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The ’80s “eta” engine from BMW eschew top-end screaming power for low-end torque and efficiency and make for great commuters. Today’s 528e is a gem, having covered less than 40,000 miles and looking outstanding in Burgundy over the like-new Natur comfort interior. It needs a few points of attention to be perfect, but I’m not sure perfection is the way to go with this car. As the number of clean E28s still alive dwindles, this is a great candidate to be a fun and reliable DD that stands out from the rest of the bubbles rolling down the highways.
RHD cars seem most cool when they are Land Rovers or JDM classics – beyond that it just seems like an inconvenience. Frustration aside, the M535i is hard to come by in the US, so I guess we’ll take them as they come. Today’s is looking clean in Zinnobar Red and just over 100k miles, and while the availability of cloth seats on nice Bimmers in Europe intrigues me, it appears the bolsters are still prone to wear and tear. The biggest upset here is the automatic transmission, which comes with some sort of switching mechanism but still detracts from driving enjoyment. I guess the M535i is more about looks anyways, and small-bumper fetishists can get their rocks off here.
As we saw last week, higher-mileage M5s are starting to get pulled upward. Shredded front seats, a dirty engine compartment, and lost history were the main gripes with last week’s, but it still got snatched up locally, indicating the seller got something close to his $15k asking price. This one has a more complete history as it belonged to the seller’s father, but its story includes several missteps. The most-referenced in the ad is a decent-but-not great respray after a hailstorm. Next are the recovered seats – better than having them torn up (I guess) but the black piping makes them look cheap. Mechanically and electrically, however, it appears sound, running strong at a mileage where many receive rebuilds (though for some unknown reason the top end was already rebuilt at 125k miles). With no reserve and sitting just over $10k, this could be a good chance at driver for someone who doesn’t care too much about originality.
Though personally invested, I’m still skeptical of the recent prices we’ve seen E28 M5s being listed for. It seems like reasonable examples were going for high teens just a few months ago, yet all of a sudden it seems any clean sub-150k mile example is going for over $30k. Today’s example is one of the rare Canadian models with the all-black interior, which is a fun idea but much less appealing (to my eyes at least) than the tan interiors present on the other 99%. It has just 124k miles and appears to be in good working order, but it’s not like the shockingly clean examples we’ve featured recently. It’s lived through 4 owners and the maintenance history is disappointingly lacking. The E28 community seems to express a collective “meh” when black-interior cars are brought up, but some like the color and rarity. Have E28 M5 prices really gone up 100% over the last year?
