If you don’t already know, there’s a large culture in the Porsche enthusiast community that likes to “Safari” old 911s. A Safari Porsche 911 is essentially a jacked-up, off-road-ready 911 with big, meaty tires, a roof box, roof and hood-mounted lights and a killer attitude. Personally, I love Safari Porsches and think that they’re cool. But there aren’t a lot of other cars that get the same “Safari” treatment. Would you ever consider a Safari BMW?
To be honest, there’s good reason that people make Safari 911s. Their rear-engine layouts, combined with air-cooled engines and near bulletproof reliability make old 911s perfect for rugged, rally, off-road type sports cars. But a BMW, with its front-engine, rear-drive layout? I don’t know. Could be fun.
We’ve seen a ton of rally-spec BMWs before, so it’s certainly possible to have fun in an old Bimmer when the roads turn to dirt, mud and snow. But making a true Safari BMW might be a bit different and I’ve never actually seen one. So it might be a bit interesting to try and come up with an idea for one.
For starters, I nominate the E30 BMW 3 Series Coupe. It’s lightweight, small, rugged and dependable. It’s also typically the choice for rally-spec BMWs. Make it a BMW 325is, too, so it get sthe big straight-six up front and a limited-slip differential out back. Then jack it up on some adjustable coilovers, stick some big knobby tires on it and fit a cool roof box with some lights. That sounds like a pretty fun little experiment.
I could have gone with the 325ix, due to its all-wheel drive system. But what fun is that? Rear-wheel drive means many more skids and that seems fun. Plus, most, if not all, Safari 911s are rear-drive (though, the do have the benefit of rear-engine/rear-drive grip).
So what do you think? Would a Safari BMW be any fun and if you think so, which Bimmer would you use to make one?
