PAU, France (CNN) -- Take a pen, start with the nib at the bottom left corner of the page. Gently drag the pen diagonally from bottom left to top right and you have a quick and easy graphic representation of the price differential between the standard BMW 3-series and its habañero cousin the M3 coupe over the last four generations (and 20 years). Quad exhaust pipes and M-badging distinguish the M3 from standard 3-series coupes The car in my hands is, supposedly, a 3-series. You know the 3-series. You may well own one. You almost certainly know someone who owns one. It is the ubiquity of the 3-series that has seen BMW become a more mainstream player (without making an obvious lurch down-market) while the mainstream has made an obvious lurch up-market to plug the gap. Ford's new Mondeo couldn't be clearer in its 3-series aspiration.
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Fourth generation BMW M3 coupe
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Power from 420bhp V8 engine
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Target market 31-50 year old males in multi-automobile households
Inside it's typical BMW -- leather seats that adjust to accommodate any driver (including those such as me who are short of body but long of leg) and a chunky leather steering wheel stitched with the cyan, blue and scarlet colors of @placeholder's M division.