You can’t say they didn’t try. And then tried again, and again. They tried every which way, with all manner of engines, with a hardtop or a soft one, two seats or four, but somehow every time BMW had a stab at making something approaching a supercar, it never really gelled. The closest they got to commercial success was the 1989-99 E31 8-series.
It was also the only time a range-topping BMW coupé sported a 12-cyl. engine, which was the only available option until the 4-litre V8 slotted underneath the 300hp 5-litre V12 in 1993. Only 30k units of this rather exclusive machine were made in ten years, but that’s not such a bad performance in context.
And the context here would be prestige postwar BMWs. The 8-Series and the i8 were the only ones to break into five-digit territory in total production numbers – the i8 tallied just over 20k units (2014-20). The Z8 sold just over 5700 units between 1998 and 2003. Totting up the M1, the 3200 CS and the 507 barely tops 1000 cars altogether. So in absolute numbers, the E31 is the most common of these uncommon Bimmers.
The 5-litre V12 we have in our feature car here was only offered between 1989 and 1994, yet it still accounted for two thirds of E31 production.
The twelve grew to 5.4 litre and 322hp with the 1992-99 850Ci and a 375hp 5.6 litre 850CSi was also available in 1992-96, but it had to be nixed due to emissions controls. Both of these variants were produced in tiny quantities – about 1200 for the Ci and 1500 for the CSi. The remainder, i.e. just under 8000 units of the 840Ci, were powered by either the 4.0 or the 4.4 litre V8.
The E31 did quite well when it came out, but after three or four years sales plummeted. These were very expensive toys – in Japan, since this is when I found this one, the 850i retailed for ¥14.5m in 1990. By 1994, the 850CSi set you back close to ¥17m. The Mercedes 600 coupé cost ¥1m more, but a Jaguar XJS was cheaper at ¥11.5m. The only other V12-powered 4-seater coupé at the time was the Ferrari 456, which was well over ¥20m.
The 8-Series enabled BMW to trumpet a number of technological bragging rights. It was the first BMW to employ CAD, it was the most aerodynamic car they had yet designed, it had (then highly advanced) drive-by-wire throttle control… It was also the first production car with a V12 to offer a 6-speed manual, though naturally whoever ordered this one went for the 4-speed auto.
The 8-Series remains a bit of an outlier in BMW’s history. It wasn’t there to replace the 6-Series, but it didn’t have a true successor either. Mercedes continued manufacturing V12-powered hardtop coupés until 2020, but BMW gave up competing in that (admittedly extremely niche) market almost as soon as they had managed to goad their eternal rival into it.
BMW ended up re-booting the 8-Series with the G15 (2019-present), but it’s just a coupé / cabriolet / fastback version of the 7-Series, really. By contrast, the original 8-Series seems far more exclusive, being that it didn’t look like anything else in the BMW range. That’s the sign of a real übercar. As opposed to an Uber.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: BMW 850i and 840Ci – Nineties Icon Or Technological Overkill?, by Pogood
eBay Find (With CC Minature): 1995 BMW 840Ci – Best Of All, It’s Green, by Brendan Saur
Car Show Capsule: BMW 840i – Let’s Take A Grand Tour., by Geraldo Solis
These are one of those cars that makes much more sense 20 years later. A big sleek BMW V12 is quite an appealing prospect now, whereas in the 1990s they were awkwardly caught between something genuinely sporty like a 911 or 456, and something properly plush like an S Class coupe. Added to that, they were some way outside BMW’s sweet spot.
Remembering them at the time, they were definitely a bit of a curio (especially later in the production run – I recall Top Gear magazine doing an article on living fossils with things like the 8 Series and the Citroen XM in about 1998 or 1999.
Looking back on it, these are still very attractive cars with attractive interiors whose styling has held up well over the decades. At the time, we very much viewed it as the 6-series successor but at a higher price and position, and the sales did suffer due to that. In hindsight I think they can just as much be viewed a Porsche 928 competitor, perhaps not in outright speed (or maybe so?) however the Porsche was for many buyers really a boulevardier rather than the 911 replacement it was originally intended to be and they did overlap by a half decade or so. Not to take anything away from the 850’s performance chops, rather it was the sublimability of it all rather than an overtness if that makes sense.
While of course sold worldwide and seen in any place with money, it seems perfectly positioned in Tokyo if perhaps not next to a minivan in the parking lot of an apartment block as this one is. It’d fit right in on your usual Boulevard of Rolling Dreams backdrop.
At the time, we very much viewed it as the 6-series successor but at a higher price and position, and the sales did suffer due to that.
Therein lies the fundamental big mistake BMW made: they drastically over-reached with the 850i. And although it certainly had many positive objective qualities, in my opinion it was an unqualified flop for BMW, having essentially walked away from a niche that the E9 and E24 had successfully created. (The E24 sold almost 100k units)
As to comparing it with Z8 and M1 and 507 and such, I don’t see that as a valid comparison. The reality is that the 850i ended up in an awkward space between what the E24 had been and those limited production halo cars.
The 507, M1 etc were halo cars, and the 850 was the exclusive, halo top of the BM range, the exact same role: I can’t NOT see the validity of the comparison myself. And the E24 was in production for 13 years v the 81/2 of the 850, and it was sold over a boom period towards the end, so it did get a quite different chance for higher numbers.
I agree, though, they quite over-reached. The 8 was massively expensive, and probably had to be because they’d stuffed it so full. I suspect many previous 635 owners literally couldn’t afford the leap. Wonder how it would’ve fared if it had started as 6 cyl (perhaps with the 745’s turbo for the weight problem), and had the twelve as the halo topper?
Ok but key question not addressed: do you drive the car (manual transmission) or point it (automatic)? Answer per the net, some came with a six speed. That’s the car I would buy
Ok, I have to ask. Is that black wagon to the right of the BMW a Dodge Magnum? If not, it sure looks the part. Anyone know?
Yes, I believe it is a Dodge Magnum. 🙂
The interior looks so random. It could be in almost any German or Japanese car.
I would love to come across an 850i, just so I could write it up, since I drove one in 1991. I was only 18 at the time, and it was (obviously) I was completely blown away by it. Back then, my mother worked as a secretary at a law firm, and the firm’s senior partner bought one as soon as they came out. One day while visiting mom at her office, I happened to see he Big Guy, got into a talk with him about his BMW, and he asked if I’d like to drive it. Of course I would!
I had assumed he’d accompany me driving around the block or something, but he just handed me the keys and said “don’t forget to come back!” I had a blast driving that car around – since it was brand new, I remember getting stares and thumbs-up from other drivers. So even though the 8-series has somewhat of a mixed legacy among BMW enthusiasts, it holds a special place in my heart.
I haven’t seen one in years – I saw an 840 at a car show a few years ago, but the original 850s have eluded me.
I have a ’91 850i with 30k miles in KY. It has a few electronic glitches but runs well and looks decent. You’re welcome to take a look if you’re ever in the area.
As a long time BMW enthusiast myself I always felt it was the successor to the E24 6 series. But while pleasant, I never had any enthusiasm for them. And while the mechanicals may be near bulletproof, all the trim and gadgets aren’t.
A couple of observations, I’ve heard said about BMWs, though it probably applies to pretty much any V12 car given their market position, that there is nothing more expensive than a cheap V12 BMW, be it a 750i or 850.
But I have a friend who has/had one which was rough on the outside and had a checkered past, title wise, who was going to convert the auto to a paddle shift or something. He definitely had the knowledge/skills/background to do so although I don’t know if he ever did. But an electronic transmission is shifted by solenoids, so no reason you couldn’t do it. Not sure why, but that’s another story.
These things had been on the market for maybe two or three years when a child murder occurred in the region where I lived at the time.
The radio stations reported that a black BMW 8 Series was being sought in connection with the crime.
Although it later turned out that the vehicle in question was something else entirely (I seem to recall it being some Japanese-made coupe), the BMW 8 Series will always be associated with this sad incident for me. Especially if the vehicle is painted black.
The car as chameleon.
When these first popped out, I thought “Wow, I want one”, and also “I feel the need for a filofax and red braces.”
After not too long, I thought “Hmm. It’s really a tiny bit bland.” Later still, I thought ” No, that’s cool, that is” and within not enormously long “What fat blanding they did there”. And the debate within continues. Today, this day, I think “Nice. But meh”.
I opine that all of this means it probably falls a bit short as a design, which is a problem when design is the whole point of buying a more expensive car with less doors and space.
As for its (comparative) failure, I don’t think its any more complicated than that it was born right into a recession AND was just too bloody expensive – even for red-striped filofaxers.