Wednesday 23rd May 2012

Chris Harris video: the old M5

Chris has got his E28 M5 working - worth a video, surely?

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Well, I promised myself I'd get the old soldier going, and here it is!

What is it about this motor car that I find more compelling by the day? The set-square styling, the sensible dimensions, the noise of that straight-six? All of them I suppose.

It was an ECU problem that stopped it, erm, starting, but Mr Klinkert from Tintern Garages pulled the ancient control box apart, repaired the circuit board where it had dried out, fixed the fuel pump and then it rasped into life. Some drop-link bushes saw it through the MOT.

Driving this 26 year-old car highlights the very best and worst of current fast-car-characteristics. Most of it is plain obvious stuff like grip, braking performance and refinement. But the main subjective difference is the way this car makes you extract the speed on offer; modern performance cars with their vast torque offer so much more on-demand performance. If you want to just bolt past a dawdling car, it just happens. In the M5 you have to anticipate.

Once you get the E28 up on its toes, it still feels genuinely quick, but you have to rev the engine, manage the gaps between those five gear ratios and sometimes, just sometimes, allow a bit of slip to maintain engine speed. It's a real pleasure, but in modern cross-country terms, it isn't especially efficient.

Anyhow, as I mentioned in the video, 2012 marks 40 years of BMW M, and even though I can't cover every model, please advise as to which one you'd like to see next.

Enjoy the vid.

 

 

 

[ucb]

Just lovely

[chriscoates]

Stunning! And I'd like to see you drive an E30 Sport Evo and an E46 CSL

[ALfooy]

Just watched this via Carscoop, they beat ya to it PH

Superb video as usual Chris, lovely, lovely car.

[gsrgeoff]

Always loved these / great Vid

[Gadgeroonie]

i enjoyed that !

top gear will want to sign you up I am sure

[PGM]

I saw the centre cap fly off during that video, you best have a look on the outside of that corner for it!

[vescaegg]

Off to the classifieds

[squirejo]

Your wheel centre can be seen flying off in one of the cornering shots about 1/3rd way through. At least the rest of the car didn't follow it thru the hedge backwards.

Don Palmer loved these too; he showed me how the driver makes all the difference when I turned up in a cerbera speed 6 for a day at brunters with him.

Which is a segue onto what other m-cars. Z3Mcoupe please. TVR with a BMW badge. Had 2 of them. Was carjacked in the first. Ah the memories!

[Nurburgsingh]

Makes me sick to my stomach that I sold mine when I did... The single biggest regret of my motoring life....

[0a]

Even at £20k I think these are seriously good value and will see a big enough price rise to make them essentially free to run in the medium term.

[jas xjr]

Nurburgsingh said:

Makes me sick to my stomach that I sold mine when I did... The single biggest regret of my motoring life....

Did you ever have a 535 too ?

[filski666]

great video Chris - really enjoyed that!

[Mac555]

Cracking car!, I thought the first E34 M5 was a 3.6, then went on to 3.8??

Had a C2 2.7 Alpina, miss it still!!

[JohneeBoy]

Is that your wheel centre I see popping off at 4m46s? It's probably still on that bend.

[Mastodon2]

What a brilliant car, I love the original M5.

I do quiet like the E34 as well though, it must be said. I think Chris called his "Bork Factor One" once, in reference to how much went wrong and how much money it cost him.

[monthefish]

Great video.

I'd like to see you in an original 3.0 CSL (Batmobile if poss) and/or a 2002 tii
(but are those strictly M cars?)

squirejo said:

Don Palmer loved these too; he showed me how the driver makes all the difference when I turned up in a cerbera speed 6 for a day at brunters with him.

I think Don Palmer can do that with any car - when I was at brunters with him he impressed us all in a diesel golf...

[vdp1]

Thought they were M535i back then, not M5

[Cheib]

squirejo said:

Which is a segue onto what other m-cars. Z3Mcoupe please.

Very good call.

Also

E30 M3
E46 CSL

Oh and an M1 if you can mange it

Actually how about the E9 CSL and the 2002 Turbo.....now they would be interesting.

[MarJay]

Fairly mundane I know, but E36 M3 Evo. Important because of its ubiquity, but make sure you drive a coupe or saloon, not a *shudder* convertible.

[Whiters]

Fantastic video. An impossibly exciting car to me as a kid. I'd go to the classifieds right now but I know they're out of reach for me as a toy now. Ho hum.

M1 Procar next please, perhaps at Donnington...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6bgJDrtCe8