CarBrandLogos archive · BMW · 1997

BMWM Coupé

The estate-shaped Z3 that BMW's own management had to be talked into.

Photo: MrWalkr · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in BMW history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the BMW M Coupé, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Z3 roadster was built in South Carolina and sold on charm rather than rigidity, and the engineers knew it. Burkhard Göschel's team proposed fixing the structure by roofing the car over — adding a hatchback that turned it into what the press immediately called the clown shoe, or the breadvan.

BMW Z4 M Roadster front · Oxyman · CC BY 2.5

Design and engineering

Management was not convinced there was a market. The project went ahead as a low-investment side venture, sharing everything forward of the windscreen with the roadster and using a hatch structure that roughly tripled torsional stiffness.

BMW Z4 M 1 · IFCAR · Public domain

In production

Underneath, the M version took the S50 and later S52 straight-six from the M3, driving the rear wheels through a five-speed manual — the only transmission offered. The rear suspension was the Z3's semi-trailing-arm design, which had a reputation for sudden behaviour at the limit that the extra power did nothing to soften.

BMW Z3 M Roadster · nakhon100 · CC BY 2.0

Legacy

Around 6,300 M Coupés were built between 1998 and 2002, against far larger roadster numbers. It was the least rational car BMW sold at the time and the one enthusiasts have pursued hardest since; values now sit far above what the ordinary Z3 commands.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1997–2002

Engine

3.2&nbsp

Designer

Marcus Syring

Body

2-door coupé

Technical specification

The M Coupé, in detail.

Production: 1997–2002
Class: Sports car (S)
Body style: 2-door coupé (E36/8) ; 2-door roadster (automobile); roadster (E36/7)
Layout: FR layout
Engine: 3.2 L S50/S52/S54 I6
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Designer: Marcus Syring