BMW has made some cracking cars in recent years. Here, we’ve chosen 10 of our favourites. The Top 10 BMW-M Cars is still to come, but if your budget is a little less Formula One, you won’t be disappointed with one of these 10...
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BMW E30 3-Series (1987-1991)
In 1987, BMW gently facelifted the E30 3-Series, replacing the chrome bumpers with full-length body-coloured plastic ones, while removing chrome detailing elsewhere, too. And so the yuppie mobile was born. Rarely has so minor a facelift proven so successful; the 3-Series now looked great, just at the right time, and BMW’s upward sales spiral commenced. The company has never looked back, and can thank this car. It can be brought for three-figure sums today, yet flawless mechanical integrity means they’re still decent drives, so long as you watch the back end in the wet...
BMW E36 3-Series (1991-1998)
If the E30 were responsible for BMW’s success, its E36 successor cemented it. Compared to what went before, this was revolutionary, with perfectly proportioned styling that even today still looks fantastic. It used to be the low-slung coupe that looked best, but the chunky four-door saloon is starting to win more fans as the years pass. It was groundbreaking beneath too, debuting BMW’s famous Z-axle rear suspension that cured all the waywardness without diluting the fun. Smaller engines are underpowered but still sweet; buy a £3k straight-six 325i for budget entertainment you never thought possible.
BMW 3-Series Compact (1995-1999)
It’s easy to get a mid-‘90s BMW hatchback for under £2,000. It looks like the E36 saloon (even though suspension tech is more E30) and has a tidy, if underpowered, engine line-up. Aspects of the interior may, surprisingly, be low-rent and dated, but come on! This, or a Ford Escort. Which would you seriously prefer? The Compact is also a very significant model as it signalled BMW’s intention to become more ‘mainstream’, years before the 1-Series. It wasn’t an unbridled sales success but it nevertheless proved to those within BMW that they could do ‘budget’ cars without losing prestige. 1-Series and, arguably, MINI are the result.
BMW 528i (1997-2003)
The best car in the real world? It was when it was launched back in 1997, and for keener drivers, it probably remains so, almost a decade on. Not only was it devoid of flaws, it did nearly everything so incredibly well, particularly for the driver. The handling was pin-sharp, steering beautifully weighted and the six-cylinder engine a purring peach that also returned good economy figures. That you can buy it for £3,000 is nothing short of incredible. Spend £4k and you’ve a car for life that we reckon outpoints the latest one for driver satisfacti
BMW 6-Series (original) (1976-1989)
Introduced in 1976 and changed little to the end of production in 1989, the 635CSi is the closest you’ll get to a workable ‘classic’ BMW. It’s a cracking old-school drive, with smooth straight-six power and surprising pace considering the price you pay for a minter – less than £5k. The ultimate is the 286bhp M635CSi (using the famous M1’s engine, for 60mph in 6.4 seconds!), but you’ll be lucky to find one at any price – only 5,800 were built. How good is it? Reviewers at the time rated it more highly than the 850i that effectively replaced it.
BMW X5 (2000-)
The most entertaining off-roader on the road. Yes, on the road. You’ll never see an X5 tackling anything rougher than a muddy field – that’s because, despite appearances, its natural home is a twisting backroad, the more challenging, the better. 3.0-litre diesel engines are preferable to petrol units, while the 4.4-litre V8s are surprisingly cheap and sorely tempting if you can afford the fuel. Maddest? The 4.6iS, which would be called an MX5 if it weren’t for Mazda. It’s astonishing. Five years on, they still fly out of showrooms and set a trend for everyone else to follow. A classic in the making.
BMW Z3 M Coupe (1998-2003)
The Z3 M Roadster mated a sloppy chassis to a 3.2-litre M-tuned straight six. The results weren’t pretty. BMW engineers knew this so worked in their spare time to find a solution. Many burnt dinners later, out rolled the M Coupe, with stiffer bodyshell that looked utterly unique. A Z3 estate? It was superbly idiosyncratic, yet far better to drive – more accurate, more stable and less liable to leeriness. As a result, it reeks class today and still costs serious money. But what an investment in a car that fans will pay big money for in years to come.
BMW 8-series (1990-1999)
The start of the ‘90s, and BMW was on a technological roll that saw the launch of the ultra-complex 8-Series. A more luxurious four-seat replacement for the 6-Series, it employed the very latest in gadgetry and one of the sweetest 5.0-litre V12 engines in the world. At the time, testers complained that all the tech made it soulless, but 15 years on, it’s quite an experience. Chances are it will all still work too, which means you can buy quite a remarkable car for little more than £6k. Even better, go for the later, sportier 840i V8, which is more satisfying even though it lacks that astounding V12. Modern BMW suspension theories started with this car.
BMW 7-series (1995-2002)
Bond, driving a 7-Series, just didn’t look right. But YOU in a 7-Series, from just £2,500? (Yes, really – £2,500, for a 10-year-old one). Now that’s much more like it. You can indulge in 007-levels of goodies too, as all are stocked just as you’d expect a luxury car of the 1990s to be. Various engines, but such is the top-line 750i’s thirst, it often sells for the same as most-popular 728i straight-sixes. We’d be torn between them, but would probably go for the smaller-engine’d car as it’s more nimble and fun to drive. A scruffy old Scenic or some of these – which would the family prefer?
BMW Mini (2001-)
We’re being a bit cheeky, but even by recent standards, there haven’t been many more successful ‘BMWs’. Rumour has it, MG Rover engineers were responsible for a lot of the engineering, but to drive, the feel is very BMW, even if the Chrysler-sourced engines let things down. Just like the original, it’s become a mass-selling style icon that hasn’t become a pastiche, and given the choice between a Cooper S and a 130i to blast on a twisty backroad, we know which we’d take, central instruments, whining supercharged note and all. A brilliant British-built success story.
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