BMW 2002

About the BMW 2002

The BMW 2002 is the car that saved BMW. Before it, BMW was a motorcycle company that also made sedans your father might consider. After it, BMW was a sports car company that happened to have four doors. The 2002 took a compact two-door body, dropped in a fuel-injected four-cylinder, and created the sports sedan template that every 3 Series since has followed. It was light, balanced, and fast enough to embarrass bigger cars on European roads. The tii variant added Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection and 130 hp — modest numbers that translated to genuine speed in a car weighing barely over a tonne. Then came the 2002 Turbo in 1973 — Europe's first turbocharged production car. 170 hp, mirror-image "2002 turbo" script on the front spoiler so cars ahead could read it in their mirrors, and a reputation for boost-induced oversteer that sorted the committed from the casual. The 2002 proved that a small car with a good engine and balanced chassis could be more exciting than a big car with more of everything. BMW has been selling that idea for fifty years since. On Revnut, the community ranks the car that started the Ultimate Driving Machine.