I leased a 1997 BMW M3 for three years. Without a doubt, this is the finest automobile I have owned to date.

The quality of the fit and finish of this vehicle was superb, save for slightly mis-aligned rubber interior window trim, however I easily corrected that myself. In addition, the glove-box door gap was just a tad uneven. Otherwise, I could find no quality flaws with the car.

My M3 was black, with black leather interior. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful combination....when it's clean. Keeping a black car clean is something you have to stay with. It also had black carpet, so it's continual cleaning maintenance. I think in the future I will try to stay away from a black car, although I love the look so much that I would probably risk a good chance of acquiring one regardless! The black paint did hold up very well over the three years, in fact, it looked showroom new when I, with great reluctance and sadness, returned it to BMW.

The interior accommodations are the primary reason for my review title including the words "basic luxury". There are few creature comforts in this car, keeping in mind that these comforts should not be a person's primary reason for purchasing it. The primary reason should be for performance....more on that later.

The car has no tilt or telescoping steering available. The seats are very supportive, and can adjust many different ways, but are not power. My leather seats were also heated, which is an excellent feature, and they heat very well.The windows are power, however, as is the sunroof. There is one nice feature whereby when you exit the car you can shut all the windows and sunroof and lock the car all at once by holding the key in the lock position in the door momentarily. There is no remote, keyless entry, however. There is no automatic dimming rear-view mirror, although the side mirrors are heated.

The A/C works very well except perhaps on the hottest days, however the black car color may have contributed to this somewhat. I found that the dual driver / passenger temperature control didn't make much difference, and 90% of the time both sides were set equally. The standard stereo system sound quality is excellent. I also had the 6 disc CD changer, located in the trunk. I found the trunk location to be inconvenient, and in the future would not prefer that setup, however this is the only way to get in it the car.

This car has the worst cup holders in the industry that I have seen. I found very few sizes or shapes of cups or bottles that would actually stay in place. Keeping in mind that performance, not luxury, is the reason for owning this car I believe if cup holders are going to be provided that they should work properly. Storage space in the car is adequate for its size, with door bins, and a very useful trunk, however there is no center console bin or standard armrest. Rear seat legroom is not good unless driver and passenger are, say, 5'-7" or less in height.

As for everything else about the car....its perfect! By this I mean the performance....handling, acceleration and the overall quality of the driving experience. Mine had the 5-speed (an automatic was optional). The instrumentation was all very legible and all controls fall close to hand. The shifting action of the 5-speed is excellent and extremely precise. The acceleration is very brisk. I once clocked a 14.3 second quarter mile time in the car, at 99.5 mph, and that was while spinning the tires thru first gear and partially in second. I also autocrossed the car once, and came in second in class out of 8 cars, including other M3's, running on the stock tires. I was amazed by the performance...I don't know how else to state this.

The engine is this vehicle is so smooth its simply amazing, and the sound of it winding through the gears is mechanical music! I had no quality problems with the car whatsoever during the three years I had it, except for one minor recall to adjust something on the cruise control. I put only 28,000 miles on the car, however. I should point out that at this point the original rear tires (Michelin Pilots) were just in need of replacement, so potential owners should be aware to expect this type of mileage when using these tires.

In summary, the BMW M3 is a wonderful, beautifully performing automobile. While not high on creature comforts, it more than makes up for this with its extremely high performance and quality craftsmanship. This is not a car for the person looking for Lexus luxury; if thats what you need go elsewhere. If you want to look good and move swiftly, go with the M3.