Forty-five minutes behind the wheel of a 2013 BMW M3 Lime Rock Park Edition was all it took – now I need one in my life. On a road trip from South Carolina to Amelia Island in a handful of modern and classic BMW products, including that awesome Fire Orange M3, I found a new obsession for the E92 and a better appreciation for old-school Bavarian sports cars in general.
Our journey started in Spartanburg, South Carolina, BMW's manufacturing home in the US since 1994, and the former residence of two of the brand's best M products, the Z3 and Z4. These days, that facility churns out some of BMW's sales champs, crossovers ranging from the X3 to the X7. And soon, that same plant will produce the high-horsepower, hybridized XM crossover, which we should see in production form sometime before the end of the year – further adding to the M brand's lineage.
