If you had to pick one car that epitomized the 1980s, you might pick the sharply styled, fun-to-drive, and aspirational BMW E30 3-Series. But you might instead pick the Golf GTI because the ’80s was when hatch fever took hold. Despite arguably inventing the hot hatch genre with the 02 Touring in the 1970s, BMW never did field a direct GTI rival during the Reagan years, but these renders give us an idea of how one might have looked.
This proto-1-series is the work of Abimelec Design, whose work you’ll have seen showcased plenty of times before on this site, and who claims to have taken inspiration from cars as diverse as the original Volkswagen Scirocco and even a Yugo. We can see the VW influence and there’s something of Lancia’s Beta HPE about it, too. Both of those cars were coupes, and the long wheelbase and fastback-style rear end also make this hypothetical E30 GTI look like a liftback, not a hot hatch.
Related: BMW 128ti Tested, Should The FWD Hot Hatch Establishment Worry?
It’s not a handsome car, the wheelbase is too long and the gap between the door and front wheel arch that’s dictated by the E30’s longitudinal engine layout (but seemingly exaggerated here) looks awkward in this case despite appearing in proportion when there’s a conventional trunk out back to balance the original out.
But even if it’s not as handsome as an E30 sedan, it would be a ton more practical, giving hatchback flexibility to those who didn’t want to go down the Touring wagon route, which would mean increasing the door count. And you’d still get the same mechanical package E30 sedan buyers enjoyed, and that hot hatch buyers couldn’t, including rear-wheel drive and an optional six-cylinder engine.
This fantasy 125i is running the 2.5-liter M20 inline six that BMW used in both the E30 3-Series and E28 5-Series during the 1980s, and that means it’s pumping out 168 hp (170 PS) and should be capable of running to 60 mph (97 km/h) in around 7 seconds. That’s more power, performance, and cylinders than any Golf GTi of the period could offer.
We’ve no idea if BMW considered turning the E30 into a hatch, only that it didn’t happen. Or did it? BMW returned to the 2002 Touring idea in the 1990s with the first 3-Series Compact, and although the front half was borrowed from the newer E36 3-Series, the cheaper Compact didn’t get the E36’s multilink Z axle and instead made do with the E30’s less sophisticated semi-trailing arm back end.
This story contains illustrations that are neither related to nor endorsed by BMW.
Image credit: Abimelec Design
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