There’s only one thing more formidable than Porsche’s well-practised marketing machine, and that’s the passionate advocates who have spent decades telling anyone who’ll listen that nothing comes close to a Porsche from the company’s GT department.

They’re wrong, of course. But you try telling that to a small army of mostly men who love nothing more than a branded anorak and a matching pair of racing boots, spending their nights dreaming they’re Michael Delaney charging down the Mulsanne straight at the wheel of a Porsche 917K.

Porsche people like nothing more than getting into the nitty-gritty of different trims and models. They can recite production numbers in their sleep and can tell you with complete confidence which particular 911 on which particular day left the Zuffenhausen production line wearing different-coloured dust caps on its tyre valves.

Yet for all the talk, in recent times Porsche hasn’t made a car nearly so rare as the BMW M3 GTS. This was an outright competitor to the 911 GT3 RS – but far rarer. Just 150 were built in total, with a mere 10 officially sold to UK buyers.

As you can imagine, despite its Tango orange paint, it’s a rare sight in the classifieds and online auctions, let alone on the open road. But in our view, that makes it all the more desirable. The fact it’s also something special to drive only adds weight to the argument that the M3 GTS is a car for anyone looking for a less-than-obvious car that brings trackday entertainment and investment potential to the table.

The birth of the M3 GTS

When the engineers at BMW’s M division – the high-performance arm responsible for both road cars and motorsport models in Garching, outside Munich – were given the mandate to build the GTS, they were effectively let off the leash. Their target was clear: build a car to take on Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS.

To achieve this, the M division pared the standard E92 M3 coupé back to its absolute bare essentials. Out went the rear seats, the radio, and the climate control. Glass rear windows were replaced with lightweight plastic, and a pair of race seats designed for drivers of Lewis Hamilton proportions were bolted into the front.

In addition to the weight savings, BMW fitted a safety roll cage (for those unexpected Mark Webber moments), upgraded brakes, and adjustable front and rear wings lifted directly from the all-conquering BMW 320si World Touring Car. There was even a fire extinguisher mounted in the cabin – a telling addition for a car built to cause a sweat on track. Finished exclusively in lurid Fire Orange paint with a titanium exhaust system, put some numbers on the side and you could roll into a track day at Brands Hatch without looking the slightest bit out of place.

The GTS driving experience

Under the bonnet, the standard M3’s high-revving V8 is shrouded in plastic painted in yet more lurid orange, and enlarged to 4.4 litres. At a thrilling 8300rpm it sends all 444bhp (a 29bhp increase) to the rear wheels via ultra-sticky Pirelli rubber and a lightning-fast dual-clutch transmission.

Losing equipment made the GTS 70kg lighter than a standard M3 coupé. While that might not sound transformative on paper, combined with brakes capable of hauling a freight train down from speed and outstanding suspension control, the GTS could lap Germany’s 13-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife in under 7 minutes and 48 seconds – 20 seconds faster than the standard car.

On track, the GTS delivers an intense, concentrated hit of driving energy. I was fortunate enough to throw one around Ascari Race Resort, which is where BMW held the international driving launch for media. The wild soundtrack from its titanium exhaust was accompanied by detailed feedback through fingertips, backside, and ears. It is the kind of car – as you’d hope – that actively encourages the driver to switch off the nannying electronic safety aids and push beyond the limit of adhesion.

At the limit, the GTS displays impressive chassis precision. It allows you to let the tail drift comfortably from a corner’s apex right to its exit, even at three-figure speeds. While Porsche fans will argue that a 911 GT3 RS offers superior traction and a more technically demanding driving experience, trying to hold those same slide angles in an RS risks a very substantial insurance claim. If you love powerful, front-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars, the M3 GTS is up there with the best of them, and would be a satisfying thing to master.

Tracking the values of the BMW M3 GTS

When it launched in 2010, the M3 GTS carried a headline price tag of over £100,000, or roughly double the cost of a standard M3 coupé at the time (£53,275). Many questioned whether an M3 could justify six-figure territory, but with all 10 UK-bound right-hand-drive examples sold instantly, demand was never in doubt.

Today, its ultra-limited global production run of 150 units and that tiny UK footprint guarantees its status as a blue-chip M division collector car. Market data reflects this elite standing. The Classic Valuer records an auction record of around £235,000, in October 2025, which was chassis #001, sold by RM Sotheby’s. The median is hovering in the £150,000 to £160,000 range at the moment, but given their rarity and how infrequently they come up for sale, we wouldn’t be surprised to see that comfortably exceeded the next time one comes to market.

The car’s standing in the market compares favourably with contemporary models from Ferrari and Porsche. A 997-generation 911 GT3 RS is now trending above £300,000, according to The Classic Valuer, while the Ferrari 430 Scuderia is sailing past £500,000. The M3 GTS has space to catch up and rarity on its side.
For collectors looking for a track-bred homologation-style hero that routinely outperforms GT3s on modern classic index rankings, the M3 GTS remains one of BMW's most compelling – and, we predict, financially resilient – creations.