With single-turbo or twin-turbo engines so popular today in BMW’s stable, it’s easy to overlook the fact that back in the late 1980s-early 1990s, the Bavarians built a performance sedan that had some BMW M1 DNA baked in under the hood. That performance sedan was the E34 M5, which happens to get the DeMuro treatment - and a Doug score, of course.
We need more posters of the BMW E34 M5
Two years after its 1988 debut in Europe, the E34 M5 reached U.S. shores with 311 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque coming from the S38B36 3.5-liter straight-six engine. In purist fashion, the engine could only be paired with a five-speed manual.
Coming back to the engine, it was essentially a mildly stroked variant of the twin-cam straight-six of the legendary M1. With this sort of pedigree, the E34 M5 could reach 60 mph from a standstill in 6.4 seconds. Here’s a more ample breaking down of its straight-line performance courtesy of Motor Trend:
-* 0-30 mph: 2.5 s
-* 0-40 mph: 3.8 s
-* 0-50 mph: 5.1 s
-* 0-60 mph: 6.4 s
-* 0-70 mph: 8.7 s
-* 0-80 mph: 10.7 s
On top of that, the E34 M5 could clear the standing quarter-mile in 14.9 seconds at 98.3 mph. Subsequently, it was pretty apt at stopping. The M Performance brake discs (measuring 12.4 inches in the front and 11.8 inches in the rear) could stop the sedan from 30 mph in 30 feet and from 60 mph in 126 feet.
Then there’s the perfectly assembled interior, which was worth its salt back in the 1990s just as it is now, three decades later. About that and other quirks you’ll learn more by watching Doug DeMuro’s video.