BMW is marking the 30th anniversary of the legendary M3 high performance saloon with a limited edition model that is destined to become hot property in more ways than one.

Not only is the BMW M3 30 Jahre Edition the quickest production M3, there's only 30 of them to be sold in the UK.

As such it carries a price tag of £82,675 which is some £23,000 more than the super-boosted M3 Competition Package model on which it is based.

According to BMW, the M3 30 Jahre Edition can sprint from 0 to 60 in four seconds flat - 0.1 of a second quicker than the Competition specification car.

Top speed remains restricted to 155mph and despite the 450bhp output of the 3.0-litre straight six engine and a seven speed DCT transmission, fuel economy is rated officially at 34mpg with emissions of 194g/km.

To mark the exclusivity of the anniversary model the car is fitted with a full set of performance systems including adaptive suspension, an active differential and a remapped multi-mode drive selector.

It also comes with special badging, sits on 20-inch alloys and has additional body kit in the form of a carbon fibre front splitter, mirror caps, rear diffuser and a carbon fibre rear spoiler.

There's also a black finish to the exhaust nacelles and the ‘frozen silver' paint job has an appropriate hue for the M3's pearl anniversary.

The front wing vents, which carry a 30 Jahre logo, have also been redesigned specially for the anniversary car.

The cockpit includes lightweight, skeletal design sports seats, leather upholstery and black/blue stitching in the trim. Completing the high performance image are alcantara finishes for the steering wheel and gear selector.

High tech kit features a head up display, adaptive LED headlights, ceramic brakes and a harman/kardon surround-sound hi-fi.

The first of the 30 Jahre specials will be released in the summer, 30 years after the first M3 was sold following its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1985.