Meet one of my guilty pleasures, the BMW 8-series. Whether you are a fan of anything Bavarian Motor Works has ever cranked out or not, you have to hand it to them…there’s a lot of people the world over that hold the company in high regard, and they do for a reason. Cars like the M3, M5, and 7-series are a great combination of speed, sport and luxury. I’ve driven a couple, and even with my biases against 3-series (yuppie mobiles) I have to concede that they are good. But the 8-series…oh, yeah. That’s poster car material. BMW doesn’t normally do “sexy”. In fact, only the 8-series coupe, M1 supercar and the i8 hybrid-sports coupe would qualify in my book, and out of the three, the 8-series wins. I’m a sucker for the long hood-short deck proportions, and the fact that you could get a V-12 and a six-speed manual in one of these at all is that much better.
Here’s the problem with the 850CSi, the V-12 version: there were only 1,510 made. Emissions regulations axed any further production past 1996, and the high cost of the car (base price was just under $100,000 in 1994) didn’t do it any favors either. Twenty-some years on, the car’s reputation isn’t helping matters: it’s a beauty with the temperment of a beast, it’s electronic systems and CAN-BUS setup being at best, finicky, and at worst the perfect excuse for a V8 swap. But when it’s all right, and it’s all together and working as it should…oh, that noise. It’s no supercar…it’s far too heavy, not nearly powerful enough, and not violent enough. No, this is the car you take for six days of driving wherever the hell you please. This is the car you park near a crowd just so you can watch other people’s reactions to it. It’s a hardtop that isn’t from the 1970s, a shark-nosed German that knows how to rock a sport suit. It’s good.
They mad a similar car back in the mid ’70, “CS” series, maybe? All I remember was the sexy roofline and drooped nose; I used to see them all the time when I lived in germany. Always thought that if I ever had a BMW, that’d be the one!
OI love the look of this car, but really don’t like any modern car, they all just have too much extra crap in them! Buzzers, bells, shifter/brake pedal interlocks, all that garbage, and I damned sure wouldn’t pay BMW’s price for maintenance…
By far and away the best car BMW EVER made! But due to the fiendish complexity of the electronics for the day and a surprising tendency to rot these can be had for peanuts in the UK. All it takes is steamy hours on internet forums dedicated to this car and you might just bring one back to life – if your’e not driven insane first!
beautiful; car. i have always felt this is the car others should be inspired by.to be a better than.. to be better than and more comfortable at speed than. better handling than. better even in the electronics systems. sadly i do not fit in them. i think i need another beer. that too, is not allowed me. good thing i live in colorado…