Section: E28 5 Series
Sep 9th, 2011
Great drives in great vintage cars don’t happen that often. Yes, the automotive press is full of impossibly cool scenarios with vintage cars and some famous mountain road. The truth is we’re usually dropped in a handpicked location and given the keys to BMW’s newest and best thing. Whatever that thing is, it’s usually incredibly capable and enjoyable. Sometimes we just want to get into a car that doesn’t indicate future thinking or the latest Efficient Dynamics. Sometimes we want the raw emotional appeal of something classic in our hands and under our foot.
So when we heard that BMW was going to be bringing some vintage metal along with 8 new Z4s up Highway 1 from LA to Monterey, we immediately started to do some digging. What cars would they bring? Would they actually let us drive them like they were meant to be (i.e. in anger)? Lastly, how in the world could we fight off our colleagues from other publications (Dan Neil is a surprisingly big guy) for a chance at whatever showed up?
Then we got the list and immediately one stood out. It was BMWNA’s pristine E28 M5 plucked from the museum floor in Spartanburg. With just over 13,000 miles, this could be the best example of the breed in the world. So a plan was hatched; awkwardly speed-walk to the M5 when our morning presentation on the Z4 ended. If all goes right we’d be rounding the corner to our pick of some glistening Bavarian metal.
Moments later, I slipped into the Recaro buckets and took a deep breath; mission accomplished. Yes, that is the satisfying smell of vintage 1980′s German leather warming up in the California sun.
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Aug 11th, 2011
EndrasBMW has gotten the inside story on a long abandoned BMW dealership in small town Canada. And long with it an erie set of photos. After much research by EndrasBMW and some dedicated people at Maxbimmer the mystery has been reportedly solved:
The story goes as follows. In 1988 the dealer, located on Royal Windsor Drive and operating under the name “Citation Motors”, had his license revoked for unknown reasons. They then moved to Toronto under the name “Downtown BMW” which in 2002 closed up shop.
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Jun 18th, 2011
What you see above could almost be called revelation. M’s latest M5 is getting back to basics with an almost fully exposed engine under it’s hood. And while it’s not the entire engine, BMW is showing off a good percentage of the M5′s mill for the first time since the E34 M5. In fact it’s been 15 years since we’ve been able to actually see any details of the M5′s engine at all. But why is this?
BMW has a history of shrouding some of the best engines in the world with copious amounts of black meaningless plastic. Whether it’s in the name of design, marketing or simply sound-proofing we here at BF have long disapproved. And there’s no better example of this than the last two generations of the M5.
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Nov 22nd, 2010
The naturally aspirated gasoline engine is dead. As dead as 15″ wheels and roll-up windows. A generation from now no one under 25 years old will even know the experience of winding up a BMW inline six without a turbo sucking exhaust gasses out of it.
The need for efficiency and ever increasing performance have dictated a sea-change that will alter what we’ve known BMW’s to be forever. Consider the following the fact: the E9X M3 will be the last naturally aspirated M product. Or (even more shocking) that the current 128i, 328i and X3 28i are the last naturally aspirated BMW products to be sold in the US. Once those three models are gone it’s all turbos for as far as the eye can see.
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Oct 8th, 2010
Our friends over at Autoblog were part of a small faction of the media that had the honor of driving a pristine example of the original ///M5. If you are a fan of classic BMWs or stand by the belief that the feel of the drive is something only 20 year old BMWs have you should definitely click the above link and read the review in its entirety. We are a bit partial to the E28 here at BF and hold it on a pedestal of sorts, so the reviewers opinion came no surprise to us.
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Sep 17th, 2010
GQ columnist (and one of this authors favorite authors) Jamie Kitman recently wrote a piece on what he has termed the ‘slow-car movement’. It’s an idea that takes some of the principles of the slow food movement and translates them into what many of us have been doing for years; driving our asses off in well worn (barely) vintage cars. It’s a simple concept and one I can articulate very well within my own garage.
Compare my ’88 535is to the new 535i for instance. Even with a manual and sports package the modern 5er doesn’t stand a chance in getting my attention if I want to actually drive. But if I simply want to be transported in effortless style with technology catering to my every whim I’d choose the 2011 5 Series. The difference comes down to involvement in the car and in the process of driving. There is little question that the new 5 Series is faster in every way imaginable. It’s safer, it stops better (way better) and will carry four in a level of comfort not even imagined in 1988. It is a better car in all the modern ways of measuring success.
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Aug 20th, 2010
If you’ve been reading BimmerFile for awhile you probably know that we have a soft spot for the E28. Specifically the 535is (which your author currently owns) and of course the M5. What made the E28 such a great driving car was amplified in the hand-built M5 of the period. With a modified inline six straight from the M1, the E28 M5 was the blueprint for all other fast four door executive saloons that followed.
There are many that argue there has never been a greater M5 than the first. While number have gone up in terms of power and down in terms of 0-60 times, the E28 M5 has a purity that has never and will never be matched.
Insideline had a chance to drive one of BMW’s museum cars while at the Monterey historics (apparently you’ve got to drag something out of storage from time to time) and has an interesting look at the car through the eyes of a modern day automotive writer. Here’s an excerpt:
The first thing that strikes is the light effort of all the major controls. The steering is light. The clutch takeup is light. The shifter for the five-speed manual transmission is light moving through the gates. The whole car feels light (and small) around us. Also, the seating position is high and bolt-upright in an old-fashioned way and we can easily see out around the skinny pillars and across the flat hood. Ah, sweet visibility.
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Apr 13th, 2010
The 5 Series has sold 5.5 million units. Seems time to celebrate. So with that said BMW has rolled out some of our favorite 5er photos from the years and presented them with a thorough run through of the 5 Series history. (Full gallery after the jump)
Official Release: Sales of the BMW 5 Series already amount to more than 5.5 million units in five model generations – and now a new chapter is starting in the highly successful story of the BMW 5 Series Sedan.
While the sixth generation naturally follows the great heritage of its predecessors, its roots go back much further. As early as in the 1960s, BMW developed a strong and distinctive profile as a manufacturer of sporting but elegant, powerful and technically innovative midrange four-door sedans. Introducing a four-door notchback body, engines fitted lengthwise at the front, rear-wheel drive and an elaborate suspension, BMW established a classical principle at the time which remains highly attractive and fully endorsed to this very day.
It was at that time that the BMW 1500, the BMW 1800 and the BMW 2000 entered the market as the “New Range”, establishing the most successful model series BMW had ever seen up to that point. The competence in the development and production of saloons demonstrated by BMW with these models gave the Company a worldwide breakthrough as a manufacturer of modern and highly desirable automobiles with very individual characteristics.
Switching from the New Range to the BMW 5 Series in 1972, BMW introduced not only new nomenclature, but also a new era in design.
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