In this latest video from Petrolicious, airline pilot Alex McCulloch talks about owning the lowest production run BMW model that wasn’t a special, or limited edition.
The BMW M Coupe was first produced in 1998, but didn’t sell a huge amount, so naturally, has become highly desirable to the car enthusiast. In its last years of production, BMW built it with the 3.2-litre engine from the E46 M3 (muted a little by a 5-speed box with a tall final drive – otherwise, the power-weight ratio would be better in the M Coupe than in the M3 model).
McCulloch’s M Coupe is modified only in ways that allow him to put the car back to stock. He describes this as a big liability in that it has the E30 M3 rear suspension – which “makes the car fun and rewarding to drive but makes it difficult to drive fast – you cannot challenge yourself on public roads, safely”, so races his M Coupe in the NASA Time Trials; “the only times I’m not bored is when I’m flying, when I’m flying my hang glider, or when I’m racing the M Coupe – because all of a sudden the world moves up to my speed.
“I used to say it wanted to kill me, but now we’ve reached an agreement where it’s not quite as murderous,” he says.
