The long version

Dealers struggled to move these at launch — a stripped two-door with M3 running gear and none of the M3's back seat practicality was a hard sell during a recession — and the buyers who took the discount then are disproportionately the ones still driving theirs today, having bought it as a car rather than a bet. The generation that arrived once values started climbing skews more toward preservation, wheels wrapped, miles rationed. Both groups agree on the chassis; they just disagree about what it is for now that the badge has become collectible.