11 brilliant used BMWs for a fraction of the new G50 3 Series’ price

Big week on Planet Car: BMW has launched a brand new 3 Series. The archetypal sports saloon has entered its eighth, ‘G50’ generation, lobbing much of the electric i3’s styling atop the proven recipe of petrol power up front and drive at the rear. Cool thing. Topping the range is a slightly bonkers M350 and the reimagining of the top-rung 3 Series as a baby M3 with quad exhausts, a four-second 0-62mph sprint and an actual drift mode.

So let’s instead reminisce about a time not so long ago when a heartland 6cyl 3er was a bit more restrained; this 51,000-mile, blue on cream 2017 340i Touring ought to do it, with a 322bhp B58 up front and a £17,449 price tag in the window. Representing a mere quarter of the cost of its modern-day equivalent it’s a bargain, no?

Perhaps you like your straight-six 3 Series to be a little older, more angular and carrying a more subtly sporting demeanour. You want an E36 Coupe, then. This third generation of 3er arguably represents its true, tubthumping arrival into the mainstream, with body styles coming out of its ears and an M3 iteration sold early doors. Any one of ‘em looks quietly handsome now in a way modern BMWs, for better or worse, simply don’t.

A two-door with a 190bhp, 2.8-litre engine and the essential manual transmission, this 328i could be a delightful way to slink around this autumn with some season-appropriate tyres fitted. With just three owners and less than 60,000 miles, it’s yours for a nice round £11,000 ‘or best offer’.

Want to go cheaper? This classic slice of BMW business express is up for sale for a whisker over £1,500. You’ll struggle to buy anything cheaper that isn’t a dog-eared Zafira.

Why so cheap? Though it has 169,000 miles on its odometer, this E60 5 Series is a 17-year-old car now, so its mileage is about par. Its 2.0-litre turbodiesel should be strong for a fair bit longer too. Perhaps it’s good old ULEZ; plenty of formerly cost-efficient cars are now less desirable (and thus more affordable) because they command a £12.50 daily charge to saunter around Greater London. Those living elsewhere can grab a bargain, however…

Don’t fancy a diesel? A few hundred quid more allows you to skip back to the utterly handsome E39 generation of 5 Series (the best designed of the lot, we say) with its 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine running on petrol.

It’s still not ULEZ compliant (sorry) but it looks damn good in Stahl Blue Metallic and has a spec list that helps bely its 26 years on this planet: auto climate, cruise control, parking sensors and a ‘BMW Business Radio’ should make it all fairly habitable. Its cloth seats are probably in better nick than some shiny, frayed leather would be after 107,000 miles too.

Prefer your 5 Series to run a bit richer? We’ve skipped a generation newer with this wonderful, 4.8-litre V8 powered 550i Touring. It looks every bit as good as the M5 Touring of its day while offering something that car didn’t on UK shores: a six-speed manual gearbox.

“Having also owned an Audi S6 Avant, an Audi RS2 and a BMW E36 M3 (and others) I came to the conclusion that the 550i M Sport Touring was the ultimate in family transport,” the vendor enthusiastically exclaims. Who are we to argue with that? It’s a true slice of understated rarity that feels bafflingly cheap at £12,500.

Perhaps your idea of ‘core BMW’ isn’t a sensible saloon or estate, but a pert, two-seat roadster with six cylinders of petrol power up front, a stick shift in the middle and drive at the rear axle. Won’t find us disagreeing. This middle generation of Z4 (the E89, model code fans!) feels a bit forgotten, bookended by the bolder, Chris Bangle-penned mk1 and the Toyota Supra-twinned mk3.

Yet the recipe here appears perfect: its 254bhp is delivered at 6,600rpm with a six-speed ‘box to stir as you zing its heady limiter. The complex folding hard-top means it’s no lithe, lightweight track car but there can be few simpler pleasures than its six cylinders burbling away ahead of you on a sunny day. And remember when simple, silver wheels were in fashion? Yours for £12,990.

The purest slice of sporting BMW ever? Ignoring M Division, it may well be. The E30 3 Series is bona fide classic that’s still – somehow – affordable, the sheer number BMW sold ensuring it’s not yet scarce enough to command head-scratching sums of money. Any of ‘em will look good and go well – but it’s the 171bhp 325i and its six cylinders (the E30 M3 only got four, remember…) that you ought to hunt down.

This 1988 example has covered under 100,000 miles, has a mere handful owners to its name and has recently emerged from a “comprehensive mechanical recommissioning” to command a healthy £18k. Better not go and biff it, then.

The latest interpretation of 3 Series appears to subtly tap into the top-hat silhouette of the old 2002. Intentional, of course; this venerable thing is one of the standout cars from the last time BMW pushed the reset button on its design and engineering philosophy with a ‘Neue Klasse’ rethink.

This gorgeous navy on cream ‘02 is cheaper than the E30 above, too, at just £16,950, albeit with nothing like its rich history file. Feeling it skate deftly around on its skinny tyres ought to reward its buyer’s gumption, though…

Perhaps this is the true, modern interpretation of the 2002 philosophy. The three-box shape is familiar, as are the four cylinders at the front and drive at the rear. With a whisker under 250bhp it should be plenty fast enough, and all without the slightly oafish image that’s arguably tied to the bolshier M235i and M240i models. Not that its former keepers have resisted a few, aftermarket styling tweaks – but its subtle grey colour scheme incorporates those well. Bargain well and it’s yours for £10k.

Prefer your BMW coupe to be longer, more luxurious and with a more substantially sized engine to lie beneath a long, shark-nosed bonnet? We’d not begrudge anyone declaring a 635 CSi as peak Bavarian motor car, and this black example looks divine. “This 635 has a huge service history file, factory-fitted sunroof, and original and unmarked 15-inch ‘Style 5’ cross-spoke light alloy wheels,” we’re promised. Those wheels are exquisitely dished, too.

Its 3.4-litre six-cylinder just about nails BMW’s traditional naming convention (634 wouldn’t have sounded as good, we must admit) and with 220bhp it should keep pace with modern traffic nicely. It looks like a true superstar at a fiver under twenty grand.

For those with loftier ambitions, a 7er is surely peak BMW. Whichever of its seven generations we’re talking, it’s a tech pioneer whose knowhow was quickly sprinkled down to lower-rung models.

The best looking of the lot is this third-gen E38, a car with just enough James Bond fame to feel cool without being clichéd. You won’t be able to manoeuvre it around on your phone screen (a 007 gadget that’s actually become real…) but it’ll do just about anything else you ask of it. Not least with a stonking 4.4-litre V8 up front. Yours for a weeny £7,500.