The E30 BMW 3 Series is a legend among car enthusiasts, and for good reason. It's a beautifully engineered, mechanical German car that wasn't muddied by too many electronics, turbochargers, or a two-ton curb weight. It's renowned for its silky smooth and rev-happy M20 inline-6 engine, its impressive balance between comfort and performance, and its relative simplicity. The E30 often lumped in with other standouts like the Mazda Miata as one of the purest driver's cars of all time, but it lost a 1989 Car and Driver sports sedan comparison test to a Ford Taurus.
Granted, it lost to the ultimate Ford Taurus, the SHO (or Super High-Output) version of Ford's front-wheel-drive family sedan, but the result is shocking nonetheless. The E30 actually placed third in this test, also falling behind another unlikely competitor, the rarely remembered Sterling 827S. How could the E30 BMW 3 Series that has gone down in history as one of the purest driver's cars of all time have lost to a British-flavored version of the Acura Legend and a spiced-up Ford family sedan? They were very different times.
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Sports Sedans Have To Wear Many Hats
As with any good comparison test, virtually all aspects of a car are considered in order to determine which vehicle strikes the most attractive balance, and C/D specifically gives out scores in various objective and subjective categories. This particular crowd of sports sedans had the tall task of providing comfortable and versatile family hauling duties as well as offering drivers solid doses of speed, agile handling, and a bit of luxe to impress the neighbors. The American automotive landscape looked very different in 1989 than it does today, which is shown by the list of competitors.
Vying for the top spot were the Audi 80 Quattro, BMW 325i, Ford Taurus SHO, Nissan Maxima SE, Peugeot 405 Mi16, and Sterling 827S. Peugeot no longer exists in the U.S., Sterling no longer exists at all, Ford no longer produces sedans, and Nissan recently took the Maxima out of its misery. Only Audi and BMW still have competitors in the U.S. sports sedan segment, and the annals of car enthusiast history have only truly welcomed the BMW as a member of the "purest driver's car" set, so who's the real winner here?
The Taurus SHO Was A Revolution
Many factors likely contributed to the Ford Taurus SHO's dominance in this comparison test. It was a brand-new model for 1989, and the American automotive industry hadn't seen anything like it for decades. In fact, when it was first introduced, the only sedans that could beat it in a sprint from 0 to 60 mph were two to three times as expensive. The 1989 Taurus SHO had a base price just under $20,000, and the only two sedans that were quicker were the $51,000 BMW M5 and the $71,000 BMW 750iL, according to Car and Driver. The Taurus SHO's base price of $20,000 in 1989 equates to about $53,000 now, while the M5's price would be about $135,000 now and the 750iL comes to about $189,000.
The SHO's DOHC Yamaha V6 produced 220 horsepower and 200 lb-ft of torque, and it was the quickest and fastest car in the test. With a 6.9-second sprint it beat the second-quickest car, the 325i, to 60 mph by over half a second, and its top speed was 9 mph higher than the BMW at 137 mph. It also produced better roadholding than the Bavarian at 0.3 g, while offering a lower price and significantly larger interior.
The E30 Is Still A Brilliant Car, But It Was Too Small To Compete With America's Big, Bad Taurus
The E30 first reached American BMW showrooms five years prior to this comparison test in 1984, so it had been around a while. Again, as a sports sedan comparison test, a wide array of variables were taken into account, and the E30 lost a lot of ground due to its smaller size than the competitors in this test. The Taurus was over 10 inches longer and six inches wider than the 325i, so it naturally offered a more spacious interior, especially in the rear seats.
Bill Visnic, one of the reviewers, said, "if this were an engine- or gearbox- or drivetrain-only comparo, [the BMW] would win hands down." It received praise for its "magnificent engine," its positive transmission behaviors, and its well-balanced chassis performance. So is the Ford Taurus SHO a better driver's car than the '89 BMW 325i? Gauging by this comparison and automotive history, that is not the case, but it must have been quite a nice feather in Ford's cap to say its Taurus SHO beat out a BMW 325i in a sports sedan comparison test.
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