One of the best and worst parts of music streaming is that you don’t always know what song you’re going to hear. Maybe you’ve had the same song from the same artist on the same playlist for years but, one day, Spotify or the powers that be change which version they’re hosting. You pull up the app, hit play, and hear most of the familiar cues from the song you know and love. And then suddenly the nuances of whatever remaster or radio edit you’re listing to come through, and you recoil in disgust and/or pick up your phone to check that you tapped on the right song. You did, but what you’re experiencing is…different. That is what it feels like the first time you tuck an M42-powered E30 into a corner for the first time.
The first E30s available to the U.S. market were not technologically impressive. The 318i of 1984 was powered by a ~101hp 1.8L M10 four-cylinder and came with solid disc brakes up front and drums in the rear. The 325 ETA cars got two more cylinders and four-wheel-disc brakes, but with their diesel-aping redline you could tell the fuel anxieties from the 1970s were not completely in the rearview.
However, by the end of the E30 run in the U.S. you had your choice of some truly spectacular drivers’ cars. There was the boxed-to-the-gills E30 M3 of DTM fame, the darling 325is that carried less displacement than the ETA cars but made up for it with revs and sporting character, and the oddball M42-powered 318i/s.
The 318i of 1989-1991 was oddball in that, despite the M42B18 being the base engine, it was actually the newest in the lineup and more technologically advanced than the venerated M20 SOHC “baby-six” in the 325i/s. Sixteen valves, DOHC, 1.8 liters and, of course, fuel injected. At 134hp the M42 made more horsepower than the 2.7L six in the ETA E30s (127hp), with an obvious deficit in torque. Just like the 325i though, its rev-happy nature made it a greater joy to work with versus the ETA six, or the eight-valve M10 SOHC four-cylinder that preceded it.
It is that joy though that brings us back to our simile from the opening. From the driver’s seat, everything looks like normal E30. Huge steering wheel, perfectly functional dash, tiny A-pillars, and (if you’re lucky) the same sport seats you could option in an E30 throughout its production. Like most cars from the ’80s, as fun as they are, it’s a slow and deliberate car. Being gracious we could call it sporting or rambunctious, but you keep the accelerator pedal married to the carpet as if they’re about to have a child out of wedlock.
A corner approaches and, you being familiar with E30s, you feed in what feel like the same brakes, you work the same BMW-feeling shifter down to a lower gear, you match the revs just so and then…you realize this isn’t the same song. You have taken this same turn, at this same speed, in myriad other E30s. The cars love to dance in the corners, but physics will only allow so much, and over time you’ve grown accustomed to managing the weight of the M20 inline-six on corner entry. Sometimes you get the braking right and the nose tucks in. Other times you don’t muck it up too bad but you notice the front end desiring to continue straight rather than follow the request you’ve input via the E30’s ridiculously slow steering rack.
This time however, not only does the nose seem to tuck right in, you actually have put too much lock on. You wind it off just in time for the S-curve to go the other direction. You make the next steering request, this time with less familiarity and more curiosity. Could the turn in be that much better?
The answer is: Yes. Baby M3 yes. If you were waiting for those words to appear somewhere, you’re welcome. Before owning an M42 car I had read those words countless times in Roundel or Grassroots Motorsports or any other rag that appreciated older BMWs enough to compare them in such fashion. And I dismissed them, because any time someone goes “baby” this or “poor man’s” that it always feels like there’s some ulterior motive involved. You may be sneering while reading this, having caught me in the “Baby M3” trap and confirming I don’t know what I’m talking about, but that’s okay. I would probably do the same thing.
Is an M42 318i (yes, you’ve noted these photos are not an iS, just a four-door) an E30 M3 competitor? No. Hell no. In the time since owning this car I’ve been lucky to get some quality seat time in an M3, one with its S14 built out to 2.5L no less. If what you want is an M3, I am not going to lie to your face (screen?) and say this scratches the itch. But the M3 part of Baby M3 addresses not the overall package, but the spiritual behavior. I will always choose an M20 E30 over any other (M3 included…) on the soundtrack alone. Do the price comparison (at the time of writing, a good E30 325is is anywhere from a third to a sixth of an M3) and the choice for me only becomes more clear. BUT, and like a real cheese-and-grits and never skip leg day but(t), there is a reason why BMW Motorsport chose to develop a four-cylinder for the UrM3.
That turn in behavior. The transient behavior. You cannot modify a six-cylinder E30 to enter corners the way the M3, and indeed the M42 318i/s can. When you consider that the M42 cars actually sound quite nice singing to redline, and give up nothing in terms of equipment to their more expensive siblings they become an extremely compelling proposition. And again, as opposed to the M3 they are not that expensive, especially if your ego can own two more doors. It’s the same E30 song that you know and love, but with a remaster that gives back as much as it takes away. Do you want that turn in? Can you appreciate needing a couple thousand more revs to manage the dip in torque? Will the dynamics make up for the loss of that wonderful M20 soundtrack?
You’ll have to answer that for yourselves. I sold mine primarily because I’m dumb, but also because I had a very, very unwise purchase I wanted to fund. Stay tuned.