BMW M1 review: the car that started M, and a museum piece in Bahrain today
3.7/5MotorsSouq Editorial Team
The M1 matters historically more than it matters as transport: it is the reason the M badge exists, and driving one is a genuine event thanks to a mid-engine layout and a howling naturally aspirated six that modern M cars have moved away from. In Bahrain it is essentially a private-collection car — treat any sale as an authenticated, specialist-inspected transaction, not a used-car deal, and budget accordingly for parts and expertise that do not exist on the island.
Pros
- The car that created the M badge, with genuine motorsport homologation history
- Naturally aspirated M88 straight-six with a mechanical character no modern M engine matches
- Unique mid-engine balance in BMW's road-car history
- Values have risen consistently, making it an appreciating collector asset
Cons
- No service or parts network in Bahrain; everything routes through specialists abroad
- Extremely rare — buying one is a global search, not a local classifieds browse
- Values in the seven figures put it out of reach for anyone but serious collectors
- Cabin, ergonomics and safety equipment are entirely of their late-1970s era
Before the M5, before the M3, there was the M1: a mid-engine coupe built to homologate BMW Motorsport for Group 4 and 5 racing, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro's Ital Design and assembled in a process that ran through Baur and Lamborghini before BMW finished production itself. Fewer than 500 were built, and most owners today keep them in climate-controlled storage rather than on the road.
Why it still matters
The 3.5-litre M88 straight-six is the direct ancestor of the engine that powered the original E28 M5, and it revs with a mechanical honesty that no turbocharged M engine has replicated since. The mid-engine balance, unique in BMW's entire history until recent hybrid hypercars, gives it a chassis feel closer to a contemporary Ferrari 308 than to any other BMW road car.
The reality of owning one in Bahrain
There is no BMW M1 support network here. Any car on the island arrived through private import and lives at the mercy of specialist workshops abroad for anything beyond basic maintenance. Values have climbed into seven figures internationally for well-documented examples, which changes the conversation entirely: this is an appreciating asset stored in a garage, driven occasionally on cool winter evenings, not a car bought to solve a transport problem.