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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?
Is the E34 BMW M5 destined to be a future classic or a cult favorite? It’s an interesting question, since if you go back only a few short years ago there was a general lack of appreciation of its fore-bearers. Certainly many considered the E28 a watershed design and important performance leap for executive sedans, but the refinement and luxury added to the E34 design for many doesn’t seem to outweigh the perceived softening of the M5. Plus the E34 wasn’t a watershed car or design, rather an evolution of the proven blueprint. BMW offers the E34 M experience in a different and more affordable form V8 in the 540i M-Sport, too – something that wasn’t really done with the E28. Then there’s the problem with it’s successor – the E39 represents arguably a much better deal and good examples are continuing to fall in price. That leaves the ‘last of the handbuilts’ in an interesting predicament. They should be worth more, since they’re a M5 and limited production, right?
I’ll start this post with the bad news; our reader Z sent in an awesome Dinan S3 spec E39 M5 that was supposed to run in this slot. Unfortunately, although the auction was slated to still be running it ended early, meaning we don’t get to look at that car. Now the good news; because Dinan is a factory-backed tuner and the M5 is one awfully popular machine, here’s another to fill the void! This particular example isn’t quite as wild – without the supercharger, you’ll have to make due with only around 450 horsepower from the naturally aspirated S62 with a host of Dinan upgrades:
Usually, the M5 is the top dog of the BMW 5 series range. This model has been with us for almost a full three decades now, dazzling enthusiasts with supercar performance in a sedan package. When the E34 series debuted in 1988, the second car to wear the M5 badge would appear shortly thereafter, with a 3.5 liter inline-6 under the hood, good for 315 horsepower. The M5 would be pulled from the US market after the 1993 model year. Then, in the final year of E34 production, we would see a new model emerge for 1995: the 540i M Sport.
The 540i M Sport would be a sort of preview towards what BMW was planning for the M5 of the forthcoming E39 generation. With a new series of V8 engines in the BMW product portfolio, the company took it upon itself to create a sort of modified M5, with a 4.0 liter V8 under the hood mated to an available 6-speed manual gearbox with a few styling tweaks, firmer suspension and sports seats. Today we’ll look at two powerful E34s, beginning with this 1991 M5 for sale in Ontario, Canada.
If the BMW 530i we featured over the weekend didn’t satisfy your horsepower needs, then here is another example of the real deal, the M5. These sedans almost perfected the formula of combining supercar performance with four-door practicality. A decade on since production halted, they are still revered as much as they were when they were new. This M5 for sale in North Carolina looks downright immaculate for a car with over 80,000 miles on the clock, certainly the product of a fastidious owner.
