Yes, as far as we are concerned. Look how beautiful this M3 of the E36 generation.
Let’s see. What shall we talk about now? Tesla bashing, comparing electric crossovers, taking Lewis Hamilton’s statements out of context, discussing a new facelift of a compact Honda that is only delivered in Thailand or saying, through an exception that confirms the rule, that we are not going to drive electric after all? None of that today, we’re just talking about cool cars and today we’re going to talk about the BMW M3 of the E36 generation.
Soon you can enjoy one E36-special (upon special request), but we already have a nice preview for you. The BMW E36 is the least popular 3 Series at the moment. Not as playful as the E30, not as mature as the E46, is the consensus. In our opinion it is very unjustified. Because it is perhaps the car that best defines the brand. At least, defined.
At the Essen Motor Show 2023, a stand was dedicated solely to the E36 generation and in particular the M3. The E30 is seen as the holy grail, but that was a far too expensive and secretly quite slow go-kart. A lot of fun and special, but with the E36 BMW took a big step forward.
Several were shining at Essen. A red and a yellow one screamed for our attention. That yellow coupe was beautiful, although the red one with Evolution spoiler is also not to be sneezed at. There were also a few special versions:
M3 Lightweight
This is the predecessor of the CSL. In fact, in the manual the car was referred to as CSL. The Lightweight was a special model to accommodate the Americans who wanted to go on the track. The basis is the USDM M3, so with a less powerful 3.0 six-cylinder with 240 hp.
Most luxuries were removed. All copies are Alpinweiss, with the well-known M flags. Can BMW no longer make this? Just an M340i with rear-wheel drive, manual gearbox, lock and zero options. Sounds like a great car (that no one is going to buy)
M3 GT
The top model of the three-liter M3s is this M3 GT. This was a special homologation model with more power (295 hp) thanks to a different camshaft and compression ratio. There is also a cool spoiler. 356 were built. They are all dark green, which fortunately is all the rage these days.
In short, keep an eye on Autoblog for the E36 M3 special…!
This article Is the E36-generation M3 underrated? first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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