As it tumbled down into Castellane, feeling almost weightless, sweeping through turns in its great, almost elastic sweet-spot, the relatively humble BMW M3 jumped right to the top of my list.

I found a Laguna Seca Blue E46 BMW M3 abandoned on the side of a race track last year. I bought it and decided to restore it, working through all the common problems and some not so common problems.

If you're looking for a BMW 2-Series you will definitely want to know all about every aspect of the car – and Parkers has all the spec details you need to know how it will fit into your life. Check ...