Why is everybody so excited about the new M3? Why are we all going crazy about it when we have such incredible cars to enjoy that have been around for more than a quarter of a century?
You might think we've gone crazy but you'd be wrong. The guys from XCAR Films had a brilliant idea. They compared two M3s that have 27 years of high-performance evolution between them: the E30 M3 and E92 M3 GTS.
The first one is the father of all M cars. When it was launched, back in 1985, it was the best sports sedan you could buy and not many things changed. Over the years BMW enthusiasts got to see a lot of variations of the original M3 so the Bimmer ended up having 4 models with 4 levels of power just for the E30.
The one they had for the test run was a late Evo1 model with 215 HP. Even though over 25 years passed since it was built, the E30 is still as good as it was in the first day of its life. It's hard to comprehend all the features that make it so good.
It has precise steering, the gearbox is more than exact, the dash has all kinds of innovative features and you can still drive it on a daily basis.
The same cannot be said of the GTS M3. This hardcore version is a sports maniac. It was designed especially for the race track and only 150 of them were built. It has more power, less weight, a roll-cage, sports seats and a fire extinguisher.
It's a blazing fast car and you really have to work hard behind its wheel. Not to accelerate but rather to keep it in check and within reasonable speeds because it's so fast you won't even notice when you're doing 100 mph (160 km/h).
However, if you had to pick one of these, you'd definitely go for the E30. Of course, the E92 GTS is a lot faster and will keep you strapped to the back of your seat but, unless you live on a racetrack, you cannot use this car on a daily basis.
The E30 is a completely different story. Even after so long it's still usable and fast at the same time, not to mention sexy and definitely attractive. The older M3 is a refined car, one that requires your attention not just because of its age, but because of the way it was built, without all the pesky electronic parts that tell you even when you have a flat tire. This is a car for your soul.
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