The E30 M3 is a legend, and we can think of at least 10 reasons why it captured the hearts of so many fans
When BMW makes an M3, it’s a big deal. The E30 was pivotal for the brand entering its DTM motorsport-focused era. The ultimate driving machine for many years, and still, in many ways continues to be the M3. Fast sedans are what BMW does best and deservedly the E30 was arguably the greatest of all time. Built to take down Mercedes-Benz in DTM racing, the BMW E30 M3 from the get-go was on a mission to be one of the best sports cars a manufacturer could make. The future of both brands would change forever, and the BMW E30 M3 remains the quintessential BMW that started an M revolution.
BMW wanted to go racing, and so it needed to homologate its little 3 Series in order to do that. For this reason, 5,000 road-going cars had to be produced by the manufacturer in order to comply with DTM regulations, and so, the E30 M3 was born. In order to beat Mercedes, the M3 had to become a reality, and when it did the competition between the two manufacturers was as fierce as ever.
In 1986, BMW started production on the E30 M3 and set the world ablaze. In an era of buzzing new racing programs and a tech-filled future with a promise in innovation, the E30 M3 emerged. Mercedes-Benz had already created the 190E years earlier and was winning races left and right. The BMW achieved its mission and dethroned Mercedes-Benz from its DTM-winning reign.
The E30 M3 was not particularly power-dense, however it held its own against competitors. The top speed of the BMW E30 M3 is 146 miles per hour, so it’s no slouch, especially for the period. The Evolution model took things a bit farther with a top speed of 151 miles per hour. Comparatively, the Mercedes-Benz 190e of the same era could only achieve 143 miles per hour. Later a faster version of the Mercedes was introduced, but both cars remained competitive into the 1990s.
The E30 BMW M3 falls into an awkward gray area whether or not it is, or more importantly, should be considered a sports car. Because of the nature of the E30 M3’s history, being derived literally from racing, the car should be considered a sports car. Because the car the E30 M3 is based on is a normal BMW 3 Series, some may not want to consider it a sports car but many of today’s greatest sports cars follow a similar recipe. If it worked for BMW in the 1980s and continues to work for them today why not consider the E30 M3 a massive sports car success.
A buzzy, strung-out 2.3-liter inline-four powered the E30 BMW M3 and with 200 horsepower the car drives like it's alive. The really fizzy one to have is the punched-out 2.5-liter Sport Evolution variant with 238 horsepower. With parts derived from the legendary BMW M1 supercar, the E30’s engine was a wonderful Frankenstein of BMW’s best developments at the time. There are elements of this brilliant technique used in modern BMWs and the result is an incredibly powerful, yet characterful power plant under the hood.
In order to achieve their aero goals, BMW reworked the sides and rear of the car to make sure the air flowed correctly over the shape of the greenhouse and therefore rendered the rear spoiler a useful solution. Ultimately the E30 M3 utilized an adjustable spoiler with three settings, Monza (for high speed), Normal (for some downforce), and Nurburgring (for higher downforce).
Floaty by today’s standards, the E30 BMW M3’s chassis tuning is perfectly complimented by the character of the high-strung engine and upgraded aero. The driving experience of the E30 M3 was not as serious being a homologated production car as BMW intended with the racing car, therefore it could get away with having a more cheerful driving dynamic rather than a super hard-edged racer, something that sounds great in theory but on the road customers may not want to experience. Although it’s not a full-fledged racer, the BMW E30 M3 remains one of the rawest vehicles the brand has ever produced, giving a fairly authentic motorsport experience.
Spanning a five-year lifecycle, the E30 BMW M3 was built from 1986 to 1991. The ethos of the E30 lives on and the G80 M3 is still a very strong seller today. Dedicated M models have become the most desired out of BMW’s range, so much so that you can find M badged parts all over most of the brand's lineup. The association with M and its strong roots can be traced back most prominently to the E30 M3.
BMW produced nearly 18,000 M3s globally, of which only about 5,300 arrived on the U.S. soil. The car is rare considering how many M3s BMW currently cranks out of the factory. At the time, BMW wasn’t even considering the rarity or the cult following the E30 would bring in the future, because this car had a very specific mission of getting BMW to race in a series that would help them prove they were superior to competitors. So long as 5000 were produced, they could be one step closer to achieving that goal. The Sport Evolution model introduced later consisted of a super rare 600 production units.
The average price of an E30 M3 appears to float around the $70,000 range and can widely depend on condition, spec, etc. On the low end, you can expect to pay around $15,000. Meanwhile, for a mint condition E30 M3, you can find prices in the hundreds of thousands, yes upwards of a cool $200,000. The ultimate price for the ultimate M car.