When we look back more than 20 years at the 2001 BMW M3, we really are looking at a car that would set the tone for what a sport sedan was supposed to be for a very, very long time. The fact that this thing makes 333hp out of a naturally aspirated 3.2L inline six is awesome. The six speed transmission, the more muscular styling, and the overall wrapper around the thing all seemed really good at the time but perhaps very few people knew how good they would age.
When the 2001 M3 rolled out, it was still a really exclusive car. Only 3,000 would be sold and they effectively were gone before one was even close to actually being delivered and driven by a customer. Today, the M3 in modern times is more common but these cars set the tone for what the driving experience would be. It would be centered wholly on balance. These cars have never been about overwhelming horsepower, they have been about having the correct power level for the chassis and suspension to make the most out of and deliver the best experience for the driver in the end.
They succeeded mightily. When these cars hit the magazines back then (and I read ’em all) it was to universal acclaim and basically wide open fawning. The engineers had hit a home run, the designers had as well, and the winners were the people who forked over the reasonably stout money that these cars commanded back then.
The reward for their spending? Pure joy every time they fired up the engine.
