You don’t have to be a fan of the BMW 3 Series in order to appreciate this video. What we’re looking at here are 6 different generations of one particularly excellent sports sedan.
The 3 Series has been around since forever – at least for some of us. The first generation (E21) was launched in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis and nearly doubled BMW’s worldwide sales from 1975 to 1978.
The 2nd generation was called the E30 and it spawned the first ever M3 back in 1988 – that’s when that epic rivalry started between the M3 and the Mercedes-Benz 2.5-16.
The design language evolved significantly with the E36 model, which stayed in production from 1991 up until 1998 – replaced by the ever so popular E46, which is still an excellent car even to this day.
In fact, when the E90 came out, people were talking about how it wasn’t as nimble and fun to drive as the E46 and they had a point. However, when we look back on it now, the E90 was the last modern-day BMW 3 Series to have a hint of E46 beneath its metal frame.
What we mean by that is that it still felt as if you could reproduce some of the E46s driving characteristics at the wheel of the E90 – and this is very important because if you drive the new F30 3 Series now and then you get into an E46, they will feel universally different to drive.
Still, the F30 (now the F30 LCI) is a fantastic car and still arguably the best driver’s car in its segment. It’s bigger and more sophisticated than any other 3 Series you’ll ever come across, but BMW have done a great job making it feel more agile than pretty much any of its rivals.
Having said that, we really enjoyed the way BMW shot this video and we bet that you will too.