(First Posted October 26, 2013) The early eighties were likely the single most challenging time for car manufacturers ever. In 1980, average oil prices hit a record high of $99 (adjusted) per barrel. Even scarier were the (predictable) predictions that oil was headed to $150, $200, even $500 per barrel. Vehicles were generally much less efficient than today. CAFE requirements were tightening. What’s a manufacturer of The Ultimate Driving Machine to do? Make a Decidedly Modest Driving machine; what else.
In retrospect, the BMW 528e is almost incomprehensible: 121 hp from the legendary M20 six cylinder engine, in a 2.7 liter version at that. That’s almost diesel territory, for back then. Well, BMW didn’t have a diesel (yet) when the new E28 5 Series was being readied for its 1982 introduction. So why not build a gasoline powered diesel, sort of?
In Europe BMW offered a 1.8 L four in the 5 Series, but BMW felt that a four was out of the question for the US. Automatics, AC, and stop-light grunt were all part of that reality. So BMW developed a rather unusual solution, specifically targeted at the US. Although a version of the eta engine was nominally available in Europe too (as the 525e), it was not all that common there.
The eta (Greek for “e” as in efficiency) engine was designed to minimize pumping losses as a result of high manifold vacuum, intrinsic to throttled gasoline engines, especially higher performance ones (Valvetronic and other high tech solutions have substantially mitigated that now). So the eta engine was designed to be rather a lot like the typical lazy American V8 engine of the times: it developed that 121 hp at a very un-BMW like 4,250 rpm, almost exactly the same rpm that diesels develop their maximum power.
The trick was to use a cylinder head with very small ports and valves, and a cam with very low duration. Essentially it was a drastic de-tune one of the most rev-happy and brilliant sports six cylinder engines ever built. Like all engines in a low state of tune, the payoff was a very healthy torque curve. And the efficiency came from the engine requiring relatively large throttle openings, which reduced vacuum and pumping losses.
The EPA numbers were decent, but hardly stellar (1986 MY, adjusted): 18/22 for the 5 speed manual; 16/22 for the automatic. The 535i meanwhile fell into the official guzzler category, with a 15/20 (auto); 14/20 (stick). By 1986, BMW’s new little turbo diesel was available (524 td), and rated at 21/26.
The eta engine was just fine, as long as you had no sporting ambitions whatsoever. It was as if you were given a valet key for one of today’s high performance cars: just when you would expect the engine to really wake up, it fell dead asleep. A bold move for BMW indeed. The reality was that the 5 Series was hugely popular in places like LA, and for the typical first time buyer who was looking more to show off the propeller on the hood more than one under it, it certainly did the trick for the-stop-and go commute.
And the 528e still has a loyal following. These understressed engine seem to run happily for 200-250k miles or more. Everything is old-school Germanic: high quality materials and components, and not that hard to fix. And the ambiance is of course classic BMW: compact, great visibility, terrific seats, good ergonomics, great handling; everything except for the MIA rev band from 4200 to 6500 rpm.
The great irony of the 528e is that by the time it arrived in 1982, oil was already dropping like a full barrel. By 1986, it was down to $29, and gas was flirting with 99 cents a gallon. But BMW stubbornly stuck with the 528e; frankly way too long. After its brilliant E12 530i and 528i predecessors, BMW loyalists were none too thrilled to see the greatest sports sedan in its time be so utterly emasculated. BMW grudgingly started offering the bigger six in 533i and 535i versions, but limited the number available, undoubtedly because of their gas guzzler status.
Frankly, that wasn’t the only thing BMW was slow with at the time. As much as a modern classic the E28 may be now, at the time, it was a mighty conservative upright boxy thing indeed. The E28 was really just a refresh of the E12, and was looking distinctly old fashioned in the mid eighties. Compare this car to the W124 Mercedes that had appeared the year before, or the Audi 5000, and the Taurus and Sable. And BMW kept the E28 going right through 1989, a car that looked very little different from when it first appeared in 1972. BMW; the Ultimate Cash Cow Machine.
I’ve largely neglected the rest of the E28 family for a reason: I’ve got more 5 Series CCs to come, both on the 524td diesel and the sportier 533i/535is. But the 528e’s unique engine is quickly fading from awareness, so it came first. Anyway, it needed a head start: with 0-60 times of over 11 seconds with the automatic, it needs all the help it can get. A current 535 takes half that long, and is rated by the EPA at 17/26. Now that’s progress we can believe in.
15 seconds? I’m pretty sure verified test times of the regular eta 528e automatic were in the 11 second range. I’m also very comfortable saying that no BMWs built in the past decade will have the useful lives that E28s did, one of the two best BMWs of all time. I lived in the Netherlands in 1984, and the 525e was by far the most common 5 series variant there. It might not have been the case for other western European nations, but they were the ones to have in Holland. Gasoline was already expensive in Europe, and the 525e was quite a bit more pleasant to drive than the 518. Another popular BMW with the Dutch was the last of the E21 line 315, which had a 1.6 liter engine that had a single carburetor and single headlights like a 2002.
That was from one (unverified) source, and it does seem excessive. I’ve modified that part.
Interesting what you say about the 525e popularity in Holland. My observations come from being an avid reader of auto motor und sport at the time, and the sales stats back then seemed to indicate that in Germany at least, that was not the case. But I can’t properly verify that now.
It has been a while since Chris Bangle ruined my religion, but IIRC the 525e’s competition was the 520/6, which had a carbureted 2 liter M20 that made the same power but used more fuel. Holland did not have unlimited autobahns, so perhaps part throttle fuel efficiency was more important there than in Germany. I had a 1988 325 ‘super eta,’ which was pretty much a run-out model. It had the 2.7 liter crank combined with the big valve head from the 325i and a restrictive intake manifold more like the regular eta one. Redline was 5,500-5,750 rpm, and it responded well to a few light modifications. It had interplanetary gearing, and highway fuel economy never dropped below 30 mpg even when average speeds approached 100 mph. I had a friend who put an i-head, cam, and intake on an eta block, changed the rear axle from a 2.93 to a 3.45, drove like he was in an unseen drift competition, and still claimed 34 mpg on his 150 mile daily commute.
ETAs (525e E28 and 325e E30) were not that uncommon in Switzerland. Of course by now, most of them will have donated their internals to some tuning project. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M20#Eta-based_2.7 for an overview of the near-endless possibilities of making that lazy engine fast and furious.
The European 525e and federalized 528e were not quite identical; the European and U.K. cars had higher compression (11.0 for the 525e, 9.0 for the U.S. cars) and I don’t know if non-U.S. cars had catalytic converters, although I’m guessing not.
The 525e had almost the same rated horsepower as the 528e (125 PS DIN @ 4,250 rpm), but a bit more torque: 177 lb-ft @ 3,250 rpm. Looking at the test numbers, it appears that the big effect was to fatten up the mid-range a bit more in the 50-70 mph range, which made the 525e — which was only available with automatic in the U.K. — a tick quicker to 60 mph and improved fuel economy a bit.
I couldn’t find any tests of the federalized 528e with automatic, so it’s hard to directly compare them.
Thanks for reminding me of that. Catalytic converters were still very uncommon in Europe then. During the 80s, their emission standards really lagged. Then there was the big uproar over forests dying and such, and a big push to tighten standards.
postscript: Actually switzerland made catalytic converters mandatory on new cars by 1986, germany followed in 1989, announcing that as soon as 1984.
Cat equipped cars could be ordered from the beginnig of the 80s but the suspicion towards unleaded fuel and the unavailability of unleaded premium fuel showed its effects. Indeed the early factory equipped and thus regular fuel bond cat cars are known as unreasonable gas guzzlers compared to their premium fuel consuming siblings.
Well, the fine and torquey high compression eta wasn’t sold too long in germany. around 1985 it was replaced by the low comp lump known all too well in the US and rated 122 PS. I don’t actually know whether it was a matter of government regulations but it seems obvious, since the loss in grunt and gas mileage feels more dramatically than the 3 hp would suggest.
Still, the tamer eta is a beautiful ride with a modest 26 mpg. I guess the slushbox and the us-usual fattening with options ruined the experience on your side of the pond.
I’ve actually never seen a AC equipped eta in person, ever the greater sixes with fridge equipment are as rare as a white crow.
With an engine cammed (and geared) like the Eta, I assume peak horsepower was pretty much irrelevant. I’ve never seen torque curves for these engines, but my guess would be that the high-compression engine’s curve was fatter, so that even though the torque peak was only about 4 percent higher, the high-compression engine remained closer to that peak throughout the 2,000 to 3,500 rpm band. That would presumably make the low-compression engine feel noticeably slower. If you thrashed them as you would on a dragstrip, there probably wasn’t a huge difference, but in day-to-day driving, the low-compression engine probably had perceptibly less power at any given mid-range speed.
In those days leaded high-octane fuel was still the norm in Northwestern Europe, CJinSD will remember the “super benzine” in the Netherlands. Octane rating RON 97 to 99 (in the US that would be AKI 92 to 94). When you said “my car is green” then your car was actually, well, green…
A BMW was a performance car, even the 4 cylinders, the more power the better. Downsizing, de-tuning or less compression because of smog-reasons was not an issue in the early/mid-eighties. Not at all.
The 3-series was most popular, with the 320 and higher as the real thing.
5 and 7 series weren’t exactly at every street corner so to say.
(That could have been completely different in Germany of course.)
Remember that in the eighties Mercedes was still The King. The BMW 5-series and Audi 100 were never a real threat to the MB W124. Partly because Mercedes was a very experienced and renowned diesel engine builder, with a huge choice of 4, 5 and 6 cylinder diesels, but later on both the VAG-Group and BMW would caught up.
15 sec. sounds about right. This BMW was also used in Eastern Europe, especially Hungary and Yugoslavia where they had 75 octane gasoline. We are talking Lada territory here. And BMW was for the bigwigs of course.
And honestly – telling apart BMW E28 from the E12 comes very close to an east-block inside spy job.
Around 1988, my friend’s sister was hit with Beemerlust and bought a 1986 325e used. I drove it and remember being completely underwhelmed. It was like someone had transplanted a Stove Bolt Chevy 6 into the thing. It didn’t strike me as being worth the money, since my 1988 Honda Accord could easily out drag it at half the price.
Said Beemer turned into a money-pit in like three years and said Accord only expired two years ago after my niece hit a pole with it!
Marin County was littered with these things in their day. I’ve test driven a few similar vintage 3 and 5 series cars, but always came away feeling that the interiors were too institutional and cold. Kinda the automotive equivalent of a hospital waiting room. I’d much rather have a Japanese car from the 80s than a German one (unless I was rich enough to have a 635i reupholstered in a decent comfortable fabric).
Hah! BMW = “Basic Marin Wheels”.
Funny, growing up in San Rafael, I seemed as a kid people weren’t too pretentious then (60s/early 70s) like they kind of are now.
Yes, my Dad wanted a BMW, but his tall frame couldn’t fit comfortably in the Bavaria (forget the 1800s, 2000s!). Most people of ‘means’ drove low-key cars, usually Chevelles, maybe Chryslers, Monte Carols later on – there were Jags – Mercedes and lots of Cadillacs and Mark III Lincolns, but I don’t recall those cars as ‘everyday’ except maybe a slough of T-Birds by Loch Lomond Boat Harbor.
Anyhoo . . . as time went on . . . Marin did go “Bimmer Crazy” and 320i’s/528e’s in the early eighties were everwhere.
These E28s were really handsome cars. Genuine classics.
A four-cylinder may have been out of the question for the Fuenfer at the time, but BMW had no issues having a four-banger in the 320i or the replacement 318i….
You learn something new every day. I thought the ‘e’ designation meant ‘einspritzung’ for fuel injection. Pokey engine or not, this is what a BMW should be. I love the clean lines and ample glass area. I’d take one of these over a new 3 or 5-Series. Paul, this was only available as an M5 in ’88 and ’89, correct?
The E28 M5 was introduced in Europe in 1985 and I think offered in the States only in 1987-88. The E34 arrive here for 1989.
I mistakenly bought a base-model 325, which in 1987 was equipped with the ‘eta’ engine. If you wanted the “standard” motor, the 325i was the one for you.
I always wondered why it was so sluggish in the lower RPM range. Once you put your foot down, anything above 3,000 RPM was pretty sprightly though. You could still make one of those sing, but I would much rather have had a 325i. I only paid $600 for it and the first gear synchro was broken, so I didn’t worry about it and drove it until the clutch failed. I thought I could replace the transmission on my own until I learned why BMW mechanics are so expensive. I’ve never hated working on a car like I hated that one.
i just purchased a 1985 528e with only 21k original miles! yes its true…. 21k miles truly a time-warp car and like new!
here is a pic
Vladi,
What did you pay? I’m jealous……
Sweet find!
Now drop an LS1 and 6 speed in it for a true sleeper.
Oh, man. Great buy!
I borrowed a 528e from a relative back in 1990. Initially I found its acceleration around town underwhelming, but where that car really shined was on the road. What a great highway cruiser! I could only imagine how great a 535 would have been.
The eta engines are much like diesels in their character.
They last well over 300 k miles ( reports of 1,000,000 in the BMW CCA).
My kids each had a 325e and 528e, the latter with about 300k, still in my boneyard…anyone interested in freshening it up?
They were both super reliable, over 30 mpg always, and fast enough for kids. The low rpm torque well suited to newbies afraid to rev an engine, and the top speed likewise well-suited.
My modified 535iS was our family car, and got 22-26 mpg. Also quite reliable.
I had a 1984 325e, buying it used in 1988. It was a fun little car and I miss it. I Traded it in for a 1987 Mercedes 260e in ’93, guess I went for the detuned versions of these cars!
Almost bought an ’88 with 5 speed…while certainly not the fastest sedan out there, I truly enjoyed it out on the road. Would have made a nice stablemate to my ’74 2002…they look like bulletproof tanks to me (gee, wonder why?) and I smile when I see the occasional E28 out on the road.
I love my 528 e
I got my 528e new in 1983 and you can’t have it. 298,000 miles, great mileage in and out of town, enough power to delight me when I need delighting. Five-speed still butter smooth. Straight six still butter smooth.
Endearing quirks: No cup holders. Front passenger door has no door lock – driver’s permission needed to exit the vehicle. Turn off the engine with the headlights on – the headlights go off and the side lights come on (very European). Clock is visible only to the driver – passengers must ask the driver. Back seat is higher than the front – chauffeur should not be more visible than the dignitaries being chauffeured. And unlike new cars, I can see out of it.
Love it.
I purchased 1984 528e in 2009 with 198k on a broken odometer. I wanted a work car and boy did I get one! I was constantly doing something to that old girl.
The longer I owned it, the more I loved it.
My Wife and kids hated that car. They called it my “Mr Magoo” car and they didn’t want to be seen in it. My son had to swallow his pride and start driving it on a regular basis to commute 25 miles to school. He soon fell in love with it as I had and he wanted to restore it.
600$ was invested in it six months before the transmission died. My wife refused to let me put more money in this car, I sold it “as is” in 2012 for 100$
My son purchased a 04′ 325xi and I’m looking for another 528e.
Of all the cars I have owned the 528e was the most comfortable and pleasurable to drive.
I need help on 1983 BMW 5′ 518 e28 Automatict Choke Adjustment
I bought my 1982 BMW 528e 5-speed in April 1996 for $3200 from a couple who were quick to sell as they were leaving for an African mission trip that summer. It had 141,000 miles on it and despite having several owners, it had every bit of maintenance documented from day one.
I had previously owned a 1973 BMW Bavaria with a 3.0 liter engine bored out to 3.3 liters with dual Webers. Unfortunately the carbs had issues, the Bavaria was mostly bondo with a nice Arctic Blue paint job over top of it and it met it’s untimely end during a late winter snow storm. When I saw the 528e in a classified ad in the newspaper, I had to go look at it.
While it was a considerably slower car than the Bavaria (on the few days the Bavaria actually ran correctly) it was more solid, had fuel injection and had 5 speeds compared to the previous cars four. What this car lacked in power, it made up for in torque. I absolutely loved that car and it rarely ever gave me any problems. I ended up selling it in 2002 with over 300,000 miles on the odometer when I replaced it with a 1987 Porsche 944 which ended up being one of the biggest money pits I ever owned.
I have a 1988 528e “Super Eta” which cranks out six more horsepower using a dual exhaust and a couple other modifications. I’ve owned it since 1993.
In “burgunrot” the car looks exactly like this one. 194K and have never done any engine work. Original alternator, radiator, master cylinder, transmission shits like new. All I’ve ever really done to it is tune-ups and suspension work, new exhaust and catalytic converter, other small stuff, hoses, fuel pump, etc. The car has never stranded me.
These cars may be slow but they’re cheap to maintain, easy to work on, safe, cruise smoothly on the highway with great gas mileage. Around town plenty of low-end torque.
If you can find a well-maintained example for $2-3K it’s hard to go wrong.
My 84′ 528e was poorly maintained before I got her. I put a lot of parts on this car thats should have been replaced long before my ownership. She was badly neglected and still ran strong. This car wasn’t meant to dragrace, but to cruise!
I just gave my 1983 528e a 300,000 mile birthday present. Fixed all the scratches and dents, new clutch, fixed the odds and ends of seal leaks, new timing belt, etc. It looks and drives like new. I bought it new and as I said before, you can’t have it.
These were very popular and started to outsell the big Fords and Vauxhalls.I’ve often wanted one but the last chance I had of buying one I played safe and bought a Ford Granada Mk 2.
May the Lord be with you if that pile ever needs repairs. A friend of mine has a “beemer”, he calls it his “thousand dollar car” since if ANYTHING breaks on it the bill is a minimum of $1000
I gained quite a bit of repair experience on BMWs at my first mechanic job in the early ’90s. And yes, the 528e’s I worked on were dogs. One was covering the inside of the valve cover with the milky brown foam, and I thought it was a head gasket. After replacing the head gasket, the problem was still there. Turns out the head was cracked. The owner located a 2.5L head and matching intake manifold to replace it, but I still had to reuse the dinky throttle body. The car was still a slug, especially since it was automatic. I haven’t been too impressed with BMWs since then.
BMW in the repair business is indeed translated as “bring my wallet” or “broke my wallet.”
There is a reason for this….But it as we all know, it becomes a love affair for car lovers, and love is priceless…
My memory of the e-series is one of Car and Driver’s more classic moments.
At the end of their review of the 528e, they pronounced it “the adequate driving machine”. With all the nasty snark they could muster in print.
Did the 528e use different axle or transmission ratios? Cars with a lot of low end torque really benefit when using the right gearing.
The 528e and 525e both had a 2.93 axle, although the automatic was a bit longer in top. The 528i and 533i had a 3.25 axle and the 520i was 3.91.
For me the 325e (sold in Europe) and the 528e were the finest Beamers ever.
Drove like Chevy’s but with decent brakes and roadholding.
Engines needed little maintenance compared to other BMW powerplants, fuel consumption was great and they ran so nice and calm.
My then father in law drove his one into the ground, 450K kilometers. Rust killed it, mechanics were still fine.
There is a E BMW circulating locally it is original looking though where it was sold first is a guess it could have been NZ new or one of the thousands of used imports we have.
drove my 87 until it had 220,000 miles could not kill it. great car sold it to a kid for his first car. loved that car, modest power, but still handled well. the logo is not actually a propeller. its a misnomer, yes they did build aircraft engines originally, but it is in fact the bavarian state flag.
I always wanted one of these with the diesel engine. I had an 84 Lincoln with the factor optional diesel engine with was the BWM 5-Series engine of that year.
Also the seat in this generation BMW 5-Series were position high enough off the floor your knees would bend to actually touch the floor like sitting in a chair; which was great for those of us with back trouble.
I remember test-driving a 325e with the 2.7L ETA engine late last century. It was a 5-speed manual, but the lack of performance was an unexpected shock – at the time I was driving a Ford Sierra 2.0L, and the BMW wouldn’t have seen which way the Sierra went.
I was quite puzzled as to how a 2.7L 3-series could be so much slower that my employer’s 200cc-less ’89 525 (non-ETA), which I often drove. The car magazines educated me in short order as to what an ETA engine was, and then it all made sense. Common sense prevailed and I didn’t buy the 325e – BMWs really need go with their show…
I have owned 3 528e’s and one 535i in the E28 body and my favorite combination has to be the 528e 5 speed…drive it like a diesel, low RPMs, early upshifts, it’ll get great fuel economy, and the torque pulls it along. These handle beautifully. I like the upright seating position and big windows. Wish they hadn’t all rusted away in Ohio, I’d love to get another.
Owned an 83 528e 5sp in San Francisco in 1990 and drove it for 5 years and put 150k miles on top of the 100k mileage on the car when I bought it. Best car I’ve owned, cruised all day at 85mph and returned 30mpg constantly on the freeway, gave the best ride handling combo and best driving position. Fast forward 2014, now living in Manila. After owning several different 5 series from the e34 to the e60, I recently purchased an 87 528e a/t super eta and getting ready to restore it to its old glory. I’m looking forward that same unforgettable driving experience once again.
Your experience parallels mine, except that I still have the 83 528e. Little while ago I was running 105mph middle of the night through the desert, sweet as sugar, such an experience. Now well beyond 300k miles, same engine and most other parts. After these 30 years finally had to have the seat leather replaced.
I have no desire for these new cars with all the fancy controls. much prefer the simplicity of the eighties.
I had a thought…I wonder how many US market E28s were that gawdawful Bronzit Beige color…seems like it’s either that or a medium metallic gray color. I had one Schwartz with pearlbeige leather(535i), and 3 528e’s… two light blue ones, don’t recall the colors, one with pacificblue leather, the other with pacificblue vinyl, and a bronzit with pearlbeige vinyl. Tremendous little cars, easy to work on, handle great, cheap little 14 inch tires. My last one had 300k miles when it got totaled in a collision…I keep seeing one by the University of Cincinnati, medium gray, no obvious rust, with E34 wheels on it…makes me want one all the more.
Mine is technically Sapphire Blue, but only some can see the blue. To me it is a nice grey shade. Bronze is a horrid color. You like it only on two days. The day you buy it and the day you sell it. My interior is black trim and dark blue leather seats.
I sure would be curious to know how many of these 528e models were built. I just found out that the total production run of an MG I owned a long time ago was 549.
Bronze is not a horrible color. I have a bronze colored 1987 528e. It’s in beautiful condition. The original paint and body are in remarkable shape. While I like the sapphire blue and maroon colors best myself, I happen to really like the bronze. It’s subtle and has a grayish tint that gives it a contemporary look.
After wishing for the 1973 Bavaria but unable to afford one, I purchased a 1986 528e. Owner #3. It’s slow but strong, and very stable to 100+ mph. It’s original color was a sort of pewter, and when the paint started flaking I had it painted a dark teal BMW color from 1992. The interior is beige. Where I live, the sun is brutal: it was necessary to tint the windows. The paint job was not the best, and after 4 years is beginning to flake. When the budget allows for another paint job I will go back to an original color. The car went through a phase where everything quit working at once, but it’s going well now. Nobody really likes my problem child ( it does smell like old plastic inside ), and my boyfriend would love for me to unload it. But I am too stubborn to give up little Ludwig. 528e’s need appreciative, sympathetic homes. 🙂
Antoinette,
How many miles does Ludwig have on him now?
I feel the same way about Riley, my 1986 Volvo 740 GLE. She’s not for sale and won’t be for many years to come.
I smell envy when I see it, and NO, you still can’t have my 528e bought new in 1983 and now at 311,000. You just have to love a modern car so old it doesn’t even have cup holders.
Tom,
Is your ’83 528e still your daily driver?
My ’86 528e is almost at 190k miles and still running amazing! I swear that thing is never in the shop getting repaired, thank god. Anyone have tips for improving power/hp..?
Just bought a super clean 1986 528e
With 151k miles
I like the black interior
All power works
New timing belt and water pump
I love this car
Hard to find them
I have over 400k miles on my 528e that I inherited from my step father (who was the original owner). Quite a reliable car. Easy to work on and parts are available.
..an overall assessment of these e28 comments pretty much sum up my feelings too..my 86′ 5 spd. never ceases to amaze me..210k..a clean dipstick at all times and an indestructible getrag trans..it’s been thru 7 NYC and Detroit winters..and with good care the schwartz still shines brightly.. it’s design is classic..kind of like the car James Bond’s dentist brother Steve would drive..there will always be one in my life..superdave
We just picked up an immaculate ’83 Bronzit Beige (yeah, yeah, it’s not so bad) over Nutria Brown cloth with 134k for my wife. Manual seats, power windows, automatic (I couldn’t get her to get a manual). The A/C will need repairing come next spring. It is in amazing condition, runs like a Swiss watch, and drives as smooth as Devonshire cream. The ’83 was the second and last year for the ZF 3hp22 3-speed, so highway revs are high by today’s standards. Next year I’m planning to swap in the 4hp22 4-speed. Meanwhile, I’m working on my future DD, a 1986 535i 5-speed.
Late to this party, but a few observations:
@ Herman Goldth – Switzerland may have introduced catalytic converters in ’86, but that still put them over a decade behind the US. The rest of Europe lagged even more. I recall getting a headache when visiting the London and Brussels city centers in 1989 because the air quality was so bad compared to big-city America. (In fairness to Europe, let’s not forget that a Frenchman invented the catalytic converter.)
@ Canucknucklehead – It’s not a drag race when only one person is racing. A 325e was about 1 to 1.5 seconds faster 0-60 than a contemporary Accord.
@ Paul – “These understressed engine seem to run happily for 200-250k miles or more.” Sheesh, now THAT is survivorship bias. My family’s ’82 528e–and yes, my parents bought it new; and yes, they were sticklers about maintenance–was hemorrhaging oil by 65,000 miles. By hemorrhaging, I mean it was down a full quart of oil with every tank of gas. It never stranded us, but seemingly every system in the car had a failure over the course of six years. Had we had to pay out of pocket, repair costs would’ve been into five figures in 2016 dollars. Fortunately, they were all covered under warranty, and the dealership experience was quite good. We traded it in as soon as the first major non-warranty repair popped up.
It was a lovely car the 75% of the time everything was working. It actually wasn’t slow by the standard of its day. Remember, the typical midsizer of the mid-’80s was an Iron Duke-powered A-body. The torque delivery was good for under-35, around-town driving. And it also was very happy on the highway between about 60 and 90 (which was a double-edged sword in the 55 mph speed limit era). The herringbone velour interior was great too, and the seats were good for shorter trips. I found them too hard for more than a half-day’s driving, but that’s subjective. I know some people got backaches from Detroit sofa seats of yesteryear; I could ride for 12+ hours on those.
Dad observed several times that it would’ve been the perfect car if it had had Japanese electrics and an American engine.
I bought an ’86 528e automatic in 1996, with something like 50,000 miles on the clock. It was a one owner car in that light silvery blue, forgot the official name, with dark blue leather interior. It had a couple of small spots where the prior owner had tried to repair minor paint chips with globs of touchup paint; other than that it was virtually perfect inside, outside and mechanically.
After about three years I got the itch for more power, and bought an ’88 535is, which soon lead to a high-miles ’88 M5, then a second, mint, 1-owner 30,000 mile ’88 M5 I rescued from forgotten hibernation deep in a warehouse near Seattle. I drove that car back to Chicago in record time, an early winter storm on my tail as motivation. I was going about 105 mph in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska when a state trooper pulled me over. As he walked to my window I had ready my license and a stack of (probably inadequate) paperwork showing my new ownership of the car, but it turned out he was willing to give me a warning in exchange for learning more about the car that had blown so quickly past his hiding spot. A very lucky break for me, and also an enjoyable opportunity to educate an interested spectator in the wonders of German engineering.
The M5s were an absolute blast, but fussy to maintain, adverse to the realities of occasional stop-and-go traffic, and extremely hard on the wallet–everything the trusty 528e was not. E28 M5s are currently priced in the stratosphere–-ridiculously so, IMO–so now that I’m in the market for a hobby car again, it’s the 528e that I’m after.
I’m finding it a bit difficult to find an ’86-’88 528e in excellent condition with original paint and maintenance records. I’ll keep looking, though, as I know what fantastic cars they can be if you understand their purpose and limitations.
Thanks so much for the article, and all the great followup posts!
Bob D. I have a very clean 86 528e auto original black w/tan interior no fade, no cracked dash all original 90k miles.
Well kept and maintained. If you’re still looking for e28. Or if any bmw e28 enthusiast is interested.
I have an 84 528e my stepfather purchased new after his 1977 5 series had a fire in the engine bay. The 528e was purchased with the insurance money. When I would travel to California to visit my dad I always had an opportunity to drive his car. He’s passed now the car is now in my stable now with 400k miles. The usual common wear items replaced , although me step dad didn’t have the timing belt replaced so when it failed he had the head rebuilt. My car needs a new paint job, reupholstered front seats, and headliner. Amazingly the car is a daily driver. The only big problem I’ve had is a u joint go out in the drive shaft. When my car was shinning a little more than it is now, at least 2 former BMW mechanics stated to me “best car I ever owned, reliable. Wish I never sold mine.” Mechanics don’t like working on their own cars. Well you can say my car has sentimental value and I plan to restore it and keep it. Parts aren’t really expensive compared to newer cars. It gets 25mpg on the highway en route to work. The car sure has payed it’s way in service. Bob D. if you are still looking for one I would look on the boards such as Mye28 and check Craigslist. Happy motoring.
I have a 1985 528e for sale. One owner. Runs and drives great. Needs TLC.
1125rguy@gmail.com please email me more details ,auto or manual trans ,location, miles and price thank you.
Summer of 1996 I would watch Price is Right because school was out. It seemed like every other day the vehicle of choice was A Ford Escort or Mercury Tracer with the “Trio” package… whatever that was.
I would say you missed it by __________________ that much!
This is a pure guess, but the 528e seems like the very car that would have garnered the all-important, well-off younger market that in years past might have considered a Cadillac.
In fact, it seems like potential 528e buyers may have been the exact demographic Cadillac had hoped (in their wildest dreams) would be buying the 1982 Cimarron. At least the Cavalier with leather seats was over $11k less than the Bimmer.
I bought a 1986 525e in about 1996 as our family car. It was very well put together compared with the 1988 Range Rover we also had at the time. It had a 2.7litre motor and although low powered it had plenty of go for a family run-about. I don’t remember what fuel economy it got.
I only had it for about 2-3 years because of a persistent drive train vibration. I tried everything to solve it, new tyres, new drive-shaft joints and other things I can’t remember. Everything I did seemed to help a bit, but nothing got rid of it completely.
I gave up and traded it on a 1993 Lexus LS400. That solved the problem entirely! The Lexus was and remains the most well built car I’ve ever owned – but the fuel consumption was punishing on our daily driving duty of short suburban trips mostly starting with a cold engine so it was replaced in 2004 with a Prius which we still have. The Prius had more useful load carrying capacity and rear seat legroom but (obviously) not the interior quality. It used (and still does) less than a third of the fuel that the LS400 used to slurp through – I still miss the Lexus a bit though.
My parents bought a new 528e in 1985. They had always had GM vehicles. Their last GM was so unreliable that they abandoned the brand forever. It stranded my mom and me several times when it was only a year or two old. Anyway my grandmother had switched from GM to Audi vehicles in the 1970s so my parents decided to try a German car. For them power wasn’t a huge deal at that time so the 528e was a good fit. It was good looking, efficient, reliable and fun on curvy roads. They never went back to American cars and ended up buying several more BMWs, a Lexus, Jaguar and Porsche. All of which were certainly more powerful than the 528e. But the 528e and the early 80s Audis and Mercedes diesel sedans I think introduced a lot of people to European cars and once they got a taste they couldn’t go back.
I have a 528e 1984 that I bought when it was about 7 years old from the mechanic who had worked on it its whole life. The original owner wanted an SUV so the mechanic bought it from her to give to his daughter. His daughter couldn’t handle the manual transmission so he sold it to me. I have loved it all these years. Love the classic design and the visibility. Also the turning radius and the appreciative comments from the valets. when I have to let them park my car. It has a hidden electrical problem so they installed a kill switch I have to turn off when I park. Mother board is out and radio station has to be reset after every time you turn off the engine. Other than these quirks car works great with substantial periodic repairs–recently muffler and A/C servicing. This week there was a terrific noise and the car had to be pulled off the road. They say the timing belt broke and this harmed the engine (275,000 miles) but they don’t know the extent of the damage until I authorize $ for exploratory surgery. Is this the end of the road for my car? What do you think?
I have a 528e 1984 that I bought when it was about 7 years old from the mechanic who had worked on it its whole life. The original owner wanted an SUV so the mechanic bought it from her to give to his daughter. His daughter couldn’t handle the manual transmission so he sold it to me. I have loved it all these years. Love the classic design and the visibility. Also the turning radius and the appreciative comments from the valets. when I have to let them park my car. It has a hidden electrical problem so they installed a kill switch I have to turn off when I park. Mother board is out and radio station has to be reset after every time you turn off the engine. Other than these quirks car works great with substantial periodic repairs–recently muffler and A/C servicing. This week there was a terrific noise and the car had to be pulled off the road. They say the timing belt broke and this harmed the engine (275,000 miles) but they don’t know the extent of the damage until I authorize $ for exploratory surgery. Is this the end of the road for my car? What do you think?
I’m looking into buying a 1986 BMW 528e. He’s a friend that I’ve known for many years. He’s selling it to me for $4,000. Has 124,000 miles on it. Straight as can be, no rust, electrical works, needs paint(no big deal) interior is great. Dash has a few cracks. My question is, is the price reasonable? I have two other cars, but I’ve always wanted a BMW. I feel this is a classic. It’s been sitting for two years. So if I buy, I have a mechanic that will give it a full inspection, and I’ll put a couple grand if needed to make it a sound car. May I get some feedback from you experienced veterans?