As we discussed in Part 1, the B7 Audi RS4 was the sort of car that is made when the planets align. It still stands as the high-water mark for the RS4 as a car, and following it up must have been an unenviable task.
A car that experienced that unenviable task was the RS4’s major rival at the time: the E90-generation BMW M3. The E90 had to follow in the footsteps of one of the all time greats – the E46 M3. The E46 M3 is a venerable car; a car which has nestled itself so deeply into the performance car psyche that it effectively has become the automotive equivalent of a UNESCO world heritage site.
The E46 looked just right, it was sized just right, it sounded just right, and it drove just right. Just mentioning those two letters and three numbers conjures images of an E46 drifting around a tight corner accompanied by a flat, taut howl from its quad exhaust tips – that sound is unmistakeable – it sounds like starting a wheel-whacker inside an empty soup can.
So, how do you beat that? Well, for BMW the plan was to virtually reinvent the M3 from the ground up. BMW itself was undergoing a huge period of change at the time. Most notable was a complete change in its time-served design language which culminated into an epochal shift thanks to some brave thinking by Chris Bangle & Co. The M3’s character changed. In two door form, it was more of a GT car than an out and out sportscar, and the four-door E90 was the first time a four-door M3 could be had since the E36 from the 1990s.
Unfortunately, the E90 was never the best looking car, and its awkward proportions weren’t the best starting point for the M3. The E90 shape was frumpy, busy and it hardly had a straight surface to its name, but the M3 did its best with what it had.
Bespoke to the M3 was a more aggressive front bumper, complete with strange little points along its chin; far wider front wings complete with side vents and the now iconic ‘power bulge’ bonnet. ‘Power bulge’ does sound a little like the sort of name that would’ve been given to Henry VIII’s codpiece if intensive marketing strategies were a thing in Tudor-era England.
Silly names aside, the power bulge adds some much needed menace to the E90 M3’s silhouette, plus the bulge can be seen from behind the steering wheel, like the Bavarian version of the ‘shaker hood’ from a Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda.
The rest of the car’s visuals were finished with a side skirt and a unique rear bumper that included a mild diffuser and quad exhaust tips. The rear end has a sort of cinched narrowness to it, which makes the E90 from the rear, appear deceivingly petite.
So the E90 was not traditionally beautiful, but it had enough brutish charm to show it meant business. Luckily, in spite of the looks, when BMW has its scheißen together, it makes some absolutely amazing cars with some ridiculously capable engines and the E90 M3 was certainly one of them. It was powered by a 4.0 Litre, 414bhp 90-degree V8 that revved to 8400rpm. It was an absolute screamer.
The engine was, and still is an institution. Sharp, enthusiastic and built to rev, the S65 was the E90 M3s greatest asset, and it helped transform a small executive saloon into a racing car on the right road. Stick a naughty exhaust on it and the E90’s V8 sounds like nothing else.
The E90 was also helped by a really rather talented chassis and communicative steering which meant it was the car to beat in its day.
Of all the cars in this series, the E90 has aesthetically aged the worst. Call it BMW’s admirable, albeit not always successful march to progresses’ drum beat, but the E90 will never be good looking but it is unique, and car-designs’ increasing push towards crassness has left the E90 just about on the right side of restraint.
Get one for the drive, and let the eight-cylinders do the rest.
Kerbside 