
In the later part of 2020, BMW unveiled the 6th generation of the M3, packed with a straight 6, churning out 473hp. The design of the sixth-gen M3 seemed to have fueled a lot of debate over its looks. Yet the beast continues to grow on people’s minds, just it did on mine.
What are your views on the amazing line of M3 and the new 6th generation? Do tell in the comments.