Tuning

The first generation of turbocharged M cars has forged its own legacy among the greats and builds like this show just why these cars are so popular and what’s possible when you go all-out.

With a five-litre S85 V10 engine squeezed into its engine bay, this hardcore E30 is an extreme machine guaranteed to get your pulse racing.

While, at first glance, this might appear to be a fairly standard E24 6 Series, a closer look reveals that all is not as it seems, and this unassuming classic is hiding some big secrets behind its iconic sharknose bodywork…

While Readers’ Cars submissions normally land in our inbox, we spotted this car on a forum, and it was too awesome a machine for us to not give it some page space here in Total BMW. What you’re looking at is a Z3 Roadster that has been transformed into a snarling, V8-powered beast, and it’s the creation of Dutch enthusiast René Stam.

With its current owner for 18 years, this Diamond black beauty of an E30 has been fully restored and refurbished, tastefully upgraded, and with a 2.4-litre S14 making 310 naturally aspirated horsepower under its bonnet, it really doesn’t get much better than this absolutely epic M3.

Many a modded enthusiast would argue that there’s no such thing as too much carbon, and for anyone addicted to the mesmerising black weave, this F80 M3 will give you the fix you need.

Built for serious sideways action, this hardcore E36 drift machine is packing some hefty turbocharged V8 power under its bonnet, and it’s given this Z Series a distinctly Asian flavour...

The BMW E46 M3 CSL is the pinnacle of the fourth-gen 3 Series range, but iconic as it is, there are some areas where it fell short, and the owner of this M3 set out to build himself the ultimate E46 that would surpass even BMW’s own effort.

There’s a school of thought in this glorious scene of ours that a good modified car is never truly finished. Serial modder Steve Fraser not only subscribes to this notion, he has a YouTube channel and social media presence dedicated to documenting the constant evolution of his fleet.

Cramming 500hp of turbo’d VR6 and 4Motion into a subtly re-worked Mk2 shell, Tim Dunn’s Golf might look like it’s picking the best of the Volkswagen parts bin – but it’s heavily inspired by something a little further afield.

In the relentless pursuit of power-to-weight saving, Frank Wolkers set out his goal to build a sub-700kg Mk1 track car. Here’s how he did it.

Dean Bunclark bought a ’1964 21-window Samba to take his family on holidays to Cornwall. He’s still making that journey, and in the same Split Bus, it’s just a little more enjoyable now.

With nine generations and 50 years on sale, the Passat has been a staple part of family life for millions of owners worldwide – but few have put that package through its paces quite as thoroughly as Rob and Hazel Carter.

Some people search high and low for their next project cars, while others, like Daniel Herrera, manage to find them far closer to home.

What if the engineers behind the Mk7 Golf R had really been allowed to let their hair down? Güray Yildiz might’ve just found the answer with his surprisingly refined, 950bhp ‘Golf RS-R’…