A recent advertisement of a E36 M3 with “German spec” triggered me to write the following letter. I’m not sure whether everybody knows what the “German spec” means and/or what the difference between the “German spec” and the “South African spec” M3’s are.
Many a time people refer to certain E36 M3’s as the “German spec” cars. By calling them “German spec” M3’s sound as if they are spec’d superior to our local built M3’s and I thought to clarify any mis-understanding.
The easiest way to explain it, is to rather highlight the features that the “South African spec” M3’s had over and above that of the “German spec” M3’s.
There were 748 South African spec M3’s built (assembled) from September 1993 until May 1994 in South Africa from Semi Knocked-Down kits (SKD). After the local built SKD M3’s were discontinued in May 1994, BMW SA started to import the German built M3 coupés from June 1994 until about mid 1995. Unfortunately I do not know how many German built M3’s were imported.
The South African built M3’s and German built M3’s were identical except for a few small cosmetic differences, which I list hereunder.
The South African built M3’s had the following features/standard options over and above the German spec cars:
Slightly altered version of the S50 B30 powerplant designed to run on leaded fuel (for South African conditions)
Slightly altered exterior colour palette (the use of specific local paint colours)
A higher level of standard equipment, i.e.:
Air-conditioning
Power sunroof
On-board computor
Hi-fi speakers
The forged M Double Spoke alloy wheels (the German spec M3’s were fitted with a different style wheel)
The use of regular (non M-Design) BMW sport seats in either M-cloth/Amaretta or extended Nappa leather.
The fully imported German built M3’s had the BMW AG exterior colours and they were equipped with the M-Design sport seats.
From the aforementioned information, it is evident that the “German spec” M3’s were lower spec’d than the 748 South African built M3’s – and on the contrary, the SA spec M3’s should rather be the ones attracting the enthusiasts’ attention, and not vice versa. Maybe the term “German spec M3” sounds great, but it has no additional value, rather less.
I trust that the aforementioned information will be of assistance and also clarifies the meaning of the broadly used term “German spec M3”.
