If you want to buy an E30 BMW M3, you’re going to spend a pretty penny. They’ve sky-rocketed in value over the past year or so, with some fetching almost six-figure price tags. Which is insane. I love the E30 M3 but it isn’t worth $100k. However, despite the E30 M3 being far overpriced, it looks like a bargain in comparison to this 1974 BMW 2002 Turbo on Bring-A-Trailer.

The BMW 2002 Turbo is one of the most iconic Bavarian cars of all time. In fact, it’s one of the most iconic cars in the history of the automobile. Not only was it the first-ever European turbocharged production car but it laid the groundwork for high-performance small sedans moving forward. It was, and still is, a legend.

Powered by BMW’s iconic M10 engine, with a K.K.K. (no relation to the monstrous white supremacist group) turbocharger, the BMW 2002 Turbo made 170 hp and sported a five-speed manual. Those were pretty impressive specs for the time and the 2002 Turbo was a monster on both the track and the road.

The best part about the Turbo? The fact that it had “2002 Turbo” written backwards on the lower front lip, so as you approached a car your were about to overtake in your 2002 Turbo, they’d know exactly what was passing them and why. That’s just awesome.

This specific car seems to be in very good shape and was completely restored, over a two-year process, with a rebuilt engine and transmission. The entire process was document and just the parts cost$29,527.94. So this is not going to be cheap.

Then you consider the fact that the 2002 Turbo is one of the rarer cars BMW ever made. There were only 1,672 cars built, making its value even greater. Though, it’s still surprising to see its current bid price (at the time of writing this, it’s likely to go up by the day) of $87,000. That’s more than a brand-new BMW M4 Competition Package for a car with 170 hp.

That sounds like a lot of money, even for a 2002 Turbo. For that money, it makes the E30 BMW M3 look like a value, because it can be had for less than this 2002 Turbo, has a better motorsport pedigree and it drives better. So if you want a classic, small, sporty BMW and are willing to spend big bucks, the E30 M3 is probably the better deal. But the 2002 Turbo looks so cool and is incredibly iconic. So it’s hard to choose.

[Source: Bring-A-Trailer]