The BMW E30 M3 is the one car that started all the M3 madness. It was brilliant and that was the case solely because the road-legal car was built from the race car. These days that level of craftsmanship is all but gone, and that’s why the original M3 has such a high price tag. The six-figure sticker is also the reason why people are looking at alternatives. Thus, BMW E30 3 Series cars have also gone up in popularity.
Most people try and convert them into M3s while others just do what they want with them, sometimes creating veritable monsters. The car in the video below is, according to the reviewer, a ‘better E36 M3’. That’s because under the hood of the E30 3 Series hides a BMW M3 engine from the 1990s. It’s a Euro-spec S50 mill that should be more than enough for that body.
One of the things some people have complained about regarding the E30 M3 is the fact that it only has a four-cylinder. That’s poppycock because the aim of the original M3 wasn’t to sound good but to win races. For that, they needed a high-revving mill and the four-cylinder they created did just that. It was also lighter and making it was easy as it was basically an M88/1 straight six without two cylinders. Plenty of reasons why the S14 mill worked.
Over the years, plenty of straight six engines came out of the BMW M division though. The S50 is one of them. Yet, there was a catch . There were two versions: a US version and a European one. To keep costs down, the US version came without the costly individual throttle bodies and continuously variable VANOS valve timing system of the European-spec motor.
However, this car has the Euro-spec engine in it and it is a joy to watch it go. Check it out!
