Which BMW M3 would you buy? | Thank Frankel it’s Friday

But admire it though I do in many ways, the fact it is so much heavier (135kg) than the scarcely slimline car it replaces and trades its instant shifting double clutch transmission for the slower, slurred reactions of a conventional automatic means that simply as a thing to get in and drive, it’s actually something of a backward step.

So I found myself wondering which was actually the best of what has now six distinct generations of M3, the coupe versions of last two being badged M4. Well we’ve established it’s not the current car, so let’s briefly consider the others.

I’ll start with the last M3, the one that has just gone off sale. It’s a good car, a better driving machine than the car that replaces it. But it is a car with a problem, namely that the cheaper M2 is lighter, more agile, easier and more entertaining to drive. The F80 M3 is a bit of a brute, hugely effective in the right hands but not exactly subtle.

In fact conventional wisdom (and current market values) will tell you the best M3 is the original. ‘Legend’ is a sorely overused term in the motor industry but I think it applies to the ‘E30’ M3, conceived as a homologation special and sold for five years from 1986. That brief alone confers upon it an authenticity no later M3 could ever hope to command. Its unique 2.3-litre engine, dogleg gearbox, suspension and even its bodyshell existed only to make it a better racing car. And wonderful street machines and track day toys they are too. But so too are they ruinously expensive with cars costing £60,000 and up even before you start talking about Evo cars or any of the special editions.

This leaves three more generations to consider. The first of these, the E36, made its debut in 1992 and hung around for seven years. At its launch unkind hacks like me ignored the fact it was so much faster and practical than the E30 and complained only that it didn’t fit our picture of what an M3 should be. Indeed I remember clearly asking some BMW board member if it would not have been more honest to badge it 330CSi. Its case was dramatically improved in 1995 when its 3.0-litre engine became a 3.2, and another cog found its way into the gearbox and it is these later E36s that are perhaps the most under-appreciated of all. But the best?

Afraid not. So let’s turn our attention to the M3 that really should have claimed that crown, the E90 series that existed from 2007-2013. This was and remains to date the only M3 to come with more than six cylinders, its 4.0-litre V8 howling out 420PS (309kW) at a dizzy 8,300rpm. It still had manual gears still lacked turbochargers and seemed on paper almost too good to be true. Which it was.

Its flaw was simply that it was a difficult car to drive fast, less intuitive than earlier cars and distinctly tricky on the limit. On a track an M3 is a car you want to be able to hoof around on the throttle but when the back started to go on an E90 your first instinct was to round it up, lest it got that stage where it stayed gone.

Actually, and certainly for anyone shopping on a budget, the best M3 is the one on the middle, the E46, made from 2000-2006. Its 343PS (252kW) 3.2-litre straight-six was the sweetest engine ever to go into an M3, its chassis the best balanced and I include the E30 in that judgement. It was an absolute hoot to charge about in but, crucially, it also rode well was comfortable and solidly built. Were it a card in BMW M3 Top Trumps it would never win a round but to me the best M3 is one which offers the best blend of pure driving pleasure, with everyday usability at a price that’s within the reach of most enthusiasts. Seen in those terms, the E46 is not just the best M3, it is so by a mile.