BMW M3 E-Book

James Taylor

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 348

Beschreibung

Few cars in recent years have inspired such devotion among enthusiasts as the BMW M3. Now entering its fifth generation, BMW's compact performance car is recognized worldwide as the benchmark of its type. BMW M3 - The Complete Story looks in detail at the first four generations of the M3, which arrived in the mid-1980s as an E30 'homologation special', intended to keep BMW ahead of rivals Mercedes-Benz on the racetracks. But the M3 soon became very much more than that. Before long, buyers latched onto its exclusivity and turned it into a status symbol - and BMW was only too happy to exploit that. For all fans of the BMW M3, this book provides the essential background. It is packed with facts and details that make the M3 legend come alive. With over 250 photographs, the book covers: the original E30 M3 of 1986 - from a 'homologation special' to a status symbol; design and development of the E36 M3, including a new 6-cylinder engine and more body choices; the E46 M3 of 2000, with the developed 6-cylinder S54 engine and gearshift advances; racing success for the E90-series M3s, introduced in 2007 with V8 engines; driving, buying and special editions of all the models.

Leseprobe

BMW M3

The Complete Story

James Taylor

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2014 by The Crowood Press Ltd Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2014

© James Taylor 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84797 773 1

CONTENTS

Introduction and Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1

ORIGINS AND CONTEXT

CHAPTER 2

THE E30 M3

CHAPTER 3

DRIVING, BUYING, SPECIAL EDITIONS AND THE COMPETITION M3

CHAPTER 4

REFINEMENT REPLACES RAW POWER – THE E36 M3, 1992–99

CHAPTER 5

DRIVING, BUYING AND SPECIAL EDITIONS OF THE E36 M3

CHAPTER 6

THE E46 M3, 2000–06

CHAPTER 7

DRIVING, BUYING AND SPECIAL EDITIONS OF THE E46 M3

CHAPTER 8

THE E90-SERIES M3s, 2007–13

CHAPTER 9

SPECIAL EDITIONS OF THE E90-SERIES M3

CHAPTER 10

DRIVING, BUYING AND COMPETITION WITH THE E90-SERIES M3

Afterword: The Fifth Generation

Index

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The massive success and iconic status of BMW’s M3 models have been achieved through a brilliant combination of fine engineering and equally fine marketing. The original M3 of 1986 was essentially a homologation special that allowed BMW to go racing in Europe with a high-performance derivative of their compact 3 Series saloon. However, it wasn’t long before customers latched onto the car as something far more than that, and BMW responded equally quickly by developing it as a prestige product. Over the years, the M3 wormed its way into the public consciousness as a unique combination of status, design and driving dynamics.

Others have tried to imitate its success, but the M3 has always been able to ride on the worldwide recognition of a strong brand – the M brand, which started as the Motorsport brand from BMW. Very noticeable is that the M logo and signature tricolour have remained unchanged through more than a quarter of a century of M3 production, even though the cars have developed from 4 cylinders, through sweet 6s and on to V8s.

The essence of the M3 has always been a two-door coupé, although this has been supplemented by smaller-selling convertible and saloon versions. Yet for 2014, changes elsewhere in the BMW model range mean that the high-performance coupé will no longer be badged as an M3 but rather as an M4; the M3 badge will be reserved for saloon versions only. So this book takes the M3 story from its origins to a critical turning point, where the M3 brand will in a sense be diluted. How well it copes with the change is yet to be seen, but there is every reason to think that BMW’s high-performance cars will continue their success story.

In putting this story together, I was struck by how much information is still disputed about the M3 ranges of all ages. Perhaps that is part of the enduring appeal of the range – a mystery always helps to add interest. However, I have done my best to unravel those mysteries, drawing on a vast number of often contradictory sources. I don’t doubt that there will still be room for improvement and refinement if this book goes to a second edition.

Special thanks go to my old friend, photographer Nick Dimbleby, who managed to unearth some characteristically superb pictures to help illustrate this book. I am also particularly grateful to BMW specialists Munich Legends, who made several outstanding cars available for photography at short notice, and to enthusiast Finnbar Cunningham for making his E36 M3 Saloon available for photographs. Many other pictures have reached me through BMW GB and BMW in Germany and the USA, who also helped with information in some areas. Beyond that, I’ll just say thanks to the huge number of BMW M3 enthusiasts who care enough to make a book like this worthwhile.

James TaylorOxfordshire, November 2013

CHAPTER ONE

ORIGIN AND CONTEXT

BMW was just ten years into its revival when the Motorsport division was established in 1972. Torn asunder by the Second World War, which had left one of its major factories in the Soviet-controlled eastern sector of Germany, the company made a hesitant comeback in the late 1940s and early 1950s. With an incoherent model range split among bombastic ‘Baroque Angel’ saloons, slow-selling ultra-expensive sports and GT cars, and economy models that from 1955 included bubble cars, the company lacked a clear identity. It was also seriously lacking in profits.

By the end of 1959 the problem had become a grave one. That December, the BMW Board discussed a proposal to sell the entire company to Daimler-Benz, who needed extra factory space and at that stage were not in the least concerned about BMW as a potential rival. However, the trade unions, the BMW workforce and many of the company’s shareholders were not happy about the idea. Among the major shareholders was the industrialist Herbert Quandt, and he set about buying more BMW shares – against all the advice from his bankers. Once he had nearly 50 per cent of those shares, he approached the state of Bavaria (where BMW was and still is based) and gained its approval for his purchase of the company.

‘The most powerful letter in the world’ claimed this advertisement, adding that BMW’s Motorsport division was a ‘trend-setter in the high-performance league’. The M brand has exerted a special fascination for car enthusiasts in the four decades and more since it was established.

In the second half of the 1930s, the BMW 328 was the Bavarian marque’s sporting flagship. In the black-andwhite picture, Ernst Loof is seen winning the 1936 Eifelrennen.

The M3 heritage: from left to right are the first-generation E30 model, the E36 of the 1990s, the turn-of-the-century E46 and the E92 coupé.

It was a huge financial risk for Quandt, but it paid off. BMW already had plans for a new medium-sized car that would give the company the volume-seller it so badly needed, and Chief Engineer Alex von Falkenhausen was now able to fund the development of these plans to create a new car. The BMW 1500 appeared in 1961 as a 1962 model, and amply demonstrated what BMW could do when given appropriate financial support. Though the car was a four-door saloon, its distinctive sporting character led to strong sales, and on the profits from those strong sales BMW was able to expand its product range.

The old BMW range of the 1950s gradually disappeared as the 1500 (or ‘Neue Klasse’ – New Class) range expanded with a 1.8-litre derivative of its 1.5-litre engine and then a 2.0-litre as well. The Neue Klasse platform also provided the basis for a new 2.0-litre grand touring coupé in 1965, sold in 2000C and twin-carburettor 2000CS forms. A new 1.6-litre version of the engine provided power for the first models of a shortened, two-door version of the car called the 1600-2 in 1966, and then that car was further developed with the larger versions of the engine. It was the 2002 (2.0-litre, two-door) model of 1968 that really brought BMW to international attention, proving a particular hit in the USA.

THE SPORTING TRADITION

Though BMW lacked the money to become a major force in international motor sport during the 1940s and 1950s, it could look back with some satisfaction on its achievements in the 1930s during which it had developed a highly respected series of sports cars alongside its larger saloons and their convertible equivalents. The key model was the 328, an open two-seater that first appeared in 1936 and used the 2.0-litre engine from the saloon range.

BMW’s 328s took more than 100 class wins in international events in 1937, and in 1938 went on to win their class at Le Mans, in the RAC Tourist Trophy and the Alpine Rally, and in the Mille Miglia. In 1939, a 328 won the RAC Rally, and a 328 repeated its class victory at Le Mans and claimed fifth place overall as well. Then in 1940, which became the last year of international competition as Europe devoted its resources to the war, a special Touring Coupé derivative of the 328 won the Mille Miglia.

It would be 1950 before German drivers were allowed to compete again in international motor sport events, but that did not stop enthusiasts from creating a lively racing scene within the borders of West Germany. Among those enthusiasts was Alex von Falkenhausen, who had been a BMW engineer in the 1930s. For a time, he ran his own small business, constructing racing machines based on pre-war (mostly 328) BMW engines. AFM – Alex von Falkenhausen Motorenbau (engine company) – had ambitions beyond the borders of West Germany, and was quite successful too, but the pre-war BMW engine had a limited life in motor sport as newer designs began to appear. By 1954, AFM was a spent force, and Alex von Falkenhausen returned to BMW to run their racing department.

BMW racing at this stage centred on motorcycles, another element in the BMW product portfolio and one that was important in keeping the company afloat during these difficult years. It was not until the arrival of the new 4-cylinder M10 engine in the Neue Klasse saloons that the company seriously considered taking its cars racing again. As Chris Willows explained in Classic & Sports Car magazine for March 1989:

The 1800 model enabled BMW to re-enter top-line competition. In 1964 Hubert Hahne drove a twincarb 1800Ti to a number of victories in the European Touring Car Championship, followed by a manufacturers’ title in the 2-litre category the following year with an 1800TISA. [The TISA was a ‘homologation special’ – and when a car maker builds one of these it is quite obviously serious about going racing.] This was repeated in 1966, 1968 and an overall championship victory the following year thanks to the efforts of Dieter Quester who used both the 2002ti and the turbocharged 2002ti/K.

The M10 engine that lay at the heart of this new-found success was further developed by BMW’s Ludwig Apfelbeck, who developed a 4-valve cylinder head for the 2.0-litre version that enabled outputs as high as 280PS. This was tried in Formula 1 cars in the mid-1960s and showed promise, and by the end of the decade further-developed BMW 4-cylinder engines were winning races in single-seaters designed by Dornier and driven by the BMW team of Hubert Hahne, Jacky Ickx, Dieter Quester and Jo Siffert. However, BMW top management terminated the Formula 2 programme at the end of the 1970 season, and there would be no more single-seater BMW racers for the rest of the decade. The enthusiasm for motor sport had not been dispersed, however. It simply re-emerged in another, and ultimately more profitable, form.

A CHANGE OF FOCUS

The early 1970s saw BMW growing up fast. The success of the 1960s models had bred a new confidence, and the new medium-sized 5 Series range that was introduced in 1972 was an assured and even ambitious replacement for the old four-door Neue Klasse models. Three years later, it was joined by the smaller 3 Series range that replaced the much-admired two-door ‘02’ derivatives of the Neue Klasse. Meanwhile, the big 2.0-litre coupés had been gradually evolving into 3.0-litre, 6-cylinder types and were making waves in their own prestigious corner of the market.

Right in the middle of this, BMW’s new Chairman, Eberhard von Kuehnheim, persuaded his Board that the company should take competition seriously again. As part of the plan, a new and dedicated competitions department would be set up, and von Kuehnheim chose his recently recruited Sales Director, Robert A. Lutz, to head it. Lutz in turn hired Jochen Neerpasch as Competitions Director in May 1972. Neerpasch was already a big name in motor sport, as he had been running the successful competitions department for Ford in Germany since 1968.

The new department was set up as a self-managed subsidiary of BMW, with the name of BMW Motorsport GmbH (those four initials are the German equivalent of ‘Ltd’, or limited company). From 1973, the Motorsport division started to use its own distinctive corporate livery of blue, violet and red stripes, and those colours remain part of its branding today, usually seen alongside a chromed capital M. To help establish this branding, the 1974-model BMW 2002 Turbo carried decal side-stripes in these colours, indicating to those in the know that it was a product of the Motorsport division.

In these first few years, the Motorsport division’s job was to prepare race engines, race-tuning kits, and special body and chassis parts for both private entrants and for the works team. This latter featured 2002 models and the big coupés, of which the most memorable were undoubtedly the 3.2-litre (and later 3.5-litre) CSL ‘Batmobiles’ with their Motorsport side-stripes and huge aerodynamic spoilers. The Motorsport division itself was meanwhile struggling for space within BMW’s main factory complex in Munich. Not until later would it be granted its own dedicated premises, but in the meantime its remit was gradually extending. It was the Motorsport team who were called upon to construct special-order cars based on mainstream production models. From 1974, for example, customers who knew how to ask the right questions could have their E12 525 or 528 models equipped with the 3.0-litre, 6-cylinder engines otherwise available only in the big 3.0-litre coupés.

Early days: competitionprepared versions of the E9 6-cylinder coupés eventually resulted in the legendary ‘Batmobile’ cars with their distinctive wing spoilers. This example was offered for sale by auctioneers H and H in the UK during 2012.

A works-prepared BMW saloon, wearing the distinctive three-colour striping of the Motorsport division, dominates this early 1970s advertisement for the then newly formed competition arm of BMW.

Successors to the E9 coupés were the E24 6 Series cars. It was not long before one was given the full Motorsport treatment and introduced as a range-topping model. This is the original M 635 CSi, proudly displaying the badge of the Motorsport division on its grille.

The first complete car produced by the Motorsport division was the M1 Coupé, seen here at the back of the photograph. It had no ‘ordinary’ BMW equivalent. In front of it are the E28 and E34 editions of the M5, the Motorsport saloon based on the 5 Series that stood one notch further up the BMW range than the M3.

So it was that when BMW management decided to put substantial money into a project to develop a mid-engined coupé that could beat the Porsche 911s in Group 5 track events, the Motorsport division was given the job of designing and developing it. The rules applied by the sport’s governing body, FISA (the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile, or International Federation of Motor Sport), then insisted that no car could race unless it had been ‘homologated’ by production of a minimum number for sale to the public. So the new mid-engined coupé was developed with a dual purpose – to win on the tracks and to attract wealthy customers who wanted a race-bred supercar as their everyday transport.

The project to develop the car that became known as the M1 ran into all kinds of difficulties that do not need to be discussed in detail here. Briefly, the Motorsport division had no room to build the necessary 400 examples, and so the job was farmed out to Lamborghini in Italy and to Giugiaro’s ItalDesign company, who had designed the body. This arrangement collapsed and BMW eventually called on German specialist Baur in Stuttgart to assemble the cars, but the delays meant that the M1 arrived late.

Worse, by the time it appeared, the racing regulations had been changed. The car was hastily transferred to the Group 6 category, and failed to qualify. Only a stroke of genius, cooked up between BMW’s Jochen Neerpasch and Max Mosley, a leading light in the Formula One Constructors’ Association (FOCA), got it onto the tracks at all. Between them, these two developed and implemented the Procar series, in which celebrity drivers would race M1s in special events to warm up the crowds before some of the European Grands Prix in 1979 and 1980.

Though the story of the M1 is in many ways a sad one, the car did have a very important influence over what came next. It drew the attention of a much wider public to the Motorsport brand, and this paved the way for BMW to sanction Motorsport editions of some of its other production models. Unlike the M1, these were not specially developed as complete cars. Instead, they would be versions of existing models that had been re-engineered to give more road performance.

Regular upgrades have always added to the appeal of the cars from BMW M. These two are later versions of the E34 M5, with the 3.8-litre engine instead of the original 3.5-litre type. As the estate (or ‘Touring’) model makes clear, the M badge was not incompatible with everyday practicality – and that became one of the brand’s great strengths.

The first of these cars was very much a cosmetic exercise, and was based on the most powerful version of the then-current E12 5 Series saloons. The M535i added a bodykit and other minor changes to the existing 535i model to give the basic car a more sporting focus, and was introduced in 1979 when the M1 was still new and exciting. Most importantly, it borrowed that same letter M as part of its name.

Four years later, BMW repeated the trick with a Motorsport version of the big 6 Series coupé. This time, though, it added genuine high performance to the mix. Badged as an M635 CSi, the new car combined the 4-valve, 3.5-litre engine of the M1 with a number of special features to create a new top-of-the-range Autobahn express. Like the M535i before it, the car was always built on the main BMW assembly lines in Munich, but it had the aura of a Motorsport car – and it was certainly not lacking in performance. BMW quoted 6.4 seconds for the 0–60mph dash, and some magazine testers achieved even better than that.

Attention to detail has also been a characteristic of the cars from BMW M. The finish on these 6-cylinder engines – clearly but not ostentatiously branded as coming from the Motorsport division – is simply beautiful.

The reaction to these M-badged cars made it quite clear to BMW that they had uncovered a new and potentially very profitable market. So 1983 became a critical year for the whole future of the Motorsport division. BMW decided that its interests would be best served by having the Motorsport engineers develop a range of high-performance cars with exclusive cosmetic details that would be derivatives of existing production models. This strategy would serve a number of purposes: first, it would minimize the cost of developing these flagship models, which would have a ‘halo’ effect on the standard production cars and should help to increase sales; second, it would strengthen the BMW brand and particularly its association with high performance; and third, it would give BMW a series of products that its competitors would be unable to match in the short term.

That strategy has proved enormously successful over the years, but in the beginning it had to be backed up by some changes. Quite obviously, the Motorsport division was not going to be able to function efficiently if it was left skulking in some corner of the main factory at Munich. So a plan was drawn up to move the division into its own dedicated premises that would include offices, workshops and an assembly hall. A site was found in Garching to the east of Munich, at Daimlerstrasse (ironically named after Gottlieb Daimler, joint founder of BMW’s great rival Daimler-Benz), and by 1986 it was ready. In the meantime, the marketing strategy was outlined and the model-naming strategy was modified. In future, there would be no more complicated names like M535i and M635 CSi. Instead, the Motorsport derivatives would use the numeral of the series on which they were based, preceded by the letter M.

This new and brilliantly simple naming strategy was unveiled in February 1984, when BMW revealed their new M5 model at the Amsterdam Motor Show. Based of course on the then-current E28 5 Series, it had another version of the M88 3.5-litre engine originally developed for the M1, plus an uprated ‘chassis’ and both trim and cosmetic changes that emphasized its no-nonsense sporting character. It was a sensation: here, straight out of the box, was the world’s fastest regular-production four-door saloon. Suddenly, a lot of people realized that this was what they had wanted to own all along.

In fact, the first E28 M5s were built on the main assembly lines in Munich, but production transferred to Garching as soon as the new plant was ready in 1986. The new numbering system spread quickly: US-model M635 CSi cars were given an M6 badge, and in 1985 BMW announced that there would also be a Motorsport version of their two-door E30 3 Series cars. The full story behind the first M3 is told in Chapter 2 of this book, but that original M3 was the first of a line that lasted for more than a quarter of a century and became an icon for countless enthusiasts of high-performance cars.

THE M3 FAMILY: E30 AND E36

Undeniably, the M3 has had to move with the times, just as the whole Motorsport division has had to adjust its activities and products to suit the demands of the market. What is easy to forget is that even if the Motorsport division is run by committed enthusiasts, the cars that are eventually released onto the market are the result of reasoned (maybe sometimes heated) debates between engineers and marketing specialists. BMW is in business to make money, after all.

The M3 made the glamour and performance of the Motorsport cars more affordable and quickly became the benchmark for every high-performance compact saloon. But that original M3 had a character that was quite different from that of the later cars to bear its name. It was a much more raw, hard-edged car, much more obviously designed for success on the racetracks than its descendants. It was this ‘race car in civilian clothing’ element that gave the car much of its initial appeal.

However, as a limited-production model, the original M3 was inevitably going to be expensive, and people who spend a lot of money on their cars expect better levels of comfort and equipment than are found in the typical track car. They want leather upholstery, electric windows, air conditioning and a whole host of other features that add weight and make the car less suitable for track use while making it more viable as everyday transport. So the first M3 – like its bigger brother the M5 – was offered with such features available as optional extras from the beginning.

Over the five years that the E30 M3 was on sale, BMW were taking very careful note of what the model’s customers wanted. The introduction of a convertible derivative – the very antithesis of what a track car is all about – was made very early in the M3’s production run, and in the later 1980s a number of special-edition models carefully tested public acceptance of new features, all the while giving customers the exclusivity they wanted because they were constructed in strictly limited numbers. So by the time the second-generation M3 models were ready to be launched, BMW knew exactly what it was doing. The M3 was, and always would be, an extremely well-made high-performance model with the special appeal of exclusivity, but it would also incorporate elements expected in a luxury car unless these conflicted with its high-performance, sharp-handling nature.

Some people argue that the E36 M3 that followed in 1992 was biased too far towards the ‘exclusive’ and ‘luxury’ elements of the M3 specification. Not that it was in any way lacking in performance – a smooth 6-cylinder engine that delivered extraordinary acceleration saw to that – but the very smoothness of that engine removed the rawness that had been at the heart of the original M3’s exciting nature. BMW had also chosen to spread the M3 formula more widely: there was now a four-door saloon in the 3 Series range, and so the car was available in three guises – coupé, convertible and saloon. The only body derivative of the E36 3 Series that was never sold with M3 badges was the Touring model, or estate car. Commentators also noted the change in the name of the M3’s parent division: in 1993 it changed from BMW Motorsport to BMW M.

Excellence on the track was always an important element in the M3’s make-up, and BMW celebrated forty years of its M division in 2012 by getting these four cars together. The then-current E90 series car is on the left, the blue car is an E46, the yellow car is an E36 and the red car on the right is the 4-cylinder E30 that started it all.

Yet this was certainly not an indication that BMW planned to lose sight of the M3’s motor sport connections. Rather was it a prelude to a new and wider range of responsibilities within BMW as a whole for the division that had started out with a brief that only covered motor sport. The E36 M3s continued to appear in European touring car and GT events through the mid-1990s although their progress was hampered by rule changes, which led to a focus on smaller-engined cars. BMW North America ran a high-profile campaign on the tracks in the USA and, as Chapter 5 shows, almost every special-edition derivative of the model had a direct link with motor sport. BMW was well aware that there were privateers who campaigned these cars at club level and other national events, and that their appearances on the tracks were good and cost-free publicity.

Very noticeable about the E36 era was that BMW were trying out new ideas, to see what M3 buyers would accept. Adding a four-door saloon to the range was just one part of this, and the company showed a willingness to try other new things. This was one reason why many of the special-edition models were market-specific: they were designed to see how different markets around the world reacted to certain elements in the M3’s specification. But perhaps the most obvious change to the original M3 formula was the introduction of an automatic-transmission car for the USA in early 1995. The very idea of an automatic gearbox in a sporting car was complete anathema to driving enthusiasts in the days before advanced electronics could produce lightning-fast gearshifts that no human could match, but BMW knew that American buyers were devoted to such things. They therefore gave them what they wanted, even if (as Chapter 4 shows) they had to compromise the essence of the M3 to a degree in order to achieve that.

A CHANGE OF NAME

BMW Motorsport GmbH changed its name to BMW M GmbH in 1993, at just about the time the new E36 M3 models were coming on-stream.

There were several business reasons for the change, but one was undoubtedly the strength of the M brand. Another was that BMW had longer-term plans to give the M division a wider remit. In future, it would be responsible not only for motor sport activities but also for much of the bespoke work on production vehicles – including, of course, the M3 itself.

It was just a temporary compromise, though. The Motorsport division was already working on a solution that would deliver two-pedal control without the power losses inherent in an automatic transmission dependent on a torque converter. Using racing technology, they developed what they called a Sequential Manual Gearbox, or SMG for short, which depended on a servo-actuated clutch and an electronic control system. Early versions of the SMG, introduced in 1996, tended to be somewhat troublesome, but BMW persevered with the technology and improved it to the point where an SMG-equipped car would actually accelerate faster than a conventional manual-gearbox model. By the time of the third-generation or E46 M3, there was no longer any need for an automatic gearbox in the range. The SMG did it all – and better.

THE M3 FAMILY: E46 AND THE E90-SERIES

The strength of the M brand and the marketing associated with the models from BMW’s Motorsport division make it easy to misunderstand how the M models are developed. In the beginning, it was largely true that the Motorsport engineers were let loose on a mainstream BMW model after it had been readied for production, so that they were then obliged to do a certain amount of re-engineering to make the car perform the way they wanted. But from the time of the E36, the Motorsport engineers were actually involved in the design process at an early stage, so that their likely requirements could be taken into account. This meant that far less re-engineering was necessary in order to turn a new BMW model into a Motorsport product. Suspension and braking components might be changed, and strengthening gussets might be welded in to stiffen a bodyshell, but essentially there would be far fewer compromises.

By the time of the third-generation M3, the process was well established. This third generation – actually the fourth generation of the BMW 3 Series – was the E46 that arrived in 2000. There would once again be coupé and convertible derivatives, but this time there would be no saloons. These had been the weakest sellers of the E36 range, and the Motorsport division had decided not to bother with a four-door M3 in the new range. Nevertheless, the E46 marked a step change in the history of the M3, because it was drawn up around the idea of a ‘world’ specification – one where the core specification needed few or no differences between one market and the next.

Once again, the move in that direction had begun with the E36, when BMW had made the first steps towards eliminating an automatic transmission from the options list by developing its SMG for customers who wanted two-pedal control. For the E46, the plan was to avoid using a traditional automatic gearbox at all, and so to remove the need for a low-revving version of the M3 engine that would work with proprietary automatics. SMG gave way to Dual-Clutch Transmission (DCT) that did the same job more efficiently.

With a little juggling of specifications, it proved possible to use essentially the same 6-cylinder engine for all world markets. The only significant variation was (as always) for the USA, which was using different emissions certification test procedures from other countries. However, BMW managed to incorporate the US-specific features within the catalytic converters, and this almost eliminated the extra manufacturing costs associated with having two very different versions of the engine in production. From the buyers’ point of view, it also meant that the USA was not offered an excessively ‘watered-down’ version of the M3.

The link with motor sport was perhaps even more tenuous for this generation of M3, however. Despite an extra-cost Competition Package, which became available in all markets and would turn a standard M3 coupé (but not a convertible) into a credible track-day car, the E46 M3 was not widely perceived as a competition machine. Partly as a way of remedying this, BMW did make a hard-edged, lightweight special model called the M3 CSL for Europe. The USA, which was the M3’s best market, was denied this, but not for want of trying. Before the CSL arrived, much of the lightweight specification had been tested on a very special racing M3 for the American Le Mans series (ALMS), and the plan had been to create a special edition on the back of this.

In practice, the special lightweight edition for the USA did not come to fruition: the project foundered on homologation rules, and BMW management decided it was all going to be too much expense and too much trouble. But the M3 GTR, as the car was called, did highlight a significant change in thinking from the Motorsport division. Seeking extra power, the Motorsport engineers had abandoned their silky-smooth 6-cylinder engine and had instead developed a hugely powerful version of the production V8 engine that was then used in the mainstream 5 Series.

What nobody knew at the time was that the next generation of M3 was in fact also slated to use a V8 engine, even though it would not be this one. The next generation of M5 saloon, due in 2005, was going to have a V10 engine related to the BMW race engine used in the 2004-season Williams FW26 Formula 1 car, and that left the way clear for the M3 to gain an extra pair of cylinders. Buyers would bemoan the disappearance of the M3’s much-liked small-block 6-cylinder, but there was far more development potential in BMW’s all-alloy V8 designs, and the Motorsport division was determined to exploit it.

The fourth generation of M3 was announced in 2006, a year after the first mainstream models of the new 3 Series had been introduced. This time, as Chapter 8 explains, BMW had developed saloon, estate, coupé and convertible as separate but related projects, and so there were four project codes for the cars. Nevertheless, the M3 would use only three of the available body shells, these being the E90 Saloon (the four-door car returned to the range), E92 Coupé and E93 Convertible. For the sake of simplicity, this book refers to them as the E90-series cars.

As we shall see in Chapter 9, BMW made strenuous efforts to re-establish the M3’s competition links with the E90-series models. Every one of the special editions that followed over the next seven years had some connection – albeit sometimes rather tenuous – with motor sport. Even more important, though, was that BMW also campaigned M3-derived models in the ALMS series from 2009 and then from 2012 in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM or German Touring Car Championship), where they were convinced that a ‘silhouette’ version of the M3 stood a good chance of winning against domestic rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Their faith was not misplaced, either. The DTM M3s won BMW the manufacturers’ title in 2012 as well as taking driver Bruno Spengler to the individual title. It looked as if the M3 had returned with a vengeance.

This success on the race tracks drew plenty of praise and no doubt did a power of good for the M3’s image among buyers as well, but enthusiasts who looked into things a little more closely recognized that the ‘silhouette’ cars pounding the race tracks had only the barest of resemblances to the production M3s that they were able to buy. Those cars – and even the 2013 DTM Champion Edition that commemorated the 2012 win – were still primarily high-performance, prestigious luxury cars, designed more for those with plenty of money to spend than for those who remembered what the original M3 of 1986 had represented.

It is easy to be cynical, especially when evaluating an icon, but it was journalist Richard Meaden who had the courage to point out in print what many enthusiasts were thinking. In the August 2007 issue of Evo magazine, he wrote:

There’s something of the ageing supergroup about the BMW M3. Celebrated some two decades ago for its groundbreaking purity and purpose, the M3’s cult appeal has become something altogether different: a vastly lucrative franchise that enjoys growing sales with every subsequent release.

Identification has been constant since the beginning. The badge on this BMW M1 from the end of the 1970s has a clear family resemblance to the badges used on all four generations of M3.

He went on to accept that:

whatever your viewpoint there’s something undeniably awesome about the 21-year progression from delicate 2-litre, 4-cylinder, 200bhp road-racer to 4-litre, 8-cylinder, 414bhp monster. Few models have gone through such a total transformation, yet the M3 badge’s power to provoke fevered pre-launch speculation and post-launch scrutiny remains as strong as ever.

The cat, though, was well and truly out of the bag, and the succession of depressingly similar special edition models that characterized the last few years of E90-series M3 production made it abundantly clear to many enthusiasts that the M3 name was perhaps losing some of its lustre.

It may be that BMW had been thinking along similar lines. Certainly, it let the world know some time before the M3’s replacement was due that the new model would not bear the famous badge. Two-door derivatives of the 3 Series replacement would have 4 Series badges, and therefore the replacement for the M3 coupé and convertible, core models of the M3 range, would be badged as M4 models when they arrived in 2014. That in turn caused an outcry among M3 loyalists, which simply demonstrated the truth of the old adage that it is impossible to please all of the people all of the time.

AN EPITAPH

One way or another, the M3 name has had a very good run. As the rest of this book sets out to show, it has been applied to some extremely high-quality and hugely enjoyable cars that have set the standard for others in their class. Indeed, there have been times when there has been no class as such; the M3 has stood alone. Only in recent years have BMW’s rivals really caught up – Mercedes-Benz with its AMG-branded models, Audi with its S cars, Jaguar with its R models, and Lexus with its F and F Sport models. Yet not one of these makers builds performance derivatives of its mainstream cars that enjoy a brand image comparable to that of the BMW M cars.

THE MOTORSPORT STORY AND THE M3 – SOME KEY DATES

1972

BMW Motorsport GmbH set up as a separate company to oversee all BMW competition activity.

1978

First complete car from the Motorsport division announced. The M1 is a mid-engined supercar, intended for the track and also built as a ‘homologation special’ for public sale.

1979

M535i becomes the first volume-production Motorsport derivative of a mainstream production BMW.

1983

M635 CSi introduced, with the 4-valve Motorsport engine from the M1.

1984

E28 M5, the first of the proper M-cars from BMW, is announced with the 4-valve engine from the M1.

1985

Announcement of the first M3, based on the E30 3 Series cars, and available from 1986. Its S14 engine is a distant relative of the E10, introduced in 1961.

1986

BMW Motorsport gets its own dedicated factory at Garching.

1987

M3 range expanded to include a convertible derivative.

1992

Introduction of the second-generation M3, based on the E36 3 Series and featuring a 6-cylinder engine. The initial coupé is followed in 1994 by convertible and saloon derivatives.

1995

US market receives an M3 with automatic transmission.

1996

Introduction of the SMG gearbox, giving two-pedal control with the selectability of a manual gearbox.

2000

Introduction of the third-generation M3, based on the E46 3 Series. Convertible versions follow in 2001, but there are no saloons.

2006

Introduction of the fourth-generation M3 as an E90 saloon, E92 coupé and an E93 convertible. New M-DCT transmission gives two-pedal control from 2008.

2012

BMW victorious in the DTM with the M3 ‘silhouette’ based on the E92 coupé.

2013

Last E90-series M3 models built.

CHAPTER TWO

THE E30 M3

The origins of the first-generation M3 are rooted in the rivalry between BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Central to the BMW appeal was an element of sportiness that was not present in the cars manufactured by the Stuttgart company and, although Mercedes certainly had an illustrious competition history, it generally focused on other qualities to promote its cars in the 1970s and 1980s.

What changed all that was the success of the original BMW 3 Series, the E21 range introduced in 1975. Compact, affordable and sporty, it set a new standard for cars of its size, and Mercedes-Benz realized that they too would have to develop a car in that class if they were to maintain their leadership of the German car industry. So the late 1970s saw the Stuttgart company working on their new W201 model, which would be announced in 1982 as the 190.

To make it different from the small BMW, Mercedes decided to produce their 190 only as a four-door car, and to give it the right sort of image they decided to develop a racing version eligible for the European touring car championships. Some time before the 190 actually entered production, BMW got wind of what was going on. One result was that they developed the second-generation 3 Series car, called E30, in both two-door and four-door versions (and in estate and convertible forms as well) to make sure they had maximum coverage of the potential market.