BMW's M3 model is by far one of the most popular among the M cars produced by BMW. It is sporty, fast and is one of the best handling cars in its category. It has evolved from the sporty, sharp handling little sedan in the form of the E30 with just over 200hp but today the upcoming variant in the G80 boasts 480hp! The power output has more than doubled in the last 30 years!
The competition in the category is fierce with the Audi RS4 and Mercedes C63 offering equally capable models. The interesting thing to note that the upcoming G80 M3 will have as much power as the Porsche 997 Turbo!
One would never imagine that the power hikes can really be this much over 3 decades. The very popular E36 M3 Evo pushed out 321hp from a 3.2 litre engine which was one of the best engines of its time. Then came the E46 M3 pushing similar power before the E90 4 litre V8 made a big jump to 400hp. After that the F30 M3 came with 3.0 litre twin turbo pushing out 420hp.
The competitor from Audi had over 440hp and Mercedes's C63 had 500hp! BMW was under pressure to produce a monster capable of beating these two cars. On paper the horsepower was on but on the track the M3's handling was the best of the lot allowing to easily keep up or be faster than the other 2 cars on the track.
As the evolution of the model goes one will wonder how much further the engine power will increase. It is the same for the M5 which started off with the E39 model pushing out 300+hp while the latest variant pushes out over 600hp!
All these sports models from BMW have made sports cars look slow and forced the sports car makers to seek for more power. The terms sports cars is no longer exclusive to 2 door low slung sporty looking cars. The sports sedans are now deemed as a better choice since it can carry 5 people, have decent luggage space and is more comfortable to drive but yet have the performance when you need it. The term sports car is now just a blur!
