Want some V12 love?
- Thread starter edyvw
- Start date
This beauty in the rough has been sitting at a local garage for a few weeks. I love the lines, but the V12 and Bondo would scare me right off.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
I think the big problem with engines like S85 are owners who don't care about maintenance and exploitation. Warm-up "a bit" and run it 8,000rpms. What could go wrong?
As for 850csi, BMW in 90's was all about how smooth engines are. S85 on the other hand, is all about screaming
I think the E31 has aged better than the E63 I see everyday on my street.
When it was introduced, it was a statement car, a flagship, the first 8er, with a V12 and other advancements. It also presaged the design themes that would appear on the E36 and other 90s BMWs. And IMO was graced with two of BMW's best wheel designs ever, the Style 21 "Throwing Star" and Style 37 forged M Parallel Spoke, which are a sharp contrast to some of the overwrought styles today, especially the M designs. On the Alpina B12, their classic multi-spoke wheel design were also a nice fit.
That said, as a car, trying to bridge the gap between a GT and a sports car ended up with it being compromised in both roles, and not being entirely successful. Not refined enough for a GT, and too big and heavy to be a sports car.
Paul Bracq and Claus Luthe, the BMW design chiefs during that time, oversaw many of the iconic (and not in a bad way) German designs of the 60s to the 90s, not just for BMW, but for Mercedes.
Luthe was succeeded by Chris Bangle, and his story is well known, in good, but not good ways to many. He was ahead of his time in championing the design elements that are common today, like the complex surface treatments and high (but not exaggerated) trunk lines.
OTOH one of the designers under his supervision, Adrian van Hooydonk, penned the Z9, which begat the E63, and brought the world the Bangle Butt, which should more accurate be known as the Hooydonk Butt, since it came from his hand, not Bangle's. Bangle took inspiration from furniture design, and living spaces, and his BMWs abandoned the traditional driver-oriented cockpit themes, with fewer instruments, iDrive and the double hump binnacles.
van Hooydonk took over as chief after Bangle left, and the designs produced under his supervision, up to the present day, also speak for themselves, including the "let's drop a widescreen monitor on top of the dash, and call it a day" interiors.
If the E9x and other BMW of the era weren't the last of the models that retained the classic BMW driving feel, they wouldn't nearly be as attractive.
When it was introduced, it was a statement car, a flagship, the first 8er, with a V12 and other advancements. It also presaged the design themes that would appear on the E36 and other 90s BMWs. And IMO was graced with two of BMW's best wheel designs ever, the Style 21 "Throwing Star" and Style 37 forged M Parallel Spoke, which are a sharp contrast to some of the overwrought styles today, especially the M designs. On the Alpina B12, their classic multi-spoke wheel design were also a nice fit.
That said, as a car, trying to bridge the gap between a GT and a sports car ended up with it being compromised in both roles, and not being entirely successful. Not refined enough for a GT, and too big and heavy to be a sports car.
Paul Bracq and Claus Luthe, the BMW design chiefs during that time, oversaw many of the iconic (and not in a bad way) German designs of the 60s to the 90s, not just for BMW, but for Mercedes.
Luthe was succeeded by Chris Bangle, and his story is well known, in good, but not good ways to many. He was ahead of his time in championing the design elements that are common today, like the complex surface treatments and high (but not exaggerated) trunk lines.
OTOH one of the designers under his supervision, Adrian van Hooydonk, penned the Z9, which begat the E63, and brought the world the Bangle Butt, which should more accurate be known as the Hooydonk Butt, since it came from his hand, not Bangle's. Bangle took inspiration from furniture design, and living spaces, and his BMWs abandoned the traditional driver-oriented cockpit themes, with fewer instruments, iDrive and the double hump binnacles.
van Hooydonk took over as chief after Bangle left, and the designs produced under his supervision, up to the present day, also speak for themselves, including the "let's drop a widescreen monitor on top of the dash, and call it a day" interiors.
If the E9x and other BMW of the era weren't the last of the models that retained the classic BMW driving feel, they wouldn't nearly be as attractive.
Jason Cammisa did another good video on the E31 850CSi:
I think the big problem with engines like S85 are owners who don't care about maintenance and exploitation. Warm-up "a bit" and run it 8,000rpms. What could go wrong?
As for 850csi, BMW in 90's was all about how smooth engines are. S85 on the other hand, is all about screaming
Who would own an S85, and only rev it to 8k RPM? Redline is 8250 RPM.
I did also proactively update the VANOS solenoids and oil lines, and throttle actuators. It runs so nice.
For anyone wondering, I have used Redline 10w60 since it's 4th oil change. Previous was Castrol 10w60.
Did you ever consider Redline 5w50? I saw an E60M5 today at Starbucks and it got me thinking if I would run that or the 10w60.Who would own an S85, and only rev it to 8k RPM? Redline is 8250 RPM.
I did also proactively update the VANOS solenoids and oil lines, and throttle actuators. It runs so nice.
For anyone wondering, I have used Redline 10w60 since it's 4th oil change. Previous was Castrol 10w60.
No. I figured that since BMW speced the Castrol 10w60, and I could get the Redline at cost or often better, and I liked how Redline products performed in an extreme racing application, I tried the Redline.
Subjectively the engine seemed to run slightly better on the Redline 10w60, so I just stuck with it. The proof that it was a good choice, were the condition of the bearings, rod bearings in particular, when I pulled it apart to check them, after reading for years from internet 'experts' that the bearings and journals were going to be trashed.
Keep in mind this is a car I drive only in nice weather, and just for fun.
A neighbor growing up bought a brand new silver 850i, it was quite striking (and imposing for that matter) seeing it drive slowly through the neighborhood as a child. There is an OG video from the early days of the internet now continuing to live on Youtube of an 850CSi going ~186 mph on the Autobahn for a few minutes straight, what a machine:
While not a V12 one of my favorite BMW'S is the E60 M5. The engine was developed during BMW's V10 F1 era and sounds crazy with the right exhaust. The 7.3 AMG in the Zonda sounds Amazing with a Titanium exhaust.
I used to see a lot of 8 series back in the 90s. I guess I'm not educated about the various trims, because 255 is a tiny number. I thought they were all V12 at first, did they bring out a V8 version later in the production run?
I don't know how much less one of these would weigh as compared to a 750, maybe that would help with performance. I've driven a 750iL in the 90s (hard) and I was expecting it to be faster.
Much preferred the early 90s M5s, driven a few examples of those also. They're peaky but they really pull hard above 3500 RPM.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
255 850CSI
There was 850i (also V12) and 840i (V8).
When I was about 17-18 I got to follow a 365/GTB4 for a couple of miles. I turned off the radio and put all the windows down. The pinnacle was when he turned into River Oaks and floored it through the first 3 gears. Amazingly beautiful sound. Half a century later and I still remember it happily.
A friend who is into Euro beaters had the 8 cylinder version of it picked up for $6000.
His new price point is $10k and owns car from 6 months - 2 yrs and repeats. Wealthy since his 20’s. Rarely fixes much except safety and drives them.
His new price point is $10k and owns car from 6 months - 2 yrs and repeats. Wealthy since his 20’s. Rarely fixes much except safety and drives them.
My friend got an 850i back in the day for $1k because the guy thought the car was toast, all it needed was new spark plugs and distributors!
I like the E60 as one of the better designs during the Bangle era. But were I to pursue one, it would be an E90 M3, or an E86 M Coupe. There are worse places to take inspiration from than Brock's Daytona Coupe.
I also liked the M Clown Shoe.
They weigh pretty close to the 7 series. When driving an 8 series you can tell it’s a heavy car. They weren’t very fast compared to today’s stuff but I always liked them.
I remember a local bmw had a clown shoe new back in the day. BMW saddled them with a 5 speed manual vs the M3 6 speed. From reading this was to keep the M coupe from being faster than the M3 as the M Coupe weighed less. Funny thing is that BMW dealerships couldn't get rid of the M coupes now they're collector items.
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