Not sure if this has been discussed, but FWIW, I had an E36 M3, which I ended up prepping for serious track work over the course of a season.
It's a wonderful car to drive, with handling so benign and a motor that is willing to play ball. It's such a great chassis, and has that classic bmw sound to boot.
If you do end up getting one, be prepared (!)
1) The power steering lines will eventually tear from engine movement (they are short, and each time the motor moves around, it yanks on the lines). The lines actually tore on me during a track session and I ended up spinning (as did the person behind me). Not safe until resolved.
2) The car fuel starves at half tank. It will cut out on you mid corner if you don't have enough gas. Bimmerworld sends a dual fuel sender kit to remedy this.
3) Oil pump not needs to be red-loctite on. It can back off if you spin (it's only tightened down to 10lb/ft or something)
4) Rear trailing arm brackets need reinforcement, or they will tear under high load situations
5) oil starvation under braking. Either get a baffle (not perfect), or get the S54 dual pickup and oil pan. Not cheap, but a worthwhile investment. The faster you go, the more this is a problem.
6) Front subframe also needs reinforcement. BW sells a kit to address. It typically fails around the motor mount area.
7) Shock towers can get punched through - rear and front. A front shock tower brace helps spread the load. As for the rear, get the Z4 reinforced mounts.
Not cheap to make an E36 work, but it's an amazing car and quite easy to work on. Though like everyone else says, driver mod is #1. seat time is more important than the car.
If you do get a car, proper prep is everything. As you can tell from the above list, nearly all the items are safety related (and reliability related)...