A few interesting things from my archives

[e28Sean]

I came across some publications in my collection of old junk, and thought these two e28-centric items may be of interest. Links are to PDFs on my Google Drive.


• A test of the new 533i from the April 1983 issue of Roundel

• "Ultra Buy #5: BMW M5" from the October 1999 issue of European Car.

[EDIT: Fixed permissions issue. Should be accessible now].

[turbodan]

Thanks for posting.

[e28Sean]

Thanks for posting.

No problem! I'm cleaning out the garage, so, there will probably be more. I'll edit the original post and bump the thread with anything new.

[stuartinmn]

It's interesting how the 533i was the fastest sedan available at the time, but its 0-60 time can probably be beat by most minivans today.

[Foonfer]

It's interesting how the 533i was the fastest sedan available at the time, but its 0-60 time can probably be beat by most minivans today.

I saw HP numbers on a new Honda Civic, higher than the E28 M5...

[austin8753]

It's interesting how the 533i was the fastest sedan available at the time, but its 0-60 time can probably be beat by most minivans today.

my M5 (now fairly stock) will absolutely be annihilated by any recent-ish minivan. ask me how i know. :/

[stuartinmn]

I don't think too much about my car's lack of horsepower compared to today's cars - it feels quick, and that's more important than actually being quick.

[Kerrvillian]

All you guys whining about how slow your M30 rocketships are......I'm over here with a 524TD slushbox!

[austin8753]

I don't think too much about my car's lack of horsepower compared to today's cars - it feels quick, and that's more important than actually being quick.

nope, me either. if i wanted fast, i'd go buy one of those new minivans... but i don't.

[Mike W.]

Looking over the notes on the 533 I'm struck by the MPG. Now the original of 19/31 is unreasonably high on the highway. But taking it down to the "new" listing of 15/22 is a bit low on the highway, but way low on city. Even on my newer stuff, like say the E36, it shows 17/26 and in ~135K miles I've never seen below 23, calculated, not OBC. I'm sure part of it is BMWs fault and how they spec testing procedures, but jeez, I really don't know how they get those numbers, well, unless maybe they don't shift until redline and never get out of third gear.

[stuartinmn]

I've had 30mpg ratings on occasion with my car, but it has a 3.07 differential ratio plus it was when driving on I-35 across Iowa...cruise control set at a steady 70mph, on terrain flat as a pancake.

[Mike W.]

I've had 30mpg ratings on occasion with my car, but it has a 3.07 differential ratio plus it was when driving on I-35 across Iowa...cruise control set at a steady 70mph, on terrain flat as a pancake.

Would that be a Euro with a dogleg or you just like tall gears? High compression should get you better MPG but at the cost of premium gas.

[stuartinmn]

Yes, it's an M535i with a high compression motor. It originally had a dogleg transmission (hence the 3.07 ratio) but the previous owner replaced it with a G265 w/overdrive when he had transmission issues. So, it is kind of optimized for highway cruising, but at the cost of having to use premium gas.

[Nebraska_e28]

Thanks for sharing!