Past Master We reappraise the BMW M5 (E34)
Built by master technicians and powered by a race-derived engine, the E34-generation M5’s popularity is booming. Jim Holder discovers why
BMW’S floor-hinged accelerator pinned, 3.6-litre 24-valve straight six howling, you’ll swear that your motoring life can’t get much better. This is the kind of engine note that turns teenagers into car lovers and bankers into car collectors – which, in part, explains why used values of the E34-generation BMW M5 continue to rise skywards.
But depending on how far you are prepared to compromise, there is everything from sub-£10,000 to £50,000-and-above examples to choose from. The leggier the car, the more reasons there are to be nervous, although a mid-life engine upgrade and the addition of increasingly complex driver aids and damper systems do mean that some of the older examples are well regarded for having fewer potentially costly things to go wrong.
And, oh boy, will you think every penny is well spent when you get the chance to untap its potential. While the most alluring aspect may be the soundtrack, there’s enough shove and all the benefits of a limited-slip diff to add pace and poise to the equation. By today’s standards, 315bhp and 266lb ft may sound tame, but it hauls the 1670kg M5 up to 62mph in 6.3sec and on to a limited 155mph if the mood takes you and the laws allow.
Use the diff and slick five-speed manual transmission well, too, and there’s plenty of opportunity for some heroic tail-out action. However, it would be wrong to paint the E34 as a mere drift machine; drive it hard but on the right side of maintaining grip and it will adjust to your every whim with a subtlety that sucks you in. This is a chassis that remains beautifully balanced right up until you give it some serious welly.
That composure only serves to underline the M5’s status as a – perhaps the – defining supersaloon. For, while you could never call it frugal, nor especially easy to maintain, given its thirst for oil and other regular maintenance checks, the E34 certainly fulfils the criteria for being practical, offering seating for four adults, a refined cabin, a large boot and a 90-litre fuel tank that grants a sensible touring range.
This was the last of the handassembled M5s, studiously put together by M certified technicians at the firm’s Dingolfing plant. It’s little wonder many aficionados hold E34s in such high regard.
Sticklers for details will want to look both under the bonnet and at the wheels. While the E34 marked the end of a design era at BMW – dominated by boxy front ends and round headlights – early examples were notable for the three-piece 17in wheels that incorporated a turbine brake cooling system. It was a technologically advanced solution that looked, to most eyes, terrible. In 1992, a more aggressive, so-called ‘Throwing Stars’ design arrived.
By this stage, the 3.6-litre engine had also been replaced by a 3.8-litre unit, good for 340bhp and a source of debate among owners as to which power unit was best. In truth, and boiling description down to a single word, both are brilliant.
So should you buy an M5? Despite recent rises, it is doubtful that prices have peaked, so if you have an itch to scratch, we’d say go for it. Look for as much love, care and provenance as you can afford and brace for high running costs and potentially fearsome repair bills, but whatever it says on the invoice will be forgotten as soon as you hit the open road.
Its composure serves to underline the M5’s status as perhaps the defining super-saloon