Sunday 29th May 2016
BMW M3 30 Jahre Edition
Want an M3 Competition but feel it doesn't have enough limited edition logos? Here's your car!
PH is currently out at the N24 with BMW - livebloggery to follow soon - but here's something even more interesting than Augusto Farfus plonking an M6 GT3 on the front row. It's the BMW M3 30 Jahre Edition. Yes, just like the M5 in fact. And yes, it really was that long ago.
Like a Competition Pack but more expensive
This car therefore marks three decades since the first E30 M3 customers received their cars. To all intents and purposes, it is an M3 Competition embellished with a few little limited edition accoutrements. Not a bad car, by any stretch, but 30 years could probably have been marked even better with a four-door GTS, in the style of the old M3 CRT. Just a thought...
All 500 of the 30 Years M3s available globally will be offered uniquely in Macao Blue, a colour that was originally a special option introduced on - you've guessed it - the E30 M3. A six-speed manual is standard with the seven-speed M DCT also available, and the performance is identical to an M3 Competition Pack.
Mmm, anniversary
But to prove this is a 30 Jahre Edition M3, not simply a Competition Pack M3, there are a few key distinguishing cosmetic features. See the carbon fibre interior strip wording, the illuminated door sills and the headrest embroidery (!). The outside is fairly restrained actually, the M3 apparently calming down a little now it's entered its 30s.
As mentioned there will be just 500 of these special M3s available, with 30 offered in the UK. Best be quick to get one then, and wealthy too: the 30 Jahre will cost £82,675 when it goes on sale in the summer, or £23,070 more than a standard M3 Competition. Yikes. And you thought the GTS looked a lot.
