The used BMW market prices cars by badge, and badges are a terrible way to find value. Here are six that the market is still getting wrong.

1. E46 330i ZHP

The performance package car, and one of the great non-M BMWs. Sharper steering rack, revised suspension, a modest bump from the M54, better seats and a shorter shifter. It drives noticeably closer to an M3 than the price gap suggests.

The market treats it as a nice 330i. It is not. Verified ZHP cars with the correct option code have started climbing, but the gap between them and an M3 is still bigger than the driving gap. Check the build sheet, because plenty of sellers claim ZHP based on a badge and a steering wheel.

Buy it knowing the subframe reinforcement conversation applies here too, along with the full cooling system refresh.

2. E39 540i with the six-speed

The M5 is the famous one and it is priced accordingly. The 540i manual is the same chassis, the same brilliant hydraulic steering, a 4.4-liter V8 with plenty of torque, and a fraction of the maintenance anxiety.

Factory manual 540is were never common and are getting harder to find, but they remain enormously cheaper than an S62 car. You lose the top end and the M5's specific ferocity. You keep the thing that made the E39 great, which was always the chassis.

Watch for cooling system neglect, the usual V8 gasket weeping, and rust in the rear arches.

3. Any E9x or E6x touring

The wagons have always been worth more than the market says and they are still not expensive. An E91 328i is a practical, good-looking, rear-drive wagon with an N52 that is one of the more reliable modern BMW sixes. The E61 535i touring is faster and considerably more complicated.

The catch is transmission choice. Factory manual wagons are rare to nonexistent depending on your market, which is exactly why the swap community exists. Price the swap in before you buy if three pedals matter to you.

4. E82 128i

Sitting in the shadow of the 135i and unfairly so. The N52 is the last of BMW's naturally aspirated sixes in a small chassis, it is smooth, it revs, and it does not have a high pressure fuel pump waiting to ruin your week.

It is not fast. It is light, balanced and enormously satisfying on a back road, and it is one of the very few modern BMWs you can buy without budgeting for turbo-related repairs. As a first rear-drive car it is close to ideal.

5. E36 328i and the 323i

Everyone wants the E36 M3 and nobody wants the six-cylinder that shares most of its chassis. The M52 is a good engine, the car is light by any modern standard, and there are more than enough of them left.

It is also a superb platform because parts are cheap and abundant, the aftermarket is enormous, and you will not feel bad modifying one. Check for rust at the rear shock mounts and jack points, and expect every cooling component to need replacing.

6. E60 545i and 550i manuals

This is the risky one on the list and it belongs here anyway. A V8, a six-speed, and a body style that split opinion so badly the market never recovered. They are cheap because the electronics are complex and the running costs are real.

They are also enormous value if you go in with your eyes open. Do not buy the cheap one. Buy the one owned by someone who understood what they had.

Alpina, and the pattern underneath all of this

Alpina deserves a mention even though almost nobody reading this will buy one. Alpina is a registered manufacturer, not a tuner, and their cars take the opposite approach to M: torque, refinement and long-distance pace instead of redline. B7s and B10s are cheap relative to what they were, for reasons that will become obvious the first time you price a part.

Which points at the pattern, and the pattern is consistent. The market pays for badges and body styles, and it undervalues chassis, transmission and condition, which are the three things that actually determine whether you enjoy the car.

Every one of these becomes a bad buy if you pick a neglected example. Every one of them is a genuine bargain if you find the one with a folder full of receipts and a seller who is sad to see it go.