Three of the world’s most magnificent touring cars stemmed from the BMW E30 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz 190E and Nissan Skyline R32. All three cars are magnificent cars, sports cars that anyone would feel lucky to own. But what if some of the coolest versions of those cars were all up for sale at the same time, which one would earn your hard earned money?

That’s exactly the predicament (talk about champagne problems) that someone will be in come January, when the RM Sothebys Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona is hosted. During this auction, a 1986 BMW ALPINA E30 B6, 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190 Evo II and a 1989 Nissan Skyline R32 will be up for sale all at the same time. Those are pretty amazing cars and all worthy of being in anyone’s garage. So which do you choose?

The 1986 ALPINA E30 B6 2.7 was one of the fastest variants of the E30 3 Series ever made. It would probably ever take an E30 M3 on the street, thanks to its extra torque. Packing a 2.7 liter I6 engine, built by adding a new cam, Mahle pistons, upgraded ignition and running a higher compression ratio, the ALPINA B6 developed 210 hp and 195 lb-ft. While a modern day VW GTI would blow the doors off of that ALPINA, it was damn quick for its day.

But it also looked brilliant, with its crazy gold stripes. And those wheels, ugh those wheels. ALPINA has been using the exact same wheel design for, what, 40 years now? And there’s a reason for it — they’re gorgeous. So this car is tempting to pull the trigger on. But don’t do it until you see the others.

Next up is the Mercedes-Benz 190 EVO II. Designed to take on the mighty E30 M3 DTM car, the EVO II is one of the coolest touring cars ever made. Just look at those insane wheel arches, that massive wing and huge front lip. It just explodes with ’80s touring car awesomeness. It also packs a 235 hp, 2.5 liter, Cosworth-tuned four-cylinder engine. That gets paired to a five-speed dog-leg manual gearbox (all I can think of is James May reversing into cars), giving it extra car-nerd cred. This one’s been modified a bit, to extra racey, but it’s still spectacularly cool and certainly worth your precious bucks.

But the third contender, the one that hails all the way from Japan, might just steal the money from the other two. An incredibly rare find is this Nissan Skyline R32. The R32 has reached cult-levels of popularity, with most Japanese car enthusiasts considering it to be the single greatest car in history. While we won’t go that far, it is a damn great car. With subtle but cool good looks, the R32 is one of the sharpest looking Japanese cars of all time.

It also packs a brilliant 2.5 liter turbocharged straight-six engine (long live the I6!) that makes, so Nissan says, 276 hp. Though, Nissan understated its power, as part of a “Gentlemanly Agreement” with other Japanese carmakers, and it really made over 300 hp. That brilliant engine is mated to a five-speed manual gearbox and powers all four wheels. It also had four-wheel steering, dubbed HICAS (High Capacity Actively Controlled Steering). Very cool stuff.

All of these three cars are superb and would be a blast to own. So which of the three would you choose?

[Source: Top Gear]