My dream car in high school, even before I could drive without an adult sitting in the right seat, was a brand-new BMW M3. At the time, “brand-new” meant sometime between 2009 and 2012, the era of the V8-powered M3. Known to gearheads by its chassis codes—E90 for the sedan, E92 for the coupe, and E93 for the convertible—it felt like the perfect blend between daily driver and corner-carving weapon, with slick looks, a manual transmission, and an 8,500-rpm redline.
As it turns out, this was not a unique opinion. People realizing BMW will never make another V8-powered 3-Series means the E9x M3 platform has held its value pretty well in the 13 or so years since production ended. Even well-used cars with over 100,000 miles regularly sell for over $30,000, depending on spec.
I’ve been keeping an eye on the second-hand market for years now, hoping one day I might scrape together enough money to purchase a nice, low-mileage M3 for myself. But going by this most recent auction result, I suspect I might never get the chance. I say that because a normal production M3, not a limited edition model or even an example painted in a rare color, just sold for over $200,000 at auction on Bring a Trailer.
Why Did This M3 Go For New Supercar Money?
Seeing what appears to be a normal-ass M3 go for nearly triple its original MSRP is pretty jarring, but honestly, it shouldn’t be too surprising for people who know the market. First off, this particular M3 is essentially a new car. It’s been driven just 725 miles since it came off the factory line, and it looks as if it just rolled off the dealership floor in 2010. It’s also incredibly well-specced, with a manual transmission, carbon fiber interior trim, and the optional Competition package, which nets a lower ride height, revised electronic dampers, a different stability control setup, and a set of lovely 19-inch alloy wheels (Style 359s for you BMW nerds).
Just as important to this M3’s value are the options it doesn’t have. Importantly, it wasn’t specced with navigation, which means it didn’t get the iDrive infotainment display embedded into the dashboard. That means instead of a “double-hump” shaped dash, it has a cleaner, more simplified “single-hump” setup in the cabin, which buyers usually prefer. The sunroof was also left off the option list, which means this M3 retained its highly desirable carbon-fiber roof panel (if you option a sunroof, that panel is replaced by a piece of steel and glass).
Still, $205,000 is a lot of money for one of these cars. I’d understand more if it were a special, rare BMW Individual color like Dakar Yellow, a rare Lime Rock Park edition, or one of those late-production M3s painted in a matte “frozen” color. But aside from the mileage, there isn’t anything incredibly special about this car. Yet it’s just shattered the record for E9x M3s on Bring a Trailer by a wide margin. The next most expensive car to sell on the platform was this orange-painted example modified to resemble the Euro-only M3 GTS, complete with a bigger engine, a roll cage, and all the right aero pieces. It went for $133,000 in 2022.
If you’re curious, the most expensive E9x M3 to sell at auction in America is a 229-mile Lime Rock Park edition, which went for $235,000 at a Gooding & Co. auction held during Pebble Beach in 2022. The most valuable E9x M3 worldwide, however, goes to the first production M3 GTS, which sold for €301,700 (around $351,000 at the time), including buyer’s fees at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Munich last year.
Will M3s Ever Come Down In Price?
Based on this sale alone, you might think the values for V8-powered M3s are trending upward as more people realize this car delivers a unique experience you can’t really find elsewhere. But going by Bring a Trailer’s sales history graph, values have roughly remained steady, save for a few outliers like the car above.
To me, what this sales result shows is that nice versions of even normal E9x M3s are now solidly acquiring collector car status. This trend has been building for some time now—all you have to do is look at the inventory for specialty used car dealer Enthusiast Auto Group to see that. Anomaly or not, this $205k sale means owners of similar low-mileage cars can justify raising their prices. For normal people like me, who hoped that maybe one day, the V8 M3 would slowly depreciate enough to become attainable, it feels like that reality is slowly slipping away from their grasp.
This sale doesn’t mean every E9x is about to double in price, obviously. In my countless hours of browsing Facebook Marketplace, I’ve found that BMWs often have particularly huge deltas in price for collector-quality examples and normal, used, high-mileage cars. The E9x is just one example. While this one above sold for over $200,000, you can easily buy a high-mileage M3 convertible with a dual-clutch for a tenth of that price right now.
While I wouldn’t be against settling for a high-mileage car to live my fantasies, the M3 is one of those cases where if I’m spending nearly $30,000 on a used car, I’d want it not to be a clapped-out shitbox with nearly 200,000 miles. Examples with reasonable mileage are simply too far out of reach, and I have a feeling, thanks in part to this recent sale, that they’ll always be slightly more expensive than I’ll be able to afford. Such is life.
Top graphic image: Bring a Trailer
The car that got too expensive that I always wanted is the second generation CRX Si. I never thought they’d be selling in the mid to high 10s of thousands in excellent condition. Yet here we are.
I’m convinced that this type of car collecting is similar to art collecting in that it’s a way to launder money. Can’t prove it but there’s no other explanation on why someone would pay more than new 911 or Z06 money for a 15 year old BMW unless there was something else going on.
When you have many millions or even billions, this is lunch money.
All you have to do is watch the way E30’s went crazy and this makes total sense. It WILL be affordable again one day btw…… 50 years from now.
I like time capsule cars. All things considered, the E92 was not a super rare car. It’s not a crime that a few examples are kept as museum pieces.
Plenty of other examples are being driven and enjoyed.
The Ultimately Undriven Driver’s Machine.