Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The 1995 BMW 850CSi we featured two summers ago is back up for sale on Bimmer Forums. The car has covered just under 1,000 miles in that time, but besides that fact, this has to be one of the best higher mileage E31s I’ve seen in some time. Along with its contemporary, the Porsche 928GTS, these big cruisers are bringing strong money these days. Will this one meet the ask this time around?
Both new and now as it gains modern classic status, “reasonable” has rarely been an adjective that comes to mind with the BMW 850CSi. Yet compared to the prices we’ve seen for nice, low-mileage examples over the past few years, this silver V12 M-Powered megacoupe is exactly that. A 50k-mile 850CSi was looking for mid-$60ks less than two months ago, while this June, Classic Driver was looking for almost $90k for one with 30k miles. That makes this two-owner, well-documented and maintained example extremely reasonable at $48k. Yes, it’s a lot of money, but these are quickly gaining more respect as collector cars beyond their baseline megaluxury and performance. With a 6-speed and 375hp out of twelve cylinders, that’s still a lot for less than $50k.
Bold. It’s a word not often associated with Alpina. In fact, if anything traditionally Alpinas have been anything but bold. Tasteful, certainly, but they seem to almost blend into the BMW lineup as if they were originally part of it. Indeed, today they are – offered through your local BMW dealership almost as a factory option like floor mats, you can get a monster Alpina tuned version of your car. But if bold is loosely defined as being striking or vivid, few Alpinas would really capture the attention of the general public as anything more than a normal production BMW. But the design of the E31 was bold with the wedge shape redefining production series BMWs. And this particular version of the E31 – the Alpina B12 5.7 – is pretty striking too, with giant wheels filling out the design nicely. The drivetrain of the B12 5.7 was pretty bold too, with a over 400 horsepower from a naturally aspirated V12. But it’s this singular example of the B12 that is perhaps the most bold. Painted Giallo, it’s arguably the most eye catching color to coat a E31, yet somehow suits it well with the black striping. Bold also is the strategy of trying to sell the car with only one photo and no description outside of a telephone number and some very basic details of the car. But perhaps the most bold thing about this E31 is the asking price, which despite the 90,000 miles on the clock is advertised at a stunning $221,000:
If you asked me to rattle off a list of BMW’s greats over the years, you’ll find the 850CSi at the very top. This was a bit of a flash in the pan model for BMW, with few built over a handful of years, but it was a bright flash indeed. This car sported BMW’s brawny M70 V12 engine, tuned to produce 375 horsepower. Offered solely with a 6-speed manual gearbox, this was a car that could cover ground at a serious clip, a worth match for its contemporaries, the Porsche 928GTS and Mercedes-Benz SL73 AMG. This 850CSi for sale in Missouri has just over 50,000 miles on it and allows the new owner to enter into an exclusive club of just 1,510.
The mid 1990s would see two grand touring heavyweights duke it out for a few short years for the title of best long distance cruise missile. The Porsche 928GTS and this car, the BMW 850CSi. The Porsche 928 was no stranger to the scene, having been around since the late 1970s. But the 928GTS was a vastly improved machine, with a powerful 5.4 liter V8 and wide haunches that accentuated its timeless look. The BMW 8 series was relatively new, taking over from the E24 6 series which ceased production in 1989. An M version of the 8 series would never make series production, but the 850CSi was a worthy substitute. With a 5.4 liter V12 engine pumping out 375 bhp, routed through a 6-speed manual gearbox, this was a serious performance machine. It was also rare, with just over 1,500 produced over a four year production run. Like the 928GTS, the 850CSi has dramatically increased in value over the last couple years, and this low mileage example for sale in Long Island is reflective of that.
