1988 BMWUSA M5 Retro Review | The E28 is where it all began:
Welcome to our latest series of Retro Reviews that take us back in time through the BMW M performance division’s history. This review of a 1988 BMW M5 will be the first of several classic BMW M car reviews to hit our little slice of the internet in the coming weeks. We’re starting with the old, and making our way to the new. Enjoy the photos and the nostalgia. We hope you stick with us on this journey through time and a reexamination of some of BMW M’s most iconic performance vehicles.
It’s when you hop inside the M5 — in my case, a pristine 14,000-mile example owned by BMW — that its true quality and luxury nature come into clear view. The high-bolstered, leather-wrapped seats hug closely. They’re fully-powered, too — even the thigh extensions and headrests are electric! Modern BMWs make you manually pull out your thigh extension, which is just a shame.
BMW might get most of its attaboys for the engines it makes these days, but that’s nothing new. This engine makes the E28 M5 into the special sedan that it is, and the car isn’t even that quick — Car and Driver’s old-school fifth-wheel calculated this M5’s 0-60 time at 6.3 seconds back in 1987. That seems about right.