Well, you probably have an idea of how good every single generation of the 3-series is, especially the E90 gen 3-series, which was the last generation of the 3-series with NA engines and the E90, E92 and the E93 were the only M3s that came with an S65 V8 derived from the E60 M5s S58 V10. But in 2006, an official BMW tuner called Hartge from Merzig, Germany, had replaced the N58 3.0l straight-6 with the M5s S58 5.0L V10 in the body shell of a humble-looking E90 3-series and named it the H50 V10, which made it even more insane than the standard M3 as well as the standard M5 because of its less weight and more power advantage. Hartge’s only produced 10 examples of the H50 globally.
Well, the H50 was not Hartge’s first insane engine swap built because back in 2001, Hartge replaced the S54B32 3.2L straight-6 with an S62 4.9L V8 from the E39 M5 under the hood of the E46 M3 and power gone up from 338hp to 400hp and Hartge named that project H50 V8. But the Hartge H50 V10 was even more potent and insane than the H50 V8 because not only did Hartge fit the E60 M5’s V10 under the E90 3-series hood, but alongside that, they re-engineered the cylinders, fitted new camshafts and remapped the ECU, which resulted in power out of 550hp and 520Nm of peak torque paired with the 7-speed SMG automatic transmission, which was a 50hp gain over the standard E60 M5, by which the H50 V10 managed to achieve 0-100kph in just 4.3 seconds, which was 0.4 seconds quicker than the standard E60 M5 and the H50 V10 weighed 1,670kg, which was 60kg lighter than the E60 M5.
Talking about the exterior of the H50 V10, at first glance, it looks like a standard E90 3-series, but as you come closer, you start to notice some subtle sporty design upgrades that make the H50 look more aggressive than the regular 3-series, like the updated front splitter, wider fender flares, 20″ 10 spoke alloys, specially designed for the H50 by Hartge along with quad exhaust system and a subtle boot lid spoiler. And all the BMW badges are replaced by Hartge badges. Despite all these upgrades, if any non-car guy spots this in the flash, he/she will only see a humble-looking 3-series and won’t be able to recognise the monster underneath that humble body.
From the interior as well, the H50 V10 looks like a standard E90 3-series interior with Hrage touches like the Hartge logo on the steering wheel, carbon fibre on the dashboard, the steering wheel and the centre console, and it gets aluminium paddles to enhance the sportiness of the interior and to enhance the driving experience.
Overall, we can say that the Hartge H50 V10 can be a forever-wet dream of every thoroughbred BMW enthusiast because, by fitting an M5 V10 under the hood of a humble 3-series, Hartge created the perfect recipe for a sleeper car. But sadly, we won’t be able to see more insane builds like the H50 V10 in the future because Hartge announced their liquidation in 2019.
