A Brief History of the E30 BMW 3-Series

The BMW E30 is the second generation of BMW’s 3-Series range, produced from 1982 – 1994. The E30 3-Series was available in Coupe, 4-door saloon, Convertible and Touring (Estate) form.

The E30 was the first 3 series to be made available with a diesel engine and the first to be available in all-wheel-drive layout but the E30 is most famous for its traditional rear-wheel-drive layout.

E30 production took place in Germany and South Africa whilst Complete Knock-Down kits were supplied and assembled in Jakarta and Bangkok. There were no major updates to the E30 until 1987, this brought the introduction of the Touring body style and removal of the 325e model from the range. A redesign to the rear light clusters, front bumper and reduction in the use of chrome trim gave the E30 a new modern appearance.

The E30, of course, is most famous because of the M3 model, BMW needed to produce 5,000 road legal variants of their racing car to homologate it for Group A touring car regulations and thus, the M3 was born.

First-generation E30 M3s were fitted with an S14 4-Cylinder engine. Throughout M3 production, the capacity of that S14 would grow from 2.0 litres to 2.5 litres. Although the M3 was an E30 it shared only a few external body panels with the standard coupe model.

The M3 was fitted with a Dogleg 5-speed gearbox, meaning that 1st gear is where 2nd would be in a traditional gearbox layout. The E30 M3 came with specific to it, brakes, suspension and wheels.

In racing, the M3 was extremely competitive across the world. In the British Touring Car Championship, the E30 M3 was competitive, despite being up against the fire breathing RS500 Sierra Cosworth, whereas the M3 had to make do with just over 250bhp in the early 90s. Tim Harvey & Will Hoy both had success in Labatt’s liveried E30 M3s, but ultimately it would be Will Hoy who won the championship in 1991.

The interesting thing about racing regulations at the time is that homologating your car for Group A circuit racing, also meant that a vehicle was homologated to race in any Group A championship and the E30 did exactly that, entering Rally events from 1987 right through until 1995.

E30 Production stopped in 1994 with the Touring being the last model to be made. It was replaced by the E36 generation and although popular, the E36 has never quite captured the heart of the Enthusiast quite how the E30 has.