The Homologators – BMW E30 M3

There’s no denying it. The mere mention of a genuine M badge on the back of a BMW does something to the old petrolhead grey matter, especially where the E30 M3 is concerned. It makes us all go a little giddy. Don’t get us wrong, we’re not talking teenage girl meeting Taylor Swift levels of fanaticism here. We’re hardly going to start screaming, carrying on and generally over-reacting when presented with one of Bavaria’s best (well, maybe if it’s an M1 Procar and someone just threw us the keys at an empty race track). No, our appreciation of the M car lineage is more akin to shaking hands with Barack Obama. Or witnessing a giant surf break from the safety of a white sandy beach. Yes the hairs on our arms might stand to attention and the corners of our mouths may turn down as we nod in contented veneration but it’s more a tasteful respect, closer to an admiring acknowledgement of capability rather than a full on swoon.

And that kind of sums up what BMW’s Motorsport-tinged road cars are all about. They’re not the shouty, super-tuned monsters from Japan, nor are they the blunt instrument powerhouses from the bosom of Ford and Cosworth. They don’t strut around bragging about Nürburgring lap times (despite many owners doing exactly that) or pretend to be stripped out race cars. They’re much more refined. They’re self-assured. They hold doors open for old ladies and know how to lay out the cutlery at a posh dinner party, all the while possessing the composed power to snap limbs at will, and it’s this duality that makes them so bloody compelling. It’s the perfect balance between tasteful comfort and blistering performance that’s served them well for decades.

The very first BMW to wear the now iconic badge may have been the M1, but it was the E28 M5 that really put BMW’s Motorsport division on the map, at least in the eyes of the general car buying public. Billed as the first ‘super saloon’, the M5 was a genius move by the Germans, quite frankly, because not only would it set a precedent for all future M cars (as well as prompting other manufacturers to leap on to the bandwagon), but it proved to be incredibly popular with punters too, successfully demonstrating that the humble saloon could be a viable alternative to the sports car. Arguably just as quick but way more comfortable and with room for the family. And the shopping.

The BMW big wigs knew they were on to something with the M5 and so shortly after its debut, the Germans would unveil their next Bavarian banger at the Frankfurt Motor Show in ’85, this time based on the E30 3 Series coupé. The now legendary M3 was born, but nobody could predict just how big of an impact the car would make, both on track and on the road.

Unlike the M5, which was developed as a road car from the beginning, essentially taking the 535i chassis and sticking the engine from the M1 in it, the M3 was actually built as a race car first in order to compete in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. This required BMW to adhere to Group A regs at the time, which meant, you guessed it, building a number of road-going examples in order to qualify, with the magic number this time being 5,000.

There are certain criteria that need to be met in order to win races, however, and arguably the most important is having a truly capable engine. The boffins at BMW Motorsport GmbH knew this and so they developed the S14 for the M3 – a four-cylinder, 16v naturally aspirated 2.3-litre chucking out 200bhp. It was light, torquey and durable, but power is nothing without control and so the E30’s body and chassis were radically fettled to match.

Sharing only a handful of panels with the regular 3 Series, the M3 featured flared arches in order to incorporate wider wheels, a re-profiled rear windscreen and raised boot lid for improved aerodynamics, revised sills and bumpers and a mahoosive rear wing. Many of these parts were made from plastic too in order to shave weight, because race car, and the E30 M3 weighed in at just 1,200kgs.

Add beefed up suspension and a trick, close ratio gearbox to this recipe and what you end up with is a rather tasty repast, all served up with a generous dollop of genuine desirability. The want was real from the off and that craving only grew more insatiable with the string of motorsport wins the car would quickly begin racking up on the international scene, especially in touring car racing.

With 100bhp more than its road-going counterpart and resplendent in the now iconic white Warsteiner livery with M stripes swathed across its body, the racing E30 M3 would become touring car royalty, winning the world title in its first year, before adding a European trophy soon after. The floodgates were officially open and a deluge of further successes for the M3 would follow, including titles in the DTM German Touring Car Championship and multiple victories at at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, among many others.

It wasn’t just a case of one and done for the E30 M3 though. To remain competitive over the years, multiple evolutions of the car were developed and homologated by BMW, with the first being the aptly named ‘Evolution 1’. Updates were pretty much limited to a revision of the engine cylinder head and it wasn’t until the ‘Evolution 2’ that the M3 received a hike in power. Developed for the 1988 season, the Evolution 2 featured further engine fettling which pushed power to 220bhp, along with a lightened flywheel and various minor aesthetic amendments.

Further performance improvements arrived two years later in the form of the ‘Sport Evolution’ which saw power jump again to 238bhp thanks to work by F1 engineer Paul Rosche. Now displacing 2.5-litres, the last iteration of the E30 M3 was the most powerful and the most race-inspired, with further weight saving measures being employed. Gone were many of the comfort options like electric windows and air conditioning in favour of a more performance focussed dynamic.

Evolution models are way rarer and therefore more desirable due to much lower overall production numbers making them both harder to come by and more expensive in the second hand market, but whichever E30 M3 you choose you’ll be in possession of a bona fide classic icon that is arguably one of the purest driver’s cars out there, at any price point. A dominating force across the globe both at the track and on the road the M3 remains one of the all time greats and we can think of few better cars to pick for a Euro road trip before taking on the Green Hell. If you fancy doing the same then your search begins right here on Car & Classic, just keep your lap times to yourself, yeah?