The BMW M3 performance car is 25 years old. And as a rather excellent birthday present to itself, the company has produced the very fast (and very orange) M3 GTS, a 444bhp Porsche 911 GT3 RS-baiter that Chris Harris drove this week (click here for the review).

It’s certainly not the first ‘special’ M3 though, and the gallery below – click the pictures to enlarge them – reveals some of our favourite M3s from over the years, from the original E30 through the immensely popular E46 variants to the V8-engined E92, which looks particularly nifty in its recent Art Car Le Mans livery.

Video: original BMW E30 M3 takes on current BMW E92 M3

Click here to see the new M3 battle the Mercedes C63 AMG
 
Group test: M3 CSL v Porsche 911 GT3 v Impreza STi Spec C
 
Buying guide: how to bag a good E46 BMW M3 or M3 CSL