The go-fast version of the E46-generation 3 Series is seen as some sort of a last hurrah since it stands as the final M3 to be powered by a naturally aspirated inline-six engine. With turbocharging being the norm nowadays, an N/A M3 may never return and, as such, we look back fondly to the E46 M3, the first properly fast M3.

Or do we? Many criticized BMW for fitting this M3 with the SMG-II semi-automatic transmission that was lackluster at low revs and oftentimes sluggish when compared to the manual six-speed transmission. Then there was also the crowd that bought M3s that blended in well with the rest of Bimmer owners that give the Munich-based company a bad rep because of the way they behave in traffic. RCR dives in to give its opinion on whether the E46 M3 was a hero or a villain.

The BMW M3 E46 is the first really fast M3

It was also a time when the automatic was almost always playing second fiddle to the old faithful manual and a time when the dash was still a dash, not just a frame for touchscreen displays.

The RCR video on the fourth-gen M3 revolves a lot on Mr. Regular's own idea that people are already beginning to view the noughties with rose-tinted glasses, something he calls 'oughtstalgia'. It really is a brand-new term, proof of it being that Google returns no relevant results when you throw oughtstalgia into its computerized face and text editors underline it automatically with a thick, red line. But oughtstalgia isn't new per se.

As Mr. Regular details, every generation longs for the days of its youth and believes that certain period in time was the best, in spite of whatever was completely and utterly wrong in the world at the moment. It's the same, he says, with a baby boomer looking back fondly to the '60s and '70s. Similarly, millennials enjoy talking at length about the 'simpler times' of the '00s before social media was king and when phones still had actual buttons - that is, until the iPhone was launched in 2007. But we digress.

Many pundits have argued before that cars from the late '90s and early-to-mid-'00s are the greatest cars ever made because they offer the best of both worlds: on the one hand, you have performance aplenty combined with satisfying levels of comfort and reliability and, on the other, you've got something that's still analog enough to feature buttons, knobs, and to not work via voice control. These cars don't have huge screens hovering over the center console and their GPS systems are dodgy at best and that's what makes them great. They aren't the robotized, self-driving wonders of 2020 but they also aren't the barely functional lumps of trouble from the '70s or '80s.

The blue E46 M3 that RCR got to experience is a perfect case in point. On the one hand, you've got that brilliant 3.2-liter S54 inline-six in front of you developing 338 naturally breathing horsepower and on the other, you've got BMW's then-futuristic SMG II transmission.

This transmission, based on the Getrag 420G six-speed manual also available on the car, differs from the manual in that it features an electrohydraulically-actuated clutch. You select gears either via the paddles behind the wheel or by moving the gear lever back and forth.

Semi-automatic transmissions weren't an all-out novelty in 2001 when the SMG-II transmission was introduced but the technology was still in its early days. Pioneered by Ferrari in the late '90s, the gearbox that you could shift through without using the shifter has gone a long way since debuting in the 355 F1 and, nowadays, it's the preferred option over the comparatively slow manual.

Sure, 'oughtstalgia' has nothing to do with the way people perceive BMW drivers although probably this reputation was also, in part, secured by folks driving E46 M3s in a less-than-chivalrous way. But, hey, this car is a bit of a hooligan and, with almost 270 pound-feet of torque, it can't help but want to light the rear tires - not to mention that the tail loves to hang out on corner exit. Modern M3s enjoy sliding too but maybe not as easily because of all of the nanny state safety features meant to keep you away from ditches and poles. The E46 is also equipped with some but they're a lot less clever. Is that a good thing or is it bad? That's something for you to decide.