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30 years, really" BMW has been turning out these little brutes for that long" I know, they’re not so little any longer, but when they started out, the first M3 was sort of like a 2002 Tii on steroids, or perhaps an updating of the original concept.
By now, we’re onto BMW’s game, but at the time, the M3 came as a bit of a surprise. Way back when, cars were divided into two distinct camps: sports cars and sedans. If you wanted to go fast, you got the former. If you wanted to haul the kids around, you got the latter.
The twain did not meet.
That is until BMW (okay, and Datsun and Alfa et al) said, “Warte eine Sekunde!” and turned out things like the aforementioned 2002 (especially the Turbo variant). It was like you could have your cake and eat it too. Blast through some twisties on a Sunday morning, commute to work on Monday, pick up the spouse and kids on Wednesday night. Friday, an evening out on the town . . . best of both worlds. BMW M3 family. Photo: BMW of North America.
Race Inspired
Chuckable, slideable, playful almost, the chassis was competent enough, but really what it came down to was the M in BMW. It stands for Motor, which translates into lots of grunt, top end power, and flexibility to exploit the good parts of whatever lightweight chassis they’ve dropped it into. The M3, like all good things automotive, was a product of racing.
Let us, brothers and sisters in...