RE: PH Heroes: BMW E28 M5

RE: PH Heroes: BMW E28 M5

Monday 19th July 2010

PH Heroes: BMW E28 M5

David Vivian looks back to one of BMW's greatest hits



The Nordschleife: 40 right-handers, 33 left-handers and one very, very long learning curve. Rather depressingly, given the length of time I've been doing this job, I've somehow managed to avoid racking up a manly number of close encounters with the legendary 12.9-mile circuit that winds its way through the forested Eifel valleys 90km southwest of Cologne and Jackie Stewart once encouragingly described as The Green Hell.


Until a few months ago, my tally of laps was a desperately pathetic two, posted way back in the early '90s. Then, last October, I was lucky enough to be invited to the BMW M5's 25th birthday bash. Based at the M division's long-established Nurburgring test centre a five-minute walk from the Nordschleife's pit lane, the idea was we'd get to fire pristine examples of all four M5 generations down the throat of The Green Hell.

An illuminating exercise it was, too. I got to spin-up my 'Ring track time by 200 per cent and made one interesting, but perhaps not altogether surprising, discovery. The best M5 for extracting maximum value from a far-from-mastered Nordschleife - and by that I don't mean the fastest and most accomplished but the most intriguing, absorbing, rewarding, playful and plain addictive - wasn't the 500bhp V10 E60 or the 400bhp V8 E39. It was the 286bhp 6-cylinder E28. The original M5.


As the E60 and screaming V10 power exit stage left to make way for the new twin-turbo V8 M5 in a few months' time, it seems only right to revisit the car that started it all back in 1984. And the first thing that strikes you as you walk up to it is how old and simple its design is. There was a complete step change in the way cars looked between the boxy, angular E28 and the softer, more rounded forms of the E34 5 series that followed it four years later. Which isn't to say the older way of doing things wasn't better.

Just look at that low waistline and the slim pillars. Step inside and, quite apart from the brilliant 360-degree visibility, the glassy cabin feels light, airy and voluminous in a way that more modern saloons hardly ever do. There's a startling clarity and absence of clutter to the design of the cabin as well. Maybe it's a little austere but it's also superbly practical, and the instrumentation - anchored by a huge and effortlessly readable speedo and rev counter - has yet to be equalled in a Five. The simple, intuitive switchgear is similarly satisfying to use.


Less impressive are the lofty driving position and stiff, sharply bolstered seats which, along with the thin steering wheel rim and mushroom-shaped gearknob, are rather more forceful reminders that this beautifully preserved, almost as-new, example is actually a quarter of a century old. The amount and quality of engine noise that enters the cabin is another giveaway. You sense that soundproofing wasn't top of the priority list when they made this one. The tappety clicks of the twin-cam valvetrain and whining cogs of the five-speed transmission are audible components in the soundtrack. But oh my, what a motor.

Derived from a racing engine designed by Paul Rosche intended specifically for the Motorsport division's first road car - the brilliant, Giugiaro-styled, mid-engined M1 - the 3.5-litre, 24-valve M88 straight-six got its first 'post-M1' try out in the M635 CSi. BMW Motorsport's CEO at the time, Jochen Neerspasch, reckoned the combination of coupe body and mighty engine would give Porsche's 911 Carrera a hard time. It did.


Meanwhile, the E28 5-series was being groomed for a similar insertion of supercar pace with the 'warm-up act' M535i - essentially a 535i with fancy wheels and modest spoilers and 'M Technik' branding - though getting the BMW board to agree to the marriage of the sober, sensible 5-series executive saloon and the mad, savage M1 engine proved trickier. The green light was eventually granted, but only on the strict understanding that the whole project was kept on the down-low.

Which is why the fastest and most powerful car on BMW's 1984 Amsterdam show stand was also the stealthiest. The cognoscenti clocked the lattice-pattern alloy wheels, the front splitter and the discreet 'M' badges. But there were no fanfares, no ballyhoo, no thrusting marketing campaign. The first M5 slipped into the world through the side door, just the way BMW wanted it. But this understated saloon had supercar-rivalling performance: 0-60mph in six seconds and a 151mph top speed.


All right, that's not so hot by today's supercar standards (you need an E60 M5 for that), but here on the Nordschleife it feels fast enough. The razor-sharp throttle response - achieved by having a separate throttle butterfly for each cylinder - hasn't been surpassed by any subsequent M5 and gives the car an eager, alert edge that urges you to press on. In that respect it seems very modern. But almost immediately you're reminded that it isn't.

The gearchange has a positive enough action but requires slow, deliberate handling. Then there's the body roll and comparatively modest grip. The 16-inch rims with their tall tyres, combined with soft suspension, give the chassis a distinctly unhurried, almost languid, demeanour. Everything feels cushioned, linear and progressive - almost as if you're forever 'taking up the slack' but in a very precise, measured way. Far from being a damper on enjoyment, it just seems to give you more thinking time.


Later in the day I'll drive the E60 M5 and that will seem almost supernaturally enabled by comparison, carrying tens more mph into bends and seemingly able to put down nearly all of its 500 bhp way before it would be wise unbridle the E28's 286. Yet in the E28 I feel much more intimately involved in the action. Yes, the limits are lower, but the rewards are that much more accessible and exploitable. All right, when it goes sideways - and if you're having fun on the Nordschleife it most certainly will - big armfuls of correction are needed. But it all happens so benignly and progressively it just puts a big grin on your face. Ease the pace a tad and you can balance it nicely on the throttle in a neutral attitude, just within the tyres' limits.

That the next M5 will be a hugely impressive machine, I have no doubt. But it won't offer the root-level rewards of the first one, a PH hero through and through.

   
   
   
   






Author
Discussion

007singh

Original Poster:

268 posts

167 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Great Classic - would love one!

LHD

17,000 posts

186 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Great article.

More of the Viv please.

Elskeggso

3,100 posts

186 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Looks great in red IMO. I love the look of the E28, there's one near my house in DIRE need of a clean up.

pSyCoSiS

3,581 posts

204 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Icon.

My mate has a Diamond black E28 M5 - number 50 of 187 I think. What a machine. Very quick for it's time, and still keeps with / destroys modern metal.

Looks so menacing too!

Great Pretender

26,140 posts

213 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
clap

Chris71

21,535 posts

241 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
LHD said:
Great article.

More of the Viv please.
+1

belleair302

6,835 posts

206 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Great to drive, ownderful to own...a car with a soul which in todays BMW line up is hard to find. A true 5* hero.

Huntsman

8,026 posts

249 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
My E28 is a lowly 520i, but its the best car I've owned. I love em to bits.


Matt UK

17,649 posts

199 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
LHD said:
Great article.

More of the Viv please.
Agree with both smile

OllieWinchester

5,645 posts

191 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
I had a brief dalliance with a nice manual E28 528i, and it was awesome fun. I'd definately have a mint E28 M5 in my lottery win garage.

Luca Brasi

885 posts

173 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Very nice and rare car. Lovely pictures too.

Andysywv

40 posts

164 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
I was lucky enough to buy a 'D' reg Diamond Black one of these fine machines in 1988, very few people knew what exactly it was, and often confused it with the lesser M535i - until the bonnet was lifted! smile, three years of brilliant motoring only came to an end as I was forced to sell frown. I've owned other M cars since but this is the one my friends all refer back to even to this day. Strong enough memories to produce my first post here !

Riggers

1,859 posts

177 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
olly22n said:
Any chance of a hi res of the top picture?

Pretty pretty please? smile
We shall have to see what the 'POTW fairy' brings this Friday...

Mermaid

21,492 posts

170 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
The one M5 that, I suspect, would not be a money-pit. But have bucket loads of charisma.

and Oh, it's quick too. biggrin

adycav

7,615 posts

216 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Matt UK said:
LHD said:
Great article.

More of the Viv please.
Agree with both smile
Er, thirded!

Justayellowbadge

37,057 posts

241 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
LHD said:
Great article.

More of the Viv please.
Agreed.

O/T, Mr V - your piece on the 8.32 in EVO's Mad Engined cars issue years ago had a significant contributory effect on my buying mine.

Always meant to thank you for that.

E21_Ross

34,941 posts

211 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
cracking review of a cracking bimmer. well done.

Debaser

5,665 posts

260 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
The E28 M5 is such a sweet car to drive fast. I drove one several years ago and it was really well balanced but I couldn't resist the urge to cock about. Well into three-figure speeds it was just so easy to go sideways and hold it for as long as you liked.

Brilliant fun!

Edited by Debaser on Monday 19th July 13:13

havoc

29,918 posts

234 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
A DV article that I agree with 100%...what's going on?!? wink


More seriously - agree with the sentiment completely, however I'd suggest (rather ironically) that the Norschleife, or rather the obsession car manufacturers have with lap-times there, that is one of the main causes of cars having more-and-more-and-more grip/composure and as a consequence are less-fun and less-involving.

Mermaid

21,492 posts

170 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
havoc said:
A DV article that I agree with 100%...what's going on?!? wink


More seriously - agree with the sentiment completely, however I'd suggest (rather ironically) that the Norschleife, or rather the obsession car manufacturers have with lap-times there, that is one of the main causes of cars having more-and-more-and-more grip/composure and as a consequence are less-fun and less-involving.
And yet we still have some of this.biggrin

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=bVRlfRloJ0s&feat...

Cars are less comfortable for sure. Less fun & less involving is as much to do with electronics, wide tyres etc. The E28 M5 was about right, with brakes that were good but not that good, and entertaining handling in the rain.