THE BLUE, PURPLE AND RED WASN’T AS UBIQUITOUS THEN AS IT IS NOW.
I remember the first real M car I ever clapped eyes on was an E24 M635CSi. A cooking 635 was already unfathomably exotic, but one peek under the bonnet of this made me understand why all the the articles I’d read left road testers dribbling hyperbole. Then I drove an E30 M3 in my youth and managed to overlook the average performance because of the way it drove, and the way it looked. And what it represented. Because M cars are always special. We argue about which is best and what makes an M car and all that nonsense – but I’ve never driven a deliberately badged M machine that didn’t feel like it was a step apart from a normal BMW; which we must never forget is often a…