Tuesday 6 October 2015

Big Motoring World reviews a classic: BMW M5-E34

11:15

Discreet performance is one of the main traits many car buyers look for, and that’s what set the BMW M5-E34 apart from its rivals. Big Motoring World looks into the classic Bimmer.

Performance & Durability

The M5 is an all-time classic – a game changer in the performance cars industry. It’s still on up, to this day.

In 1990, when CAR magazine pitched a BMW E34 M5 against a Ferarri Testarossa, it wrote: “The BMW is more practical, more comfortable, handles better, and is faster on the majority of public roads.” When Georg Kacher drove a BMW E34 M5 3.8 for the same publication in 1992, he wrote: “The M5 is as much fun to drive as a proper sports car, and makes distances shrink like a time-lapse machine.”

The E34 was the last of the six-cylinder M5s, and it’s arguably one of the best. It gets 315bhp and 266lb ft of torque on tap, enabling the M5 to get to 0-60mph in 6.3 seconds. There was also an upgraded version in 1992, with a 3.8-litre version. And the final flourish was a six-speed gearbox in 1994.

Bringing it into the future

The engine can clock up 200,000 miles when looked after properly, and the clutch also needs to be looked after – it should feel light. Both five- and six-speed gearboxes are strong in transmission. This is still a performance car bargain with sustainability and power in abundance for a car built over 20 years ago. No other car offers this level of grunt, usability, build quality and dynamic prowess for the same value.