Sources & method

The counts by market, generation, paint, gearbox, roof, Competition Package and interior (34,677 cars) comes from one data set. In 2018 a Bimmerpost member downloaded the build sheet for every F80 M3 from BMW's dealer system and tallied them.

The table image carries a BMW M Registry watermark; the poster says the counts come from BMW build sheets, not the Registry. Thread

The year, gearbox, country and special-edition splits come from MDataWorks, a public dashboard built from the same kind of build-sheet data. Its totals match the Bimmerpost counts to the car (34,677), and we note the few spots where the two differ by a handful of cars.

5 versions, with each figure linked to BMW press kits, BMW USA price lists and technical data sheets, fueleconomy.gov and instrumented tests by Car and Driver, MotorTrend and Road & Track. When two sources disagree we show both.

186 sold results from Bring a Trailer and Cars & Bids. We only count cars that sold. Year, version, gearbox, miles and color come from each listing. If a listing doesn't say, we leave it blank.

283 photos of real cars, each from a public listing or post that names the paint. Every photo links back to where it came from. Owners who want a photo removed can ask and we will take it down.

Swatch colors are close matches drawn from BMW configurator chips and photos of real cars. Screens differ, and metallic paint changes with light. Use the photos to judge a color.

Recalls come straight from NHTSA's recall database. Known issues link to the forum threads, shops and parts makers they came from.