Any passerby will notice the M3 Edition 50 Jahre’s alluring colors, but real M-heads will appreciate its subtle touches. Carbon fiber is applied to the roof, front splitter, rear spoiler, and surrounds for the four titanium exhaust tips. Like other 2023 M vehicles, the M3 Edition 50 Jahre wears throwback BMW Motorsport roundel emblems accented with blue, navy, and red.
Distinctive accouterment are presented to those lucky enough to find themselves inside an M3 Edition 50 Jahre, too. Beyond door sills bearing the edition’s name, the cabin is anointed with carbon-fiber trim, which on the cupholder cover bears a metal plate inscribed with that particular car’s number in the run. Comfortable sport seats or aggressive yet supportive carbon buckets are the only interior option. Whichever is chosen, they’re upholstered with black leather tied together by a unique application of M-color contrast stitching. Those colors also decorate the drive selector knob, seat belts, and headrests.
Driving The 2023 BMW M3 Edition 50 Jahre
Given it’s a mechanical clone of the M3 Competition xDrive, the Edition 50 Jahre drives much as we remembered: utterly thrillingly. We hopped in an example equipped with carbon brakes, bucket seats, and Techno Violet paint, and zipped to the closest stretch of twisting pavement.
Speed is perhaps the defining characteristic of this M3—it is unexpectedly, unrelentingly quick. Each pull of the carbon-fiber paddle shifters is punctuated by a change in the growling engine note. Keep your eyes looking far down the road, because that next curve will arrive sooner than you think. As it does, you turn a steering wheel that fills your hands with a tremendous amount of road texture. The xDrive all-wheel drive hardly dulls the sensation. Rather, it provides massive grip and traction, letting you rail corners and lean on the power. Firm and edgy as it is, there’s a certain pliancy in the ride that keeps the car settled over cracked pavement. Backing it all up are the progressive brakes that slow the car powerfully if—rather, when—you find the speedometer reading higher than anticipated.
