For 30 years, every new BMW M3 has lived in the shade
of the iconic original. We put munich’s 2015 turbomonster against its world
beating. Forebear: one built the legend, the other reframes it and the
stopwatch doesn’t lie.
The competition M3 debuted at Monza on March 22, 1987. Over
the next five years, it dominated the touring-car scene, snagging more than 30
international road-racing championships, multiple rally and hill-climb titles,
a Corsica rally win, and a one-two finish at the 24 hours of the Niirburgring.
The 146-mph street car locked in the legend, but the trade-off was limited
appeal. The loud, buzzy four didn’t wake until 5000 rpm. At low speed, the M3
was barely quicker than a 325i but cost 20 percent more. Offered here from 1988
to 1991, and only in base, 192-hp form, the car made many think BMW had gone
mad. The six- and eight-cylinder M3s that followed sold exponentially better,
but they lacked the E30’s knife-in-the-teeth feel and never matched its cult
following.
The six- and
eight-cylinder M3s that followed sold exponentially better, but they lacked the
E30’s knife-in-the-teeth feel and never matched its cult following.
Which brings us to the 2015 M3 sedan and M4 coupe. These
mechanical siblings, dubbed F80 and F82 respectively, are the E30 M3’s latest
successors. Both represent a kind of retargeting. Gone is the previous M3’s
8400-rpm V-8 and old-school personality. In its place is a 3.0-liter twin-turbo
straight-six that spins to 7600 rpm and produces peak power between 5500 and
7300.
This is the first time an M3’s engine has been turbocharged
or smaller than the one it replaces. BMW says fuel economy has improved nearly
25 percent over the V-8, but with 11 more ponies, for 425. Torque increases
from 295 lb-ft at 3900 rpm to 406 from 1850 to 5500. Which is like saying the
North - ridge earthquake was an increase from that time your aunt knocked her
rumpus into the china cabinet. In coupe form, the new car weighs 3585 pounds,
119 less than its predecessor. There are a lot of base-M3 firsts:
A carbon-fiber driveshaft, available carbon-ceramic brakes,
electric power steering. Nonsunroof cars get a carbon roof panel, and coupes
get a part-carbon trunk-lid. The sedan has fatter fender flares because it
shares the two-door’s track, but the coupe’s basic shell is wider;
subsequently, while the coupe appears workaday mean, the sedan looks ready to
punch your mother. In a shift from long-standing BMW practice, the rear
subframe is bolted rigidly to the car, with no bushings for comfort.
These guys have not gone this mental in a while.
We chose the 2.2-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for this
story for two reasons. First, it’s relatively large and complex but favors
neither power nor grip. And second, the choice let us horn in on a BMW of North
America corporate test day. Which means that our appointed pro driver, the
Mid-Ohio School’s Brian Till, strapped in one spring morning with a McLaren FI
GTR barking through its warm-up in the background. It lent our task an undue
air of importance, as if we were prepping for some sort of Le Mans of the
Middle West. (Motto: “Fly over this, suckers.”)
Which means that our
appointed pro driver, the Mid-Ohio School’s Brian Till, strapped in one spring
morning with a McLaren FI GTR barking through its warm-up in the background.
Our E30 came courtesy of Cincinnati collector Lance White.
Although BMW Motorsport supplied Group A E30s in a crated kit, White’s car
wasn’t one of those. It was built in 1987 by Germany’s Hartge team, running a
few races before retiring from active competition. With its low hours and
unmolested bodywork, it’s believed to be one of the more original Group A M3s
left.
Till drove both cars on a quiet track, E30 first. When he
came in, he was smiling and bubbly. “It’s analog, like you’re wearing the car.
I love it. It rewards momentum and will run a long apex, but once you hit 6000
rpm, it just goes. It’s sensitive, but not overly so. Everything happens
progressively, which makes it fun.”
After a few more laps, Till ran a 1:38.97, for an average
speed of 79.9 mph. Standing in the pits, I could see the E30 flit into the
track’s fourth-gear Turn 1. The car popped down to the apex in an airy dart, a
breezy mass of angles and snorting exhaust.
Standing in the
pits, I could see the E30 flit into the track’s fourth-gear Turn 1. The car
popped down to the apex in an airy dart, a breezy mass of angles and snorting
exhaust.
