2008 BMW M3

I've spent a lot of extremely enjoyable miles behind the wheel of a number of M3s over the years. It started with a Euro version of the E36 M3 back in 1994, a car powered by a 286-horsepower 3.0-liter six that was never sold here in the U.S. I never got a chance to take out the North American version of this car that arrived the following year, although I've been told it was very good. I've yet...

Could this be the beginning of the end for the manual transmission? BMW’s seven-speed, double-clutch automated manual transmission is now available in the M3. This gearbox shifts quicker than is possible with a manual and also has a livable, smooth-shifting automatic mode. You likely already know we love BMW’s latest incarnation of its marvelous M3, this time with a mammoth 414-hp V-8. As...

Overview BMW has come a long way in the past 50 years, from the low point in the winter of 1959 when its fortunes were so bad that it was nearly sold to Mercedes-Benz, to becoming a world powerhouse of motorcycles, high-performance cars, luxury sedans and SUVS. Like Mercedes-Benz with its AMG in-house racing and high-performance specialists, BMW has created its M division, primarily responsible...

KBB Editors' Overview BMW's original M3 high-performance compact coupe was created in 1986 as a road-going version of its 3 Series-based German Touring Car Championship race car, and it arrived Stateside two years later. Powered by a pumped-up 192-horsepower 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine, it quickly carved a reputation as the ultimate performance iteration of BMW's iconic 3 Series. Second- and...