In the summer of 2010, my father bought the first M car he would own; a 1988 M5. This was just before the cost of M cars skyrocketed, and the asking price was $8,000. For this, we received a well-used example of the breed. The seats were cracked, but still in decent shape, mostly. The paint was faded, and the dashboard was cracked to all hell. The odometer did not work. Despite all this, it ran and drove very well, and it had a number of things going for it.
The troublesome self-leveling rear suspension had been replaced with simple Bilstein shocks, and the US-spec exhaust manifold was replaced with the European “bag of snakes” header. It also had a revised tune and an aftermarket exhaust, bringing the total horsepower rating to about 310 horsepower, all from the single-best engine I have ever experienced. My father, despite his misgivings, must have agreed because he bought the car that day, and he has kept it ever since.
All US-Spec 1988 M5s came with the S38B35, which is derived from the M88. Euro-spec M5s came with the more powerful M88, and while I am certain it is a better engine, I have no complaints about the S38 that came in the US-Spec cars. Both were fed by six individual throttle bodies, and both made beautiful noises and plentiful power. Power was sent to the rear wheels by way of a five-speed Getrag manual, and ours had been quite nicely altered with a short-throw shifter. Despite its advanced age, it was still a formidable sports sedan, and on one occasion I shut down a much younger E46 330i in it. The engine was not the only special part of the M5. The suspension was wonderful, and I can only conclude it was tuned by wizards. Despite having driven many faster, more capable cars in the years that have passed, none feel as magical as the M5, and I have never felt better steering despite now owning a nominal sports car without any power steering.
I learned to properly drive stick in the M5, and that was no small feat. The M5’s clutch had been replaced with a racing clutch, so it was heavier. With the short-throw shifter, the M5 did not forgive mistakes. I am certain I took a few years off my father’s life while first starting out, but by the end of the day, I could drive a manual at least as well as anybody I had ever met. My father taught me the best way he could think of—throwing me in the deep end. One day, he simply had me drive for a few hours, from our home in Los Alamos, down to White Rock, and then up to Jemez Springs. I did not complain about this method. This was already what I would call a nice drive in any car, but in the M5—the single-best driver’s car I have ever driven—it was heaven. Who in their right mind would complain about spending a day with their dad in an M5? By the end of the day, I was perfectly competent at shifting.
Unfortunately, my first accident—the only one to date that has been my fault—was in the M5. During rush hour, I made a left turn into a Subaru. It was a literal fender-bender, with the M5’s driver’s fender being bent at approximately a 90-degree angle from its original position. The insurance adjuster declared it totaled at first, but then at my father’s insistence, found that his initial estimate was extremely low. He had valued it as though it were a 1988 BMW 5 Series and not an M5. Years later, when my father had his first car accident that was his fault, the adjuster made the same mistake and again it was corrected. The M5 would be fixed, albeit with a fender from a junked 528e, but it was alive.
The M5 served my father well for a couple years after that, but it fell out of use when he retired. However, unlike his other cars–namely his 1998 540i and his 2007 335i, he has kept this one. It remains parked in a car hauler, awaiting the day he chooses to do something with it.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classics: 1988 BMW M5 – The World’s Fastest Sedan x2, Hiding In Plain Sight
It is good for you and your dad enjoying the ownership of e28 M5. Besides all its mechanical virtues, I always find e28 is beautiful car, it is very Germanic look? I would like to own an e28 too, my goal is more moderate, my model is 535is of e28 with manual transmission.
From all reports – yours included – these are fabulous cars to drive…and I would expect that Los Alamos is probably one of the better places in the US to own and drive one. Plenty of opportunity to both experience the handling and to open it up (once you get down the from the mesa) on wide open roads.
That said, the reputation of these cars is that if you don’t have a deep wallet and either tremendous personal mechanical skills or the ability to pay someone, these are a nightmare to keep in shape. I probably wouldn’t want to try to deal with anything related to an M5 if it had been sitting on a car hauler for some time. How does your dad keep up with a tuned/chipped M5, a 540i and a 335i (he doesn’t pick any of the easy ones to keep, does he…. 😉 ).
The M5 is the only one he has kept long-term. The 335i gave way to an M6 which I think I drove three times, and the 540i was sold when I did not take it after high school, and he realized he had not driven it since he stopped working.
Lucky you! What a way to learn to drive a stick. And having made the drive from Los Alamos, down to White Rock, and then up to Jemez Springs last year (in our van) you couldn’t do much better in terms of driving roads and scenery.
These were such impressive cars when they came out: the ultimate BMW sedan. Did I ever lust after one.
The apex sedan.
Like the e12, the e28 has pretty much evaporated over here. The only ones I see regularly are a 520e and an M5. Shame about the bumpers, but otherwise a nice keeper.
My brother bought a used ’88 M5 in ’89 and kept it until he replaced it with a ’94 E500 Mercedes. It was quite the car; however, he quickly found out that with even a light dusting of snow that he needed a set of winter tires. Oil change, filters, brakes, and a performance chip upgrade were all easy to do on it, and left me quite impressed with the M5 engineering. With the new chip it was good for 155 mph in complete comfort, and until he bought a used ’89 SHO in 1990, the M5 also served him well when he criss crossed IL and the midwest on hunting trips.